I’m happy to let you know that since I last wrote about Meg-Meg, she’s really had a great few months.
As I type this, she’s outside walking in the cold with her dad! He’s a great dad. 🙂
We just got back from a week long family Christmas vacation to visit my family in Huntsville and Sealy, Texas. She did great on the car rides. Of course, she’s always loved to travel. She spent the entire time riding in my lap. Those are the moments I treasure the very most. It’s funny, I remember when I first got her, I thought she needed to ride in the back seat. Brandon was the one who talked me into letting her be a lap dog in the car. Now I can’t imagine any other way! 🙂 She just loves to be loved, and I love loving on her!
Update on Treatments
For those reading this trying to figure out how to deal with your own treatment of lymphoma in your canines, I’ll give you a quick update on the things we’ve learned since I last wrote about her treatment…
First, we have to give great thanks to the staff at Wisdom Animal Clinic. They have just been beyond fantastic. Meg’s bi-monthly treatments are so much easier knowing she’s going to be taken care of by a fantastic staff. She’s not even nervous anymore when she gets out to go inside. They’re just that fantastic. And they don’t mind answering phone calls on even the silliest of questions. Having a vet who Meg feels comfortable visiting is comforting to me.
I did run out of her medications because of poor planning on my part. The good news was it was towards the end of a bi-monthly treatment, so she did okay skipping a dose of the nausea/anti-diarrhea medicine. But always make sure to plan really good on being able to get pills from the pharmacy (especially during the holidays).
We have finally figured out the BEST FOOD for Meg. She really doesn’t like chicken most weeks that she has a treatment. As I’ve written about in other posts, she can’t have carbs because they feed the cancer cells, and so that puts her on an all meat diet. From the things we’ve read, we’ve learned that the reason she probably doesn’t enjoy the poultry is because of how it mixes with the “metallic” taste of the chemo. But what she does love is BEEF!! So she now has an almost all beef diet, mixed with vitamins from PetsMart. I finally learned that by breaking the vitamins up and mixing them in the food, she gives me no problems eating the vitamins either.
So her new diet is this…
3 pounds hamburger meat (cooked over the stove)
3 pounds stew meat (cooked for 2 hours in a dutch oven)
12 Turkey Sausages (cut open and cooked like hamburger)
We’ve found that by cooking the meat with garlic and meat seasoning (no salt) she really eats it up! 🙂 The turkey sausage just adds the additional seasoning/flavor.
I’ve also learned that on mornings when she doesn’t want her “cheese ball” (her daily pills in cheese), that if I mix it into the food, she eats it, too! 🙂
Update on Life in General…
Meg isn’t letting cancer get her down! I’ve learned so much from her “get-up and go” attitude. Even on the days when I know she’s not feeling well (usually the first 4 days after treatment), she is still all about playing and getting love. Attitude is everything, and she has the best attitude.
This Christmas she was extra spoiled. Her Grandma Stephanie got her several toys and a beautiful pink sweater. Her Cammy and Kickey got her lots of toys and made her a delicious Christmas breakfast. Her dad was able to pull off the ultimate Christmas surprise (click here to read about it). Her friend Fumiko made her a beautiful fleece blanket (that she loves to cuddle in), and her Uncle Donald made her some delicious ham and turkey (which she ate up gladly and begged for more). But most importantly, she got to spend a week with all her family members being showered with love. And at the end of the day, that’s all she really wants.
Update on the Future…
The reality is, no one knows what the future may hold. Meg started her 3rd to last treatment this week. We were fortunate that the vet allowed us to do it on our own, since we were on vacation and it was a pill. Of all the treatments, this is always the least detrimental medicine to her overall personality and well-being. She seems to be doing really well. She took the first pill yesterday and she’ll take the second pill tomorrow.
She’ll take her next treatment on January 14th (the Vincristine … the worst of the chemos) and then her final treatment will be on January 28th.
I’m actually really kinda nervous about her last treatment because once it’s done, it’s done. There won’t be anything else fighting the cancer, and we know it will return. We just don’t know when. We’ve made the decision not to put her through a second round of treatment once she relapses. I’m doing my best to stay positive with the notion that she’s a true fighter with the biggest heart. If there was ever a dog able to fight this battle and stay in remission, she’s that dog!
I love you Meg-Meg! Here’s to 2013!!!!!!!!!! Let’s kick cancer’s butt once and for all!! 🙂
Well sis, I loved your update on Meg. You know cancer treatment is kinda the same for Epilpsy too. Starve the Carbs, starve the cells. You know humans were bought with the blood of Jesus, he took a beating before he was crucified so that we could have healing for our bodies. If we believe, by his stripes we ARE healed! Positive attitudes are one of the rules for healing. I believe that Meg has a mommy who loves her dearly, and is doing all she can to see healing manifest in Meg. It doesn’t say the stripes were only for humans, so pray over Meg, and keep telling her she is healed, and she will be free from all sickness. All sickness and disease are from the Devil, so rebuke it and watch her get well! I love you, and so happy for Meg!