Toby’s third chemo treatment is in the books! We are more than halfway through his treatments and the doctor could not be more pleased.

The oncologist said all of his lymph nodes were normal, as was his blood counts, and he couldn’t ask for anything more at this point. Yay! I’m being cautiously optimistic, but as I have mentioned this week was critical, because he was off the prednisone completely, so it would tell a lot about how he was responding.

Apparently, this time he also gave them the most trouble. We think this means he is feeling back to normal. Usually they alternate legs to give the treatment, but this time they had to use both because he was being so fussy. Little Toby came walking back out with blue bandages on both legs. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of that.

The photo above was from before his treatment while waiting in the office. The photo below was from in the car after. He is always so tired after the treatment. The doctor said it’s partly because he’s so fussy and stresses himself out.

Since Toby’s diagnosis, I’ve had a philosophy of, “Toby gets what Toby wants.” Of course that’s within reason, but for the most part, he gets whatever his little heart desires. A french fry? Sure. A small piece of bacon? Yup. A whole bowl of pasta? No, but a single strand, yes.

We were driving back home to New York after his treatment and I had put him in his crate. He started whimpering at the top of his lung. In human speak, I would guess it would be something like, “Moooooommmmmmmm!”

Now, to give you background, Toby loves his crate. And, usually prefers to ride in there. So, I assumed maybe he had to go to the bathroom again before we left. I opened the crate, put his leash on and put him on the ground.

He immediately jumped into the front of the car, stood there and looked at me with this grin. All I could imagine him saying was, “Mom, I just had chemo today. I think I deserve to sit with you the whole way up instead of in my crate.”

Toby gets what Toby wants.