JesseesJourney

This is a pretty darn exciting week.  Yesterday mom went birthday shopping for me.  From what I understand from listening to her she bought me a whole bunch of treats.   Although this week me and Jaymee have been enjoying doggie ice cream in the warmish weather up here in WA.  I won’t share with Jaymee.  We both need our own cups cause that’s how we are 🙂

This is me checking out the neighborhood.  I thought I saw a noise so I had to get a better look.  I don’t “need” the harness but mom says it makes it so much easier to guide me if need be.  I just finished oral chemo #15 with the new regiment last night and I’m feeling good.  Eating like I always do, lots.  Pooping really good quality poops too 🙂

that’s me laying on my elevated bed in the afternoon snacking on my daily bunch of romaine.  Again, we don’t share, both me and Jaymee need our own head of romaine each day just cause we love it.

Jaymee decided to photobomb this picture of me so mom thought she’d include it too as he will be 9 in a few weeks.  We both get our own celebration though.  No combining birthdays in this house

And just for fun mom decided to include one of our feline brothers.  this is Joee Bowee.  There is a lady in NZ who makes these fantastic cat hats and they are part of the Pointey Hat Club.  Mom thinks this is pretty funny.  Joee likes to curl up next to me when I dozing cause I’m so nice and warm and they seek body warmth.

So on a very positive note this week, we are having excellent days.  It’s very hard to imagine Jessee will be 10 on Monday.  I can’t help but think back to 19 months ago and hoping we would have time to say goodbye.   She is an excellent example of what is possible.  We have lung X-rays on the 11th to see how this chemo is working, fingers crossed.  And we have accupuncture for my rear legs coming up.  Otherwise we are all just enjoying every minute of every day right now.  Bye for now.  birthday pictures next!!!

We are celebrating today!  19 months ago Jessee became a tripawd and got rid of that nasty cancer in her left front leg.  Lots of chemo and Toragen later she had a bout of spindle cell cancer earlier this year that was removed.  She now has a nodule in her lung that appears to be contained (fingers crossed) and she is feeling fine.  She is tolerating her chemo with no side effects under our current regimen.  She eats well, super attentive and engaged, adores her short walks and laying on the porch or in her elevated bed barking at the birds!  In other words, life is very very good right now and we are enjoying every minute of it.  Jessee has gained a couple pounds back after the initial diagnosis of lung cancer.  She will be turning TEN on August the 1st and we are planning a special birthday party for my cancer warrior.  I have no idea if she is approaching a record for giant breed older dogs being tripawds but she is going for it!  Anyway, wanted to share our excellent news and share with other tripawd warriors out there!  Hugs from Jessee and mom

Well this has been a very interesting week for Cancer Warrior Jessee.  Right after the last posting the very next day she wouldn’t eat, could barely walk and we were extremely worried.  Oncologist said to stop chemo drug immediately and prescribed anti nausea meds for her (on Sunday).  By dinner she was eating chicken breast out of dad’s hand.  Still trouble walking.  Now I know my baby girl and I know she totally overdid it the day before.  I should have stopped it but she was having such a good time jumping up and barking at the birds, the clouds, the planes, whatever. I just didn’t.  I sat back and enjoyed it.  I was not real comfortable with stopping chemo but both our oncologist and vet said do it!  So we did.  Jessee was eating fine by Monday morning and she had an accupuncture treatment on her rear legs which also helped.  So, we waited until our oncology appt on Thursday for X-rays.  Worried sick of course.  After 7 chemo treatments (2 with the first drug that made her so sick, and 5 with the second drug) the nodule is the same or slightly larger which I’m encouraged by.  There are no new nodules at this point.  She also has good bloodwork and managed to gain a pound after all the chemo sickness from the first drug.  So of course we stopped at McDonalds and she got two plain burgers cause that what she gets to do after a chest xray.  The new plan is we have her back on the second chemo drug, Dasatinib every 48 hours.  Next chest xray mid August.  Her routine now on chemo day is she gets a Xanax and a peptcid about 1.5 hours prior to the chemo.  She will then eat a nice dinner and after that she gets the pill and totally crashes.  No moaning or groaning which oncologist thinks is her delicate system reacting to the drug.  No shaking.  She lays on the couch with her head in our lap snoring away.  The next morning she eats about a 80% breakfast.  Noon and dinner are normal.  The second day is totally normal.  Her mobility is back to what it was.  I will not let that happen again!  When I asked oncologist now what, we hope to get the nodule into remission or she would continue on chemo until she can’t handle it any more, like a maintenance dose or we decide that’s enough.  Dr. also said this may not be an osteosarcoma spread, no way to really know.  Hopefully it’s not.

Anyway, as usual here’s a couple Jessee pictures.  Sorry for this being so long, it was a very intense week.  First picture is from CA days, she did love to swim.

Resting after mom let her play too much

And zonked after chemo treatment plan.

Bye for now……

Greetings from Jessee.   She has now had 4 doses of the new chemo RX Dasatinib.  No negative reaction.  One every 48 hours.  Her oncologist and I have agreed she gets a Xanax about an hour before her meds and then she’s fine all evening.  Otherwise we have what I describe as a mini meltdown in the wee hours of the morning.  She’s reacted to every single chemo the same way.  But the Xanax seems to prevent it.  She is maintaining her appetite, her alertness, her mobility is as good as ever and she seems to genuinely be enjoying the warmer days here in WA.  We are so hopeful this will contain the nodule in her lung, maybe even make it go away, who knows?  Here’s a few pictures of her and her brother enjoying the last few days of dry weather vs all the rain we’ve been having up here in WA.  We do chest X-rays a week from tomorrow to see how the chemo is doing, please keep her in your thoughts..   Love from Jessee and mom

She does like to strike a pose, lol

Well here is our weekly pawsitive update for the cancer warrior Jessee!   Last week Jessee had started a new oral chemo treatment called Sirolimus.  One pill per day.  Two pills later and she was so sick.  Vomitting, diarrhea, losing her famous appetite and even a bit of sneezing.  Contacted our oncologist who agreed stop!  Got her started on Peptcid and some Metronidazole.  After a couple days it was almost gone.  Her poor tush was just raw from that episode.  She did rock some Great Dane diapers for a few days to make my life easier!  But I’m happy to say that as of Thursday it’s all cleared up.  And she is back to being happy go lucky Jessee.  New medication should arrive on Wednesday.  This time we are going to try Dasatinib with our fingers crossed.  She has just been having some really good days since Thursday.  Short walks, laying in the grass and pretending to be a big old dane cow, barking at the birds and anything else she hears.  We are trying to keep weight on her too so we have started adding olive oil to her oncology diet.  But again, living in the moment, staying positive, enjoying every minute.  Had lots of tears when we got this latest diagnosis until Peter and I talked and reminded ourselves back in Dec 2020 we were hoping for just a couple weeks to say goodbye to her.  We have been so fortunate with Jessee.  Here’s a couple of pictures on her walk yesterday

That’s Peter and Jaymee in the background.  She just loves this fresh sweet spring grass.  Nothing sprayed on it just wild.  She doesn’t need the harness now either.  That was to assist her during the recovery from that drug.