HAPPY (belated) ANNIVERSARY JAKE!!!

FastEddieB

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Fast Eddie B
Some may remember that Jake had a tumor on his tongue.

I posted here June 1 of last year seeking advice and members responded - which was muchly appreciated.

http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71582

Long story short, we opted for surgery at the University of Tennessee Veterinarian School, and the surgery to remove the mass was last June 13. Pre-surgery:

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(If you look closely you can see the mass on his tongue that was really getting in his way)

The biopsy did show an aggressive form of melanoma, which very likely may have already spread. We were given the options of oral cancer vaccine, radiation and/or chemo, but the vets there were honest enough to admit that none of those courses of actions could be expected to significantly extend Jake's life, which statistically might only last another 7 to 9 months on average. As such, we decided to do nothing but watch and wait and spoil the heck out of him for however long he lasted.

Anyway, this past Saturday marked one year post surgery! Yay!

He's doing fine. No signs of recurrence - so far. From a recent jeep trip to Tallulah Gorge:

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Anyway, every extra day is a gift, and I want to thank Tim Winters and JohnH and everyone else who responded - it's what makes a community like this so great! :yes:
 
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Tim Winters just asked for an update...

Jake is still going strong, 400+ days post-op.

Deciding against chemo and radiation and oral cancer vaccines was a tough call, but seems to have paid off.

Here he is camping with us (with Chowder) about a week ago:

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Still may be on borrowed time, but we're grateful for every additional day.
 
Great news.
We tried the cancer fight and lost with Casey
We seem to have gotten luckier with Cayla.

Dogs... All of man's virtues and none of his vices
 
Thanks for the update! Those are two great lookin' dogs...glad to hear that Jake is doing well.

Dogs... All of man's virtues and none of his vices
What a great quote, I'm going to recycle that one. ;)
 
BTW...I don't know how I missed this thread back in June but I did. Thanks again for the update!

As I said in the original thread...

:thumbsup:

Oh wait...

...it's for Jake. That one's not nearly good enough!

smiley-face-clip-art-thumbs-up-clipart-two-thumbs-up-happy-smiley-emoticon-512x512-eec6.png
 
Dude!!

As an aside. Have you let the UT/VTH know how well Jakes doing? I'd bet they'd be delighted to hear.
 
Dogs are tougher than nails. Glad to hear your buddy is doing well. Here's to a hundred more years! I have a story about our Alaskan Malamute that I'll have to tell some day... It started over 8 years ago when he was 3, with about a 5% chance of living 30 days. He can still fog a mirror at almost 12 years old!
 
Dude!!

As an aside. Have you let the UT/VTH know how well Jakes doing? I'd bet they'd be delighted to hear.

You'd think. We did make the effort once a few months back. We called and asked for the veterinarian in charge of Jake's case and left a message to call us back. Never heard back. I think now you've motivated us to try again.

Certainly gives one pause as to how accurate their mean survival rate is if they don't follow up on the dogs that got no treatment and did well.
 
Great news, Eddie! He's certainly a joyful, friendly dog and I enjoyed meeting him. Hope he has many years left, but however many there may be I know they'll be happy ones.


Certainly gives one pause as to how accurate their mean survival rate is if they don't follow up on the dogs that got no treatment and did well.

Being a mathematical geek, reporting mean without standard deviation always bugs me anyway. Jake may or may not be an outlier; is he a 0.5 sigma example or a 6 sigma example? Who knows?
 
You'd think. We did make the effort once a few months back. We called and asked for the veterinarian in charge of Jake's case and left a message to call us back. Never heard back. I think now you've motivated us to try again.

Certainly gives one pause as to how accurate their mean survival rate is if they don't follow up on the dogs that got no treatment and did well.
That's interesting....
 
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