After 6 months of chemo Milo has hit a major milestone – the end of his CHOP protocol.

His most recent scan showed some improvement, and the specialist recommended ending his chemotherapy for now and moving to monthly scans to monitor the situation. The general idea is that the chemotherapy drugs will be more likely to be effective when needed again if he’s not continuously taking them. I should note that the Doxorubicin (the H in CHOP) can only be administered 6 times, and he’s had 4 already.

After being a fat boy, we’ve also managed to stabilise his weight at 5.6kg.

In the week before his final treatment Milo also discovered that there were car rides that didn’t end at a vets’ surgery. More on that to follow in my July end of month post.

Costs

As I mentioned in counting the cost the specialist estimated that chemo would cost £8,000-£10,000. I now know that the total was £7,118.31, though as previously mentioned we were over £2100 in before starting chemo.

Going from previous bills I’m expecting the scans and consultations for the monitoring phase we’re now in to run at £420/month, so the ongoing costs are still far from trivial (especially as those scans can’t be done at my local vet, which is where much of the chemo happened).

Insurance renewal

At least those costs should be covered by insurance. I’ve got a renewal quote from ManyPets, which is twice his premium last year, but still a good deal.

Past parts:

1. diagnosis and initial treatment

2. first setback

3. back on track

4. second setback

5. easing the pace

6. counting the cost

7. fat boy