Sunny's Battle with the Worst Kind of Cancer

Over 2 years now going strong. Vet says "amazing"

2007-06-14T10:46:00.000-07:00

Negative: She blew out her ACL (knee ligaments), which required another expensive surgery and almost complete isolation in a kennel for 8-12 weeks for healing.

Positive: No signs of cancer and all test come up clean. With the average mortality rate from 3-8 months, having her healthy for 2 years is just amazing!

Her program of chemo in the beginning, holistic supplements, a ton of love and a dietary switch (no by products) certainly prove one, some or all worked well. I said, if I got an extra year out of her, it would be great, and this is wonderful. It's double bonus time with her now.

Vet visit update

2006-09-15T21:58:00.000-07:00

Sunny saw the vet this week and all tests and x-rays came back great. She is full of energy and running around plenty.

August and running great!

2006-08-01T20:18:00.000-07:00

Sunny is doing great and she'll go to the vet for another check up toward the middle of this month. She is totally active and shows no signs of problems.

Visit this week - All great

2006-05-26T10:44:00.000-07:00

Sunny visited the vet this week and got great marks! Well over a year, her blood work came back great and her X-rays again had nothing of concern. Next appointment is in August, so she can enjoy the nice weather and chill on the lounge outside while she gives Tucker hell.

Sunny adds value to my presentation

2006-04-25T23:05:00.000-07:00

I was having writer's block on my latest presentation, so I asked Sunny what she thought. She said it was total dog shit and provided some great value add. Specifically how cookies could help improve marketing productivity and long walks would drive higher ROI.

She also rightly suggested that my staffing levels needed more meat, specifically rib eye.

No Taxing for Sunny

2006-04-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

Quick update. Simply, she's doing great - next month she will go in for another vet visit for a checkup, but she's got her typical appetite and energy. Her and Tuck are waiting for the weather to improve so she can play around outside more.

Missing Sunny from India

2006-03-14T03:52:00.000-08:00

I haven't been able to see Sunny now that I'm on a long business trip in India. But, that doesn't mean I haven't seen crazy animals. This guy was just chilling, waiting for people to give him peanuts.

March Maddness

2006-03-04T10:06:00.000-08:00

It's now March and Sunny is the same crazy dog. She is doing great and beating up on Tucker any chance she gets. The weather has been crappy so she enjoys going outside, stepping in poop and making a nice trail in the house that typically leads right up to the bed.

Great results from Vet visit!

2006-02-02T15:20:00.000-08:00

Sunny visited the vet yesterday and the results were GREAT! The bumps she had were all non-issues and just age-related. She had an ultrasound and x-rays, all came up "boring" as the oncologist said, which is wonderful.

So, things are as good as they can be with no signs of any issue and her passing the statistical average for such a cancer. Always important to remember, you're never out of trouble, but be thankful for every day.

Her next visit is early May.

New Year's Update

2006-01-05T16:43:00.000-08:00

Well, we've made it through the new year. First we hoped Sunny would happily bound to her birthday and now she has ripped through the New Year. She is still doing great, although the colder weather has her arthritis acting up. She does have a number of small bumps that can't be good, but her energy level is awesome.

She goes to the vet very soon for the checkup. Everything from here on out is bonus time with her!

Holiday Doggin It

2005-12-18T10:51:00.000-08:00

Dispite both dogs being Jewish, they pose in front of the Christmas tree here. All going pretty good. Sunny is having some problems with her back leg - her same problematic one. Since it is cold out, the arthritis is getting to her. Overall, she still has tons of energy.

Happy Bday and Thanks-Taking For Sunny

2005-11-27T17:20:00.000-08:00

Sunny turned 9 years old this month. Amazing that when she was diagnosed with cancer, our best hopes were that she would make it to her birthday. Well, she busts right through her birthday and now into Thankgiving. As you can see, Tuck and Sunny got their T-day meals.

Her next appointment is in mid-December. So far so good. She has plenty of energy and you wouldn't even notice that she is sick at all.

Good Sunny Days

2005-11-12T23:52:00.000-08:00

Even as winter is upon us and we have fewer and fewer minutes of light, Sunny still shining.

She is even posing on the couch. She is very active still and shows no signs of slowing down. Of course, it is important to always remember how this cancer can progress with little warning, so lesson is to give her lots of hugs and she thinks that means she is getting more cookies - of course she is correct.

Sunny status - Who let the brat out?

2005-11-05T22:21:00.000-08:00

She definately has more energy than I've seen in a long time. She is more persistant in the morning when se wants breakfast. She rountinely kicks Tuck's butt.

As you can see, she doesn't want me to watch football. She's showing me here attitude and a little grief because I didn't give her attention or a cookied for a full 5 minutes.

Next, I was heading out to play a round of golf and she wanted to make sure I wouldn't go without knowing how cute she is. Tuck is in the background not giving a shit about what I do.

Doing GREAT!!

2005-10-27T20:35:00.000-07:00

Sunny had her 8-week checkup, which included chest x-rays and blood tests. She weighed in at 46 pounds, chest was clear and blood was looking great.

We couldn't ask for better results. Next appointment will be in December.

Quick Sunny update - still doing well

2005-10-26T14:24:00.000-07:00

We are getting close to her 8-week checkup hoping for the best. She goes in tomorrow morning for some tests. She is in great spirits with tons of energy. Will provide an update as soon as results come in.

Update - all good but fleas are a jumpin

2005-10-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

Sunny seems to be doing great. Next month she has her 8-week post-chemo checkup. Only problem now is that the dogs have fleas. They've gotten flea baths and the house has been sprayed, but they keep getting them. They both used to be on "program" and they never had fleas, but since Sunny was diagnosed with Cancer, I've tried to pull all chemicals out of their lives. So, I'd rather stay away from the stuff.

Here's a shot of sunny relaxing it up.

The weekend brings the lazy dogs out

2005-10-02T16:50:00.000-07:00

They are in sleep mode Saturday late night, getting ready for some NFL football on Sunday. They know gameday is an all day affair. Tuck (Mr. Black) is definately jealous of Sunny and all the attention we give her, so he gets some TLC.

Sunny does her best Tuck pose. Usually can't pull off a shot like this one because she will open her eyes. Shows how tired she was.

All things going great - finished all the pills

2005-09-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

She is done completely with her pills, so hopefully things will get better.

Quick update - 1 pill left

2005-09-27T08:59:00.000-07:00

Sunny is down to just 1 cytoxin pill and then she is totally finished with Chemo for now. Hopefully she can build up her immune system and get back to 100% in energy. She is doing far better than expected but it is important to remain guarded and know that this is the type of cancer that doesn't ever fully go away.

Sunny gets agro

2005-09-18T11:34:00.000-07:00

Not only is her energy level up, but as typical, she wants to go after any dog, no matter where. Here she is going after the dog on the TV. If we leave her long enough, she'll knock the TV off.

She also got into a stare down with Tuck over a toy. They held that position for a good 10 seconds before Tuck backed down.

Little scare, but doing great again

2005-09-13T21:43:00.000-07:00

Last couple days Sunny had almost no appetite and threw up a couple times. As it turns out, she ate something and got some kind of food poisoning. Now she is BACK at full strength. She got a new bed today (from Target) and took to it like a rockstar at a sorority party. What is so amazing is the picture I took. The TV was on and just happened to catch some commercial, which seems to be perfect for this shot to match her attitude.

Sunny's 5th and last Chemo drip treatment and tests

2005-09-08T21:15:00.000-07:00

Visited the vet today for her last Adriamycin chemo treatment (1-hour drip). We made it past 4 months and her 5th treatment. She has to take her last set of Cytoxin pills for another couple weeks then she is done with chemo and we watch for 7-8 weeks before another checkup.

Her tests came back great. White blood cell counts and her energy level is great. She weighted in at a healthy 48 pounds, which is a gain of 10 pounds after her initial surgery to remove her spleen. We also did an ultrasound. Things looked pretty good. The vet said that there was a small nodule on the liver, but it appeared to be more related to age so nothing to over-worry about yet.

Although her chemo has cost plenty, it has been worth it. Besides her treatment days, she is pretty much the same crazy dog. She has surpassed the average life expectancy of dogs with this type of cancer. I'm hoping that after her chemo pills she gets even more energy and can get back to giving Tuck some hell.

New photo coming soon. Just as she got all her hair back, she had to get shaved for the ultrasound.

Still Quick as Ever

2005-08-26T22:54:00.000-07:00

Sunny will balance food on her nose and snatch it out of the air on command. In this case she actually performs slight of nose by magically changing her jerkey treat into a dog cookie. Difficult to catch the action, but this picture is worth a couple thousand words. Her cookie busts in half in the air and she catches half. Click on picture and you can see little pieces fly through the air.

Tucker has no patience and only hopes to pick up her scraps.

Tucker wants in on the action

2005-08-20T20:56:00.000-07:00

Just another lazy Saturday, but luckily the camera was close by to catch the two of them together. This is Tucker's (left) first blog post and of course being a mutt with Chow in him, he's a bit shy.

As you can see, Sunny has full energy and doing great (knock on wood). Today was spent almost completely cooking for her. A lot of beef and chicken (still cooking) to prepare for the next couple weeks.

Sunny's 4th Cancer Treatment update

2005-08-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

Sunny went in yesterday for her 4th of 5 chemo therapies. Oncologist said she is doing great - white blood cell counts are very healthy and she's borderline anemic, but no concerns. She has passed the 3-month mark, which is the average survival rate for dogs with this kind of cancer (without treatment). Obviously our best hopes are to get her into remission and beyond a year, but at this point, every day is a gift with this girl, although a very expensive gift.

So, she's chilling on the iJoy turbo massage chair.

August update

2005-08-07T22:25:00.000-07:00

Later this week she goes in for her second to last treatment at the vet. So far, pretty good. Still a ton of energy and the ability to wake me up around 7am for her food. A little bit more restless in the evenings before going to bed.

You can see the nutcase just minutes ago when told the magic word, "cooooooookieee."

Sunny in July - 3rd treatment update

2005-07-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we visited the vet again for Sunny's 3rd of 5 chemo treatments. Her bloodwork cameback good, but slightly anemic. Good news also was that she gained weight (now 46 pounds, from 41 pounds).

Of course, after her treatment, she was out of it - sad to see her so down, but just a few hours later, she was back to her crazy self.

So far, I've seen some first-day impact of the chemo treatments (and oral pills she gets every 3 days), but she still has all the energy that I was used to.

Sunny's progress - cancer treatment

2005-06-28T17:55:00.000-07:00

Today we did our 3-week visit to the vet. Sunny is on a holistic diet along with chemotherapy (Adriamycin drip at the vet once every 3 weeks and Cytoxan pill every 3 days). When we first brought her in, she had a few small bumps and the good news was that none grew and one shrunk just a bit.

Her energy level remains very high and her blood results came back better than expected. The vet had expected the blood count to cut to about half and it went down, but not nearly by half. Sunny is a bit tired, which happens after each treatment. Also happens when I give her the Cytoxan pills every 3rd day. The day after she gets it and the next day, she typically does really well.

She used to get standard kibble food every morning and we have switched to 2 meals a day and primarily give her chicken or beef as the primary ingredient along with herbs and supplements. Will share her diet if someone wants.

Saw the movie Crash on Sunday - holy shit was it good

2005-06-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

Go see it. Really heavy flick with about every racial stereotype you could imagine. It's the type of movie you can't even contemplate what happens next in. Really builds tension well.

Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Brendan Frasier, Ludicris (yes my spelling sucks) and some other great folks in this flick.

Check out the website: http://www.crashfilm.com/

Another day another way

2005-06-11T19:02:00.000-07:00

Shot an 85 on the course and lost a number of skins. I'm on and off like Anna Nicole Smith with a bottle and a cheeseburger.

My dog sunny and her cancer

2005-06-06T22:04:00.000-07:00

Our 8 year old Sunny (whippet/pit bull mix) collapsed recently. She was brought to the vet and her white blood cell count was really low. They brought her vitals back, but an ultrasound showed that she had a ruptured spleen. We also did an ultrasound on the heart and it showed no tumors so we went ahead and had her spleen removed (this cost us many $thousands). Unfortunately, the tests came back positive for cancer - and the worst kind. It was hemangiosarcoma. This is terminal and at the blood level. Always spreads and typical survival rate is just 2-3 months.

After reading a lot on the net we had decided to take a holistic path to improving and hopefully lengthening her life. There was a lot of online controversy over chemotherapy. We took Sunny to an oncologist in Santa Cruz, who provided much needed education -- that the average was in fact 2-3 months of survival without treatment and 8-10 months with. Additionally, side effects range from little to severe (usually breed specific). He even said he had several dogs that are living well over a year now and one that is around 5 years -- this gave us at least some hope. Our primary concern of course was not reducing the quality of our dog's life and of course not be selfish.

I decided to also visit a holistic vet, who suprisingly was in favor of a combined treatment therapy. So, she gave us advice on a new diet for Sunny along with some supplements (can provide this info is you request).

We began treatment in early June.