The Adventures of Jax

Welcome home Jax!

Jax's first big adventure was the day I brought him home. I flew to Minnesota to meet with his breeder and take him on a plane ride home to Colorado! He thought this adventure was simply the best thing ever-  he ran around the hotel hallways, went on a car ride, got sooooo much attention at the airport, walked on leash for the first time and then got to fly!

 

Jax Meets Cody!

Jax's next adventure was meeting his big sister Cody! Cody was 8.5 years old when we got Jax and still had the energy of a 3 year old pup. She has a lot of personality, and wasn't 100% sure about the idea of a puppy- she wants ALL the attention!

 

Jax was able to slowly worm his way into Cody's heart. His sweet, silly demeanor made Cody realize that maybe it would be more fun to get attention from the humans AND Jax!

Jax and The Bunnies!

Next up on the Jax Adventure List was to meet the resident bunnies- Buster and Zoe! The buns-o's are very dog savy, and thought that maybe Jax was another bunny friend!

Jax also thought that maybe he was actually part bunny! He loved sharing (stealing) lettuce from his little bunny friends

He loved his little bunnies, and made sure they were properly snuggled and clean!

The Adventures Begin!

At 12 weeks old, Jax got to go on his first ski adventure! Since he was too young to ski on his own, he got to take a ride in his parents backpack! Jax had a blast hanging out in the backpack and even took a nap while skinning up the slopes. What an amazing little pup.

Winter adventures included snowforts, playing at Loveland pass, adventures with Cody in the snow, visiting A-Basin ski area and even a hike to the top of Mt. Morrison! So many adventures in just his first month in Colorado!

As Jax continued to grow, his big sister Cody showed him the ropes of hiking on trails and posing on rocks! He was such a good little student and Cody didn't want to admit it, but she loved teaching Jax all she knew.

Jax and the Water!

As the weather warmed up a bit, it was time to get Jax into the water! He loved the idea of water, but actually getting wet? Not so sure :) 

Luckily he loves the water enough to enjoy paddleboarding and kayaking- even on his first time out!

Jax, Fearless Adventurer!

From an early age, Jax's fearless nature came through- he loves standing at the edge of a huge drop off, or just trying anything that looks scary.

As Jax continued to grow, his adventures mounted. A weekend in Vail:

Another weekend in the Sangre De Cristos:

His first backpacking trip to Blanca Peak, where he hiked to 13,800, but didn't summit:

A weekend in Aspen, running in the mountains and paddling:

Adventures outside of Winter Park:

Adventures on the water:

Adventures in the San Juans, part 1:

Adventures in the San Juans part 2- with the Grand Parents. Durango and Silverton:

 

Adventures in Ouray:

Adventures in Maroon Bells:

Jax Climbs Mountains!

Jax's first 14er- Mt. Elbert in a snowstorm!

Adventures in Leadville:

Adventures in Steamboat Springs:

Adventures with my little human friend (aka nephew):

Adventures on trails closer to home:

Adventures near Cottonwood Pass:

Jaxy loves to run mountains!

Jax's second 14er- Mt. Yale:

Jax's third 14er: Grays Peak:

Adventures to Crested Butte:

Adventures closer to home:

Adventures while skiing:

Jax Goes to Rochester and Turns ONE!

For Christmas, Jax made the long journey to Rochester, NY to hang out with family 

Christmas is also Jax's birthday. He had an awesome birthday celebration with his doggie and humans friends.

It was tiring being the Birthday Boy!

Visiting Rochester was tons of fun!

Adventure to Wolf Creek:

Jax loves to play with everything, but his favorite toy was an exercise ball!

A Hut Trip!

Jax's first hut trip to the San Juan's! We skied 8 miles in to the North Pole Hut where we hung out and skied with friends for 3 days.

There are also just the daily adventures to North Table and around the neighborhood

Jax found ways to adventure even when doing little things, like taking the stairs:

...Or chasing a ball:

..or playing at the park:

Even during his Chemo treatments, Jax is still living his best, most adventurous life. We took a 5 day road trip from Denver to Moab to Grand Canyon to Lake Powell and back. Jax (and his family) had a blast!

At the Grand Canyon, Jax was the most popular point of interest!

Jax has lived every day as the best day ever, from the moment we brought him home. His happy go lucky, goofy personality has infused our lives with endless happiness. Every day, he reminds us to approach each moment with joy, and every day we strive to #livelikejax

Jax's Story:

I really don't know how to write this.  On March 13, 2017, our 14 month old Australian Shepherd, Jax, was diagnosed with stage 5 terminal cancer, lymphoma. The previous Friday he ran 8 miles, then skied 6 miles on Saturday, but was feeling pretty lethargic Saturday and Sunday. He went in to get neutered on Monday and I told the vet about how lethargic he was, and that his gums were a bit paler than normal, so she ran some initial blood work, which came back normal. She started the sedation, but he responded really poorly. She ran more blood work and saw that he had virtually no red blood cells, no white blood cells and no platelets, something called pancytopenia. She had us pick him up immediately and rush him to the emergency vet. Once we got there, they gave him fluids, ran more blood work, did a chest x-ray and an ultrasound. None of the potential causes for his condition were looking good. With how poor his bloodwork was, no one could believe that he ran as much as he did the previous week (close to 30 miles). 

He stayed overnight to get a blood transfusion and on Tuesday he was well enough to get a bone marrow aspiration (pulling cells from inside the bone marrow). At that point we knew it was going to be cancer, we just didn't know if it was the kind that would kill him in a few weeks (leukemia) or a few months (lymphoma). He came home with us Tuesday night, and acted like normal, healthy Jax. We spent all day Wednesday doing all the things Jax loves, which is well, everything :)

The vet sent the bone marrow cells to a pathology lab at CSU and on Thursday we got the only 'good' news of this whole shitty week- he has the type of cancer that can at least sort of possibly respond to chemotherapy- enough to give us a few more months with him, best case. Since we have this one small chance to have more time with Jax, we are going to fight for every day. If we decided not to treat him, he would probably live a few more weeks.  

We chose chemotherapy, which would give him a good quality of life and could give us more time with him. Despite having very aggressive cancer and having very poor bloodwork, Jax's outward symptoms were almost non-existent. On the outside, he's the exact same dog as always, it's almost impossible to tell he's sick. He eats everything in sight, plays all day, and only occasionally acts a tiny bit more tired. If I hadn't been worried about him on Sunday for being just a touch tired, and said something to the vet, she would've started the surgery and he would've bled out on the table and we would've lost him then. 

There's no explanation as to why he got this, especially at 14 months old, and there's almost no precedent for the way his cancer has manifest. He has no swollen lymph nodes and no circulating cancer in his blood- it went straight into his bone marrow. The doctors think he may have been sick for only a few weeks, but there was just no way to catch it earlier. It is completely unexplainable and it makes me so fucking angry. 

Jax's Treatments:

During Jax's chemo treatments we tried to approach every day we had with him in the same way that Jax approaches life- that this is simply the best day ever and everything in it is awesome and man life is so good, isn't it? Well, we tried to do that most days, when we weren't sobbing uncontrollably in a grocery store aisle. 
When we got Jax's diagnosis, we started making a list of all the things Jaxy loves. We soon realized that we would have to list literally everything. He loves his adventures in the mountains, but this silly dooder is just as happy sitting on the front porch watching the world go by. Even after spending a night in the hospital, getting jabbed with needles, shaved and getting his bone marrow poked, the next time we went there he was rushing through the front door like he was at the candy store- he couldn't wait to see all his new friends 

Throughout his chemo treatments, Jax continued to enjoy going to the vet- even to the point where he always had a 'vet-boner'!! :) He handled each drug in the highly regarded 'CHOP' protocol extremely well. He had an upset tummy once, and only had a few days where he was more tired than normal.

For a few weeks, the chemo drugs seemed to be working really hard against the cancer. He was able to RUN with me, just like normal, for a whole 2 weeks. His red blood cell count was still in the 'moderately anemic' state (aka- most dogs would be tired on a 1 mile walk)- but Jax was a super dog, and didn't need red blood cells to climb mountains :)  He also maintained his incredible sense of humor and enthusiasm for life during all of his treatments. Jax was just the sweetest, silliest, happiest dooder-face in the entire world. 
We were able to live our lives like Jax every day while he was sick. We went on our daily hikes and runs, we played soccer in the backyard, and he barked at us after dinner to make sure we kept playing with him, all day long. We even went on a spontaneous trip to Moab, the Grand Canyon and Lake Powell with my parents in a rented 30' RV!

The Final Week (6/6/17):

To Live Like Jax- to live every day without regrets. To see everything in life as an adventure, even stairs. To live with so much happiness exuding from your core, that the whole world smiles in your light. To only see good in everyone and everything. To do everything with equal parts silliness and enthusiasm. To have so much passion for life, that he fought to the end with every cell of his body.

Oh Jax. My buddy-dooder face. We fought so, so hard for you. We did everything we could to help your body fight this horrible disease. You fought as hard as possible, while still enjoying every second out of life, never letting cancer or chemo get you down. Thank you, Jaxy. Thank you for being the most incredible dog and showing us what it means to truly live life. I am so sorry that your strength and our love wasn't enough to keep you with us forever. This really fucking sucks.

Jax's strength declined very quickly. Last weekend he was able to hike 3+ miles in Salida, and was still playing and jumping for his soccer ball. By Tuesday he needed a blood transfusion. On Wednesday, his white blood cells started losing the fight and his fever set in. By Thursday his platelets started failing and he started having bleeding issues. He was still eating and running around the backyard because he still wanted to fight. Since we were waiting for one more chemo drug to kick in, we gave him his third blood transfusion on Saturday, hoping against hope that it would work. From Saturday to Monday morning he had used up the entire transfusion plus some, and only had 10% of his RBCs left. He had zero platelets, and almost no more white blood cells. Any other dog would not be alive with his counts. 

Last night all of his friends at Wheatridge Animal Hospital came in to give him hugs and kisses and see all of the adventures Jax has been on. They needed to say goodbye to their special little buddy. We came home and Jax ate steak, hamburger and chicken for dinner. He even wanted the bunnies lettuce. Then he had some ice cream. And some more ice cream. We snuggled into his soft fur and reminisced about all of his adventures. He was tired. After chasing one last squirrel, he let us know it was time. He climbed into our bed one last time. This morning we brought him back to the hospital to say goodbye, to make sure we didn't let this stupid cancer cause him to suffer. 

Our world is shattered into a million pieces. We knew this day was coming, that his cancer was incredibly aggressive, but nothing prepares you for the end. He fought as hard as any dog could ever fight against cancer. He lived more in his 17.5 months on earth than most dogs live in a lifetime. He fought to stay happy and silly until the very end- he lived like Jax.

Thank you to everyone for all of your amazing support. We have been truly moved to see how many people care so much about sweet Jax. I wish you all could've met Jaxy McDooderFace, he made this world a better place.