Not a good morning...

So, it seems like we went to bed with one dog and woke up with another. Up until last night, his energy has been good and he's been eating and drinking well. This morning, though, his energy is blah and he has no interest in food. I called Dr. Philibert at NEVOG and he said that some dog’s red/white counts will continue to go down even at the 10-day mark (today is Day 11). He said to let him rest, try to feed him something bland but most importantly keep him drinking. He also prescribed some anti-nausea meds that I need to go pick up from CVS later today.

I am trying not to panic. We are stepping down his prednisone (now at a quarter-tab or 5mg) so I knew it would affect his appetite. But he is so very lethargic this morning. I wrote to the Canine Cancer forum asking if this is normal or if I should be panicking….. I am trying to hold onto positive thoughts but some days it is harder than others.

So true.....

We long for an affection altogether ignorant of our faults. Heaven has accorded this to us in the uncritical canine attachment. ~George Eliot

catching up from the weekend

Okay, so haven't posted in a few days. Rich has been away to see his parents, so trying to keep up with 2 sick dogs (baby Waldo has a GI issue) and other household goings-on have been hectic. Melanie came over for the weekend to go kayaking with my friend Kathy and Kathy's friend Rose on Saturday; Sunday afternoon was a PawSox game.

Watson did well over the weekend - no major accidents besides a few piddles here and there. I was away from home more than I have been in a few weeks but I tried to get home every 3-4 hours to let him out. We are down to 1/4 tab of Prednisone, so hopefully the frequent bathroom breaks will subside once he is totally off of it. I do hope, though, that the appetite stays. He's been eating really well throughout the chemo process so far and is even gaining weight. Sunday, I took him for a walk down the street (along his favorite route) and he seemed to have a good time. He did well on the walk although I noticed he was moving much slower than usual. It was almost like a slow shuffle for me to not get too far ahead of him.

On a related note, I was asked by Melanie to post about my "clever" trick for overnight bathroom breaks. I realized that setting an alarm in the middle of the night was totally disrupting my sleep pattern, yet Watson still needs to go out in order not to soak his bed. My solution is to chug at least 12-16 ounces of water before bed so that my bladder wakes me up, usually around 2-2:30am. As Mels pointed out, I probably sleep better since I am not nerved up about the alarm going off and this is a more natural way of waking up anyway. So when I need to get up and go, I wake up the Old Man too.

I've also devised a more natural way to get him out of bed. I bought some really stinky dried salmon strips from Paw Planet and, instead of peeling him out of bed, I wave it in front of his nose and he leaps out of bed for it. No lifting on my part, and he is quite happy to get a treat.

So sorry for posting about my bodily functions too, but Mels insisted on several occasions that it is not fair for me to post about Watson's business and not my own. Fine, I hope you are happy now. =)

Waking up with the sun...

So, I am not a morning person... less so if I am being awakened by the sad whining of a baby basset from downstairs. Once again, I have started off my morning with poo. Perhaps it's sympathy poo, but for some reason, Waldo's having issues. I think I should rename this blog to have it more to do with canine bodily functions rather than canine lymphoma.

Anyway, the Old Man had another good night. He had one bathroom break at 2am and then slept until we all got up at 6:30am. I can't wait until he is off the Prednisone so we can all get a full night's sleep.

Just got a call from the vet re: CBC results. Red blood cell and white blood cell counts are low but not in the critical zone. His WBC dropped from 22,000 to 3,600 (below 1,500 would be bad) and his RBC dropped from 43 to 32 (20 is of concern). The simple explanation is that it means the chemo drugs are working. As the vet said, the good news is we have a comfortable dog whose BMs are under control and who is eating/drinking well. Gaining weight during chemo can mean a longer prognosis too. He stressed again that he can't predict a timeline, but I think that every day Watson is comfortable, happy and eating is good enough for me. I can't help but take it one day at a time.

I was listening to "Fresh Air" on NPR a few days ago and they were talking about anticipatory grief (in relation to the families of soldiers deployed in Iraq) and how the spouses would tend to imagine life without their husbands or wives, or how they would envision the funeral and how much they would miss him/her. Although Watson's illness doesn't compare to the trauma of having a family member deployed to a war zone, I could relate to anticipatory grief..... After his diagnosis, that grief nearly drove me insane for 2 weeks.... I didn't eat and could barely sleep thinking about life without him by my side everyday. But then I had to put it aside because I was living in the future and there is no use going through it twice. So now every time I look into his brown eyes and see the Old Man in there, I know that this very small slice of time is wonderful.

Arrruuuuuuuuu!!!!!

Went to Holliston to our regular vet for the CBC this morning. As always, Watson did well in the car and in the office. His temp was a normal 101.3 degrees and he has gained about 1 pound since last Friday. All in all, good stuff. We'll have the results back on the blood work tomorrow. NEVOG says no news is good news. Unless I get a call that the numbers aren't where they need to be, then our next chemo tx is on 8/14.

Ever the drama queen, Watson did let out his signature "Arrruuuu!!" yelp when they poked him the needle. He has the type of yelp that instantly fills the room and makes you think that someone is tearing off his leg. Silly.