Buddy update

We spent some time at the cancer clinic with Buddy on Saturday. It was time for his remission progress exam, bloodwork, and some other tests. I'm excited to report that everything came back FINE and he's doing well !!! Here he is, minus his whiskers, which have fallen out because of the cancer meds:

His blood cell counts were within the normal range, which is always a GREAT sign when on chemotherapy! But now, since Buddy has been on chemo for a year, his oncologist suggested taking him off to avoid damage to his kidneys, liver, stomach, bone marrow, etc. We discussed with her how we're uncomfortable with him having no protection from cancer cells ... that we'd like to keep him on some form of chemo, all the while monitoring for any organ damage, rather than risk the growth of an inoperable malignant tumor. So Buddy will begin a "less toxic" course of chemo treatment this week, a different drug, one that's better for the long-term.

I tried doing some reading online about this other drug, but kept coming upon stories of how long dogs DON'T survive cancer. I refuse to focus on that, and stopped reading! As sad as the cancer clinic can be, they try to make it a positive environment ... for instance, this plaque was in our exam room:

Overall, Buddy is doing so well and we're incredibly thankful !!! We cherish each day with him !!!