Well, since it has been a month and life hasn't slowed down yet.. sad but true, I decided to spend a few at work again and catch up on the happening since the end of september.
Tyke underwent his first round of chemotherapy the last week in september. We were worried about all the side effects that came with it -- liver failure, vomiting, diaherra, hairloss (only whiskers though) and fatigue. I was so nervous I cried before we gave tyke the pill. That first night he was exhausted, he slept from 8 that night until 11 the next morning. I swear he was in a coma, but he was just super tired. After his long rest though, he perked back up and was doing great! We continued to do well, only losing one whisker to the chemo. His skin improved 80%! The doctors were amazed at how well he did and took it in only one treatment.
October 1st was Cody's mom's birthday! We had some fun with her a few days later, eating dinner and watching football, her favorite team played -- go Vikings! That night we left for New York for the day with his mom in tow. We spent a day there taking in all the sites. We went to time square, world trade center, rockafeller center, and the NY harbor. We got to go on an aircraft carrier and check that out as well as inside a submarine. It was a fun trip that we LOVED. And of course, don't you worry I made my trip to Magnolia's and got some wonderful cupcakes and cheesecake. Yum! We got home that night at 11 exhausted and ready for sleep. Tyke was still doing great! The next morning we woke up and got ready for school and work.. fun. Tyke went outside to chase the lawnmowers on the other side of the fence. In his hurry and frantic pace he had a seizure. We weren't there with him, but we saw him a few minutes later. He was unresponsive, cold and white. He refused treats and water. We knew something was wrong. We hurried him to the vet where he stayed the rest of the day on an IV. He recovered fast and was back home with us that night.
Since the scare, we went and visited our oncology vet. She told us that the seizure was caused by elevated liver enzymes. It could be a number of things that caused it, but since he had a reaction that lowered his livers effectiveness we could no longer give him Chemo. I have to admit I felt like we were running into yet another brick wall. We however, found another treatment option that looks very optimistic. After a chat with her we have opted to put tyke on Accutane. I know what you are thinking.. does he have acne? Nope he sure doesn't, although his cancer does look like it. The accutane teaches his cancer cells how to act normal causing them to become cancerless. If this is successful, he might be on this treatment permanently but could live for many years to come. We are very hopefully, seeing how he responded so well to the last treatment. We will let you know how it goes, he starts next week and we have to wait for a month to 6 weeks before we see results.
While this was all going on, Cody and I were still plugging away at school. Cody took his first stagecheck for his instrument training and passed first try! CONGRATS!! He is doing so great, he goes to fly or do lessons at least 3 times a week and is soaring through his training, I am so proud of him! He has been doing so great.
I finally got up the nerve to apply to the BFA program here at UVU. It is a better degree than what I had set out to do which is great. However you have to go through and application process and prove you are worth being in this program. It is the elite art students that are in this program, and I am hoping I will be joining them soon! I applied on October 23rd and will find out sometime the middle of November. It is nerve racking but I will make it!!
Last week we experienced the loss of a friend. My husband's flight instructor, Ben Hill, passed away on Wednesday October 21st in an plane crash at the provo airport. He taught Cody in his private training and helped him get his license. He was also the examiner who gave Cody his instrument stagecheck the week earlier, that he passed. He also was the one who convinced me to go flying with him and Cody. I was terrified and he told me.. " your husband is a great pilot, you need to believe that and trust him.. now get in the plane". I will never forget the plane ride we went on with him in his aircraft. It was so fun, even though the first 10 minutes I was convinced I was going to die. He was a great guy and one who will be truely missed. Everyone at the airport knew him, he was known for working hard and expecting much.
Other than all this fun news we are doing well. Tyke had surgery on Monday to remove a tumor on his hind leg, he now has his costume for halloween as "Frankenpuppy" I promise to post pictures of his "costume" so you can see what I mean. We are looking forward to halloween, my personal favorite holiday. I started decorating last weekend and can't wait for saturday!
so until then... Happy Halloween!!
