Greyt Matters

Woo hoo!  In two weeks, we are done, done, done!

Sarge had his last round of Vincristine this morning.  Overall, he has been doing fine today:  lots of snoozing, a couple of walks (including one to the pet store down the street where I spent $28 on very expensive dog food and treats), and two Kongs for snacks.

I asked the oncologist (via a written note – haven’t seen the man in months) if I could give Sarge a glucousamine supplement to help with his joints, and he said that would be fine.  It will not interfere with the chemo drugs.  In particular, I asked about that Missing Link and he said “no problem.”  Sarge’s back legs seem to be doing better than they were last week but he is still weaker in the back-end.

I asked the oncologist if he thought the weakness in Sarge’s back legs could be the cancer and he said that he did not think so.  Whew!  I didn’t think it was either, but paranoia reigns.

The end of treatment always seemed so far away so I never bothered to ask what happens when we are done with the treatments.  Since the end is just around the corner, I remembered to ask the vet tech what happens after round 16.  Is there any kind of follow-up appointments?  She said that I would meet with Dr. Hamilton when I come to pickup Sarge after the 16th treatment and at that time we would discuss follow-up.  She expected that I will be bringing Sarge back for an exam about 6 – 8 weeks after we finish the protocol.  I told her that I was anxious about giving Sarge another round of that Adriamycin since his appetite still hasn’t fully recovered from the last round.  She said they could send me home with something stronger than Pepcid to use as a prophylactic.  I want my boy to be the enthusiastic eater that he has always been.  I can’t deal with two picky eaters.

One thing I noticed today while we were walking back from the pet store…Sarge’s gums on one side were bleeding a little bit.  😦  I have never had his teeth cleaned and, needless to say, they are not in the best of shape.  But I have never noticed them bleed before.  Maybe his mouth hurts, which is making him less interested in eating.  Waaaaa!!!  I just want everything to be normal.  No more problems!

I used to be much better at dealing with stress.  Now I just want to crawl into bed and pull the covers over my head.

I’ve had Sarge on the 15 mg of Pepcid per day for most of the past two weeks, and I think it is working.

Sarge’s appetite has been decreased since he had the Adriamycin on January 19th; not terribly decreased but he definitely has not been eating with his usual enthusiasm.  As a result, I have had to get very creative with the meals over the past few weeks.  (Remind me to post the recipe for doggie meatloaf, which I made – and sampled – this past weekend.  Quite tasty.)

His appetite has slowly gotten better over the past couple weeks, but last night we seemed to have a bit of a breakthrough.  Sarge actually came into the kitchen when I was making their Kongs, and it seemed like he might be interested in our usual “throw the kibble on the striped carpet and use your sense of smell to track them down and eat them” game.  We’ve played that game just about every night since I got Sarge, but he has not been interested in searching down the kibble over the past few weeks.  Last night he ended up not wanting to do it either, but he did come in the kitchen and show a little interest.  Progress.

The best thing is that he ate several small batches of kibble mixed with goodies for his late night snack.  And he ate each of the batches with enthusiasm!  I was very happy to see that.

Note to self: I’ve been giving Sarge his Pepcid at night before we go to bed, and I’ve served it with his late night snack.  Well, I just read on 1800PetMeds that I am supposed to be giving the Pepcid on an empty stomach because food decreases its effectiveness.  Oops!  Maybe we will see even more progress if I don’t serve food with the Pepcid.  Given the frequency of Sarge’s meals though, I don’t know when I’ll be able to manage a Pepcid on an empty stomach unless I stop his late night snack.

I was going to ask the oncologist if I could up the Pepcid dosage to 20 mg per day, but 1800PetMeds made me reconsider.  It says “Use famotidine with caution in animals with heart, kidney, or liver disease,” and “When given with azathioprine, famotidine may further decrease white blood cell counts.”  Sarge is not taking azathioprine, but chemo, in general, tends to decrease white blood cell counts.  And you know I’ve been obsessing about the “cumulative cardiac toxicity” of the Adriamycin.  So…..I will not be asking to up the dosage of the Pepcid.  We should be able to improve the effects by moving to the “empty stomach” approach.

And, oh yes, what about the weakness in Sarge’s back legs?  I took him to my regular vet this past Thursday, and he thought Sarge did not have a neurological problem and he also did not think Sarge has that lumbosachral stenosis.  Thank goodness.  The vet did, however, detect that Sarge has some tenderness on his spine about 6 inches up from his tail.  I believe he said that it seemed to be musculoskeletal in nature, and that it could be arthritis.  He started to prescribe a pain med, e.g., Deramaxx but I asked if we should do that given that Sarge has two more rounds of chemo left to go.  He reconsidered because he said the Vincristine can be hard on the stomach.  So then he recommended that we try giving Sarge supplements of glucosamine.  I did a little searching, and this “Missing Link Plus with Joint Support” seems like it might be worth a try.  I am going to ask the oncologist about it tomorrow.

I’m very glad that Sarge seems to be feeling better now.  Just in time to have another round of chemo.  Poor boy.

Hang in there.  Only two more to go.

This past weekend I noticed that Sarge’s back legs had gotten pretty weak.  He walks very gingerly, is not eager to get up from his bed, and he has some problems changing elevations (e.g., when stepping outside the door).  I think it has been building over several weeks but it has gotten worse of late.  The good news is that he does not seem to be in any pain, but he could be one of those stoic greyhounds who does not let on that he is hurting.

I posted my concern to the Circle of Grey and one of the greyhound owners, who also happens to be a vet, told me that I should have him checked out by my vet.  She said it could be the cancer but it also could be Lumbosacral Stenosis, which is not uncommon for greyhounds, especially males, as they age.  (See http://www.greythealth.com/lumbosacral.html for more info.)  I certainly don’t want it to be the cancer, and I don’t really like the thought of the LS either.

I called the oncologist and left a message with a description of the problem.  The vet tech called me back and said I could bring Sarge in or take him to my regular vet.  So I made an appointment for my regular vet to see Sarge on Thursday afternoon.  Then, the oncologist can also check him out when Sarge has his next chemo treatment next Wednesday. 

The oncologist did not seem overly worried in terms of urgency.  The vet tech also said I might need to see a neurologist, a surgeon…yeesh.  Let’s hope not.

Sarge definitely seems to have aged over the past month or so…ever since he had that second dose of Adriamycin. 😦 But maybe that was just a coincidence.

I gave Sarge some Pepcid each night for the past three nights.  I think it has reduced his sour stomach because he seems to have more energy, and he has not spit up for a few days.  But his appetite is still not right, i.e., he has turned away from his food bowl a few times including this morning when I had put canned salmon on top of his kibble.  He picked at the salmon but then he walked away from the kibble.  I had to keep adding salmon until he couldn’t eat the salmon without getting some of the kibble.

I did not give him the usual phase 2 of breakfast before leaving for church just to see if waiting a couple hours would jump start his hunger.  Luckily he did eat his Phase 2 meal (at 1 PM) with some gusto.

We then went to a greyhound meet and greet in the afternoon, and the woman who was hosting went overboard with the treats when she heard Sarge was on chemo (and lately not eating as he should).  Sarge was a maniac in terms of eating the treats she offered.  I just hope we don’t have to deal with the Big D later tonight or tomorrow.  :-0

I don’t think Sarge is manipulating me in terms of faking a loss of appetite in order to raise the food bar.  But, he is a very smart boy who has been known to wrap you around his paw.  Last year he manipulated Kate, the woman who keeps him when I go out of town, into moving him from the kennel with the rest of the dogs into the comfort of her home by acting all depressed and lethargic.  The little stinker!

Gotta go…I’m off to the grocery store to buy more irresistible goodies.

P.S.  A couple more recommended foods (I haven’t tried either yet): Weruva soft dog food and Great Life dried beef liver treats crumbled over the usual kibble.

Woo hoo!  We are definitely in the home stretch of the Wisconsin Protocol!

Sarge had his fourth and last dose of Cytoxan this morning.  (This is the drug that put him in the hospital the first time he had it.)  He’s done a lot of snoozing today, but he ate well and we did a couple of long walks. 

I’ve been a little concerned over the past week to 10 days because Sarge has had relatively low energy and also a slight decrease in appetite.  Usually Vincristine is a non-event for him, so I am guessing that that turbo-charged Adriamycin may still be affecting his tummy.  I wrote up a description of his symptoms and brought them into the animal hospital today: loss of appetite, occasionally spitting up small amounts of clear liquid and a few pieces of kibble, and showing a “more than normal” interest in eating grass.  I asked if I could give Sarge a Pepcid to see if that would help what seems to be a sour stomach.  The vet wrote me back on the discharge instructions (I never see the man anymore) that I could give Sarge 1.5 pills of 10 mg Pepcid every 24 hours.  I did not give him any today so far because I am paranoid about drug interactions. 

Pepcid makes the tummy feel better

But I will give him some tomorrow if he stills acts like his tummy is upset.

The good news is that I haven’t noticed any more blood in his poop over the past week.  Yay for healthy lookin’ poop!

And lastly, we will end with a shout out to Mr. Darcy, who is one of Sarge’s friends in the neighborhood.  Mr. Darcy was recently diagnosed with lymphoma and he started chemo a couple of weeks ago.  Rooooooo to you, Mr. Darcy, and we hope you are doing well.

I just wanted to post a note so I don’t forget about this…

This week, post-Vincristine, Sarge had a little bit of decreased appetite and some loose stools.  Up to this point, the Vincristine has never caused him any issues so it was a little surprising.  Maybe he is still suffering some after-effects of the Adriamycin.  Of particular concern was a little bit of blood in his stool the past couple of days too.  Hopefully that totally disappears soon.

I ramped up the irresistability of his diet to make sure he kept his enthusiasm for eating.  It’s worked for the most part, but, for some reason, both he and Daphne did not want to eat their breakfast kibble this morning even though it was spiced up with Brats and Tots.  I added tuna and I got most of it down them but they still had some leftovers (which I put in the fridge and fed them for dinner).  What is it about morning meals?

Also, Sarge peed in the house this morning before we went on our walk.  This is now the third time in 2011, which is quite unusual for him.  I’m assuming that the chemo / age may be taking a toll on his ability to hold his bladder.  I did sleep in a little longer than usual this morning, which delayed our walk.  I need to be sure and make allowances for this “new normal.”

Being a little superstitious, I almost titled this post “12.9 Down and 3.1 To Go.”  :-0 

So far, Sarge is doing well with the Vincristine that he got this morning.  He snoozed comfortably when we got home, but then he was a little reluctant to get up and go for the afternoon walk.  But once he was up, he was up making a bee line for the Pet Store down the street.  He loves his treats and they love to give them to him. 

After a pretty long walk, we returned home where he indulged in his afternoon Kong…stuffed with herring and sweet potato dog food.  They love that stuff but it does stink up the house!

Cytoxan on the 16th.  Lovin’ the two week break!

P.S.  We saw another greyhound at the vet hospital this morning.  The owner had brought in her grey for a checkup because he had spiked a fever a few days earlier and spent a couple days in the hospital.   I told her about Sarge, and she said one of her other greys had lived 2 years post-cancern diagnosis – chemo treatment.  Let’s keep our fingers, toes, and paws crossed that Sarge can meet – or beat – that timeframe!

Yay!  A Wednesday without chemo!

Overall Sarge is doing well one week post-Adriamycin.  He was doing absolutely fantastic for about 3 or 4 days but then he did seem to slow down a bit.  His BMs also got very loose on about the 4th day but luckily it did not get so bad that I needed to break out the emergency drugs.

Sweet Sarge

The first time he had Adriamycin (in week 4 of the cycle) he was hit really hard but a lot of that may have been due to withdrawal from the Prednisone.  The Epirubicin that he had in place of Adriamycin in week 8 did not seem to run him down as much as the Adriamycin.  He should be bouncing back to his perky self in the next week.

Vincristine coming up next Wednesday as we start the last quarter of the treatment cycle.

Drug cycle number 3 of 4 is finished!  Only 4 more treatments to go!

Today Sarge had a “before-8 AM” drop-off because he got the scary Adriamycin chemo drug today.  So far, he is doing just fine with it.  We did two healthy walks after we got back this afternoon and he has been eating enthusiastically.  The last two times he had this drug, his appetite was decreased on Thursday evening after his Wednesday treatment so we’ll see how things go tomorrow.  I have the Hebrew National weiners thawing in the fridge now.

Overall, Sarge has been doing great, great, great the past few weeks, especially since we’ve gone to the bi-weekly schedule of treatments.  I can’t wait for the treatments to be over, but then he will be on his own to fight off the Big C.  I’m hopeful that Sarge will be a survivor!

P.S. An update on Daphne…she has been off her pain meds since last Saturday.  I would say that she is not totally back to normal but she is getting there.  She cried out in pain a couple times over the weekend, but I have not heard her yelp in a couple of days now.  Let’s hope the neck / spine crisis was a one-time-only incident.