Update: Fine Tuning

I've coached in past that no news from this blog is usually good news. That still holds true. Princess is in a relatively good  holding pattern. She continues to be alert and relatively comfortable though she's gotten a little "growley" the evenings. She continues to use her "bad" leg for balance and over the last few day, has begun to put some weight on it. We've made a few changes to her routine so read on. 

Since Princess's diagnosis on October 17th, we've followed the Navy Protocol of drugs with one exception; we decided to add Fosamax a few months back. Our hope was that Fosamax would increase bone growth and strengthen her leg. That's definitely happened but her leg has become very stiff. In her last visit, Dr. Chris, noted that her leg also was thickening.  X-rays showed the culprit to be errant regrowing bone cells invading surrounding muscle tissue.  We're calling it the "Mutton Leg" Good news is that structurally, Mutton Leg is strong and the chance for a break is low. In the hope of slowing down this bone growth, I've decided to cut her Fosamax dose from 10 mg 7 days a week to 10 mg 3 days a week.

Ultimately, holding the cancer at bay will allow Princess's own immune system to take over and cure her. It only makes sense that her diet has a lot to do with her immune health. Two weeks ago, I decided to make all of her food myself. My goal is to produce The Bestdogfood Ever! I feed her this twice a day:


1/2 lb of cooked ground beef,
1/2 cup of carrots or broccoli
(2) 1000 mg fish softgels
(1) Chopped Michael's Everyday Immune Wellness tablet - one per day

I've just described my graduation from Engineer to Dog Chef and hopefully you don't think that I've lost my mind. She does seem to be growing stronger. As evidence, I present the following; You all know that Princess has a passion for shredding cereal boxes. Recently we received an 8 foot long cardboard box in the mail. This morning, Princess dragged it down the driveway and started to shred it to pieces. She's still got it!

I'm making sure that chances are 100% that Princess will live the rest of her life happy, relatively comfortably, with her people, and with a chance of recovery. My goal is to keep moving forward and help a few of you along the way. I'd say it's worth it.  All for now.

Chef Pappysassafrass

Our Mission

Good morning! Many days have passed since my last post. As time passes, the unit of measure always grows. Babies go from days, to weeks, to months then years old. Same with us. Going into this, we expected Best Dog's remaining lifespan to be days maybe weeks long - certainly not months.  We're coming to an important milestone. Next week, on February 17th, Princess will be 6 years old and it will be exactly 4 months since her cancer diagnosis.

Princess has grown stronger since my last post. She appears healthy, weighs 82 lbs, plays with her ball, goes outside on her own and climbs the stairs. This morning, she went out after eating. I walked to the back of the house to check on her though the window. Seemed to be about 10 seconds. In that time, she had traveled 75 yards uphill and was still going. In a few minutes, she returned, picked up her ball and prompted us to throw it.  Her leg in the area of the cancer has gotten hard and thick. Dr Chris hypothesized this to be bone cells regenerating in a cancer confused way.  Watching Princess, it looks like her pain is lessening and the leg is getting stronger. My view is that Princess has progressed from a critically ill dog to a "special needs" dog.

Taken Today!

There's evidence that the protocol is working. Let's get down to business. My personal mission as writer is to document all of this. You as readers can spread the word. Thousands of new dog families face this same difficult situation each day. They have no idea that there's a protocol option. My first couple of posts outlined the the choices that we faced. They're were not pretty or necessary. As readers, you are taking part in our amazing experience - and you can do more. Keep reading, pass this blog on to friends and family. It's not read nearly enough. Help others by participating. Give families hope, and their dogs a realistic chance of survival. Each of you, pass it on. Thanks for reading our story.

http://pappysassafrass.blogspot.com/