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Wow! What a week it has been! Who knew having a mass in your head would be so much work! I am tired!
If you did not read how this all started, you may want to start from the beginning HERE because it is kind of a crazy story and it could happen to any dog so we want you to be prepared. After the first week of craziness, we moved on to specialists and tests and you can read about that HERE.
After all of that, we actually got a weekend off to enjoy ourselves and most importantly, rest up for the coming week! Mommy took me to the Mt. Soledad cross where we said a prayer together.
It was the start of the week and #teamjack was underway!
We were scheduled at Genesis Health Care Cyberknife for Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. and on Thursday at 9 a.m. We found out it is called Cyberknife because it is non-invasive surgery. Someone had a good imagination naming it, don’t you think?
Because the Cyberknife is at a human facility that does not deal with IV’s or blood, mommy had to drive me to CVS so that they could put in my IV and get me prepared for my radiation. I thought that I was going to have to get my head shaved, but lucky for me, I didn’t for Cyberknife.
Mommy followed my new “team” down to the Cyberknife place in San Diego. I was not complaining about the 32 mile drive. Did you know that we have one of two Cyberknife places in the entire country that treats pets? People come from all over the country for Dr. Proulx to treat their beloved pets with Cyberknife!
We waited in the parking lot until all of the human patients were gone and it was our turn to go in. I love my new team. Leah, Randall, Emily & Gitane treated me so nice.
Dr. Proulx decided that he would like to do a little more calibrating so mommy, daddy and I waited outside in the fresh air while they did another dog, Max’s, procedure first. I was ok with it because I was really tired. Anyone that knows me, knows that I am not a lap dog. Daddy made a joke that for $15,000. we now had a lap dog! I hope he knows, that this is not going to last for long!
When it was my turn, my team got me positioned on the table and I fell into a deep sleep. (I think they gave me that sleep stuff again!)
Mommy and daddy got to come into the control room and watch what was happening on the monitors.
Dr. Proulx explained that the 100’s of beams were coming to my mass like a spiderweb. That big beam machine moves around at all angles. The cool thing is that every 30 seconds, an x-ray is being taken from the tube in the ceiling to make sure that I was not moving and if I even moved a millimeter, the machine would adjust for it. They could see all of the images on the control panel.
They watched my blood pressure and heart rate and the cool thing was it was very close to mommy’s! My heart rate was 58 & my BP was 103/ 67. They gave me that special mannitol stuff again to help bring my intracranial pressures down.
The entire procedure lasted approximately 25 minutes and then my team woke me up.
I was very groggy, that stuff that they give me really knocks me out!
Mommy & daddy took me home and I could not WAIT to eat! I think having cancer is making me more hungry plus I am not allowed to eat 6 hours before my exam so no treats!
We repeated the same process the second day, but this time, my own doctor got to come and watch. Dr. Kaleka is the best doctor ever! I was so excited to wake up and see her because she always gives me treats and is so nice to me!
Since my procedure wasn’t done until close to 6 p.m. and I had to return the next morning at 9 a.m., Mommy and Dr. Proulx decided to just leave my IV in so that I wouldn’t have to get stuck again and mommy wouldn’t have to drive back up to Carlsbad. Mommy made me promise that I would not chew it out and I was a good boy and listened so I wouldn’t have to wear the dreaded cone that mommy made!
The next morning, we were so excited because it was our last treatment. Well, I will admit that mommy was more excited than I was because I was still wondering why I didn’t get my breakfast!! Even though mommy woke up at 3 am. to flush my catheter, take me potty and feed me a little, a boy needs to have a full breakfast!
As promised, I got dressed up in my bowtie for my last treatment and waited in the fancy waiting room.
I got to go first ahead of Max today. I was still very groggy from last nights procedure so it took me a long time to wake up! Mommy even tried the “we are getting ice cream” trick and although that got me excited, I could not wake up!
Mommy sat with me for a long time waiting for me to wake up!
I finally did and my team wished me well and gave me a BIG plate full food. Mommy didn’t get a photo cause I ate it so fast! But it was a heart shaped piece of tuna with shredded chicken on top! Man! It was worth Cyberknife just for that yummy treat!! I licked the plate clean!
We said our “see you later’s” and then we were off to see our friends! First stop was my Aunty Lori. Her & my other Aunty Laurie went crazy with the gifts! They made me a BIG gift basket full of goodies & a really cool card! That was so very nice of them.
Second stop was my Aunty Loree at Paw Pleasers who made me chicken broth & banana “ice cream” with a chicken foot added in for an extra crunch! I made a big mess eating it but it was so YUM!!
Third stop was daddy’s office where they made me a BIG card and collected a lot of money for my “treat”ment fund. That was so kind of them and they were all so nice to me.
Speaking of, Aunty Naomi didn’t listen to mommy and she started a Go Fund Me “treat”ment fund too! THANK YOU so much to everyone who donated. That was very KIND of you and we really appreciate it very much!
This has been a crazy experience for all of us. Mommy was very worried about me and was there for every step of the entire process.
I think the team at CVS thought that she was some kind of crazy stalker! She gave them all KIND snack bars because they were so KIND to us!
So what next? The plan is to have a follow up visit with Dr. Proulx in 2 weeks to make sure that I am acting ok and that I don’t have any weird side effects or anything. The goal of Cyberknife is not to affect any of the surrounding tissue which is a good thing since my orbital nerve was 2 mm away from the mass!
The plan is that the radiation damaged the cells so that they do not replicate or repair and eventually will die. The body will not want the mass in there and will absorb it and it will start to shrink and take the pressure off of my little brain.
I have to stay on the prednisone and phenobarbital for at least 6 months to reduce the chances of any seizures and decrease the inflammation in my brain. Mommy will be happy when I am off of them because they kind of zombie me out. If we want, we can do another MRI scan at that time to see if the mass shrunk.
Mommy is now going to research more essential oils, CBD oil, and other supplements to support my liver and general health. In the next post, we will let you know what supplements and essential oils that I am taking. If you want, you can subscribe to our blog on the side panel so that you don’t miss any information.
For now, we are very tired. It feels like months since my first seizure but it has only been 18 days! My mommy does NOT mess around! I am now considered a cancer survivor and I hope to help others learn more about cancer because Dr. Proulx said that my prognosis is 2 – 6 years! So stay tuned, cause I am not done yet!
Thank you again for all of your love and support! Mommy LOVED reading all of the posts and comments on our Leash Your Fitness Facebook & Instagram pages. They really meant a lot to her!
Continue to read our blog and you can even subscribe on the top right so that you get them delivered to you because we are going to continue to educate and inform everyone on the next steps which includes continuing to HAVE FUN which we do 2 weeks later! I told you mommy does not mess around!
Sweet Dreams,
PS. My brother Nutty had his splenectomy & blood transfusion and is home doing well. We will find out soon with the biopsy report says. We both found out we had a mass on the same day and we both were done with our treatment and home on the same day. Isn’t that crazy?
