Update

Well, Rumble has been on his "drug holiday" for over 6 weeks now and I am very disappointed to say that he hasn't gained any weight.  In fact, he has lost some weight.  Because of this we are going to hold off on starting another round of chemo until we get some meat on his bones. 

We are going to try two different things for about 6 to 8 weeks and then see how he is doing.  One, we are going to be giving him B12 shots once a week for atleast 4 weeks.  B12 is a great energy booster.  It works through the red blood cells by enabling them to carry oxygen more efficiently.  B12 shots are also highly recommended as mood boosters.  All I know is Rumble feels great for a few days afterwards.  Trouble is, I hate taking him into the vet every week for a shot.  He is easily distracted with the kitty treats I bring so it's not the shot that I'm concerned about, but the stressful trip up there in his traveling box.  So, my vet gave me a syringe to practice with and I now do the injections once a week at home.  Rumble has plenty of extra skin hanging loose so right after I put his breakfast in his bowl, I pull out some extra skin, push the needle into the skin until I feel a pop, and inject the liquid.  He barely notices since he's busy eating. 

Second step is changing his food from the low calorie Hills Prescription I/D to a higher calorie Hills Prescription A/D described as, "For the nutritional support of pets recovering from serious illness, accident and surgery.  Cats and dogs can undergo significant metabolic changes when recovering from a serious illness, injury or surgery. During these stressful conditions the body is challenged to maintain strong natural defenses and spare lean body mass, which makes it is even more important to feed the right food. Cats and dogs need extra energy and nutrients, in an appetizing form, to encourage the recovery process."

When talking to our vet contact at OSU about his weight loss, she said "the cancer is hungry and he needs more calories to maintain his body plus the cancer."  Not what I wanted to hear.  I still don't understand if they were able to cut all of the cancer out and if it hadn't spread to any other parts of his body, then why do they still refer to him as "having cancer"?  Can't people recover from cancer?  I hear about it all the time, animals too.  Why aren't they considering Rumble as having survived his cancer? 

I broke down the other day; haven't done that in awhile.  It was my own fault.  I read an article on msnbc called "The Perfect Day."  It was about a guy learning his dog was having heart failure and he decided his dog needed the perfect day before he passed.  He took the day off work, they slept late, he gave him a hambuger patty and bacon for breakfast, sat on the floor and hugged his dog for awhile and broke down and cried, they chased red balls in his backyard until he grew tired, they went for a swim in a local lake, came home and napped together on the bed, went for a slow hike on their favorite trail and spent time sitting on a rock and listening to nature, went home for sirloin steak cut into small pieces, and they went to bed.  That really does sound like the perfect day.  His dog passed a few weeks later.  What would the perfect day for Rumble include?  Would I be able to recognize the end of his journey and provide him with "the perfect day".  I'm crying all over again.  This whole thing still sucks.  I expected him to be fat and happy by now.  Instead, he's still way to thin, but I guess still seems happy.  Our vet says as long as he's eating and he's still happy, then things are ok.  Still sucks though.