Pet Cancer Awareness Month

November is Pet Cancer Awareness month and throughout the month the Veterinary Medical Center at the University of Minnesota, where Rilley was treated, has been posting related stories on their Facebook page.  Today they wrote a post to commemorate Rilley's third anniversary as a survivor, including a brief outline of the their involvement.  I hope that their compassionate, caring and amazing team is aware of the far reaching impact of their work.

Taken from the VMC's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/umnVMC?hc_location=timeline

Please take the time to visit their page.  If you are a pet owner, there is a lot of useful information and tips there.  If you're not, I'm confident you will find the stories interesting.

MILESTONE: Surviving for 3 Years!

Rilley with his new stuffed friend.

Today we celebrate another major milestone in Rilley's life.  It is hard to believe that it has already been three years since Rilley's surgery in Minneapolis.  Time has certainly flown since November 4, 2010.  It may be cliché, but it really does seem like yesterday that we were packing the Jeep to hit the road for the first time.

A lot has happened since then and we have documented all the ups and downs right here on the blog.   There have been many helpful and dedicated professionals along the way and I always thought it would be fun to list them all.  So here it goes:

Mountainview Animal Hospital

Dr. Stephanie Ewing

University of Minnesota

Dr. Elizabeth Pluhar

John Ohlfest, Ph.D

Dr. Matthew Hunt

Brian Andersen, Ph.D

Jessica Bedi

University of Guelph

Dr. Fiona James

Mississauga Oakville Veterinary Emergency Hospital

Dr. Meredith Gauthier

Dr. Carolina Duque

It is thanks to all those people, and the legions of staff that work with them, that Rilley has been able to make it to this point.  As I had said in a post near the beginning of this journey, Rilley really does have more doctors than most people!

Another pair of characters that have seen him through his surgery and beyond are his favourite stuffed animals, Winnie the Pooh and Bunny.  They've had put up with a lot.  Winnie not only came along for the ride on our first trip to Minnesota but he also comforted Rilley during his stay in ICU.  Bunny came along on subsequent trips and through it all they have been his favourite toys.  They have seen better days though.  Sara has had to perform many a reconstructive surgery on both of them whenever Rilley decided to go Tony Soprano on them and take out his frustrations.

As a way of commemorating today, Sara picked up a new stuffed buddy for him, complete with a scarf imprinted with the year.  Hopefully he gets welcomed into the fold of Rilley's little clan.

Here's to celebrating many more anniversaries Rilley!

And now for something completely different....

I thought it would be nice to share something entirely unrelated to Rilley or brain tumours.  This is a video that I came across today and it made me smile.  It was also right up my alley as it combines dogs, especially the drooling ones, and a favourite technology of mine...high speed video cameras.  It was created by photographer Carli Davidson in collaboration with a production company called Variable to promote her new portrait book "Shake", a collection of stills of dogs doing just that...shaking their heads.

Check it out...it will make you smile too.

SHAKE from Variable on Vimeo.

Rilley Rocked the Neurological Exam!

The Small Animal Clinic at the University of Guelph

Well, it's that time of year again!  Rilley had his annual neurological check up today with his neurologist Dr. Fiona James at the University of Guelph's Small Animal Clinic.

Recently there have been a couple things that had us concerned, so today's follow up appointment came about at the right time.  Two weeks ago, we had taken Rilley for a walk, one that was a little bit longer than usual.  When we returned home his hind legs were shaking.  Then the next evening Rilley experienced a breakthrough seizure.  It was his third in almost as many years and presented itself in the exact same manner; rapid, uncontrolled jaw movement that lasts for about 10 to 15 seconds.  It could also be described as teeth chatter, although his teeth never contact each other.

Rilley waiting to be called in to see the neurologist.

When we arrived, Dr. James was just finishing up a procedure with another patient, so we met with one of her residents who had briefed herself on Rilley's history beforehand and knew the major points of his case.  She took him off to meet up with Dr. James so they could perform the physical and neurological exams.

We are pleased to report that Rilley passed the physical and neurological exams with flying colours and he had even lost some weight!

To follow up on our concerns, Dr. James' advice was, as we had been told by Dr. Pluhar in Minnesota, that seizures are not an uncommon occurrence in dogs who have had tumours removed and since his have been so minor and infrequent, we should not be overly concerned.  As for his back, beagles are apparently prone to some disc compression in their lower backs as they age and that may contribute to the shaking.  Additionally, the shaking appears to be positional; meaning that it only occurs when he sits or stands in a certain way...if we notice him shaking, a slight move is all it takes to make it stop, which a lot of times Rilley will do on his own anyway.

So all in all, the recent concerns were not an indication of any decline in his health and Dr. James was pleased to see that Rilley is continuing to thrive.

Way to go Rilley, you really did rock the neuro-exam!

(You'd think that with all the time he's spent at universities that he'd be close to getting his own Ph.D.)

Happy 1K Day Rilley!

Wow, 1000 days and still going strong!

Today marks yet another significant milestone in Rilley's life.  It has now been exactly 1000 days since his surgery to remove a lethal brain tumour.  That is certainly much longer than the six weeks he had been given at the time of diagnosis.

We couldn't let this momentous occasion pass without giving it the recognition it deserves; this truly is a landmark day.  If a simple beagle from small town Ontario has won the fight against cancer thanks to the work being done at the University of Minnesota, the future looks very bright for the human beneficiaries of the research he took part in.

A screen capture of the "surgery" counter from earlier today.

We can honestly say that, aside from thrice daily medication, life has returned to normal...almost as if the tumour never existed.

Happy 1000th day Rilley!

The Inside Story: The Life of Rilley

Now that Rilley is on his way to three years since he underwent treatment for the meningioma, there is a renewed interest in his story.  In June the Toronto Star published an article about him in their spread on veterinary medicine.  I know many people saw that story, but it also drew the attention of Avery Haines from CityNews. She contacted us and asked if we would share our story for her series "Inside Story".  This story has always been so much bigger than Rilley himself, so any time we can draw attention to the advanced research being done at the University of Minnesota, we are always up for it.

Avery's story aired tonight (three times in total) and Sara and I are very happy with the way it turned out.  It was a great balance of the seriousness of the subject matter along with the lighter side of life with Rilley...fridge lock, anyone?  The whole family took part.  The girls were in it and we even managed to get Sara on camera as well.   I know it's hard to tell a complex story like Rilley's in the timespan of a news story, but Avery and her team did it very well.

After it aired, Sara noticed that the @CityAvery Twitter feed had some chatter on it about the story.  All the feedback seemed to be positive.

Have a look for yourself, just follow this link:

http://www.citynews.ca/2013/07/18/the-inside-story-rilley-the-dogs-cancer-treatment-may-help-humans/

Rilley the Water Dog

In all of his 12 years, there's one thing that Rilley has never done.  Unlike most dogs, he has never before gone swimming.  Well, this past Saturday that all changed.  With the current stretch of hot weather we thought the timing could not have been better.  So we took him down into the ravine near our house where a creek runs through.

Nice cool water on a hot day.

We found a great spot where we could just walk in with him, but with deeper areas so that he could try to swim.  He seemed to welcome the cool water running across his paws, but was a bit tentative with the deeper water.  So, to help out, I picked him up and lowered him into an area where he could swim without touching bottom.  When I let go, he kept his head above water and swam back to shallower water.

"I can do it!  I can swim!"

Given that this was his very first time in the water, he didn't seem to stress about it at all.  He swam as if it was the most natural thing for him to do.  However, while he really seemed to like it, a few times in and out and he had enough and trotted off to shore.

If the dog days of summer continue to be hot, Rilley now has a choice to chill in the air conditioned climate of the house, or to go for a short walk and cool off in the the creek!