Miracle Marvin does it again!!!!

Deja Vu?

You could say that

Are you ready for the story?

I took Marvin in to see Doctor Tansey a few days after I got back from Utah

She checked his tumor and said it had only gotten a smidgen bigger

Awesome!

She thought that we should consider doing a super low dose of chemo since he was doing so good

She went over all the details and side effects of it

I knew Cassidy was going to say no

So I told her I would talk to him and get back to her on what we had decided

The next week I noticed blood in Marvin's stool

Called Doctor Tansey right away

She said it's nothing to stress about it was probably because he was not eating his organic food and was only eating his dry dog food. The dramatic change in a diet can do that or sometimes the medicine Prioxicam can also do it

So I didn't stress to much about it and I was just supposed to monitor it to make sure it wasn't happening for a long period of time

Then Doctor Tansey asked us what our thoughts were about starting him on chemo and if he had any side effects we would take him off immediately

Cassidy and I decided to go ahead and put him on it. It's was just a pill he would take every forty eight hours

I was so shocked Cassidy agreed!!

So we started him on it last Saturday morning

Cassidy and I were planning on going to LA that afternoon to attend one of the company's clients birthday party which was later at night so we decided to stay in LA overnight

We debated over and over if we should take Marvin with us

We decided since it was just overnight and we would be back early Sunday afternoon he would be fine to stay

Sunday afternoon we walked through our apartment door to a limping Marvin greeting us

His tumor had doubled in size

We felt HORRIBLE!!!

Our first thought was maybe it was the chemo

Our second reaction maybe he was sore ( Lately I have been taking Marv with me to train with Jeff and after my session we would throw a tennis ball for him to play)

I emailed Dr. Tansey right away and she confirmed that it wasn't the chemo and that maybe that the tumor had just double overnight or maybe his leg was sore

As the day went on Marvin started to get worse and worse to the point where he couldn't get comfortable laying down or sitting up and he was starting to get lethargic

But he would still eat a little and drink water

We sat and talked about maybe it was the end and that we were probably going to have to put him to sleep

Total Deja Vu from last October minus the seizure (that we know of)

I was of course a train wreck and my emotions were on a roller coaster

We were up all night with him because he was miserable

The next morning he was exhausted and lethargic (so was I)

I had to take him into a different doctor that afternoon because Dr. Tansey didn't work that day

Cassidy had to work but was going to come over to the vet if it was bad news

So I carried him to the car put him in and I was a total basket case!!

As soon I pulled into the vet he perked right up and practically ran into there

The little punk all of a sudden could sorta walk/limp again on his leg

The doctor laughed and said she sees it all the time

I guess their adrenalin kicks in when they are at the vet and they act like everything is fine!!!

She looked at his tumor and measured it and confirmed that it had doubled in size

She ruled out that chemo or ball playing had anything to do with it so that helped my guilt!

I asked her to give me an honest answer about his "quality of life"

She said where he is drinking and eating and his personality is still the same that there is nothing wrong with keeping him alive and giving him some pain medicine to alleviate the pain in his leg from the tumor

So she gave me some pain medication and told me just to go from there and if he stops drinking and eating then we will know its time

So somewhat good news but at the sometime still wondering if he was going to make it

He limped and was uncomfortable the rest of the day and night

His pain meds made him a little out of it too

So I had another sleepless night trying to make sure he was comfortable

The next morning he wouldn't move and just laid there

He wouldn't eat or drink but was coherent

I was a mess at this point

Plus while all of this is going on Cassidy and I didn't know what to do because Cassidy was planning on flying out this Friday to meet his dad and brother in-law to watch the Moto GP race in Monteray California and wouldn't be back until Monday afternoon

And I had already booked a flight for this Sunday to fly back to Utah for work

So we were both stressing on what to do if we had to put him asleep before then or around this weekend

ROLLER COASTER

We weren't saying anything to our family or friends because we didn't want to bother anybody or make them sad because we really didn't know what his outcome was going to be

So Tuesday I decided to take him to the dog beach just in case it was his last time

He laid there and watched me get everything ready and right when I said "Dog Beach" he perked right up and his adrenaline kicked in and he limped all the way to the car

As soon as we got there it was a miracle and he could walk again without limping

He would even run a little bit, ate some cheese, drank tons of water and wanted to be pet by everyone that walked by him

My jaw literlay dropped onto the sand

The whole time he would lightly jog up and down the beach just playing in the water and playing with other dogs/people

We got home and he was super tired but only limping a little and ate tons of food and drank tons of water

That night he slept fine

Yesterday he was totally walking around without hardly limping and being old Marv again

I took him to Fashion Island and you would have had no idea there was anything wrong with him

Cassidy and I just stared at him last night in disbelief

Dr Tansey and I would text back and forth every night to give her updates and last night I told her he was doing amazing and she wrote "Geez that is confusing. Well whatever u r doing keep doing it"!!

We are trying not to get to excited but.......it's hard not to be :)

So today he is doing awesome!

His tumor is still huge and sometimes he limps a little bit

I only give him 1/4 of his pain med so it takes the edge off but doesn't make him loopy

Miracle Marvin

He's too stubborn to go!!!

So I have decided it would be better if I drove to Utah and bring Marvin with me

I am flying my mom out Saturday and she is going to drive back with me Sunday

So did my three weeks of my relaxing vacation go as planned?

No

Does it ever?

No

Is it worth the roller coaster of emotions?

Absolutely!

We couldn't ask for a better dog

He's amazing!!

I will keep you posted!!!