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Help Poppy fight Cancer 🐾

  • Poppy Update November

      7 November 2019
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    A quick update on Poppy’s progress to date :)

    Pops has healed amazingly well from the limb sparing surgery. The legs on all the furniture are back on she’s jumping in & out of the car & sprinting around the dog park with a huge smile 😊 It’s amazing to see. It was only a few weeks ago she was still limping here and there but now it’s as if the surgery never happened.

    So grateful to her amazing surgeon at VSA Sylvia Park who also ran a story about Poppy on their Facebook page a few weeks back.

    Chemo has been going well & a real journey. Poppy just had round 4 and each round has been quite different. Round 2 was tough going for worried mum but Poppy came through it & round 3 was almost a non event! Here’s hoping the same for this round.

    The next round will be in 3 weeks, that’s the last one just in time for Xmas. We”ll then take a CT scan just to check everything is all clear in her lungs.

    The experts say that Osteosarcoma by nature is metastatic but Surgery + Chemo has given Poppy the very best chance for a longer survival.

    Here’s hoping for many more fantastic memories ahead.

    Thank you all for your kindness & generosity which has made such a difference on this little roller coaster. xxoo

    Wishing you a cracker summer

    Love Poppy & Family

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    • 08/11/2019 by Savahna

      So glad to hear she's doing well 😊

  • Poppy starts Chemo.

      8 September 2019
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    Guys Poppy is doing really well!

    Her pants are starting to grow back and the incision line has healed without infection or issues.

    She’s able to do short walks although by the end she’s limping ..it will take a while for the leg & muscles to strengthen up. Week 3 thumbs up!

    The chemo always needed to follow either leg saving surgery or amputation because Osteosarcoma has a tendency to metastasise.

    So with the chemo we are trying to pick up any microscopic cancers who may have ideas of going to places like her lungs.

    Dog Chemo is not like people chemo & thank goodness.

    It’s fairly gentle on them with a low incidence of anything serious other than lethargy & upset tum. Poppy’s doing ok on day 5. A LOT of sleep & slight tummy hiccup which she overcame quickly.

    There’s all sorts of debate & different things you can try with the idea to naturally support the immune system to help it fight cancer.

    Poppy has had this cancer for at least a year, and her immune system, which is now compromised, was unable to kill it.

    Time to bring in the big guns. We have a chance to kill this cancer & need to try with Chemo which personally I have always been very must against.

    We check her white blood count next week to see if she is ok to have the next round of about 5-6 chemo sessions in total.

    She ran out of the last session smiling :D

    There’s an amazing community on Instagram of people impacted by osteosarcoma- Young kids & Dogs.

    These kids & what they are going through with their chemo is just so heartbreaking. It’s really strong stuff & not at all like what Pops is receiving. Makes you realise how lucky we are.

    We’ve had lots of support from dog owners all over the world fighting this too & it really helps to have that community of people in the same boat. Social Media is not all bad. If you’re interested at all just look at #osteosarcoma on Instagram.

    Poppy’s form of osteosarcoma is rare and we simply don’t know what the biology will be from here.

    The human studies (also rare) which is all we have for reference shows promising prognosis. By that I mean we hope the tumor is contained locally and will not metastasise or grow back.

    So fingers are crossed. Keep the faith

    Poppy has 5 more Chemo at (@$800 per session) plus blood tests & 1 or 2 more CT scans for checking how chemo has worked before we know where we’ve landed.

    There’s an amazing dog physio who is not cheap but as anyone who’s had an injury & had physio knows just so valuable!

    So hoping to squeeze in a couple of sessions to support this new leg with bones & muscles that have been cut up & are reforming.

    Thanks guys xxoo will update gallery with a cpl more pics of No Pants Poppy

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  • Just a little update on Poppy’s progress

      28 August 2019
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    A HUGE thank you for your amazing support & generosity to help Poppy fight this Cancer 🐾🙏 I just cant express enough gratitude from the bottom of my heart.

    It’s hard to believe that it was only a few weeks ago the prognosis was so shocking & grim. Osteosarcoma is such an invasive disease, and cases like Poppy’s are rare.

    That this procedure was even possible is so lucky, and we were very fortunate to be referred to a fantastic surgeon at VSA who was prepared to try something new.

    Poppy came through the limb sparing surgery really well and after a couple of nights in hospital being looked after by the fabulous VSA team, was ready to come home.

    The surgery was a great success, with the Sarcoma and part of her knee bone removed with good margins. She was putting weight on her leg the day after surgery :)

    She’s on strict confinement for 2-4 weeks, but hasn’t got it too badly with a baby gate across the sunroom ;) The incision area is looking great & She’s been a trooper with the ice packs, massages & physio homework.

    There is still minute signs of some cancer cells remaining which we will hopefully mop them all up with chemotherapy starting next week.

    Chemo for doggies is not as aggressive as it is in humans, with most dogs tolerating it well and not typically feeling too sick. Crossing all fingers & toes that Poppy flies through without issues.

    Will update more when we reach this point for now it’s just so awesome to have Poppy home & starting to get back to her old self.

    Thank you xx 🐾

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