See you later, dear friend

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.

Spunk

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 Blood Work

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!

Chemo Progression

My folks think I'm handling this whole cancer thing like a champ. My blood work before every administration of chemo has actually been improving. The vet really hasn't seen anything like it, but he told my folks not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Tomorrow I go in for blood work, after my 3rd week of chemo, to see how my liver is handling the drugs. I think it will be as perfect as the rest of the blood work has been.

You can't even tell I'm sick!