Welcome to The Adventures of My Dog Max. This blog chronicles his his journey through inoperable brain tumor diagnosis,Cyber Knife radiation,conventional & alternative treatments, HBOT and Life Beyond. Max is my 18 year old, high-energy super-dog, who was diagnosed with 2 inoperable brain tumors 4/11. Cyberknife = non-invasive robot driven hi accuracy radiation treatment. HBOT = hyberbaric oxygen therapy.
Hopefully this blog will help others! Please help spread the word!
Max after his 1st lap around the field 1.25mi 12/21/11
It is still so amazing to me to think of where we were 3 months ago. Max had his 3 month check up yesterday with Dr. Young and he's doing great. We're just increasing his antitiotic eye ointment to try and get that eye to heal better, and keeping an eye on the rest of Max. Dr. Young suspects that the twitching in Max's face is more muscle spasming than neurological, and even though Max has some coughing and gagging - it's not happening consistently and not happening while he's eating so he's not terribly concerned about it. All in all - Max is doing amazingly well for a 19 year old who had 2 brain tumors!
Max snuggled in in the car
I took Max with my up to the hospital before Christmas for Buster's Surgery. He didn't have much time to nap while we were there but it seemed to be good for him. The first day we were up there we went to the field and Max was insistent upon trying to walk the whole entire mile and 1/4 around the field. He was pretty slow.. definitely not how he used to be at the field where he was the fastest and always the first to make it around.. often doing an extra lap or running into the middle to try and chase mice or listen to the radio coming fro the wires under the ramps.. The next day it was raining, but we went out anyway
Max shopping at ProFeed w/ his friend
again Max was insistent on making it all the way around, despite both of us being soaking wet and cold.. When I tried to cut through the middle of the field he kept going on the path. The third day we were there we ran into some old friends from our old neighborhood and their dogs and ended up in the middle of the field playing with the young guys! It took a few minutes but Max jumped right into the scrum and was his usual self, the "Fun Police" As he was labeled long ago! Anytime someone was having any sort of fun, Max jumps in to referee and this
Looking for more treats!
time was going to be no different! There were 5 or 6 youngsters wrestling - a boxer, a weimeraner, a lab or two, a couple of mixed breeds and a couple of sammie mixes and Max.. all going at it! He was barking and nipping at their legs to break it up! Gotta love him! (Of course I was worried he'd get body slammed like I normally do! But he held his own!)
One of the days we also went to Profeed to kill some time and Max actually spent a few hours there shopping and playing with everyone who worked there! They let him behind the counter where he
Max is fascinated by moving water
proved his sharp brain was back and as strong as ever! He started opening canisters of food with his teeth. He took them down off shelves, and he even opened up a couple of drawers where they keep samples of dog food and helped himself! My favorite was they had spent about 5 minutes putting together one of the Nina Ottossen dog puzzles for Max, and they put it down in front of him. The goal is to move pieces of the puzzle to get the treat to fall out.. Well Max had been watching them put the puzzle together and decided that it would be much simpler to just take the lid off and stick his head in and get the piece that way! True to Max form!
Watching stuff float by 12/23/11
We also took another long walk in the woods at Cabin John Park. We had spent so much time here. Both Buster and Daisy LOVED going for walks here and swimming in the creek! Max loved to run and chase deer until we decided he took to long to come back so he had to stay leashed. (Nothing like waiting over an hour in the same spot with 4 other dogs in 20 degree weather when it was rain/sleeting.. for Max to make it back to where he last saw me!)
Max really missing Tulsa - in Tulsa's cat bed (note the empty dog bed next to him)
All in all , Max is doing fantastic. His energy level is high, he's been chasing deer and squirrel at home, he's been going for 1-2 mile walks every day again, he's building up his endurance. Definitely not as fast as he used to be but he's holding his own.. and he's 19! What more could one ask?!? His eye sight seems to be better better although he still has some scaring on that eye he fell on the day before his CK, so we're upping the drops to 3 times /day vs. 1x / day. Plus it's dry in the house, and he's been out in the wind much more now that he's walking and exercising.
Trying to make the cat bed work
The other day he was playing with his friend Josh, the Corgi. Josh and Max met a few months before Max's tumors decided to give him head aches and make him not want to play and then dizzy so they hadn't played in a long time. Lately Max has wanted to walk over to Josh's house and lately when he sees Josh his tail starts to wag again - he hasn't done that in almost a year! A good indicator that he's REALLY feeling better! He and Josh started running in Josh's front yard the other day and did a little wrestling and Max barked, jumped at Josh and flipped him and rolled him over in play! I haven't seen him do that in ages and it was so good to see!
Max thinks he has it working now
Not sure Josh felt the same way - I think he was taken back a little bit, but they're friends! And I'm sure Josh will get his chance to roll Max if he wants!
Max has had a bit of a rough time with the recent losses of Tulsa our kitty and Buster our beagle. He was really close with both of them. He was right there when both crossed over too and I think that's been a little hard for him but he's hanging in there and trying to make the most out of it.
Going for a walk New Years day with his brothers & sister
He's been bonding with #2 our shepherd mix, and Buttercup our rottie/ chessie mix.
Max has also been spotted counter surfing (Mom is not so pleased with that action!) I also caught him taking bags of groceries off the counter - again - not so pleased, and the ironic thing is that Max is down to 10mg of prednisone once ever 4-5 days... he wasn't doing it when he was on high doses of prednisone..
He has been going outside to sit in the sun, and has been barking so I'm guessing the head aches are gone.
Off leash in the meadow
I've caught him running up flights of stairs, even though he's not supposed to be doing that.. and down them which scares me even more. We have one big flight of stairs at the house and have tried to keep him from it but he somehow finds a way to get to it periodically. Currently he's outside with the other dogs barking at the deer running through the woods. He's just a normal dog! Acting just like a normal 7 year old!!! But he's really 19! He's truly amazing! And we've been lucky to have some amazing vet care for Mr. Max! We are very grateful for that!
Max waiting for Dr. Joseph to come in for his first meeting.. and a day of planning. Today was the day that they implanted the gold seeds in Max's head and started the planning of his head for the cyber knife, using the MRI and CT scanner
All done! And surprisingly not too bad after a day of anesthesia - he ate a good meal, was moving around great! Better than he was when he got there!
Dog in motion.. Max could not sit still! He was checking out the hotel room, looking for food, had lots of energy after his planning session despite being anesthetized
More food!
Getting close to that big napkin on the bed again!
Ok... time for a nap!
Now time for a potty break.. digging that great carpet pattern at the hotel!
Ok - I have to go POTTY NOW!! Why is the outside so far! What do you mean I can't pee once we get out of the door from our hotel room?!
For some reason these photos all loaded in reverse order...
Sunday 9-25-11 was a very very long day!! Max FINALLY was walking and we were able to get him in for Cyber Knife starting Monday 9-26. The beginning of a VERY LONG Journey!
At the hotel after eating dinner - Max needs a napkin... and there's no better napkin than the sheets on a bed right?
Bed time..
Stuck in Traffic on the 8.5 hour drive to NY
Still on the Road... moving right along..
Seriously cat.. could you please hurry up? I have a long trip to NY ahead of me.. I know you have kidney disease and need all the water you can get, but I'm on prednisone and it makes me VERY THIRSTY!
