Bryce was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in April of 2008, after routine bloodwork revealed an abnormality in his protein values. There were no bone lesions, however it was all over his spleen and his liver. On the awful day I was given his survival prognosis (540 days if I went the chemo route (Melphalan and Prednisone, aka the MP protocol), 220 days on Prednisone alone) I remember standing there dumbstruck thinking “This just can’t be!” Having had a very bad experience with chemo in another dog, I opted to try holistic treatments first. I wish I could say they were a great success – they were not. Bryce kept getting sicker and at the end of that year I decided to start the chemo. Most dogs respond quickly to this, Bryce did not. However after the nerve-wracking initial couple of weeks, he began to respond and the meds steadily chipped away at his disease. He had no side effects from the chemo, we did have to reduce his prednisone dosage due to stomach upset. Bryce has always LIVED for doing agility, so I decided from the very start that I would let him run as much as he wanted to for long as he wanted to do it. A year after we started chemo, Bryce was declared to be in clinical remission. A week after that, he earned his CPE C-ATCH (CPE agility championship.) March of 2011 marks three years since we discovered his cancer – in that time he has earned multiple titles and awards in AKC, CPE and NADAC agility, including most recently his CPE CH-JU (jumpers champion) and his NADAC 1000 Lifetime Points award. He’s semi-retired now due to some back problems and aging vision, but when we run he still pulls me to the start line with great enthusiasm, tail in the air, having the time of his life. He’s not “cured” but has remained on a maintenance dosage of his medications which so far have kept his disease under control. Most importantly, I cherish that he’s becoming something I never thought he’d get to be back in 2008: A very, very spoiled old dog!