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My dog, Hero is Jack Russell mix. I rescued him on April 7, 2007. He has multiple myeloma, a rare form of bone cancer. It was discovered June, 2015, at his annual doggie blood test. The protein numbers were off. I wasn't too concerned since he was between 9-11 years old and chasing rabbits, squirrels and walking between 3-5 miles a day. He was going to get a teeth cleaning when the Vet asked if she could take an X-ray because the blood test really concerned her. That's when they noticed a bone lesion on his ribs. They could not determine which cancer it was so I then went to an oncologist. The choices were an aspiration or taking out three ribs. The aspiration was indeterminable so three ribs were removed and multiple myeloma was the diagnosis.

After 4 weeks of not allowing a Jack Russell to move other than his outside business he was healthy enough to start his chemo regimen. The regimen consisted of prednisone and melphalan. That worked great! No side effects and cost about $100/month not including the blood test once a month or every other month.

Unfortunately, the cancer is back and it has become more difficult until this week. About 6 weeks ago Hero was chasing a rabbit when he flipped over and landed on his left side. He just froze and looked so panicked. I picked him up and cuddled him and after a minute he was back at it but much slower. Then he started to limp. I called my primary Vet after about a week of not getting better and found out that a lesion has appeared on his left shoulder via an X-ray. They had to sedate him for the X-ray. Hero was in so much pain. It was heart wrenching. I laid on the floor next to him, touching him caused him too much pain. If I left him he would crawl to me and put his head on my foot. Just awful.

At my dog's cancer Vet we put him on a different cancer chemo drug called palladia. That turned out to be a nightmare. Just after 12 hours of giving him the oral take home medicine he was vomiting blood everywhere. He had to go to the emergency vet for liquids. Then came the bloody stools and diarrhea. Well after just one dose no more palladia. It took about two weeks for Hero to heal enough to try another chemo drug called Lomustine (32.5 mg was given to him by the Vet). Along with the Loumustine he received Cerenia to settle his stomach. The next appointment is in a little over 2 weeks.

Hero is in no pain and is interested in taking walks again. We did two blocks this morning and he is back to hunting for rabbits. After a good meal, he is on his back with paws in the air, quite happy. Gosh, I love that dog. : )

I am feeding him his regular kibble (Taste of the Wild, Bison), rice and rotisserie chicken. I will look into other diets but my dog does not like veggies especially carrots. : (