A couple of random factoids about my dog’s cancer treatment that I found amusing and/or interesting:

• In order to administer the chemo drugs, the vet, of course, needs to shave the injection site, which is located on the leg. The course of treatment will run long enough that the vet will need to use several different injection sites to avoid discomfort and/or problems for the dog, so all four legs will end up with shaved spots. Apparently, however, the fur won’t grow back at those spots. I don’t know if that’s a side effect of the drugs or something to do with dog physiology or what, but, assuming he survives the cancer, Shadow will have permanent “battle scars.” I have asked my folks to try and convince the vet to line up the shaved bits. It will drive me crazy if my dog ends up with asymmetical bald patches.
• The vet is obtaining the chemo drugs from the Huntsman Cancer Institute, one of the preeminent cancer research and treatment centers in the country, which is conveniently located at the University of Utah here in Salt Lake. Which means that the drugs used to treat dogs with cancer are the very same ones used on humans who have cancer; they just dial back the dosage to account for the differences in body size.
  I don’t know why that surprises me, but it does…

For anyone who cares, my dog Shadow had his first chemotherapy treatment this afternoon. According to my folks, he was a bit lethargic for a few hours afterwards, but otherwise has shown no sign of side effects from the drug. He’s eaten normally and drunk lots of water and became quite active towards evening, just the way he always does on a hot day.

However, one thing to keep in mind is that his treatment consists of two separate drugs, and the one he received today was the milder of the two. He’ll get the industrial-strength version on Saturday, so this weekend might be another story when it comes to side effects. But for now at least, my parents and I are all feeling much more optimistic about this process…

We’ve had a lot of dogs around the Bennion Compound over the years. At one point during my childhood, there was a pack of five roaming our back yard. They’ve been German shepherds mostly, or German-shepherd mixes, as well as a couple of random mutts. All of them have possessed unique personalities, and my parents and I have loved them all while they were here and mourned them all when they died.

But none of them have generated the strong sense of attachment we collectively feel for the dog you see in that photo above. That’s Shadow, the current canine member of the Bennion clan. He’s a full-breed border collie, a breed that is reputed to be only slightly removed from wolves, genetically speaking, and among the very smartest of all dogs.

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