Introducing Doccy question about radiation

HI Guys,
I posted on Dawn's thread regarding Buttercup. I want to post on this one to update you on Doc. He is doing FANTASTIC! The big news is that we had blood tests about 3 weeks ago and all of his numbers (including liver numbers) were in the healthy normal range. All Cushing's symptoms are gone! Doc is back to going potting about every 4 hours during the day and holding it about 9 hours at night. His drinking and eating are totally normal. No pot belly. All of his hair has grown back. It took about 4 months for the leg hair to grow, about 8 months for the belly hair to grow and the stripe down the back of his head grew back right before Christmas (so 10 months post radiation). With all the hair, once it started to grow it was like an out of control Chia pet. But....it is bunny like soft. Not sure what that is all about. He has had a skin infection that I thought looked like mange (mainly on his ear) a couple of months ago, but the vet said it was Staph. We were on antibiotics for 3 weeks and it cleared up. Other than that we are dealing with occasional dandruff and his arthritis. I have taken him off the Chinese herbs because it seemed they suddenly started causing very loose stool. Right now, I give him fish oil and MSM/Glucosamine.

As of Feb 4th, we will be 1 year post radiation which means we have reached the median survival time. I am so grateful that we were close enough to UF to get this treatment and that they did such a wonderful job. Doc is his normal Border Collie self. He wants to play ALL THE TIME. I indulge him as much as I can and he and I are just enjoying what time we have together.

I promise I will do better at staying on these forums. I hope that Doc's story is one of hope for others and I will be happy to help anyone with questions. Again, sorry for such a long absence.

Jessica, so great to hear from you! I'm beyond thrilled to hear that Doc is doing so well. That radiation treatment sure can be a real life saver when you know you're dealing with a macro tumor.
Isn't that funny about the hair being bunny soft. They say that texture and sometimes color even can change when it comes back in. I guess you got the soft texture. :)
So glad that everything is back to normal and that Doc is playing like his normal self. Long may it continue!
You really do give hope to the others who will and are following in your footsteps.

hugs
Sharlene and molly muffin

Hi Jessica

Wow that update was just awesome to read, so pleased Doc has had a good year and is all furry again and is playing like a doggie should, doesn't that just melt your heart to hear that, well it does me!!! It is going to be so good for new posters considering this treatment to read about this. HOpe you have a party planned to celebrate Feb 4th!! Yay you did good!! Big hugs for you both xxxx

Thanks for the up date, hoping that my girl has the same outcome as yours. It reassures me that I did the right thing for her and that she has a real chance of having a good recovery and quality of life.

Thanks again
Dawn & Butters

Jessica,
I am so glad everything is going great for Doc!
It's great to hear from you.

Thanks everyone. Sometimes it is hard for me to post the really good stuff because I'm afraid Murphy's Law will somehow take it away. Dawn--if you ever have any questions, let me know. We have not had any of the classic side effects from the radiation. Of course, everything we have had always makes me say..."did the radiation cause this?" LOL. Anyways, the difference between post and pre radiation are mainly skin related (i.e, the bad dandruff and really dry skin). If the radiation were to affect his vision, it would have happened by now, so I'm relatively certain that will not happen. Of course, the radiation is no longer radiating. Not very scientific of me, but they told me that after 6 months, it's done what it is going to do. All I can go on is his behavior and bloodwork. We chose not to do an MRI at 6 months because they really didn't want to put him through if his symptoms were gone. Vicki--thinking of you and Archie tomorrow. I hope all goes well.

Hello, was wondering if you had any pics of Doccys CC you could share with me. Buttercup has a fierce case of it and reading your post about Doccys fur growing back gives me hope, have yet to see any before and after cases of CC that are as server as Butters. Anything you can share would be wonderful.

Thanks
Dawn and Butters

Dawn,
Doc has not been diagnosed with CC, but he has had some skin issues, mainly really dry and flaking. He did have a problem on his ear that looked like mange. I can put that picture on here. It was so bad that I took one. Would that help? (I've not posted pics before, but I will try to do so). He also had red spots and the vet thought it was staph. We did a 3 week course of antibiotics and it cleared up. His really bad flaky dandruff (big flakes) is still with us. As for the hair regrowth, the radiation can slow it down. Our radiation vet said it could be 6-8 months before we saw any regrowth. When we had the 3 month follow-up MRI, he had zero regrowth. The legs grew in first (where they had his IVs--all four legs had a stripe shaved). His belly came next (that was shaved for ultrasound) and the strip on back of head came last (that was for when we were still diagnosing the tumor and they did a spinal tap for meningitis). He totally blew out his undercoat early this summer and I thought for sure he would look so sparce forever (he blew that out before hair regrowth), but when the hair regrowth started, his undercoat came back. I will upload the images today. Poor Buttercup, the hair may take a bit longer to regrow simply because of the radiation. Doc's hair came back different (really, really soft like a rabbit) and some different coloration (meaning black where there was white).

Thank god Doc did not have the dreaded CC,. Any pics you can share would be great, Butters was shaved up in so many places also. The 27 the will make 2 months post radiation, her neurology issues have greatly improved and her vision is getting stronger in her left eye.

Give Doc a hug and a kiss from Butters and I, you guys are inspirational to us.

Dawn and Butters

Dawn, I'm trying to upload pics of Doc's ear, but the insert image is asking for a url for the pic. I have it on my hard drive. Do you know of a way to insert a regular pic?