On October 24, 2012, Sasha turned 12 years old. Here’s how she celebrated.
Say Hi to Scooby!
Scooby is a handsome yellow lab who is participating in the Mason Bone Cancer Study at the University of Pennsylvania. He lives with his mom and dad, Liz and John, his brother Linus (pictured below chewing on a stick), and the family cat, who Liz says, “rules the house”. Scooby received his second vaccine on October 15th, and has been doing great. Be sure to come back and read more about Scooby’s journey. In the meantime, read ‘Scooby’s story’ as written by his dad, John:
Scooby Doo– aka — Scooby, Scoobs, Scoobert, Skips, Skibs, Do, Doobert, Dope, Dopey, Dipsy, Dips, Dippy, Dipper, Goober, Goof-ball. One dog, one name, so many nick-names. This beloved member of our family responds to all with a loving disposition only a dog can have. And, he routinely responds with a smile that brightens us even on the darkest of days. He is a loyal friend, our protector, our entertainer, our athlete, our troublemaker, and our shining example of the importance of resilience in the face of adversity.Scooby came to us from a Pennsylvania farm. We brought our Golden Retriever, Woodstock, to help pick a puppy from the large litter. Woodstock took a liking to one particular “baby lab”. The soon to be multi-named puppy wasn’t at all afraid of the 90lb Golden towering over him, sniffing every inch of his tiny four-legged frame. And at that moment, Scooby Doo Roberts came to be.Fast forward — Our friend is now nine years old and as fate would have it, Scoobs has bone cancer. Not long after he had successful ACL surgery on one of his rear legs, Scoobert started to limp on his front left leg. A couple of trips to our local vet yielded no explanation. A trip to a specialist followed by an incredibly anxious week-long wait for biopsy results and we had the dreaded news. At that moment, as a family, we agreed we would do everything in our means to help Skips battle the insidious disease with which he’d been stricken. The specialist presented us with the treatment options and the prognosis for survival for each.We chose to amputate the cancerous leg, followed by chemotherapy. The sadness and anxiety of taking Doo’s leg nearly overwhelmed us. It was not until we watched Doobert, just a couple of weeks after the operation, chase down his soccer ball with the same zest as he always had (ok, minus a few MPH), that we realized the incredible ability of Dope to adapt to his “handicap”. His smile is still contagious, he demands attention with the same loud bark, he jumps up on the bed with little effort, he routinely hops into the living room with one of our shoes hanging from his mouth, he sniffs the garbage, licks the dishes when the dishwasher door is ajar, and he runs to our property line to announce to passersby that this is “our house”. Undoubtedly, Dopey is still the same Dipsy, save for his new gate.In recent weeks Dips has been a participant in a University of Pennsylvania clinical trial for a bone cancer vaccination. Dr. Nicola Mason’s study hopes to find a way to prevent the cancer from returning following amputation and chemotherapy. Dippy has been wonderfully cared for there and he has adopted the staff as new friends. While there is no certainty to the outcome of Dipper’s participation in the study we are grateful for the added hope it provides us.
I just love how many nicknames Scooby has! Each of my dogs has nicknames too, but I think Scooby has as many as all five of my dogs combined. Please keep Scooby in your thoughts, and wish him and his family all the best in his participation in the Mason Bone Cancer Study.
Sasha went back to NC State on October 15th for some follow-up radiographs, a month earlier than normally scheduled. The reason for the early return to NC State was that another shadow appeared in the radiographs taken of her lungs back on September 18th.
We dropped Sasha off with Dr. Hauck in the morning, and would have to wait until 5pm for the results of her new radiographs. We were a little anxious about what we would find out, of course, but we also were feeling positive. Sasha had been acting completely normal; she was active and happy. We even started taking her swimming at an indoor facility just for dogs. Sasha loves swimming so much; she must have been a seal in a past life!
Liliana stopped by the house after work and picked me up so that we could pick up Sasha together. It didn’t take long for Dr. Hauck to meet us in the waiting room area and bring us into an examination room. She explained to Liliana and I that, once again, the blemish that appeared in last month’s radiographs of Sasha’s chest had disappeared. Unfortunately, also like last time, a new white cloud was now visible.
Dr. Hauck explained that we should not be alarmed at the new finding. It was very small, and like last time, no determination could be made as to what the cloud actually was. In fact, it was her and the radiologist’s opinion that the new cloud was likely nothing more than the intersection of one of Sasha’s ribs, along with a vein and some other internal body. Dr. Hauck showed the new radiographs to Liliana and me, and though we aren’t experts at reading radiographs, the intersection theory seemed like a fairly obvious conclusion.
So, we left NC State feeling good about Sasha’s current condition, and planed on carrying on as we had been doing. Sasha would continue to go swimming at least once per week, her diet would stay the same (Orijen), and hugs, kisses, rubs, pats, and “good girls” would continue to be handed out liberally. Sasha approves of this course of action!
Sasha is scheduled to go back to NC State on the 19th of November. We will write again – hopefully in a timelier manner – about her checkup, and let everyone know how she is doing. We would really like to travel to Philadelphia for Sasha’s January checkup. I know Sasha would love to see Dr. Mason, and Liliana and I would enjoy the visit also.