Grendel’s Kitchen

Ahab’s entree was Doxorubicin and Carboplatin with a side dish of Anzemet and Metoclopramide! I had a side salad with tuna, and John ate a muffin.We’re extremely happy to have found — after a full day of tests yesterday — that Ahab has the physical constitution (strong heart and kidneys) and stamina to take the most aggressive chemotherapy combination available. His lungs remain clear of apparent metastasis. And we’re very lucky to be in the care of the foremost oncology team in the country (Tufts Veterinary, of course), and find ourselves sitting in the waiting room with people who have flown in or driven their pets from all over the country. Today he went in for his first of six day-long treatments in this 3-month protocol, a powerful combination of the best drugs available in the world delivered by IV over a period of a few hours.Chemotherapy for dogs consists of the same drug treatments used for humans with bone cancer, although the side effects are minimal and limited primarily to some nausea for a couple of days post-treatment. Ahab is effectively trading 8 days of nausea for a median of 12 months of extremely good health (yes, this was his decision). We’re hoping that he is among the 48% who survive past one year in good health.