Hip hip horray!!!! Today was Newton's final round of chemo. The side effects that he experienced from the Carboplatin were quite minimal and he is truly back to his old self. I was hoping that some of the calmness would stick around (since I liked having the most well behaved dog in the CSU waiting room), but I am not complaining.

Once again, we are fighting another ear infection. I swear he gets more ear infections than any dog I know and I am already cleaning his ears twice weekly. The ear infections seem to coincide with a change in the weather. His "Y" portion of his incision also started leaking again over the weekend. WTF?!?! One of the oncology surgeons took a look at the incision and said that the healing was going inwards vs. outwards. At the moment there isn't anything to worry about, but that they would recheck when we go back for our next visit.

They also noticed a lump by one of his nipples during their general exam. They did a biopsy to make sure that it wasn't anything to worry about. So far so good, the cancer hasn't spread. They put him on Clavamox so that the biopsy site doesn't get infected and to prevent any re-infection of his incision.

Today I took Christmas pictures of Newton for our Christmas cards. I found this really cute Santa outfit and was hoping that he would be a sport and let me put it on him. I think deep down he secretly liked the outfit :-) We got our pictures taken and then he spent the remainder of the time running around the backyard.

I never thought that I would see the day that Newton has more Christmas cards addressed to him than I do. I love getting Christmas cards. There were so many neat cards and cute dogs.

Newton is 2 months post amputation. Each day he gets stronger and becomes more like his old self. Today we went back up to CSU. It was a crazy snow day and took us almost 4 hours to make the drive. Newton had round 3 of carboplatin and also had chest X-Rays taken. So far, everything looks clear...yippie!!!

Since the previous medication they had prescribed for diarrhea didn't seem to be getting the job done, they prescribed Metronidazole. This is a med that Newton is quite familiar with. I call it his stress meds :-)

I'm so glad that he is doing so well. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't enjoy the time I have with him and am glad that I chose the treatment path that I did.

Happy Thanksgiving! Newton is doing very well. Today, I had two of my friends over to celebrate. While Newton didn't get to join us for the Thanksgiving feast, he did get to interact with Laura, Kristin, and myself when we were playing Wii bowling and Rock Band.

Newton did get to enjoy some turkey leftovers. Note to self: To much turkey makes Newton sick :-)

Somebody posted this poem on the Yahoo Bone Cancer Dogs Yahoo Group and I thought it was incredibly cute.

What Cancer Cannot Do!
~Author Unknown~

Cancer is so limited......
It cannot cripple Love
It cannot shatter Hope
It cannot corrode Faith
It cannot destroy Peace
It cannot kill Friendship
It cannot suppress Memories
It cannot silence Courage
It cannot invade the Soul
It cannot steal eternal Life
It cannot conquer the Spirit