Cody's Journey

I feel like it has been forever since we did a Cody update! …well it actually has been.. 4 months is a long time!

 

Let me start by saying this post may get a little emotional as we celebrate two huge milestones.

 

Today is Cody’s EIGHT month ampuversary! Eight months ago, to this day he became a tripawd and we embarked on this crazy journey together. For those of you familiar with Osteosarcoma, you know how huge eight months is. For those of you who aren’t I’ll give you the run down… When Cody was first diagnosed with Osteosarcoma on February 20, 2014 we were given a couple of options. The biggest thing our oncologist recommended was to take Cody’s leg in order to prevent injury and most importantly, pain.. he was in a lot of pain.  So we decided to amputate his leg. The next option was hard for us…

 

Chemotherapy vs. no chemotherapy.  We were told that chemotherapy would be the best way to prolong Cody’s life. Without chemotherapy, the estimated survival rate of osteosarcoma in dogs after amputation is 3-4 months. Three to four months… are you serious!?!?! How in the world were we supposed to make that decision?! Ugh just thinking about  that day makes me cry. After much conversation and crunching of numbers (because let’s get real… vet bills are expensive) we decided that Chemotherapy just wasn’t for us. There was no guarantee, and did we really want his last months to be taken back and forth for treatments? Especially since we were moving two hours away from our oncologist? No, we decided we didn’t. So we opted for amputation and I did some research on alternatives we could do. We changed his food, got his clean spring water and called a homeopathic veterinarian out of North Carolina (Dr. Loops) who we receive holistic and homeopathic treatment from through the mail.

 

And EIGHT months later… Cody is doing fantastic! We are throwing all of those statistics out the window and living every day in the moment. Cody gets to run and play and sleep in our bed and get lots of yummy treats and love from everyone. Living in the moment is the best thing we can do for Cody and ourselves. We don’t like to talk about the future  because the thought of having to say goodbye to Cody is just to much to bear. Not to mention, its not good for Cody for us to worry and stress. He needs us to be here, now, which is exactly what we are doing.

 

And as if EIGHT months isn’t a big enough celebration… Cody’s birthday is in October and he is EIGHT years old! So we took the opportunity today to celebrate both occasions. We took Cody for a car ride around town and let him hang his head out the window, I made him a special doggie cake and he played with his toys. Today was a good day.

 

AND if you can stand more good things… We finally purchased our new home and Cody loves it here 🙂 I know when we first packed up to move north we were both scared that Cody wouldn’t get to make the move with us.. but he has amazed us all and continues to fight this fight. Being settles in our new, much more permanent home, is fantastic and Cody adjusted so well.

 

So I leave you with some pictures of our handsome boy and also some food for thought…

 

If we all lived everyday like dogs do, in the moment without worry of tomorrow or yesterday, how much healthier and happier would we be? We challenge everyone to practice living in the moment. Live for the now, the present, the right in front of you life that so many of us let slip away with the worries of tomorrow. Don’t let a single moment pass you by.

 

Happy Ampuversary AND birthday month Cody Boy.. You have no idea how loved you are 🙂

 

During our car ride today 🙂

Cody and ZIggy exploring their NEW home!

 

 

Just hanging out

 

 

Chillin in the kitchen while mommy cooks

<3 Lazy Sundays

 

Look at that face! No wonder he always gets what he wants…

 

Those EARS!

 

 

Watching over his bestest friend

 

 

Everyday is a peanut butter Kong day!

 

 

Celebrating his EIGHT month ampuversary and birthday with a hat and some cake! 🙂