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.
No comments:
Post a Comment