Rest easy sweet Sydney

I always meant to be better about keeping up to date on the blog. Sadly, it seems that I haven't been great about giving you the good news and have been far more timely in sharing the bad news.

Our sweet boy Sydney lost his battle with cancer tonight. While my heart is broken that my best friend is no longer a part of this world, there is a part of me that is relieved. I am relieved that he was at home in the living room at the end of his life. I didn't want his last memory to be of a place that wasn't his favorite. I am glad that he was in his home. I am relieved that he isn't suffering anymore. He is in a place where he can move with ease and cancer isn't making it hard to breath.

Treating Syd's cancer gave us an additional ten months to enjoy with Sydney. We had cheeseburgers, rides in the car, snuggles on the couch with the boys and afternoons spent laying in the back yard. For all those things I am eternally grateful. As I have always said, I would make the same choice again in a heat beat.

Even right up until he left this world Sydney was the kindest soul. Today it became too difficult for him to stand so laid by the door so that he could wag his tail at everyone who walked in. No matter how wretched he must have felt at times he was never anything but ecstatic to see us. Our house will be a different place without him.

When Sydney was first diagnosed we couldn't find enough information about what treating a basset with lymphoma would be like. I started this blog so other people could find the information.

We treated Syd's lymphoma with one round of the CHOP protocol (chemo) Syd had some minimal side effects that required stays in the hospital. After the CHOP protocol Syd was in remission for three months. We visited the Vet once a month for those three months. Once Syd was out of remission we treated him three times with CCNU. After the CCNU quit working we treated twice with LSPAR. Once the LSPAR was no longer effective we treated Syd with Prednisone. The whole treatment cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 10K. It was worth every penny.

If you are in New England and looking for a canine oncologist you won't do better than Dr. DeRegis at Pieper Memorial in Middletown. She genuinely cared for Syd and answered all of our questions honestly and fairly. She went above and beyond to make sure that he had the best treatment possible and they we weren't sending ourselves to the poor house. I wish that I had been able to be nicer when I was at her office. I think that if we had met under different circumstances we probably would have been friends.

I will always be grateful that my sister Annie was a tech on Dr. DeRegis's team while Syd was being treated. It meant the world to me that there was someone that Syd loved there with him while he was having chemo.

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't heart broken tonight. I am trying to comfort myself with memories of Sydney. Some of my favorites; When he was a puppy he tripped over his ears when he ran, Even as an adult dog he has never able to keep his ears out of the water bowl, and  He loved us fiercely and protected our family through some scary times (an intruder, a car accident and a sick EK to name a few).

Thank you to everyone who was so kind during the time that Syd was sick. It really did mean the world to our family.

It was the best of times it was the worst of times.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. 

- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Sydney had his third remission check up on Monday afternoon. I sincerely wish that we had better news to report. Sydney's cancer is back. 

I am not sure if I have mentioned it before, but Sydney is named after the character Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities. I like to think that there are some similarities between the two. They are both selfless creatures when it matters most, they both can be incredible pains in the ass and they both struggled with addictive behaviors.That fact paired with the fact that I am a literary nerd makes the quote from the book feel very appropriate this afternoon.

 It is the best of times, I am happily married to a swell guy who appreciates all of my eccentricities, I have three wonderful children, the home I have always wanted, a huge, loud family I adore, animals I love, friends that understand me and time to do the things that I love. Both of the older kids found jobs recently doing things they are enjoying. Hayden is excited for warmer weather, swimming lessons, archery and bike rides. It is truly a good life. 

It is also the worst of times. I know that I am prone to dramatics. I own that fact. It might not have actually been "the worst" of times, but on Monday it certainly felt pretty crappy. Sydney has cancer again. We have to tell the kids. We had to decide what treatment to use this time. We needed to take a minute and let it sink in that no matter what we do we are going to lose our dog, best case scenario we have six months. We have to accept the fact that our family is still paying for the last round of CHOP. We have to remember that our financial situation has changed since Sydney was diagnosed the first time. No matter what we do this time it is gonna hurt worse. Sydney had a short remission. We got less time than we bargained for and it just plain sucks.

And gosh darn it, I am sick of winter. This has been a rough winter for a lot of people that I love. At times it has felt incredibly cold, dark and endless. This is the perfect rotten button on this damn winter. It was the season of darkness, It was the Spring of hope, It was the winter of despair.

If you aren't a dog person and don't understand that dogs are a part of the family, I encourage you to quit reading. This isn't the blog for you and today isn't the day to tell me that you don't understand why people would spend that kind of money on their dogs. You and I will never understand each other. Don't bother to try and change my mind and I will pay you the same courtesy.

We had a couple of options for treating Syd's relapse. We can do another round of the CHOP protocol. If he survived the whole thing we would be looking at another $5000 or $6000 dollars. We can expect that Syd's remission would last about half as long the second time. (Syd was in remission for just over 7 months the first time - SUPER RAW DEAL). Syd would have to go back to the vet weekly and spend the morning at the vet office being injected with drugs. 

Second option: CCNU. This would require a trip to the vet once every three weeks for oral chemo treatments. It would cost somewhere between $1300 and $3500 for the series. Again, that price is assuming her were to make it through the whole series without another relapse, which given the length of his first remission is unlikely. The best guess is that he would make it through about 5 treatments. So we are looking at somewhere between $700 and $1400 dollars. The higher end if if the medicine effects his liver. It will effect his liver, it would just be a matter of when.

Our last option would be steroids. This would be basically comfort care and would give us a couple of months. The financial cost would be minimal. It would means deciding that we aren't actively fighting and treating the disease anymore. We are just keeping him comfortable and enjoying what little bit of time we have left with him.

Personally, I think that all of our options suck. We decided that the lesser of all the evils would be to try CCNU. This option is less expensive than the CHOP protocol and doesn't involve nearly as many needle sticks. He also has to spend significantly less time at the Dr.'s office. We want to maximize the time he has left, but not at any cost to his comfort. The only problem: There is only about a 50/50 shot that it is going to work. If it does not work then we will treat him with prednisone and shower him with treats for whatever time he is comfortable. 

Have I mentioned that I think this sucks? 

  

Update: Recheck number two.

Guess what has four paws and is still in remission!

This guy!

Whew! I had convinced myself that we were in for bad news this time. Why you ask? Because I spend my free time sitting on the couch and grouping my dogs nodes to see if I can feel any change in them. I thought that the ones in his legs had gotten larger. Turns out I am just crazy. 

As you all know paying for Syd's treatment was difficult for our family. Even good news comes at a price. Yesterdays visit was $50. Which brings the total somewhere around $6500.  We had to cancel our honeymoon, ask our family and friends for help and make some sacrifices as a family. It was totally worth it and I would do it again in a heartbeat. We were lucky that we were able to move some things around and make it happen. I can't imagine a world where we simply weren't able to help a member of our family. Sadly, I think that sometimes people just can't do it. That is really and truly a shame. 

When Syd was first diagnosed I researched financial assistance for pets with cancer. You know what I found? Bupkis. There was no help out there. 

I was thrilled to hear that another patient at Pieper Memorial is doing something to change that. Tate's family knows that anyone who wants to give their pet a chance to live should be able to do so; regardless of their financial status.  Thus, Tate's Play Date was born. 

Here is the skinny on Tate's Play Date straight from their website: Tate's Play Date is an event that celebrates Tate and his survival.  He's six months into remission and going strong!  Come play for a purpose and experience an afternoon of fun and goodwill for pets and Pet Parents.  While your pup plays in a clean, safe environment, enjoy time to sit back and watch the excitement of a pack at play.  Take the afternoon to mingle, meet new friends or reunite with those you haven't seen lately.  100% of

 the proceeds raised will go directly into a designated fund to be utilized solely for local families in need of financial assistance throughout the treatment of their pet's fight against cancer.

Here is the official Tate's Play Date flyer. 

So grab your favorite Doggy and meet us at the Metro Pooch to help other families! We better see you there. 

Man, I have been terrible at keeping you all updated. I apologize. So here is the update on our pal Sydney.


Sydney completed the CHOP chemotherapy protocol and is in remission. Thankfully he only had a few issues (He lost some hair, Had to skip a week for a fever and had an adverse reaction one week and got a rash).

Syd is in remission and not currently being treated for his cancer. Syd goes back to his Dr. once a month so that she can monitor him and make sure that he is still in remission. The average remission for a dog after receiving treatment is 4 months. We are hopeful that Syd will be one of the lucky dogs and have a remission that lasts for years. When Syd is no longer in remission we will have to decide how we want to treat him. We will have the option to do another round of CHOP or peruse a different course of treatment.

I know you are curious, but are just to polite to ask. The whole shebang cost us nearly. six thousand dollars. With the support and help of our family and friends we were able to limp through and only had to put the last few treatments on a credit card.

Would I do it again? In a heart beat. Just look at this face.

I promise I will do a better job keeping you posted on Sydney's progress.