Caira Sue, we’ve missed your pretty face here, glad you’re back.

But to read this tonight, well, we are also crushed, and very sorry. Yeah, it sucks, it does. It’s like it just brings you back to square one all over again.

But please tell your Mom to keep in mind that a met can stay there for a long time and not be a pest. Sometimes you can even shrink them too. It’s all so random the way they work. The length of time dogs live with them varies all over the place. I lived seven extra months after seeing the mets on an x-ray. But some dogs here have lived even longer, like a year sometimes.

There’s really no predicting, and really drives home all that talk about living one day at a time.

Damn mets, I hate them.

Many hugs to you beautiful. Please let us know how we can help OK? xoxo

Batgirl

I missed you. You are absolutely the bestest tripawd of all to tease and that teases.

Darn blasted mets (edited for public consumption). I HATE them!!! I am also shocked. The way Caira Sue is so active I did not think she would get any for a very very very long time. But I guess it doesn’t work that way.

Vets will give you averages for time from amp to mets and mets to visible disease, and I think Pam has mentioned an average on this site for dogs that have had chemo. But looking around on this site, it does seem to vary.

Are you continuing any form of treatment? I am trying metronomics and, very soon, Artemisinin to try to control my very special subQ mets.

But the very best treatment of all is a nice walk outside on a sunny day.

Hugs to you and batgirl,

Tazzie 2

Dear CairaSue and family: Just last night we were going to sleep and thinking of CairaSue and her sweet face–thinking we hadn’t heard from you in awhile.

We’re so sorry you had this hard news.
If CairaSue seems happy and active, however, that seems to be a good sign.
I’m normally cautious and might not say his, but CairaSue has such spirit–if anyone can keep on fighting and loving life surely she can. I’m not as experienced as Jerry’s folks of course, but in my limited knowledge it does seem like these mets affect dogs differently.
We’ll send CairaSue lots of love and good thoughts. Keep on having fun! We love seeing your pictures and hearing about all your adventures!
Love, Romeo and Eve

Oh CairaSue, I’m so sorry to read about the newly discovered lung mets! I was wondering how you were doing and then I saw you had updated your blog.

I don’t know what to tell you… from what I’ve read about others on the Tripawds forum is that each do is different, can depend on how many mets, how large, etc. I dread the day when I find out that Jake has some… but for now, I try not to think about it too much right now.

I hope that in her case, they grow very, very slowly… CairaSue is an amazing, full of energy dog… and hopefully, that will be in her favor.

My thoughts and prayers are with you and CairaSue…

Luv,
Jake’s Mom

The weekend after I found out Yoda had mets, I took him to the BIG dog park because there really wasn’t any change in his energy or spirits. He had five of them – four in one lung and one in the other, I think. Anyway, at the park, after we went around once and he drank a bunch of water and I was sure he was done and ready to go home for a nap, he heard a group of other dogs making a ruckus and took off to check it out! He then played chase with them with a second wind, and when the little leader of the game started getting too far ahead and Yoda was getting frustrated, Yoda just lept over this big old rock sticking out of the ground in order to catch up! All the owners who were sitting near the game were going “Whoa!!” I was on a picnic table watching from a ways away and started tearing up. But that wouldn’t be the end of the surprises.

Yoda did have some ups and downs between the discovery of his lung mets, but he was more up than down. We had many more trips to the dog parks and just a week before the end he caught himself a rabbit in the yard – on three legs and with lungs full of cancer.

I found my old post from when Yoda’s lung mets were found and re-read that his oncologist had told me that the median survival after lung mets are found is 60 days. But then, she also said I’d probably see him start to slow down after a couple weeks and that certainly DID NOT happen. He slowed once for a few days when a lung met ruptured the first time (maybe a month later?), but bounced back. Then he slowed down again for about a week when he lost his appetite for a while there, but bounced back from that too. And then, as I said, caught a rabbit like it was nothing a little less than a week before another lung met rupture was too much.

So anyway, it’s awful news and I’m so sorry, BUT there’s easily a lot of quality time left and Caira Sue could definitely beat that median stat. of 2 months. Statistics are made to be broken!

Hang in there! I’ll be watching for updates.

It can’t be. Caira Sue’s must be a little one, because she has too much energy to be knocked down like that.

Mary and Adam, I’m so sorry to hear that news, but hope that the treatments you’ve been giving her will keep it under control for the longest possible time.

Sending the most positive thoughts, and hugs too.

Mary and Cemil