Reflecting On Our Decision

Still, each and every day we think about our Kisses and miss him terribly.  Almost 3 months removed from the final days, we can now reflect on our decision to treat the nasal cancer and why we felt it was the right thing to do.  Most people thought we were absolutely nuts to treat an almost 16 year old dog, or to spend what we spent.  But they never walked in our shoes and never loved our dog the way we did.  Not only did Kisses receive another 22 months of life after the radiation treatment, he had complete remission from the cancer.  Upon necropsy, there was no trace of cancer, even though the tumors can return within 8-12 mo. Colorado St. University Animal Cancer Center ROCKS!  And we'd do it again in a heartbeat! 

Goodbye our Sweet Kisses

On Friday, June 3, 2011 we made the gut-wrenching decision to euthanize Kisses.  He was 17 years, 5 mos. old.  In the last 2 mos. his quality of life had deteriorated quite a bit.  He was almost completely blind, getting very arthritic, not having fun anymore and had a bout with infection that sent his kidney values off the chart.  Although he recovered fairly well from the kidney and infection episode, the last 3 days of his life he developed excruciating pain (most likely due to bone destruction in his mouth from the cancer radiation)  The pain was uncontrollable, even with pain injections and heavy doses of narcotics.  We knew it was his time to go and took him in about midnight.  The vet was very sweet and gentle; she explained the procedure (we'd never been through that), and she make us a paw print to take home.  The tears flowed, and still flow today, but we knew we had done the right thing for Kisses.  His body was shipped to CO State University for necropsy.

Still Hanging In There!

Hey Everybody,
Hope you're all doing well.  We had quite a scare last month when a piece of my maxilla with 2 teeth attached fell out and created a hole about the size of a dime.  My pets parents figured it was the beginning of the end, but our vet said he didn't see the tumor, and it was probably just due to dead bone tissue from the radiation treatments. 4 weeks later I'm trying to learn to eat without problems.  It's pretty tricky, but all my is now put through a Magic Bullet and turned to mush.  It works for me!  My arthritis is getting a bit worse, but otherwise I'm just trucking along in month 20 since my radiation treatment.

Another VERY HAPPY New Year for me and my pet parents!

Hi Folks!  Well, not only is it the start of a brand new year, it is also the month when I celebrate my 17th. (yes, you have that right!) birthday.  If that's not exciting for ANY dog family, I'd be really surprised.  It has been a rough year with losing my eyesight and becoming more deaf and arthritic, but I'm still hanging in there, and we think I'm a great testimonial for the terrific treatment at Colorado State University Animal Cancer Center.  I'm now 16 mo. past my radiation, so I've actually exceeded the prognosis they gave us.  We make the best of each day and appreciate the gift of life for what it is.  Here's wishing all of you a very happy 2011.  Luv, Kisses