Cathi--I, too, can give you encouragement. My Annie was diagnosed in March of 2005. She is still doing well. I used to panic about her constantly and spent much too much time worrying. It took a bit for me to realize that I needed to enjoy every second I have with her--and that's what I do now.
The only thing any of us know is that we will not have our beloved pets with us as long as we would like (and that's for the ones without TCC as well). SO we need to take advantage of whatever time we have with them.
We did switch Annie's diet to Innova, but that had more to do with the petfood recall then anything else. She take Piroxicam daily--5mg; she weighs about 37 pounds. It has never bothered her stomach so we our lucky.
We have a doggie door so Annie lets herself out whenever she needs to go. She still has had some accidents in the house when left home alone and I don't know why. I don't know if she is more nervous or what--it doesn't happen all the time and even if it did; it's a small price to pay.
So don't despair; things may not be quite as bleak as they seem. This is our third Christmas since Annie's diagnosis and it will be precious to me.
Marty