Chocolate Kisses

Happy Happy Happy 4-1/2 Year Ampuversary Charley!!!   I can’t believe it’s been 1-1/2 years since your OS met was removed!   You are and will always be our Bone Cancer Warrior, our hero, our inspiration and our miracle man!!!   We love you!  ❤️

 

I’ve attached some pictures collage of my handsome Cancer Warrior that I took on his 4-1/2 Year Ampuversary which was on 4/28/15.  The sights and smells of spring makes it hard for Charley to pose because he is so distracted!

 

Here are 2 short videos that are guaranteed to make you laugh!  Sights and smells of spring = a big fail when I want him to play fetch!   Charley, you are a Labrador Retriever!   That means you’re supposed to retrieve!!!  

 

 

❤️  NEVER GIVE UP HOPE!!!  ❤️

Sending lots of positive thoughts and prayers to all of you and your furry babies!

Thank you for all of your prayers, positive thoughts, hugs, and kisses.  It is greatly appreciated and we can’t thank you enough for all of your support!

♥  Hugs from me and chocolate Labby kisses from Charley!  xoxo  ♥

Sorry this post is a bit late, but Charley had a lot to celebrate last weekend! 

Charley celebrated his 4 Year, 5 Month Ampuversary (17 Months post metastatic osteosarcoma tumor removal) on Saturday March 28th!  YAY!  YIPPEE!!  WOO HOO!!!

The big news is that Charley celebrated his 7th Birthday on Sunday March 29th!!!  YIPPPPEEEEEE!!!!!!!  We never thought we’d get the chance to celebrate 7 wonderful years with him after being diagnosed with Osteosarcoma at age 2-1/2.  I made Charley his favorite meat cake and he was so excited.  He was being so good waiting patiently to get to taste his cake while I took pictures.  Because Charley could polish off the entire cake in <5 seconds, I just cut him a piece instead and he’s been eating it all week as a bonus!  

My brother came in town on Saturday for a small party for my dad’s 75th Birthday, which was on April 1st,  at one of his favorite restaurants and then we celebrated my dad’s birthday again on Sunday with Charley.

Enjoy the pictures from Charley’s ampuversary and his birthday, my dad’s birthday picture with my parents and brother, my dad and Charley, as well as the video of Charley opening his present!

 

 

CANINE CANCER WARRIORS ended on April 1st and sold 18 tees.  Bone Cancer Dogs, Inc. will be receiving a check from Teespring for about $177.00, which brings the grand total that was raised for Bone Cancer Dogs, Inc. (BDC) to $7766.00!!!  YAY!  I am amazed that this much money has been raised since the end of January!  Thank you to everyone who supported this campaign!  I greatly appreciate it!  My plan is to hopefully do another campaign in the fall to raise money for BCD. 

 

 

Thank you to everyone who voted for Charley in the Karma Collars contest!  Charley won 1st place and he got to pick out whatever collar he wanted.  He picked out the following collar in Tan leather and Brass hardware.  I definitely would have never spend $210.00 on a collar!  LOL!  🙂

 

I’m a few days late but Charley’s 47th Month Ampuversary was on 9/28, so Happy Belated Ampuversary!!!   YIPPEE!!!  YAY!!!  WOO HOO!!!   HIP “HOP” HOORAY!!!

We are getting very close to celebrating 4 years on 10/28/14!  To put 4 years into perspective in Charley’s life, he was 2-1/2 years old when he was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma and he just turned 6-1/2 years old on 9/29.  On his 4th ampuversary, he will have spent 66.6% of his life as a Tripawd fighting cancer and it will be 1 year since having his metastatic OS tumor removed.  Pretty amazing indeed!  I can barely remember him having 4 legs.  This is why Charley is and will always be a Bone Cancer Warrior!  ♥

To honor Charley’s AMAZING journey we have a BIG surprise for our boy!  Drum roll please…..

When Charley’s OS came back in October 2013, I promised him that I would take him to see the ocean to swim in the waves and run in the sand (living in St. Louis, MO he has never seen the ocean).  My parents, Joe, Charley and I are renting a mini van and driving 13++ hours to Cape San Blas, FL (It’s an inlet about 1 hr or so east of Panama City with the gulf on one side and St. Joe Bay on the other).  We rented a 2 bdrm house directly on the beach.  Cape San Blas is completely dog friendly with no beach restrictions…YAY!  Charley will be running in the powder white sand and swimming in the green blue gulf water!  He already has his own float coat to wear!  I hired a photographer to take sunset beach pictures of Charley and all of us too!  Long story short…it’s a surprise vacation for Charley!  ♥

Charley LOVES his cow ears!  Every night around 7pm he will start bugging us for one…..if we don’t get him what he wants he will start barking!  Spoiled??  I say so and he deserves to be spoiled rotten!

Sending lots of positive thoughts and prayers to all of you and your furry babies!

Thank you for all of your prayers, positive thoughts, hugs, and kisses.  It is greatly appreciated and we can’t thank you enough for all of your support!

♥  Hugs from me and chocolate Labby kisses from Charley!  xoxo  ♥

Charley celebrated his 6th birthday yesterday, 3-29-14!

Happy Happy Happy 6th Birthday Charley!!!

It was a very special birthday for Charley for many reasons!  This was his 4th birthday since being diagnosed with osteosarcoma (he was only 2-1/2 when he was diagnosed)!   It’s  been 5 months since Charley was diagnosed with metastatic OS (the tumor was removed from underneath his amputation scar with clean margins)!  Charley finished his 6 rounds of chemo (alternating between Doxorubicin and Lomustine) on 3-12-14!  Charley celebrated his 41st Month Ampuversary on 3-28-14!  As you can see, we have many reasons to celebrate!

We had a birthday party yesterday for Charley and my dad!  Charley celebrating 6 and my dad celebrating 74 (on April 1).  Both of the birthday boys enjoyed their special birthday meal.  Charley had his famous meat cake and my dad had a filet….and he even shared some of it with his furry grandson, Charley.

The Birthday Boys!

 Yummy!!!  I can hardly wait…but I’m being a good boy, mommy!

Meat Cake:  Before….and….after!

Charley enjoying some fresh air during his pawty!

Mommy, did you say I get a Birthday Cookie?

Here I come!  I love cookies!

Oh my!!!  A Birthday Cookie Bone from Treats Unleashed!  YUM!

My mommy and me!

Thank you for all of your prayers, positive thoughts, hugs, and kisses.  It is greatly appreciated and we can’t thank you enough for all of your support!

♥  Hugs from me and chocolate Labby kisses from Charley!  xoxo  ♥

Charley had his last and final chemo #6 today!  Dr. Buss, Charley’s oncologist, said that he looks GREAT…and that news made my heart smile!   🙂

Charley doesn’t get the chemo pills at the oncologist in case he would get carsick on the way home, instead I take them to go and give it to him after he eats dinner.  I just gave him his Lomustine (CCNU) wrapped in cream cheese….no worries, I wore the blue gloves that his oncologist gave me to protect myself from the chemo that can penetrate bare skin!

Charley starts his antibiotics in 5 days and he will take it for 7 days to ward off any potential infection because this chemo lowers his blood counts that he needs to fight infection.

Charley doesn’t go back to see Dr. Buss for 2 months.  His next follow-up appointment is scheduled to May 15, 2014 for chest x-rays.

March is a BIG month for Charley!  March 28 is his 41st Month Ampuversary….and March 29 is his 6th birthday!  When Charley was diagnosed with osteosarcoma at age 2, we never thought in a million years that he would still be here with us to celebrate birthday #6!  We are so amazed and grateful that he is celebrating his 4th birthday since being diagnosed with cancer!  We’re planning a birthday party in late March for both Charley and my dad, whose birthday is April 1!

Stay tuned for some ampuversary and birthday pawty pictures later this month!

Here’s some pictures…and a video….from Charley enjoying the 80 degree weather earlier this week!

Thank you for all of your prayers, positive thoughts, hugs, and kisses.  It is greatly appreciated and we can’t thank you enough for all of your support!

♥ ♥ ♥  Hugs from me and chocolate Labby kisses from Charley!  xoxo  ♥ ♥ ♥

Charley had chemo #5 today, 2/19/14, which was Doxorubicin (Adriamycin).  This was his 3rd Doxorubicin so he is now finished with this chemo agent!  YIPPEE!!!  Charley will start on the Cerenia for anti-nausea tomorrow and will take it for 4 days (nausea from the Doxo typically hits days 3-5).

Since Charley’s last 4 bloodworks and his 2 liver profiles have been fine (he had bloodwork done after his 1st and 2nd Doxo and his 1st and 2nd Lomustine), he does not need any more bloodwork after this chemo or after his next chemo.  YIPPEE  again!!!

Charley has his last and final chemo on 3/12/14 which will be Lomustine (CCNU) which is an oral chemo pill and then he will be officially done with chemo!  Another YIPPEE!!!  I asked when Charley would need chest x-rays and Dr. Buss said we would most likely do it 1-2 months after his next chemo!

Dr. Buss, his oncologist, said and I quote, “Charley looks GREAT!!!”  That made my week again!  I told Dr. Buss that Charley will be 6 on 3/29/14…and that would be his 4th birthday since his OS diagnosis which is amazing!  Dr. Buss agreed that Charley is indeed amazing!  🙂

Charley LOVES the snow (but it has all melted now), so here are some recent snow pics!

I love the wavy fur along his back.  🙂

Wanna play??

One of my favorite all time pics…look at that happy smile!

Cheese!

Hi there! 

Snow face!

My little chocolate Valentine!

Thank you for all of your prayers, positive thoughts, hugs, and kisses.  It is greatly appreciated and we can’t thank you enough for all of your support!

♥  Hugs from me and chocolate Labby kisses from Charley!  xoxo  ♥

Charley had his 3rd (of 6) round of chemo, Doxorubicin, on Thursday 1/9 so now he is officially at the 1/2 way mark for chemo!  YAY!!!  Charley started taking Cerenia on Friday to help with any nausea or vomiting since Doxo is really hard on the GI system and so far, so good.

Dr. Buss thought Charley looked great and said he was “perfect” during chemo and he just layed on his side (although he’s an anxious maniac mess in the Lobby…go figure)!  Blood work again in 10 days and if his counts are fine for the 3rd time in a row, we won’t need anymore CBC’s done for his remaining chemos of Lomustine and Doxo!

Charley had so much fun playing on the snow last weekend!  St. Louis got close to 10-12″, so he had lots of snow to play in.  Unfortunately the “Polar Vortex” made the high temps Monday of -2, so his outside time had to be limited to less than 5 minutes or his paws would get too cold and he would hold up a paw.  I think he looks super handsome in his puffer jacket!

Here’s a few snow pics of Charley from Sunday!  The golden in the one picture is our neighbor, Louie!  Charley with 3 legs can run circles around Lou!  Charley steals all of Louie’s balls from him…when Charley sees their garage door open, he bolts over there goes into their garage roots through their children’s large storage container of balls and then helps himself to what he wants.  It’s quite embarrassing that Charley has about 10 tennis balls that are Louie’s and sweet Lou doesn’t mind.  I do take them back, but I swear Charley counts the balls and knows that I returned a few!  LOL!

Charley and our neighbor’s golden, Louie!

Charley doing zoomies in the yard!  Notice Louie, the golden, way in the background! 🙂

Charley doesn’t seem to be cold!

Charley’s so happy that he’s smiling!

Charley says, “The snow tastes so yummy!”

My FAVORITE snow picture!

The is the last picture because he was getting ready to jump on me to tell me,  “Enough pictures, Mom!”

…and a video!

Charley did a great job cheering on the Colts last weekend and this weekend, but since the Colts lost and won’t be advancing to the playoffs he’ll have to cheer on Peyton Manning with the Broncos!  Go Broncos!  Charley doesn’t have a Broncos jersey, but his Colts jersey is Manning jersey so that’s going to have to count!

Thank you for all of your prayers, positive thoughts, hugs, and kisses.  It is greatly appreciated and we can’t thank you enough for all of your support!

♥  Hugs from me and chocolate Labby kisses from Charley!  xoxo  ♥

Just wanted to share some great news!  Today is Charley’s 29 Month Ampuversary!!!  YIPPEE!  YAY!  WOO HOO!

We have been truly blessed and we can’t believe that Charley is going to be 5 years old tomorrow!!!  Happy Early 5th Birthday Charley!!!  After his OS diagnosis, we didn’t think that he would live to see his 3rd Birthday.  Keep on proving all those statistics wrong Charley!  We are having a birthday party for Charley and his grandpa (my dad) this weekend, so I’ll be sure to take a lot of pictures to share!

We are thankful for every day that we have with Charley and we take none of them for granted, because we know that unfortunately the cancer beast can rear it’s ugly head at any moment….so we continue to LIVE happily and fully with cancer!  Here’s the letter I read to Charley every month:

Happy 29 Month Ampuversary Charley!!!  You are our Tripawd Hero and everyday you make us so proud that you picked us as your mommy and daddy! ♥ ♥ ♥

Our wish to you is that you continue your fight against osteosarcoma with the same strength, resilience, and determination that you have since your journey started.

Our promise to you is that you will never suffer and when you tell us that it’s time, we will bravely and lovingly give you your well-deserved angel wings.

Your mommy & daddy love you more than you will ever know! ♥ ♥ ♥

Love,

Mommy & Daddy  xoxo

Here are some pictures of Charley playing in the springtime snow this past Sunday.  You can see that he’s one super happy Labby guy who hasn’t slowed down at all as a Tripawd!  🙂

In case you missed it, here’s the video of Charley playing in the snow.

Springtime in St. Louis is typically warm, but yesterday we got a lot of snow…..which is a dream come true for Charley who LOVES the snow!

I’m really not a mean mommy, but it was too tempting to not throw Charley snow balls and watch while he tried to find them.  🙂

On another note….Charley has a big weekend planned!  Thursday, 3/28/13, is Charley’s 29 Month Ampuversary and Friday, 3/29/13 is his 5th Birthday (his 3rd birthday as a tripawd).  We are having a birthday party for Charley (and for his grandpa) and he is super excited!  Hopefully the snow will have melted and it will be warm enough to be outside.

Love, Hugs and chocolate Labby kisses to all!  xoxo

Just wanted to share some great news!  Tomorrow is Charley’s 28 Month Ampuversary!!!  YIPPEE!  YAY!  WOO HOO!  Doing the Happy Dance in celebration!!!

We have been truly blessed and we can’t believe that Charley is going to be 5 on March 29!!!  After his OS diagnosis, we didn’t think that he would live to see 3.  Keep on proving all those statistics wrong Charley!

We are thankful for every day that we have with Charley and we take none of them for granted, because we know that unfortunately the cancer beast can rear it’s ugly head at any moment….so we continue to LIVE happily and fully with cancer!  Here’s the letter I read to Charley every month:

Happy 28 Month Ampuversary Charley!!!  You are our Tripawd Hero and everyday you make us so proud that you picked us as your mommy and daddy! ♥ ♥ ♥

Our wish to you is that you continue your fight against osteosarcoma with the same strength, resilience, and determination that you have since your journey started.

Our promise to you is that you will never suffer and when you tell us that it’s time, we will bravely and lovingly give you your well-deserved angel wings.

Your mommy & daddy love you more than you will ever know! ♥ ♥ ♥

Love,

Mommy & Daddy  xoxo

I got my belated birthday present from Charley just this week. 🙂  It’s a beautiful bronze noseprint pendant made from an impression of his nose by Metropawlitan Art & Photography.  Metropawlitan Art & Photography donates a portion of each sale to BoneCancerDogs.org.

Here’s a picture of Charley’s beautiful bronze Noseprint Pendant.  I love it!!!

Charley also got to play in snow for the first time this year (he LOVES playing in the snow), although St. Louis got slighted again with the recent Midwest Blizzard at least we had a few inches for him!