Hello, friends! I hope you have been enjoying a wonderful summer; it seems impossible that it’s already winding down. Last week proved to be a very bittersweet one for our family; this Friday Things will include two big life updates, then we’ll be back to regularly scheduled programming next week. Thank you for being here.

Little boy standing on a street corner in New York City.

First up, a Dominic update. Last Monday, we traveled to New York for scans after he completed three rounds of just immunotherapy (no chemo). As we were pulling into the parking garage, I received a call from the hospital that the radioactive tracer he needed to receive on Tuesday (in preparation for his scan on Wednesday) wasn’t going to arrive. They said he would still have his scheduled MRIs the next morning, and we would receive more information about rescheduling when we saw his team.

The next morning, he had his brain/head MRI and spine MRI, then we met with members of his team, whose plan was to move his scan to Friday and do a PET scan in the interim on Wednesday morning. We secured a separate hotel for Thursday night, and we were planning to extend our stay until late Friday.

Early Wednesday morning, he had the PET scan they had added, and then we spoke with his oncologist. He said the MRIs looked wonderful and that while the PET hadn’t been read by radiology yet, he had viewed it and said it looked great. As a result, he didn’t feel it was necessary for us to stay until the end of the week for the extra scan and encouraged us to head on home. The next morning, he called with the final PET results and said the scan looked fantastic; neither the PET nor MRIs detected anything active.

He would like Dominic to do three additional rounds of immunotherapy since he said he tolerates it really well and it has proven so effective for him. He said they could be spread out a little more and sees it as pseudo-maintenance. Once those three rounds are finished, he will have a larger workup to move him into actual maintenance. It was wonderful news, and while Dominic (and all of us, really) was hopeful that he was done with inpatient hospital stays, we couldn’t be happier with the results of the scans. We keep pushing forward thanks to the enormous support and prayers we continue to receive ❤️

And now, the bitter part of our week…

Golden Retriever dog sitting on a deck looking off to his right.

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A couple of days before we left, Duke didn’t seem to be doing great; he wasn’t eating well and wasn’t as mobile as he had been. While we were away, he seemed worse, and my husband took him to the vet. They spent three hours with him, and the bloodwork they did came back with some concerning results (he had last had routine bloodwork done in the spring, and the results were perfect). They wanted him to get an abdominal ultrasound and referred us somewhere for Friday morning. By then, he wasn’t getting up on his own, he was having accidents, he wasn’t eating, and he was panting a lot.

The results of the ultrasound were devastating… they found a very large mass in his liver, three large masses in his spleen (that the doctor was surprised hadn’t burst yet), and diseased lymph nodes throughout his abdomen. He was clearly in significant pain, his breathing wasn’t right, and they didn’t believe he had much time, so we made the gut-wrenching decision to say goodbye.

It’s been almost 10 years since we said goodbye to Einstein, and this was just as heartbreaking. We brought Duke home as a puppy a week after we got married in 2013, and my gosh, he has just been here for absolutely everything. The kids have never known life without him. I know we have been incredibly blessed to have enjoyed 13 years with him, but that did not make the goodbye any easier. He was such a fantastic dog, so gentle and loving. He howled when the kids cried and was just so excited when everyone came home, and we were all together. It has seemed so quiet and a bit empty in our house over the last week.

He and Judith had the sweetest relationship, and she has definitely seemed down this last week. I realized that it has been nearly 8.5 years since we brought Judith to live with us, and they bonded immediately. From the first few days together, they were always sleeping in the evenings with some part of their bodies touching. This picture was taken just a week before Duke passed away 💔

Two Golden Retriever dogs sleeping facing each other with their heads touching.

Thank you for always enjoying pictures and updates of our pups and asking about them, going back 19 years now when I first got Einstein! It makes my heart so happy and makes walking these dreadful days just a bit easier knowing so many of you love them, too ❤️