Gracie and Charlie were having a lazy morning...and it's not even the weekend yet! They were slow getting up, but once they did they went into morning play mode....running and barking and just being silly.  Today Gracie will go get her blood test at Village Vets to see how her WBC is doing. (We won't have the results until tomorrow, but at least it will let us know how closely we need to watch her and it will give her oncologist, Dr. Hamilton, a good gauge about the chemo dosage he's using). Gracie will also have a urinalysis done because there was some signs of protein in her urine after her last chemo treatment and that's something Gracie's doctors want to keep a close eye on to make sure there are no other problems, like something with the kidneys, that they need to address. We're hopeful that there are no additional things we need to deal with and that the urinary tract infection that she had before has been eliminated from her system. While playful and good spirited, Gracie does seem kind of sleepy today. Charlie is keeping an eye on her, but doesn't seem too concerned which is a comfort to me
. Gracie under covers
  Going to Gracie's appointment

Today marks one week out of chemo treatment #4, it's also the start of the 7-10 window that Gracie can experience her worst side effects. Because her WBC has been dropping so low in this window she stays on home quarantine in this window with her buddy Charlie keeping a close eye on her. The two of them were quite playful this morning. Gracie was loving her fuzzy squeeky ball and kept throwing it down the hall to chase. (Yes, she was throwing it up in the air and letting it bounce down the hall before chasing after it and pouncing on it.) It's quite an entertaining sight.  Charlie was getting in on it pouncing around her, but never stealing her toy.  So cute. Gracie ate well today without much coaxing.  We've gotten up to having all the supplements mixed back in.  I make a point to start keeping a closer eye on her temperature and eating during this window to make sure that there is no sign of infection popping up. So far so good, and that she and Charlie are feeling so playful is even better!

Gracie & her fuzzy squeeky ball the dynamic duo

Gracie & Charlie had a good little morning play, then ate the breakfast they demanded. Gracie's eating is pretty good, but she's still fussing some with her diet. We're adding her supplements back in day-by-day so as not to upset her system too much after her chemo treatment. This go around we added an appetite stimulant from the nutritionist since last time she was pretty finicky about her eating after chemo.  She seems to be hungry enough so that's good. More chunks of hair are coming out from her head, the top of her head and ears this time. Poor girl, she's got some crazy looking hair.  Charlie is so sweet about how he checks up on her. Today they enjoyed napping together on the deck, just soaking up a little sun.

Gracie's crazy hair  Smiling Charlie staying nearby

Monday turned out to be a big day of rest for Gracie.  She woke up, played a little with Charlie, ate, then went back to sleep. She's a little fussy about her food, only wanting to pick out the chicken and not really eat anything else.  I gave her some of the appetite stimulant from the nutritionist in hopes that it will get her eating a little more. I know her team says that it is so important that she not lose any weight so  I want to make sure she's eating enough.  We've got her meds and her Cell Advance supplement mixed back in, now we're working on the rest.  Unlike many other cases, Gracie's history of bladder stones means her nutritionist, Dr. Wynn, is concerned about her getting too much meat as that can be a problem with bladder stones. Typically a lot of cancer diets are high protein, but Gracie's medical history makes that a bit trickier. She did good not getting sick today and did well with her dinner so that's good. Charlie looking at her eating probably inspired her to keep eating too. Both pups took time to nap outside in the sun, there was lots of nap time for the two of them today.  

We woke up on the boat nice and early with the sunrise.  Gracie and Charlie both doing their early morning stretches before Charlie went and waited for Cheli to wake up down below. He finally went down and jumped on her.  Nothing like a doggy wake up call. It's beautiful on the lake and the water is like glass. Someone else in the cove we're anchored in paddled over so I could use their doggy dinghy to take the pups to shore for their morning potty break. Let me tell you, it was an adventure. Gracie and I paddled to shore and Charlie, with some encouragement from Cheli, jumped off the boat and swam to shore. It was all good....for a while...then Charlie decided to go on a nature run. He took off and Gracie followed. Those stinkers ran off on a trail back past some houses and lucky me, barefoot in my bathing suit, got to run after them. Not fun! They thought it was fun though. When I finally caught up with them they were both panting and happy as can be.  Both dogs rode back in the doggy dinghy with me.  It was ridiculous.  I paddled us back to the boat, the dogs hopped on and Gracie just got silly. She started flipping and pouncing around. She was quite proud of herself and her little adventure. How could I possibly stay mad with her so happy?!  The pups had some dry food and grilled chicken for breakfast.   Gracie threw up a little bit of it, but seemed to keep most of it down.  She didn't want to go in the water so we set up a fan under a shaded area of the boat for her and she was loving it.  Charlie went in a few times sporting his life jacket. Gracie looked over and supervised as we jumped in the water to cool off. She was most content just staying onboard.  We boated over to Aqualand for lunch and got the pups a fresh grilled chicken breast which they enjoyed imensely. It was a great day on the water. Driving back the pups crashed all the way. There was a lot of doggy snoring going on.  Their lake adventure seemed to have completely tired them out.

Gracie & Charlie, the goofy dynamic duo, have a chance for a fun adventure this weekend. We've been lucky enough to get an invite to Lake Lanier to go out on a boat. (Thanks Lyn & Cheli) We got a slow start to the day and had some work items that popped up before we could head out. Gracie ate okay this morning, but I was a little concerned about how she would do with keeping her food down for the day. She had her Pepcid and other pills.  I brought Gracie's meds and hopefully she'll do well on the boat and we can spend the night. I brought all the goods so we could, the rest will be based on how Gracie does.  The pups enjoyed the ride up and were excited to get on the boat. Truthfully Charlie did a bit better when the boat was moving than Gracie did. I was a little nervous about how she was going to adjust and if it was going to be a little bit too much for her. Gracie threw up a little on the boat, just a little watery stuff, but once we slowed down and anchored in a cove she settled down quickly. The boat has a sleeping cabin under the front so I put a dog bed I brought for her under there. When we moved to go get some dinner she found her space down below and did much better traveling.  Charlie didn't mind it at all. There were a couple of doggy life jackets on the boat that fit the pups so Gracie and Charlie borrowed them. Charlie actually wore his more because he was going in and out of the water, Gracie wasn't interested in going in the water, she just wanted to be a spectator and that was just fine with me. We ended up sleeping on the back of the boat under the stars. It was a beautiful night. Gracie slept snuggled up by my head and Charlie slept laying down by my side.  It was nice to take them on a fun aadventure like this. I can't wait to have more fun with them in the morning.  

Gracie wanted to sleep in today. Charlie came to check up on her, but she just wanted to stay crashed out on my pillows instead. She finally decided she wanted to pick at some of her food, but she was very picky about it. Then Gracie got sick a couple of times today.I gave her the Pepcid this morning to hopefully help her keep from getting sick, but apparently it wasn't quite enough to keep her from getting sick. She got in all her meds today, but like her past treatments I'm taking a break right now from her supplements because they can make her nauseous and that's not something that would be good for her right now at all. Poor sweet girl, she just wants attention and love. So that's what she'll get!
Sleepy Gracie

No food for Gracie, we're off to her 4th of 6 chemo treatments. Charlie had a sleepover, but came back by in the morning to see his Gracie girl before she headed off to GVS for chemo.  Erin wanted to take the trip up with Gracie so off we went. Today Gracie has an xray recheck, bloodwork, urinalysis recheck and nutrionist recheck in addition to her chemo.Gracie got her favorite tech Anna today who sat down with us to get the latest update on how Gracie was doing between treatments. I'm hopeful all goes well with the treatment again and that there is no additional problems that pop up in regards to her urinary tract infection. It's a long day waiting to find out how the xrays look, but around 330pm I got the word the xrays look clear. WAHOO! Gracie was done a bit earlier today, about 5:30ish, which was nice. We had a brief chat with Dr. Hamilton (it's his anniversary today). He said it would take several days to get the cultures back on the urinalys before we would be able to see what was going on with the bacteria.  In addition he had to slightly reduce the chemo dosage because of how low Gracie's white blood cell (WBC) dropped in her worst part of side effect window from last treatment. Checking her WBC results in the 7-10 window after chemo treatment helped him see exactly how her WBC was responding so that was something helpful to his assessment of her dosage. Gracie got a little sick while we were checking out. These last 2 treatments have made her sicker than the first ones combined. As usual, Gracie crashed all the way home.  She was just happy to sleep and be held and just be close. Charlie was so sweet to check on her as soon as she got home. He started licking her face. So sweet. I just hope Gracie feels a little better tomorrow. The nutritionist, Dr. Wynn, also gave some appetite stimulants in case Gracie is not interested in eating, it's very important that she keeps eating and doesn't lose any weight. Tonight she just needs a lot of extra TLC.
Erin & Gracie on the way 
Heading home after 4

Ok, it's hard to believe that Gracie will be doing her 4th of 6 chemo treatments tomorrow. Wow. She's hungry today and had her morning pre-breakfast romp with Charlie. I'm a little nervous about the leaking she has going on b/c I don't know if it's just to do with her urinary tract infection or something else. Tonight no food after 8pm and no food tomorrow. She's also getting a recheck with the nutritionist tomorrow so I'm hoping that all goes well. For tonight we're just hanging and Gracie's in super cuddle mode....which is just fine with me. How can you argue when such a cute thing just loves to be loved!
Cute Gracie   Me & Gracie

Okay.....I woke to the sounds of Gracie singing with fire truck sirens....it really is funny, she takes it very seriously. Charlie even joined in a bit, which he never does. The fridge is on the fritz....again ( Grrr Sears! ) so I'm having to make Gracie's meals every mealtime because I cannot keep anything cool. Gracie's no longer on her antibiotics and I'm noticing more leaking again. We talked to Dr. Miller at Village Vets about it and he thinks because of her compromised immune system with her chemo treatment that it would take a longer than usual course of antibiotics, and possibly adding additional antibiotics, to really knock it out.  Dr. MIller was going to confir with Dr. Hamilton, Gracie's oncologist at GVS, to talk about various options. I also mentioned to him about Gracie's breathing sounding a little congested and her breathing through her mouth more which is something he wanted us to follow up with when she goes in for her 4th chemo treatment on Thrusday. Dr.Miller said he wanted to make sure it wasn't the beginnings of an upper respiratory infection and that it could possibly be just allergies....like how people get hay fever. It all makes me a little nervous. Thursday Gracie will also get a recheck of her xrays so I'm hoping those will be clear like in her other 3 rechecks. Her hair is still falling out, although it seems to be concentrated on her head, now the tops of the ears and eyebrows are pretty much void of hair. My sweet and silly looking Gracie-goo doesn't seem to be bothered by it one bit. I also noticed there's a little bit of new hair growth starting around her muzzle, but it looks like with will be darker than what it was before. Honestly I don't care if it comes in blue or green so long as I have my little girl around.
Gracie singing with the sirens.