Mia: Hello everyone. Welcome to osTEAo. That's with a capital TEA where Osteo Warriors and treatment and recent survivors spill the tea on all things osteosarcoma and cancer from the adolescent and young adult patient perspective. Listen in on our honest and personal conversations about our osteosarcoma experiences and who knows what else. This podcast discusses all aspects of the young adult cancer experience in a conversational format and we can get off track sometimes Audience Discretion is advised, like and follow MIB Agents on all social media platforms for all the intel and hot goss. Sammy, kick off our little messages.
Sammy: Welcome to today's episode of the fourth season of our osTEAo: Spilling the Tea on All Things Osteosarcoma AYA cancer podcast. We would like to begin by thanking our incredible sponsors, the Moore family, who generously support this podcast. We are so deeply grateful to the Moore family for their support. We couldn't do what we do without you. And now let's get on with our second episode of the season. Brought to you by the Moore Family.
Applications have closed and we are so grateful and excited about the amount of applicants for the 2025 Junior Advisory Board. It's going to be so, so fun. We have a super great amount of applicants. The community is growing, which makes us so, so happy. MIB Agents will be on Capitol Hill for Childhood Cancer Action Days, February 27th through the 28th in Washington DC Action Days is a two-day in-person event in Washington DC. Many are going to share their stories with our congressmen and women. We are at a critical point on several key policy issues that impact children with cancer and we have a strong showing of advocates attending later this month at Action Days 2025. Sharing our stories with members of Congress ensures the voice of children with cancer is heard loud and clear. Mia, would you like to tell us a little bit about FACTOR?
Mia: I would love to. Well, I haven't been to FACTOR since 2022 due to multiple scheduling issues. It was so much fun and always is so much fun and I always have FOMO when I'm not there and so I'm really hoping I can make it this year because it's in Salt Lake City, centrally located a little bit out west. It's going to be very, very fun. So we are going to be in Salt Lake City, for FACTOR in Utah in June. It's approaching very quickly and we're really, really excited. Registration will be opening very, very soon, hopefully by the end of February. So stay tuned for more details. We have a ton of exciting things to look forward to in FACTOR HQ this year. As usual, we're working on having our TVs, video games, snacks, art supplies, art classes. It's just a great space to hang out and just chit-chat with other OsteoWarriors and siblings and just a really, really great place to hang out if you don't want to be in the lectures or the presentations that are also so wonderful at FACTOR.
But if you're a little scienced out, it's nice to take a little break and I know that I love being in HQ. It is going to be absolutely fantastic and we really hope to see you all there. Also, four FACTOR Travel awards are now open. So submit those applications asap. I know we have time, but applications sometimes we put them off. Let's get those in because we are so excited for FACTOR. So the specific travel awards we were talking about here are the Scientific Travel Award and the OsteoWarrior Award. So for the Scientific Travel Award, if you're a researcher or a provider and you want to get out to FACTOR, you can apply for this award. The deadline is March 28th, 2025. You can find it on our website at mibagents.org. You just send in your application and if accepted, we will help pay for your lodging and travel to FACTOR.
And so if you're an OsteoWarrior and you also would like to make it to FACTOR, you have until June 6th to apply for your travel award. These are really, really great opportunities I highly recommend that you send in your application. So again, for the Scientific Travel Award, March 28th, 2025 is the deadline. And for the OsteoWarrior Award, it's June 6th, 2025. So much closer to the actual event. Also, as always, please submit ideas to us for future topics because we love hearing from you. We really want to hear from everybody what you want to hear us talk about, reach out to us through social media, reach out to Kara, who is our social media manager and we will get back to you and we're really, really, really just excited to hear from you.
All right everyone, so welcome back to our second episode of the year. So excited to be here. So happy to have you all here. We are going to be talking about pets today, which is really exciting in our furry friends and how they get us through treatment and how they just lift our spirits and are adorable and wonderful. All of the crazy stories we have about them and us and our treatment and everything in between. But before we get started with our questions, we're going to start with our main segment. What's the tea? No, literally. So I actually forgot to bring my beverage in here. So let's just start with that. So zero out of 10 for me right out of the gate because of the lack of beverage, but yeah, so I'm also going to share, obviously we always do our name, age, where we're from, what we're up to, kind of what our osteosarcoma history is and what we're drinking and to rate it.
But again, I don't have a drink because I forgot. I'm lame. So my name is Mia Sandino. I am 25, but when this drops I will be 26. I am from LA, was born in New York but was raised out here. I am currently attending the Syracuse School of Professional Studies online for a cannabis studies certificate program, which I'm loving so far. I'm studying specifically cannabis in the context of science and health so I can help other cancer patients along the way. I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in September of 2018. It started in my right proximal tibia and now it is primarily in my lungs but has spread to other bones in the past. It's been a long six and a half years, but I'm very happy to be here with you all today. Again, I do not have a beverage unfortunately because I forgot it, so just pretend that I'm sipping some piping hot tea.
Sammy: That's okay. I've spilled my beverage before this, so there's just a bunch of beverage malfunctions. In this episode we just roll with it. So my name is Samantha, but I go by Sammy. I'm 22 and I live in Southern California, Redlands specifically, which is about an hour or so from LA. So not super far from Ms. Mia. I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in my right proximal tibia when I was 19 in August of 2022. It was actually five days shy of my 20th birthday. I underwent treatment until May of 2023 and then halfway through my process in November of 2022, I underwent a limb salvage surgery. So I do have an internal prosthetic in my right leg. I think me and Mia have both said that we have our rods are named, we have Rodney here, and then in mine, it's Tiffany. So beautiful little metal knees.
I'm currently pursuing a degree at a local community college. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I want to do. I just know that I want to help people so I'm on a path and not putting any pressure on myself, but still super excited to see what my future holds. I right now am drinking, actually, it's cold tea. It's like brisk tea, but because it's like 80 degrees here in California, you just love California winters. You can't really have tea because it's still hot outside. So this is like, I think it's strawberry melon tea. I really, really like it and my cup says my dog is my Valentine, which is actually perfect because furry friends episode and also Valentine's Day this month I would give it, I would give it a nine out of 10. I really like this type of brisk tea. I take away a point just because I think maybe I am getting older and not liking sweet stuff as much, and right now it feels a little too sweet. So my frontal lobe is developing for sure. I'll pass it along to Sloane. Do you want to go in and tell us a little bit about yourself and about what you're drinking?
Sloane: Hi, my name is Sloane Dyer. I'm 20 years old. I'm from Chicago. My family currently lives in Atlanta and I go to school outside of Dallas. I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in my right femur when I was 12 years old. I went through standard mat protocol and had an initial limb salvage. I have luckily been seven years NED, but dealt with a lot of surgical issues. So after six years of pain with my limb salvage, I had an elective amputation. I am now currently at school. I'm a jazz studies major focusing in vocal jazz performance, and I am currently finding out new surgical options for complications for my amputation. And then Mackenzie.
Mackenzie: Hello, my name's Mackenzie. I'm 18 years old and I'm from northwest Arkansas right now all I have to drink is this water because I kind of joined this very late and I was too lazy to make some tea, but I think I give it honestly, it's probably a seven, maybe an eight just because it has ice in it, but I think cold water is always the best water.
Sammy: Agreed. Stay hydrated. Hundred percent agreed. Yeah.
Mackenzie: Yeah, my doctors will be very happy to know I'm drinking water right now. The only thing they ever tell me every time I go, you better drink water. I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in 2020 and it was in my left femur. It was at the end of 2020 and then I think I had my first chemo two days before Christmas it was, and then I got to go home on Christmas day and then I was back in the hospital right before New Year's and I was there through New Year, so that was fun. Got to see fireworks from the hospital for the first time, but I had MAP therapy for nine months. My surgery was in the middle of it, I think it was the fifth month or fourth month, and I had limb salvage. I had a cadaver bone where my tumorous bone was and I had that type of surgery for about three years before it just wasn't working and we had to get the rod. I also had heart problems from chemo, but that's a long story. Eventually, it caused heart failure. I've had my heart transplant now, so that's really nice and good. Hopefully, we're done with all of the heart stuff and it's just checkups from now on.
Mia: Well, we absolutely love to hear that and that you are doing so well that we all are here today. It's so exciting. I'm so happy to see your beautiful faces and hear your wonderful voices. But we are going to be talking about our furry friends who make us these wonderful people and keep us happy and keep giving us joy through all the craziness that we've been through from limb salvages to amputations, to more surgeries, to transplants. These are our non-human supporters who love us unconditionally. Even though I have cats, they still somehow love me unconditionally. I'm very lucky. I also have two dogs, but their unconditional love is obviously more of a given than cats. So we're going to go around and we're just going to talk about our furry friends and some stories about how they helped us through our cancer journey.
Okay. Yes, we're so excited for this episode, but before we dive in, a bunch of beverage malfunctions this time and actually our dear friend Sloane forgot to tell us what their beverage is. So would you like to go ahead and share with the audience what your beverage is? Sloane?
Sloane: All right. I've got my lovely Owala here. It's full of water and electrolytes. It jumped up today in Texas to 80 degrees and my body was not expecting it, so I think extra hydration is what I needed. It tastes like water. Water is the real adult beverage. I give it a 10 out of 10.
Sammy: Absolutely. Isn't it crazy how our winters are so warm yet yesterday because we're recording this on the third, a groundhog told us we have six more weeks of winter. So I mean I'm still waiting for the first half of winter here guys. It's 80 years in California and Sloane is over there burning up in Texas as well.
Sloane: Texas is weird. Last week it was in the forties this week it's in the eighties. Next week it's back down to the thirties, it's going to be a ride.
Sammy: The weather's so unpredictable. It's all over the place. I think we all can relate to the weather because all over the place, but super excited. Mia, do you want to start us off? I know you have a lot of pets, you and your mom, so would you like to share with us about your furry friends?
Mia: I would love to. So let us go in age descending order. So we will be starting with my oldest pet and she is in the room, so I don't want her to hear that. We have a beautiful Bengal cat named Willow. So she's brown with gorgeous rosettes. I wore the sweater for her even though she refuses to be on screen right now. She is just staring at me from the chair across from me. She is 11 years old. She's very sweet. She's actually my registered emotional support animal as well. When I was going to be living in an apartment while I was attending UCSB, obviously that didn't work out due to my health, but she's an amazing cat. She sleeps in my room every night and she sleeps on me. It is very hard to keep her away from me, especially if I am sad or injured or sick.
She is kind of my ride-or-die even though she's a screamer and yells at me while I'm asleep. But I still love her very, very, very much and she's a very silly little girl and we have some not-so-safe for work that I will not mention here nicknames for her because of her attitude. So that is Willow. Then we have Elliot. He is our miniature Australian shepherd. He's got a blue eye and a brown eye, so he's got that little double moment going on. He's got that blue, gray, white, black cream kind of vibe going on. He's a very traditional Aussie but mini and he's just a very sweet, handsome little awkward boy at training. They used to call him Derpy, which is very true. He's very derpy and he's very sweet, but he does not understand when I have procedures and he has very frequently walked across my chest and other things right after procedures and it's not very fun.
But he means well. We are then going to go to Enzo who is a 27-pound tabby, scraped highland lynx. He has curled ears, and a little bobtail, and he's basically like if a boa constrictor swallowed a bowling ball, just kind of picture that in terms of body shape. And he's just got these narrow hips and his tiny head. But he's a very handsome boy and he's very, very sweet. He's also very emotionally aware of whenever my mom and I are upset and I have lots of great stories about him, especially because he knocks a lot of things over. I have a great story about that coming up later. Then we have Matteo, who is four. He is also a highland lynx, but he looks like Enzo but smaller and he's a short king. He has these awkwardly little short legs and I love him for it.
But he was born like that. I don't know what his deal is. He looks like Enzo, but with longer fur. So when people come over they confuse them a lot. I'm like, Nope, Enzo's the fat one. That's the really easy way to remember it. Not fat shaming when it's animals, it's not fat shaming, I promise. He is a very healthy boy and he's very happy. Yeah, we have Matteo, who's a very sweet little man. We call him our little baby man. And then we have Ms. Mambo. Mambo is our German Shepherd husky mix. She's very energetic and very sweet, although she is a jumper. So again, sometimes an issue with Rodney. She's knocked me over a couple of times, even though she's lighter for her mix of breeds. She's only 45 pounds, so she's just a skinny little girl and she's lean, but trust me, she eats.
She's just very, very active and we're too scared to do obstacle course training with her because we're scared that we're going to turn her into a parkour monster who ruins the house. So she's an amazing, very, very sweet dog and she looks like a little baby deer. She's very sweet. And then we have my second youngest cat is Lizzo. She is a big Maine coon highland licks mix. So she's got a little bit of curl ears, but they're big and pointy and still a huge fluff ball. She's got all the colors of animals that you've ever seen in one animal. She's just this beautiful black package of just brown black cream white. She's got a white mustache, which is really cute. She's got these fluffy paws and this very feathery. Most of her coloring is brown and black, but she's got some notes of orange as well.
And she's very, very sweet and has a very dainty voice, which I think is very funny given how she's probably 20 pounds. Maine Koons are huge. So her lynx is so she is a great best of both worlds and she's very sweet. And then our youngest is actually in here and if you guys give me a moment, I will grab him because he's so cute. He is our youngest, my little Guillermo, he looks like a little mountain lion and here he is. You can tell that he's upset that I picked him up, but he's still sweet and very baby. He's just a year old and we love him very, very much. He's named after Guillermo de la Cruz from the show What We Do in The Shadows, which is about vampires who live in Staten Island. It is a great comedy. It is rated mature, so only for our mature listeners, but yes, he's named after a vampire hunter. So those are my crazy animals. And Sloane, if you want to go next, I'll hand it over to you.
Sloane: Yeah, I have two dogs. My dog is, his name is Sam, and he was adopted right before I was diagnosed. I was diagnosed in December of 2016. We got him in November of 2016. And he is a dog version of a teddy bear. He is the most adorable little man ever, and he is a mutt. But we did the testing on him. Just out of curiosity, he looks not exactly how you would expect just because he's tiny. He is German Shepherd, Australian cattle, dog, lab and Yorkie. So he has all the features of a German Shepherd. He has a German shepherd face and he acts a lot like a German Shepherd mix with a lab. Not really Australian cattle dog though. Not really sure where his energy went. It's just non-existent. But he's really short, long and absolutely adorable. He's all black except he has a little white stripe down his chest.
And then my other dog, her name is Alice, and she was adopted by us in 2014, so a while ago now. And she is really cute. She's a little bit smaller than Sam. She's a mix of Pomeranian, miniature poodle and mixed sporting breeds. She has a lot more energy than Sam. And one thing about her is she is obsessed with food, absolutely obsessed. You cannot pull her away, she just sits there and stares. She also is like that with attention and petting, which seems like it would be so lovely and so great. It is not. I will be petting her, she'll be on top of me. I'll be petting her, not even stopping. She's staring at my mom. She wants my mom to pet her. She moves closer and closer to my mom once we're both petting her. She stares at my dad who's on the chair across the way. She wants all three of us to be petting her and it's never going to happen. But she just wants more and more and more attention and it is really adorable, but it can be a lot sometimes. Anyway...
Sammy: Yeah, I was going to say, she sounds really relatable. I mean attention and loving food. I was like, were you describing me or your dog?
Sloane: Me too. She's only a year or two older than my other dog, Sam. But she is so anxious. She has prematurely turned herself white. Her entire face is almost white because she's so anxious and stressed out, which she doesn't really have a whole lot to be stressed out about, but she finds a way.
Sammy: Hey, it's hard being a dog. It's a lot of responsibility. At the end of the day, I always check in with my dogs and I'm like, your life is so hard. It's so hard being a puppy. Just so many responsibilities probably that they feel like they have to bark and pee and eat, play occasionally. But your pack of dog sounds and Mia too. I love how in detail you went. I felt like if I closed my eyes, I could just imagine all these beautiful cats. I loved it. I ate that up. So for me, right now, currently we have two dogs. So our family dog, his name is Tucker, I call him Tucker Rucker or Mr. Tuckerman, he's older. He is a rescue. He is 11, no, 10, I think 10 years old. And he's like a terrier mix. I dunno. He's kind of cute looking.
He has little floppy ears. He's brown and white and he's missing most of his bottom teeth. So when he eats stuff, it gets stuck to the top of his mouth. That's the only place he has teeth. He's super, super sweet. He's my friend. We're like this. And then our other dog that we have here actually isn't really our dog. So my sister and her husband are having us watch their child for right now. Her name is Violet. She's a terrier, Yorkish, schnauzer mix. She's only two years old. Her birthday is actually Christmas Eve, so she's a Christmas baby and she's super energetic and she's super goofy. And we always say that she has about three brain cells that bounce around her head and make decisions for her. Sometimes her actions are just really, really questionable and together they get into so much trouble. They know how to open doors like our pantry door.
They know how to open the back door to let themselves out the screen door and stuff. They're super smart, but they're this little iconic little duo and they just cause havoc in our house, but also bring so much love and I just love them so much. And then my dog that I actually had with me during my treatment, unfortunately she passed away almost a year ago in February. Her name is Zuma. She's not here with us now, but she's here in spirit. And she also is here in the form of a pillow. This is Zuma. She's a black lab. She's my best friend. She was nine years old and she was just the sweetest dog ever. I think labs sometimes are super energetic. She was just the opposite. She was such a chill girl. It was like zero cares in the world. She was motivated by attention, sleeping and food.
So just like me, that's why we got along so well. She was really my rock during treatment because a lot changes, but whenever faltered was the way that she loved me, and I think it's so important to have her furry friends along the way and we'll get more into that. But yeah, those are my two dogs right now. And then my little angel puppy who's up. And I hope that she watches the podcast. I feel like she does because I mean, why wouldn't she want to watch her mama on a podcast? But yeah, I miss her so much, but she was really good to me. What about you, Mackenzie? Tell us about your pack.
Mackenzie: I've had a lot of pets over the years, but the four that were here when I was diagnosed, I had two cats and two dogs. The oldest were the cats, they were siblings. My grandma brought them all the way up here and dropped him off when I was one year old. I'm sure my parents love that. Their names were Sugar and Spice. He was kind of gray with lighter gray stripes, a white belly. And then Spice is, he's a big boy, let's just say that. He's kind of chunky and he's white with grayish black spots and they've been around forever. I think she lived to about maybe 15 years and he is currently 17, so been around a long time. And then my dogs, the oldest is, I think she's turning 12 this year. She's an old lady. She has all this gray on her and all the scruff and it's so cute.
And honestly, she's kind of like us. She can't walk very well anymore. And I'm like, girl, why are you trying to copy me? I don't know why, because honestly, my other dog tried to copy me too. I'll get to that. But I remember the most from when she was little, well, I don't remember, but I remember hearing stories that she would always eat shoes, but only the left one. And I was like, because then they'd have to go and get a whole other box. And I'm like, oh, that's so sad. And she'd hide things too. She used to hide my IES and stuff. It was hilarious. Now that she's older, she likes to hang out and go on walks. Not very long ones, but small ones like me. And I think that's really cool that she kind of goes at my pace. And then the younger one, her name is Jazzy.
Oh, I forgot to mention both the dog's names are kind of Louisiana based, so if you don't understand what Gregory is, it's just like kind of magic. And then Jazzy Jazz. And she's seven turning eight I believe. And they're both black labs. I think Gregory came from Louisiana and then Jazzy came from Arkansas. Jazzy, she is kind of crazy. When she was younger, she would run away. She would find her way into people's backyards and through doggy doors. And we'd always get calls from the same few people be like, come get your dog. She's at our house. And so eventually she had a shock caller and she would run straight through the line and just get zapped and be gone. It didn't phase her at all. And it was the most funniest thing. I think a good memory from both of them together was when I was in a wheelchair and I had their leashes and they pulled me up a hill. It was really funny. I don't even think they realized they were pulling me, but it was really hilarious.
Mia: You're just sitting there mush.
Sammy: I love hearing everyone's stories the way that we talk about our pets. They really do have their own individual personalities. It seems like we've all during a lifetime, had multiple pets at a time. They're so different. Every single one is different. It's so sweet. And I want to ask you guys, during your treatment having these pets, what did it mean to you to have that kind of unconditional support from your pet that was unwavering throughout all of the uncertainty? So I'll start, I don't know if I said my dog's name, but her name was Zuma named after the Paw Patrol Chocolate Lab named Zuma. Shout out to my brother for naming her. But for me it was just, there were a lot of changes that happened when you're going through your treatment, having cancer physically, mentally, emotionally, like you're changed. But what I noticed was the way that she would look at me was never any different.
And we actually had her since she was a puppy, she was one of my dad's friends, I believe the dog had a litter and they ended up giving her to us. And she's a, she's lab mixed with we don't know, but super, super sweet. And she throughout her whole entire life was super, super attached to me. I'm a dog person and we were just always inseparable. And I remember prior to being diagnosed, she would actually nibble at the site where my tumor was. She would sniff at my knee and nibble at it. And I used to push her away because I'd be like, oh, you're getting your slobber around me. And she would never really lick like that. So it was weird. And then I ended up being diagnosed and I was like, oh. So I like to say the first person to diagnose me was actually my dog because she knew something was up. But I just was not listening after that. During my treatment, obviously, like I said, a lot of different changes. I just remember coming home after my long five to six days at the hospital. I would come home for maybe one or two days a week. And I remember the first thing I would do would be go to her because she didn't see me any differently. I was still her best friend who maybe just had a little less fur than she did.
And it just meant so much that that was one thing that was completely constant and there was never any change. So what about you guys? What was it like to have that from your pets? Because I know our family and our friends give us that, but it really is different coming from a dog or a cat. How about you? Let's start with Mia.
Mia: Well, as you know, I have many, many stories about my crazy pets. So when I was diagnosed, we actually only had three cats and one dog. And obviously as cancer patients, I don't know if you all feel this way with your family members and loved ones, but it's kind of hard to say no to a cancer kid. So that is why we now have unfortunately, one of our oldest cat Bingo who was a king, he lived until he was 19 and I was actually, it's when they thought I was in remission that it was when he passed away. So I like to think that he held on kind of as long as he could to be with me because I got him when I was three. So having him for that long, he's just a very sweet boy. I'm not in active treatment, but I still have active osteosarcoma in me.
So it's a little, in other episodes, I'll touch more on that. But I remember my biggest kind of hospitalization, not my longest, but kind of the scariest was I was on an immunotherapy that does work for osteosarcoma, but I happened to have this extremely rare side effect. When I say extremely rare, I believe that I was probably only one of five people that this has ever happened to. So it caused my immune system to start attacking my own liver as well as the cancer cells. So that's not fun. You kind of needle liver. And since I had stage three metastatic osteosarcoma, it's not like they were like, we're going to put you on a liver transplant list. So basically I had to try all these crazy treatments and I actually ended up, my immune system was so weak, they had to knock it out to save my liver, even though my liver function test kept going up.
I was in the hospital for a really long time. I ended up in septic shock. I had pneumonia. I couldn't control my own blood pressure. I almost died like four times in 12 days. It was a really scary time for my family. And so I came home that first night and I was really, really weak. And after being on bedrest for essentially 10 days and coming home after 12, and I was just sitting on the couch and my mom was like, okay, I'll make dinner. And Enzo was on our kitchen counter as usual because he likes the attention. He likes to be tall, he likes to be at almost eye level with us so we can pet him and he will knock things over if we are not giving him enough attention. Usually it is we keep just a water bottle that we just refill to refill the dog's water and he will knock that over multiple times a day if we're not giving him the amount of attention he desires.
So I got home, obviously, I'm in a wheelchair. It's a very difficult time. I'm kind of out of it. I had some ICU delirium and my mom was like, oh, let me go make dinner. And we had this big glass bowl that we used to keep on our counter and it was actually empty at the time. It was one of the few times it was empty, but it was a big, big crystal glass bowl, so you wouldn't think that one of our pets would be able to do anything to that. And my mom went to make baked potatoes for us and she realized that one of them had gone bad. So she dropped it into our trash can, which is kind of built into our island on the kitchen counter. Enzo was sitting there when she dropped the potato and it made this loud bang noise and it spooked Enzo who was about, he was probably closer to 25 pounds then he is gained a little bit since.
But he sprints away and in the process knocks over. We haven't been home for even an hour. My mom has barely slept. I have barely slept. I have full delirium and my poor mom is trying to make dinner and the cat knocks this massive glass bowl, glass shatters. It goes all the way down the long hallway towards our dining room in the front of the house. It's just all over the kitchen. And of course, we have these cats at the time we have four cats and Elliot, who's our dog, and they want to see what's going on. And so my mom is the only person that's home with me and I can't move. So she's having to clean up all this glass and we're just the two of us. We laughed so hard because what else are you going to do? And so we're just cracking up over Enzo and he's a special boy also because I can't remember who said it, but we also got Enzo right before I was diagnosed.
We got him in June of 2018 and I was diagnosed in September of 2018. They found the tumor in August, but I wasn't diagnosed with osteo until later. So he's definitely been a really, really big support through it all. And I'm trying to think of another silly one. Basically just that we keep collecting these cats and these pets because I see them and I fall in love with them. And I say pretty, pretty please. And I bat my big brown eyes and then I hope that we get said pet, but we are at full occupancy. My mom, when she watches this, you don't have to worry, we are at full occupancy. I don't want anymore at seven.
Sammy: I love that story. It's so awesome how dogs and cats and pets just provide unconditional love and support. But also they're the ones that really make us laugh during those times without even trying. They bring us so much laughter because like you said, what else are we going to do? So it's nice that consistency is within them. What about you?
Mia: No pets were harmed. No pets were harmed. No pets were, and no one stepped on glass. Everything was okay. No humans stepped on glass. I did not roll my wheelchair over the glass. The flashlight app always comes in handy when you break something,
Sammy: It's even funnier in retrospect after it's all happened to look back. Right now you think about it and still makes you laugh just as much. I was laughing listening to your story, so I can only imagine what that's like in person.
Mia: Oh, sorry. He also knocked over a bottle of vodka, but thankfully that did not break because my mom definitely needed a shot after that. Oh yeah.
Sammy: Yeah. That would've been devastating. I don't know if I would've been able to laugh. I'm just kidding. What about you, Mackenzie? What was it like to have the consistent love and laughs from your pets while you were going through your cancer journey?
Mackenzie: It was really amazing. I mean, I think the first example I have of this was after my biopsy and I had this patch on my leg and I was laying on the couch and my dog was laying with me and I took a picture of it and it was just very sweet. She was just being very gentle, making sure not to put too much weight on me. She knew I wasn't doing as well, obviously. I mean, she'd been watching me limp for the past two months. Have you seen those videos of those that copy their owners and start limping too, I'm surprised none of my pets started doing that, but I kind of wish they did because it would've been so funny. And then another story I have, well, I mean for cancer, most of my inpatient stays weren't that long. So I'm like, oh, at the end of the week I'll get to see them.
But I think once I hit longer stays longer than a week's stays or when I had my heart failure, it was a very long stay, three and a half months. And I think it really hit me how much I need my pets and my brother and my dad would FaceTime me from the hospital and they would just show me my pets every time. And it was just such a cute thing. I remember missing them a lot because there were points where I got to see my family, but they couldn't exactly drive in the car for three hours or go into a hospital. So that was hard, but it was just really amazing to get back to them afterward. I think that's something you look forward to when you're in the hospital when you have pets, is just getting back to them because they love you so much and you love them so much.
Sammy: I think we've all been there where our family members have FaceTimed us with our pets. And when you're in front of the phone and you're calling their name, begging for them to understand, I'm right there on the other end of the phone and you're yelling at them and they're like, that's so cool. What about you, Sloane? What was it like having your pet support during your process?
Sloane: It was so helpful for me. As I said, I got my dog a month before I was diagnosed, but it was similar to Mia. My parents both knew that I was really sick before we adopted him, and I asked for a dog for Christmas and they were like, well, we can't say no, but they did make sure I picked a dog that wouldn't be too high energy and would work well since they knew I was likely going to be really sick for a long time. And I mean, they made the perfect choice. My dog, Sam, he changed everything in my chemo. Every time I would come home, he would lay on the couch with me. They weren't allowed on the couch before. I stopped being able to walk. And they had been allowed on the couch ever since. It's been great. It's another thing my parents couldn't say no on, but he would lay on my chest as much as he could.
But something that I absolutely adore that he does is when I had my limb salvage, he would lay parallel to my right leg and wrap his tail and his head lightly over my leg, right over my knee where it usually hurt the most. And you could tell he knew what was going on. Anytime I'm sick, anytime I'm not feeling good, especially with cancer-related pain and surgery-related pain, he always knew. And now that I'm an amputee, instead of being parallel to my leg, he now sleeps where my leg used to be and wraps himself around my other leg, which I think is really cute. And something I heard from my brother who sleeps with him when I'm not at home, apparently Sam gets mad at my brother for having two legs because he finds it more comfortable because he has more space when he is sleeping with me.
And I just about lost it when my brother told me that because it's so cute. My other dog, Alice, she was more of the comical effect for chemo. She's not super clumsy or anything like that, but she's terrified of every single mobility aid. Every single one. Crutches hates them. Canes hates 'em, walkers hates them. Wheelchairs also hates them. Prosthetics are fine as long as it's on my body, as soon as it's off my body terrifying. And so just watching her try and figure it out during chemo and my first times on those around her, it was really funny. She used to scamper away and all of that. Now she's a bit less light on her feet, and so she just gets underfoot a lot. But I mean, I'm used to it and it just gives me extra time to pet her every time she goes by. So I'm not complaining.
Sammy: So sweet. I love, I'm watching right now, Mia with her cat.
Mia: Now Willow decided to come into frame and Guillermo is screaming at the door trying to get out and I'm like, you don't love me, my boy, my son.
Sammy: My guy doesn't get paid enough to be on the podcast. That's why.
Mia: He'll be the first paid participant.
Sammy: Yeah, paid in treats. Yeah. If your pets were watching this podcast, what would you want to say to them? I'll go last since I went first, last time, but I want to start with Mia because right now your pets are in the room, but let's say that they were able to sit down and watch the podcast.
Mia: Yes, I have two of seven in the room with me currently.
Sammy: What would you want to say to all the babies?
Mia: To all my babies, I would say how much I love you, how much I appreciate you, how wonderful you look today, how soft you are. And this is specifically for Matteo. I love you. My short king, my little Himbo, he has about three brain cells, but he is the arguably most handsome of the pets. So that's why I call him a Himbo. He respects women, but he's also an idiot. So very Himbo, think Cronk from the Emperor's New Groove or Thor from the Marvel movies, very Himbo esque. But yes, so that's for Matteo and her, Ms. Mambo and Elliot who are with one of their trainers right now since we're leaving from Mexico City tomorrow, which is very exciting for a family wedding. I miss you both very, very much. But I do not miss your barking as much as I love you both because they're quite loud, especially Mambo with her German Shepherd Husky lineage.
And she definitely makes herself known. And she is a talker, so very, very, I kind of energy from her. And she's very expressive. She's just like me. She will just completely collapse on the couch and they just go, which honestly is a boo. I feel like that's me at all times these days. So I want them to know, I get you. I'm here for you. Don't worry. I will be refilling your food bowl. I promise that it's just empty. It's not even usually empty. They usually just eat in the middle and then the sides are there and I'm like, do you have eyes? And they do all of them. So please know that I love you very much and I promise that you will be fed and watered at all times and very healthy and happy in this household. And please don't step on my incisions. It drives me crazy. But I love you.
Sammy: I love that fed and fed, watered and happy. Exactly. We all want. That's what we all want. What about you, Mackenzie? What would you say to your furry friends if they were watching? I
Mackenzie: Would tell them how much I appreciate them and how much I love them. And I would say specifically to Sugar, the one that passed, I would say, I miss you so much and I'm sorry we misunderstood you. She was in pain for a long time before we caught it. And we didn't understand that she was in pain. She was kind of always melty and Can you get me this? Can you get me that? It was just hard to understand that she was hurting. We actually only caught it for a regular checkup, but I just really miss her and I want her to know that. And to my other pets, I would say that I love them. Alice, you better be around for a long time. And to my dogs, please stop acting crazy. You make us look bad in the neighborhood. We probably should have trained you better, sent you to someone, but oops, that's probably my fault. But they're mostly behaved, I promise. They just dunno how to behave themselves around other people, other dogs or anybody basically
Sammy: That's relatable too.
Mackenzie: Yeah, they're just very excited dogs for sure.
Sammy: Yeah. I'm like, me too. I'm well behaved. Just not around other people. Yeah. Oh, I wish our pets lived forever. Oh my gosh. Isn't that the saddest thing? Sometimes I just look at them and I'm like, please don't leave. No. What about you? What would you say to your dogs?
Sloane: I would say I miss you and I love you too Sam. I really miss our cuddles and I can't wait to just feel your little warm body and super soft fur on my legs. Again, just cuddle with you, Alice. I do not miss you stepping on my leg. She does it every time without fail. But I do miss petting you and I miss your little cute face. And I hope that one day I am strong enough and able to give you guys a little walk. I used to be. I miss it very much.
Sammy: That's a good goal. That's awesome. Even just taking them on a little walk. I'm sure they're looking forward to that too. You were saying right now you're like, Sam, I miss your cuddles. I was like, I miss you too, Sloane. It's been too long. And I love that. I would say, well, my dogs are here. I would tell them maybe when the door is closed, respect the privacy. They come busting in sometimes if I don't click it right and they know how to open my closet. I have nothing in my closet, but they like to lick my lotion. So I would tell 'em to kind of maybe leave my lotion alone. It smells good; but tastes good. And then to my Zuma, I would tell her that I miss her and that I love her so much and she got me through one of the hardest or the hardest times in my life and I miss how she would talk to me.
She would whimper and cry and I would talk to her and she would respond. And I love that. And she just understood that I couldn't walk fast. So she would walk at my pace and she was so cuddly. And I think I would want to thank her for holding on as long as she did because I had my main surgery in November 2022 and then 2023. As we all know, I think we've all had limb salvage. I mean, Sloane, you were limb salvaged at a certain point. We all know what recovery is like for the type of surgeries we have to endure. It was a super, super long process, but she was just so sweet the whole entire time. And then come 2024 in January, I had a patella tendon repair. And I like to think that she held on until she knew I was going to be okay.
Because after I had my patella tendon repaired, I actually connected with MIB. And then when I was told that I was going to be on the Junior Advisory Board, and then after that she passed away. So I want to thank her for being around for all of that. And she kind of left me when she knew that I found a new community of support and that I would be okay without her. And I like to think that she watches my podcast and I can't wait to one day reunite with her. And I know that she's up there with so many people that I love. And Mackenzie, like you were saying, your other dog. And it makes me so happy that we have that type of love and support and I love pets. I love our animals, and we're so grateful for you guys. And then thank you guys all for sharing your stories. Honestly, my favorite things to talk about are my dogs and my pets. And I could see in all of your faces how happy it made you to be able to share your stories too. So thank you all for coming on here and taking the time to share with us and the audience about your furry friends. We loved it. I loved it.
Mia: You guys are amazing. Before we close out and do our little closing messages, I would like to, I am sure you guys can hear Guillermo in the background screaming. I am sorry if he's interrupted any of you, but I'd like to do Willow's little party trick. She's not on camera, but what I'm going to do is I'm going to tilt my microphone towards her every time that anyone in our house does this noise or well this action, she responds, which I think is very polite. So I will fake it right now. Of course she's not doing it. She's just staring at me. She knows. I think she knows that I said something. Oh, hello. But Guillermo has come to say hello again to everybody.
Sammy: Because you put her on the spot. She's a little bit shy. She doesn’t want to mess up in front of the live studio audience.
Mia: She does not being put on the spot. And one last little factoid to leave you all with, especially in bigger dogs, osteosarcoma is actually much more common in dogs than it is in people. So we do have to thank our furry friends for getting, because a lot of clinical studies sometimes start on dogs. So it's really incredible that our research and it helps us.
If you usually see a dog who's missing a leg, a lot of the times it was an amputation because of osteosarcoma. Not so fun fact. But also kind of a fun fact for our listeners and our furry friends will help us with a lot of our medical research as well, since a lot of labs do animal studies before they do clinical studies and people. So it is really great that research on humans helps them and that research on them helps us. So our furry friends are really there for us at the end of every single day and have gotten us this far, which I am very grateful to them for.
Sammy: Absolutely.
Mia: I would like to say with Guillermo in the background as my little backup singer, thank you again to the Moore family for their generous support of osTEAo podcast and creating a space for young adults like us experiencing cancer to share, relate, and heal together and just share some stories of our furry friends and everything else that we do along the way.
Thanks for tuning in to osTEAo the Osteosarcoma podcast. Make sure that you're following MIB Agents on social media. We're on most platforms at the links in the description for all of the intel and hot goss. A special thank you to Sloane and Mackenzie and their furry friends for joining us today. We will see you next episode in March. And for now, I'm Mia.
Sammy: And I'm Sammy. And that's the tea. Bye, everyone. Bye, everyone. Thank you.
