Gracie is a happy, happy girl today. She was so excited to eat this morning she was bouncing on the floor when I carried her dish over. She even went to go check if Charlie left anything in his bowl. Charlie wasn't having it. Hilarious. She's eating well, playing with Charlie and taking her fair share of naps. We are giving her a few more days without adding all the supplements back in so as not to upset her system and keep her eating well.

It was a good weekend for the pups. We went for a nice walk and Charlie and Gracie played in the yard, played in the house and enjoyed some sunning on the deck. I love to see them happy and I'm glad Gracie is feeling well after how she felt a couple of days ago.  I haven't gotten all her supplements added back in to her food yet, I want to do it slowly. She's eating well and being very frisky and playful. She plays hard and then naps to recharge. It's all good with me, I'm just happy she's eating well and feeling good.

       

What a difference a couple of days makes. Gracie is feeling much better and was up bright and early barking for her breakfast. Right now we are giving her I/D, a very bland food customized for intestinal issues, to integrate her back to her food.  We're going to give it a couple of days before adding all her supplements back in because some of them can make her stomach a little sensitive.  Right now we're giving a Pepcid, her 2 antibiotics and the Cell Advance supplement. We'll work to get her food and other supplements reintroduced as we go. We also want to send healing wishes to my sister's chocolate lab Kona who was just diagnosed with Lymphoma. She's just trying to figure out what her treatment regime will be so we'll just have to wait to find out and take it from there.
Right now Charlie and Gracie are having fun playing with a squeeky toy and lounging on the deck. Gracie's been frisky rolling around in her dog bed....and even stretching out across two beds for a nap. I'm just so glad Gracie's feeling better and Charlie's so happy to have his girl back.

We got a call early this morning from Dr. Hamilton. Gracie was feeling much, much better and ready to go home. They were able to get her to eat twice and she's not throwing up anything....YIPPEE! I was so happy to go and get Gracie and so happy she was feeling better. Dr. Hamilton said she may have had something like colitis (inflammation of the colon -  affecting the tissue that lines the gastrointestinal system) but that she was doing well now.  He also started her on an additional antibiotic called Metronidazole which she will take 2 times a day in addition to her other antibiotic which she is finishing. Today marks one week away from her 5th, and second last, chemo treatment. Wow.
Let me say when we left it was easy to tell Gracie was feeling 100x better. We also brought a couple of cans of I/D food which is very bland to help get Gracie back into her eating regime without upsetting her system again. Charlie was sooooo excited to see his girl. He spent the day just following her around and sticking close by. Gracie did a little extra napping today, but I can't blame her. I could use a little extra napping myself right now.
heading home

  Charlie staying close

Wed 1am Heading to GVS

Late last night Gracie kept wanting to go outside, then became very unsettled and just wanted to be close by. Charlie woke me up just after midnight by nudging me with his nose, Gracie was getting sick. Poor girl threw up and her stomach felt tight and bloated. She wanted back outside so I followed her to see if she would get sick again. She just paced, had a little bit of diarrhea then ran back in the house. She went to sip some water but couldn't get settled, she wouldn't even lay down. She looked like she was getting more uncomfortable and now when she moved spots Charlie shifted his spot too. I was hoping that after she threw up it may have gotten out whatever was making her stomach upset, but it seemed not to be the case. I called GVS and they said because of all she's going through with her chemo treatment it was best to bring her in. There's a closer emergency vet clinic, but we went to GVS because I knew they would have access to all her latest WBC info and all of her prescription meds.  It was a long night/morning whatever you want to call it at that time....it was probably about 4am when we headed home. Poor Gracie, we rechecked her WBC which seemed to be coming up from what it was a couple of days ago so that was good. They gave her an injection of anti-nausea medication, a pain injection to help her obvious abdominal discomfort, and an injection of subcutaneous fluids (under her skin between her shoulder blades).  They weren't sure what started it all, but hoped this would help her over the next several hours.  The doctor said within about 6 hours her vomiting should stop, if it didn't improve that we should follow up with the vets the next day.  When we got home Gracie started to whine and shake more than she was. I called back to make sure she wasn't having a reaction to the injections, but was told that it was just the pain meds kicking in and making her out of it. I hoped she would start feeling better soon, I laid on the floor by her hoping she would eventually lay down, Charlie stayed right there with us. About 7am Gracie's vomiting started to pick up. By 11am she was still throwing up so we called and talked to Anna, Gracie went back to GVS that afternoon.  By the time we went back she was having more trouble with diarrhea too. I felt soooooo bad for her, I just didn't even know what could possibly be left in her little system by this point.  They decided she should spend the night on fluids as she was getting dehydrated and they would be able to watch her.  They were also trying to get her nausea under control. The vet on that night called a little after 11pm to tell me her WBC was doing okay and that she was getting hydration and would be seen by her oncologist first thing in the morning. Poor sweet Gracie. Charlie was pouting around the house, he didn't want to eat dinner and just kept walking to sniff the dog bed where Gracie likes to lay. UGH!

Going back to GVS Gracie feeling lousy missing Gracie

We're sending warm healing wishes Toby's way. Here's an update from his family for those of you asking.

The Tobster is doing OK, thanks.  He’s finding the side-effects from this particular chemotherapy more difficult.  He didn’t eat well for a full 2 weeks following his first Adriamycin + DTIC treatment.  And he STILL won’t touch anything we fed him the day before or the day of the chemotherapy.   So, finding things that he’ll happily eat has been difficult.

He got a nasty case of diarrhea about 3 days after his treatment, and as a result we put him on Flagyl for 10 days.  Then, when we did his CBC (in the 7-10 day window that you talk about on your blog) his neutrophil count was 1032… low enough to warrant a 5 day course of Baytril.

Thankfully, about 2 weeks post chemo he was pretty much back to himself – we found yet another food he’ll eat.  So, he’s coming to the end of a pretty good week.  Dog play, short walks, and actively collecting many pets and cuddles.  But, he’s scheduled for another course on Thursday.  After THAT course we’ll wait 3 weeks and do another series of chest films to see if this treatment is shrinking his lung lesion.  We’re very eager to see those pictures.

Overall, he seems to be a bit more sore (he has several know lesions in his legs/hips/shoulders) when he moves around.  And we tend to think he’s breathing a bit heavier.

So, in summary… it’s been a pretty mixed bag.  We hope this treatment will do him some good, but we’re afraid that we’re seeing a slow decline and we’re concerned about the side-effects of this therapy.  But he’s still happy to get up every morning, grabs a toy, tries to get us to chase him (we walk now, we don’t run) or play “tug” with him (we don’t tug very hard anymore).   As long as he seems to be enjoying life, we’re willing to do whatever we can…. And so far, he DOES seem to still enjoy being around.

Peter, Mont Vernon, NH

Anna (Dr. Hamilton's vet tech that Gracie loves) called today and Dr. Hamilton is just fine with all of Gracie's WBC info. Her values are on the way up.  She ate fine this morning, but has been very sleepy today. I'm not sure why she seems more tired. She ate dinner just fine, no left overs for Charlie which he was disappointed about, and seemed happy enough after she ate.  BUT--for whatever reason she's getting rather unsettled tonight. Charlie hasn't really alerted me, so I'll just keep a watch on her. Maybe the weather is changing or something. Other than that it'll just be a low-key night for the pups.

Monday. Not always everyone's favorite day of the week, but for us this Monday is just fine.  Gracie got up bright and early, before 6am.  I think her stomach was a little upset, but she was happy nonetheless.  I gave her a Pepcid about half an hour before feeding her to give it time to settle her stomach and let Gracie enjoy her breakfast.  Both Gracie and Charlie were happy to eat. The supplements are all mixed in her food and for the most part she seems to tolerate them pretty well. Sometimes it's a little tricky to make sure that she is getting her pills down without spitting them out, but that's something I keep a close eye on.  She and Charlie were having lots of fun running and playing after eating in the morning so whatever made Gracie a bit unsettled early this morning seems to be better.  Charlie is happy to stretch out on the deck near Gracie, but the pop up showers didn't give them too much time outside today.  Both were very hungry for dinner and seemed like they couldn't wait to eat, which makes me particularily happy in Gracie's scenario. After dinner the two of them tore around then charged up to the bed. It seems they are turning into quite the bed hogs! Ha!

 

Gracie and Charlie were up and playing bright and early this Sunday morning. It would have been nice if they would have chosen this for a sleep in day, but it wasn't meant to be. Gracie ate pretty well, at first she wasn't going to finish it, but Charlie came to watch her after he finished his breakfast and that seemed to be all the encouragement she needed to finish off her bowl. We've got all the supplements mixed in and it seems like she's tolerating them pretty well. It was wet outside from the night before with off and on showers expected all day.  We played in the backyard for a bit and they both got soaked in the wet grass. They were happy though. The play seemed to tire out Gracie quickly. She was frisky when she first got back in the house, then quickly settled in for a nap. The two had a pretty uneventful day, which is good.  Then they met a new friend Erin brought to meet them, Fred ( a boxer....who has all his shots and is healthy....something we're very careful of with Gracie). There was plenty of excitement and Gracie was happy to get Erin's attention.  After Fred left Charlie and Gracie ran up and jumped into bed (Charlie stole what was left of Fred's bone) and sprawled out for the night. Both happy and sleepy.
 

Saturday is turning out to be pretty okay for Gracie. She and Charlie have been enjoying a lazy day, including napping on the back deck, napping on the couch, napping in the dog beds, eating and then more sleeping.  Dr. Miller from Village Vets called to say her WBC numbers were back, they were very low, but not as low as last time which I think Dr. Hamilton will be more pleased with.  On a side note I'm going to see Sir Paul McCartney in concert outdoors at Piedmont Park tonight so I'm glad Gracie's doing well today and I won't have to be worried at the concert.  Gracie's doing well today with her eating, including the supplements, and her temperature is within the normal range which is good. Charlie is checking her dish for leftovers, but there aren't any which is also good. Hopefully they'll just enjoy a nice relaxing evening.

Gracie napping Charlie napping too