02164: Yoshi Progress Continues Well

So the past month we've been bringing Yoshi to the vet for weekly hormone treatments to help cope with his damaged kidneys. And as much as Yoshi doesn't exactly enjoy going to the vet (he drags his feet as soon as we get to the Mind Museum), the people at BSF certainly love him.

As of late he's been on a new heart medication that seems to have had significant impact on his general well-being. He's a lot more active now than before and he's quick to chase people around in search of treats or at least belly rubs.

For his every other day subcutaneous injections, we keep an old cherry jar for storing all of the used needles for safe disposal later on. At this point the jar is nearly full, which kind of drives home the point of how long we've working on all this. It has been over 4 months since we initially determined something wasn't right with Yoshi and his doctors never stop reminding us what a great job we've done given his current state versus the end of last year.

But hey, the BSF team have been equally amazing coming up with his current treatment plan including various experiments with combinations of medicines and altering dosage levels to get just the right balance of things. They've also been encouraging Yoshi a lot and us in turn to keep up the fight, even though Yoshi seems to deliberately ignore all of his doctors since almost everyone has had a turn at sticking a needle in him.

Yes, whenever people ask if he's better now we're unable to say that he's cured or anything. The damaged state of his kidneys will be a lifelong condition and we just have to our best to cope and keep up with treatments. But there are those moments when one has to just appreciate all that has passed and be proud of what has been accomplished.

Good dog, Yoshi. Good dog.