Update on Jezebel's Follow-up Visit to the Oncologist

The doctor pronounced Jezebel as doing "very" well at her follow-up visit, this morning. I am so relieved. The tech told me that for this doctor to use those words was significant. Jezebel weighs 53.2 pounds, has an excellent appetite and energy level, is in excellent shape and shows no signs that the growth is returning. Of course, it is way, way, way too soon to know how this thing is going to go, and this is a very aggressive cancer, but so far, so good! She goes back in February for chest X-rays (they'll check for tumors - this cancer tends to head for the lungs, first) and her first booster vaccine. I asked them how long it would be before we knew if the vaccine was working. They said we may never really know because the surgery and radiation may have gotten it, anyway. Let us hope. When pressed, they said that if she doesn't have a recurrence within two years, the vaccine is probably working. Since I figured I'd only have her a few months from when she was first diagnosed, I am incredibly grateful for whatever I can get.

Husband is allegedly coming home this afternoon. I will be very happy to see him, in part because I am exhausted. Little Evelyn had a belly ache several days ago and was up all night. I took her out every couple of hours. The belly ache is gone but now she thinks this toad hunting at night is just wonderful. I've been up with her three of the past five nights. The first night, she was sick. So, okay. The next night, I didn't want to risk her being sick. So okay, I guess. Then she slept pretty well for two nights. This morning, I'd planned to get up at 5:00 a.m. to take the girls to the vet. At 3:00, Evelyn began ruffing, then barking, then jumping on the bed. They she jumped off and ruffed some more. Then she jumped back up on the bed and stared at me. This went on for about thirty minutes. I was getting pretty steamed because I knew I needed to get some sleep. I was just about to growl back at her when she took her little paw and gently patted me on the head. That cracked me up so I went ahead and got up. I'm still up and getting sleepier by the second.

Here is the wee brat, all 51.8 pounds of her (she also checked out the scale at the vet's office):