What a special day! Hardee has only seen one other leap day in his life. Who knew that we'd see another with our special boy. When we found that the tumor had broken through the roof of Hardee's mouth back in January, we weren't sure he would make it through to the end of that month, let alone still be with us a month later. Hardee is quite the fighter, and he continues to amaze us with his resiliency.
The nose bleeds have almost stopped. Once in a while Hardee will sneeze out a big clot and his nose will bleed for a short time after that, but we haven't had a bad bleed for almost 2 months. The nasty nasal drainage is still there, despite numerous antibiotics, but that has been a constant in our lives for over a year now. HH does have a bit of a smell again coming from his mouth, so maybe it is time for a new and different antibiotic.
Now for some amazing news. I might be writing this prematurely and maybe I didn't get a good enough look inside Hardee's mouth, but the fistula (hole through his hard palate into his nasal cavity) seems to have filled in quite a bit, almost like the tumor is growing over the hole. I can't explain it any other way. We did do a month of Palladia (oral chemo pill) in January, so maybe it actually has helped somehow. I have thought numerous times that the Palladia might have helped to shrink the tumors in Hardee's frontal sinuses (forehead) since we haven't had anymore bad bleeds since we started Palladia.
Another indicator that maybe the tumors in Hardee's forehead have shrunk is he doesn't whine anymore when we go through a couple mountain passes. We have to go up in elevation a couple times as we travel back and forth to So. Cal. Hardee had started whining again in January as we traveled through the passes, so we had laid off the agility trials in So. Cal. Maybe it is the increase in pain pills or maybe the tumors have shrunk. We'll never know for sure because we won't do another CT scan on Hardee. Maybe it is just wishful thinking on my part, but for sure, it is all just speculation.
The majority of the pink soft tissue is gone from the roof of Hardee's mouth (hard palate), especially on the right side where the tumor originated in Hardee's nasal passage. You mostly see tumor when you look at his hard palate. He doesn't chew much anymore, and if he tries to chew something, it is strictly on the left side. Hardee still eats his dehydrated food, that I rehydrate with lots of water, with gusto, and as a typical PWD, is always starving. I have backed off the pain pills just slightly, and he only gets one every 5 hours now, unless I see signs of pain. If I see signs of pain before the 5 hour mark, I either shorten the duration between pills, or increase the dose to 1.5 pills.
Hardee still LOVES to run agility and has much joy in his life. He is still demanding, always wanting his blankie tucked under his chin now, and just within the last month or so, demands that someone come over and pet him and rub his tummy when he gets up on the sofa. Normally, we wouldn't put up with these types of shenanigans, but for quite some time now, Hardee gets whatever he wants. Just the other day, I picked up his blankie that he wasn't using and covered up with it because I had a chill. He wasn't happy that someone else was using his blankie and let me know about it. I take all these spoiled rotten actions as an indicator that he is feeling okay.
Last year at this time, we never dreamed that Hardee would ever reach his 7th birthday, but in 12 days, we will celebrate like crazy. We have been fighting like hell against this cancer for 19 full months now. Hardee continues to live up to his name (Built To Withstand) and is indeed hardy. He is the love of our lives. He continues to endure for us, and we endure for him.
As always, it is all about joy and all about Hardee. We celebrate him daily.
