Roller Coaster

A lot can happen in a few short weeks in the world of a cancer patient……we’ve had the highest of highs and the lowest of lows and our minds are still spinning from all of it.  I can’t even remember how many times we went up, down and all around on this crazy cancer roller coaster since I shared my last Pupdate on Emma.  We went from being certain that she just had radiation side effects……to being certain that the cancer was back…..to being pretty sure that it wasn’t a cancer recurrence and thinking we had a miracle…..to finding out that the surgery unfortunately failed and now we’re very concerned but not 100% certain that the cancer has returned…..it’s all completely exhausting and confusing and overwhelming.

Emma started chemotherapy last week and she’ll get one injection every three weeks.  But don’t worry…..dogs don’t get the same horrible side effects that people do from chemo.  Emma is as happy as can be and she has no idea that she’s sick.  She doesn’t have a care in the world!

Right now we’re in “wait and see” mode.  The oncologists aren’t quite sure what’s going on…..they all have pow wows and talk about how unique Emma’s case is.  Soooo, we just have to wait and see how she responds to treatment over the next few weeks and then reassess the situation.

It’s hard to stay calm, cool and collected but I’m trying to Live Like Emma and just enjoy every second of life and every second that we’re together!

Hugs,
Jenny

Happy SeptEMMA!

Happy SeptEMMA everybody!  You know how I love to rename months and since Emma’s half birthday is on the 13th and this month is all about her recovery, the month has been renamed in her honor!

The trip to Davis was exhausting and stressful but we just keep reminding ourselves how lucky we are to live a few short hours from one of the best veterinary hospitals in the world.  I won’t go into all of the gory details but let’s just say Emma’s mouth and throat were a disastrous mess…..much worse than we originally thought.  The surgeon did a great job but Emma is still at high risk for lots of complications over the next few weeks.

But the great news is that Emma has no idea how sick she is!  She’s happier than she’s been in weeks and wants to get back to her day job of being a spoiled puppers instead of playing the role of cancer patient recovering from surgery.

And now we wait for the biopsy results to come back……the oncologist thought it looked like radiation side effects when she saw Emma two weeks ago…..but the surgeon who just saw her thought it looked like cancer.  Sooooo…..I’m on pins and needles for the next week waiting for results to come back……but I’ll just keep trying to move forward, enjoy life and remain hopeful!

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…..It’s learning to dance in the rain.”

Hugs,
Jenny