Cody's Big Adventure

With his doggie suitcase in tow, Cody set out for Pullman, WA yesterday morning with Bruce and Caitlin. Pullman is about 114 miles south of us, just west of the WA/ID border. They planned on staying overnight in Pullman while having an evaluation and treatment plan worked up at the WSU Veterinary Training School.

I'm pretty sure Cody thought he was just going in to town to check the PO box!

Two and a half hours later, they arrived in Pullman. Bruce said Cody got to bark at cows and horses during the trip, one of his favorite things to do!

The WSU campus was very nice, and it has one of the best- equipped veterinary teaching schools in the nation. Lucky Cody, lucky us!

Hmmm, am I a large animal or a small animal? They always call me "Big Boy".

As always, they went for a little walk before heading in for the appointment. Cody's thinking "What a great day! I got to go for a long car ride and see cows, and now I'm going for a walk. What's next?"

"WHA'??? Tricked again! I'm at the VET'S OFFICE!"

It took several hours to have all of the poking, prodding and testing done. This is Dr. Janean Fidel (left) and 4th year veterinary student Lauren Genow. Bruce said they were very nice, funny, smart and sweet to Cody. 

So here's the news: while Cody's prostate cancer isn't curable, the drug he is currently taking, Piroxicam, is shrinking the tumor and controlling any pain he might be having (which seems minimal). Since it seems to be working and is the least radical of treatments, we opted to continue with it. We'll have him re-evaluated every two months to make sure the tumor is still under control and his kidney function is ok. If things change, we may need to talk about radiation and/or chemo. Unfortunately, we really don't know how long he has. Could be a couple of months or several years. We just have to wait and see how things play out.

In the meantime, Cody appears to be in little or no pain, is his usual silly, happy self, and enjoying life to the fullest. We have some "spotting" to deal with on the floors, but we bought some "belly bands" (for male incontinence), which should take care of that, and if the drug works like it should, that won't be a problem for long. 

So with the evaluation and treatment plan completed, Dr. Fidel said Cody was free to go home. Yippee! Cancel the hotel appointment and start driving!

For the trip home, Cody chose to sleep on Bella's side of the backseat and forego any more barking at cows. He just wanted to go home, and I don't blame him. 

He might think twice before hopping into the car again to go for a "ride"!