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Likes: Food, Being within 5 feet of a family member, playing rough
Pet-Peeves: Not getting leftovers
Favorite Food: Steak or cheese (we put his meds in a cheese ball)
Favorite Walk: Around the neighborhood
Best Tricks: Sit, shake, down and stand
Arrival Story: For approximately 7 months we lived overseas in Belgium on a work contract. When we moved, we had brought our Greyhound, Diana (Roman Goddess of the Hunt), with us. Considering that we did travel on occasion, we researched kennels with staff who spoke English. This is how we found the best boarding kennel we have ever experienced in Meerhout, Belgium, owned and operated by Sonia Morgan.
Due to automobile problems, we were detained at Sonia's place waiting for the touring club to come rescue us. She invited us in while we waited and we were introduced to the most wonderful creatures we had ever seen. You guessed it, the Boerboel. Coincidence? We think not.
It was that very night that we began to research more about the Boerboel. We had been interested in adding another dog who was more protective, but until we read about the Boerboel, we just hadn't made up our minds. The more we read, and listened to others who had purchased Boerboels, the more we wanted one of our own.
We had never thought that we would be bringing one more dog back to the U.S.A. than we had brought with us to Europe. Our experience with regard to our work contract was less than adequate and we will still maintain to this day that the reason we were meant to be in Belgium was to meet Sonia, become familiar with the breed and to ultimately bring home the newest addition to our family, Loki (Norse God of Mischief/Destruction).
Bio: In mid November 2004 we noticed that Loki's submandibular lymph nodes were about the size of golf balls. He was taken to the vet immediately. He was examined, blood work was done and a needle aspirate was taken. His blood work at that time was completly normal, which was both encouraging and discouraging.
When his needle aspirate came back negative, we were a bit more encouraged and we ran a course of heavy duty antibiotics in the event that it would be a severe bacterial infection. At the end of that week, if his nodes had signifcantly reduced, he would have been put on more antibiotics and a course of steroids. They didn't reduce much. A biopsy was taken at that time.
The biopsy results came in on December 3rd and he has Lymphosarcoma. The cancer is rapidly progressive and without treatment, he would have a prognosis of only 6 weeks. We, however, have been moving forward to treatment with chemotherapy. This should extend his prognosis to 12 - 15 more months, or longer.
Loki is not even 5 years old.
We are very clear that we are not willing to just let this dog go. But, we are also clear that if the treatment is causing him more discomfort than the symptoms of the cancer, we will need to say goodbye. Either way, we will need to say goodbye to him very prematurely sometime over the next couple of years.
UPDATE 12/12: Thus far, he is handling chemo as if he's not sick at all. We still have a bit of denial over this whole thing since he doesn't exhibit ANY symptoms. But, he is in fact very ill. :(
We are looking into a special diet for him as well which has been proven to lengthen the remission by about 90 days. Hey...we'll take anything we can get, especially since he is handling it all so well.
Please keep him in your thoughts.
UPDATE 10/21/05: Loki crossed the Rainbow Bridge today. :(
The Groups I'm In: Boerboels
I've Been On Dogster Since:
It is with great sadness and truly heavy hearts that we (Loki's parents) are writing to let you know that Loki passed away last Friday, at the young age of 5 years & 9 months.
As you know, he had been suffering through the deadly disease of canine lymphosarcoma. He had fought the good fight for nearly a year, and handled the chemotherapy better than most humans would have. A few months ago as we prepared to move from Kentucky to Ohio after my (Joe's) graduation from medical school, we found that we could no longer afford the intravenous drugs as we had used for the previous 8 months. So, we continued on just oral meds and TLC for as long as he would last.
Over the the course of last week, Loki began to slow down quite a bit. The enlarging lymph nodes under his chin were no doubt affecting his airway and he was starting to retain fluid. When he lost interest in eating, we knew the time had come. We drove back to Kentucky to visit Loki's friends at our last vet so we could all say goodbye together. We were with Loki as he left this world, just as we were when he entered it. Saying goodbye was harder than we ever imagined, and there was (and is) no shortage of tears shed about his passing.
He was our best & most loyal friend, protector of our house & home, and was as dear to us as either of our children. To say that we are emotionally devastated is not doing justice to how we feel right now, and the house seems way too empty without him.
Loki wasn't just a pet to us. He had a wonderful soul, and his main mission in life seemed to make us happy, secure, and comforted. We may someday have another dog, but there never will be another Loki.
The life has been coming back into me. I've been rolling around on the floor more often (the carpet is kind of scratchy and feels really good), trotting around and playing with toys in addition to the usual begging for table scraps. The folks don't like that last one too much, but they have been letting me sleep wherever I want. Last night I thought I'd give them one last challenge on that. I climbed into the bed with the bald puppy. They came in, looked at me up there with the little toddler and just smiled. What's up with up them? They don't get mad at anything anymore.
My liver enzymes appear to be pretty normal for being on chemo, but my white count took a big hit this week. Now they need to be very careful before they give me my next dose of chemo, which is in 2 weeks. That will also be my last dose. I'm hoping to go into a nice long remission.
On a more positive note, my parents are letting me do all the things I used to do as a puppy...like sleep with them. :) I get lots of treats and go for more walks and rides now too. Woo Hoo!
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