Jake continues to have good days and bad days.  He will have 3 good days, then a bad day.  A good day is one where he doesn't lean, barks a lot (duh, he's a Sheltie) and wants to go out for a walk. A bad day is one where he leans, looses his balance, vomits, spins in circles, moans in pain and eats very little. He is moving slower than he did before CK, but there is improvement.  He is still on Dexamethasone (steroid) on a tapering dose.  His next step is starting chemo.  We need to make sure he is not vomiting or having diarrhea.  He still has his wonderful personality and still makes me smile everyday.

1st post- cyberknife follow up doctor visit

Driving to 1st follow up

1st follow up done! Jake had his first follow up visit with Dr Joseph this week and the dr was pleased to see his progress. Even though he still leans and is much slower than his normal self he is making good strides. Jake was a trooper, glad he wasn't poked as much as last time but was sad he missed seeing his nurse Emily (her day off).

Not feeling well. The morning we were set to go to the dr follow up Jake got sick in the middle of the night.Truthfully it's unclear if he threw up or had diarrhea because it was hard to tell what we found. If that's the case then this would be the first time ever that he went to the bathroom in the house. Also, he peed in the house first thing in the morning just as we were about to take him outside (He's done this 1 or 2 times since he first got sick but these are the first times in his life he's ever had accidents in the house). Then to cap things off he threw up in the drs office that morning. Not sure what this was all about but he definitely didn't feel too good.

What to expect. The dr wasn't overly concerned about this all and said he will have good days and bad days. He took a blood and urine test to check for infection just to be safe. He says the goal now is to let the steroids buy us time while we wait for the full effects of the cyberknife treatment to set in (which could be several months). We tried lowering his steroid (dexamethasone) to 1 pill per day and he started leaning much more and was having a hard time so the dr said we should give him 2 pills one day and 1 pill the next and then in 2 weeks try to re evaluate. The goal is to get him to the lowest possible dose of steroids.I wish steroids had no negative long term consequences because he is so much better on them and wish he could stay on them forever.

Chemo Discussion. We were supposed to start him on chemo at this visit (hydroxyurea) but considering the diarrhea, throwing up, etc Dr J says we should wait a week and then start him. We're concerned about the potential side effects of chemo but we understand from our reading that dogs handle it much better than humans and if all goes as expected he should take it and not feel sick. More to come on this when we start.....

Had to mention this. We're pleased to say Jake is back to some of his old tricks. Jake always used to place himself right in from of the tv staring at us as if to say "hello don't ignore me, stop looking at the tv and look at me!!" He's still the same old Jake :)

10 days post cyberknife- Still doing good!

Just a quick post to say it's three days in a row now that Jake is doing good. Tonight he came up and put his little face on the couch when he saw I had ice cream and stared up at me like he used to saying "I'm cute, please give me ice cream". Had to take this pic of him being so cute. He still so alert and becoming more like his usual adorable self. :)

Jake's eye, energy and cough

For the last 2 days Jake is obviously feeling good.The littlest things are so important to us now. He's been laying in the hallway less and wanting to be with us more (and under our feet more like he used to always be). His energy is great. He has been walking so much slower than before this all started but today he walked out ahead of me and actually led the way like he used to!

His right eye also seems to be drifting less. Not sure if we mentioned it before but his right eye used to drift a little when he was really tired. Since the treatment we noticed his eye was always drifting and seemed almost 'vacant' compared to his other eye. Looking at him with his eyes so clear again is such a great thing!

He still has his cough/gag that he's had since he first got sick. It's upsetting to hear. I don't know if this is something that other dogs with brain tumors have so in case it helps anyone I'm going to upload a video of him doing this so you can compare to your dog. He does it whenever he eats or drinks.

For the whole week since radiation ended he's seems to have one good day then a bad day and the cycle continued. We got 2 days back to back this weekend so we're thrilled and hope things continue this way :)

6 days post cyberknife

Jake is now 6 days post cyberknife. I see he's been reporting how he feels himself  but I want to weigh in on how he's doing too. We're starting to be concerned that the tumor is still active. He's able to walk straight but is still leaning to the left and voraciously hungry- which could be the tumor or the steroids. He is also moaning every time he lays down as if to say "ugh.....i am so sick of this and just want to get comfortable and can't". I'm not sure if it's because he's in pain.

Also at times his limbs (especially the front left paw) gets stiff and crooked and he can't seem to straighten it out. We massage him and it seems to help but this was happening just before radiation when he was at his worse so we're not happy to see this happening again. Strangely this only seems to happen when he's very tired at the beginning or end of the day.

His personality is still not quite the same as before. He wants to be off by himself laying in the hallway alone a lot. I don't know if he's tired, in pain, etc. This might not seem like a big thing but his personality before was that he was literally involved in every single conversation and activities we did in the house. He was never one of those dogs who just sat by himself. He was always the center of the house. It's weird to say but even though he's here we still miss him.

Feelin' Great !!!!

day after radiation ended

Mommy left herself logged into the computer and I'm taking over! It's me, Jake! I want to tell everyone how I've been feeling since radiation ended last week in my own words!

This has been a completely bizarre experience. Today I felt good and jumped off the bed, lunged and barked at the tv and scarfed down a rogue munchkin  I found on the floor- ALL of which normally would have made mommy mad at me but instead when I do these things now I get hugs and a "Good boy". What is going on ????

I feel strong, I'm wondering why everyone is fussing over me. It's total MOTHER SMOTHER.  I want to go outside and run but I seem to get tired faster than normal when we go for walks. Other than that I am great!!! I'm planning to keep up this blog myself from now on. I can handle writing about my experiences.  

I made a friend who also had cyberknife radiation and he wrote about us meeting on his blog. Check him out at: http://maxck.blogspot.com/

Uh oh, mommy's coming. gotta go, will write more later :)

Day 3 - Radiation done !!!!

Jake in recovery room after last treatment

Jake finished his cyberknife radiation treatments today!!! We were prepared that with the anesthesia three days in a row he might be worn down and not respond well but instead he actually got better each day!! He walked out of the clinic just like yesterday, straight as an arrow instead of his usual head tilt and leaning to the left. He was even excited at the site of his favorite tennis ball again. It is nothing short of a miracle!!! We think he may have sent that tumor packing!

Just like with humans, animals also deserve dignity during their illness and treatment. I have to say that before treatment Jake was starting to lose his dignity and quality of life. He was tired all the time, stumbling around the house and couldn't take walks and play. He couldn't even go to the bathroom without leaning on the wall outside the house or us holding him to prevent him from falling over. Jake was too dignified to live like that. I am SO grateful that we found a treatment that was non invasive and able to help give us all more time. He has given so much to us over the years and he deserves every available option.

Another paws up to our AMAZING treatment team at the Animal Specialty Center in Yonkers. We know that it wasn't just the treatment or the medicines that made him better but the entire setup and how they take care of the animals, minimizing their anxiety (and the owners) and showing care and concern every step of the way. Dogs like mine who are a very sensitive and smart breed can feel this from the staff in all of their interactions. I know it may seem like a cliche but every day truly is a gift. Without this treatment we would have lost Jake weeks ago and this has given us all more time- bonus time we never would have had otherwise.

Jake has made a furever friend in his nurse Emily- see below. Emily and Dr Joseph were so invested in Jake's treatment and were so genuinely concerned for him- we cannot thank them enough and consider them our angels.