Kibo is my 1st baby. He is a beautiful (as you can see!), 12 yr old Yellow Lab & I was devastated when on 12/30/09, I was at the Holistic vets office for his monthly acupuncture & chiro for his arthritis, when I mentioned to her I thought I felt “lumps” in his neck & wondered (being an RN) if his lymph nodes were swollen. I never even KNEW dogs got Lymphoma, so I wasn’t all that concerned. The minute I saw her face, I knew something was very very wrong. She did an aspirate & a week later, my worst fears came thru. I knew the results were in days earlier, but I couldn’t being myself to call for them. But finally I did - & it was confirmed Lymphoma. She didn’t recommend chemo. She felt at his age, almost 12, that he wouldn’t tolerate it. I walked into my regular vets office, & completely fell apart. They had no idea anything was going on as I hadn’t told them about the tests being done by the other vet. I was sobbing, thinking chemo wasn’t a possibility. The vet stopped me & said “Of course it’s a possibility”. Thank GOD I have my regular vet because it is now almost 10 months later, & my Kibo is doing SO SO well. Had we not started chemo, I would have had 4-6 weeks before we lost him. He’d be gone 8 months by now.

Kibo’s chemo began on January 8, 2009. He was on a Doxirubicin & Prednisone protocol, & also had 2 doses of LSpar. It wasn’t an easy road at 1st, I wont lie. We almost lost him in February from sepsis. It was VERY VERY scary. You can read our entire story here: http://kibombf.shutterfly.com/

We made it through & Kibo had all 5 doses of Doxi, over 16 weeks. My Holistic vet has him on tons of supplements as well, & single needle accupuncture for the cancer - & his diet was changed to no carb/no grains. He was in remission very quickly into the treatment, & it held for 8 months. On Sept 22, 09, I was doing my usual once over in checking Kibos nodes, & sure enough, I felt the neck nodes were swollen. My heart sank. BUT, I had hope. I knew he got a great 1st strong remission & had felt wonderful through most of it … why cant he have a 2nd remission too? Ok, so yes, I was terrified, but I also knew we could fight this beast. I’ve learned SO much about Lymphoma, meds, treatments, supplements & good outcomes for some dogs. Why cant Kibo be one of them?

We began the rescue protocol 3 weeks ago. He got a shot of LSpar, & then CCNU pills. That was repeated again just this week, (of October 18th), 3 weeks after the 1st. Then he will get 3 more doses of CCNU, every 3 weeks. His nodes were down after the 1st dose, & they slowly came back (although not that large) in the past week. Supposedly that’s to be expected at this stage. If this remission will hold, we will know in a few weeks.

What MATTERS is that he feels wonderful. In fact, he is so frisky & naughty, you would never EVER know he has cancer. OR is on chemo. He runs (ok, limps! lol – due to his arthritis) at the dog park, he refuses to leave the beach when I say its time to go, he plays with our puppy, & he still steals food off your plate with the best of them! Sure, his taste buds are a bit off from the chemo, & he has had some diarrhea – but he feels GREAT!

I am praying that he doesn’t get the “usual” 2nd remission time frame of “1/2 the time of the 1st remission” because that’s not enough time. That would be about 4 months. But I have read about dogs getting better, longer 2nd or 3rd remissions.

I keep telling him “NOT TODAY … & NOT WITHOUT A FIGHT!” My Kibo is VERY MUCH a fighter … & I will continue to fight right alongside him as long as his quality of life continues to be as wonderful as it is. He’s a brave strong boy.

Edited: I lost my Boy on Feb 23rd to this beast of a disease. But he lived wonderfully to the end. I will never regret doing chemo. The day before he left us, he enjoyed a perfect beach day & was happy & so very content. He died in my arms the next day after going down hill 6 hours earlier. His end was fast, thankfully. .... I will never be the same without Kibo or Sana. But they are together now, forever, as in life ... & in death, they are swimming together in the vast oceans of Heaven.

KEEP FIGHTING!!! But also, enjoy the little things they love. Dont just live each moment as if they are a "cancer dog". Let them enjoy life ... the beach, dog park, treats. Life is to be lived, no matter how long we are here.