A Dog Blog Post for the Mojo Challenged
Exhausted doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of our current state. All the worry, stress, and veterinary activity has caught up with us. These chemo weekends kick our @$$e$.
We also stayed mostly off social media last week out of respect to our friends in the wake of the big storm, including Sam and Marge on Staten Island. We didn’t want to clog anyone’s feed with our day-to-day hoohah.
BUT, it’s Monday (as I write this), and we’re looking for another fresh start. Here is a brief update on Lilly’s cytarabine injection weekend #4.
Lilly Chemo #4 Update
For the most part, everything went fine. Lilly seemed antsy and panted a lot during our trip down for her second injection Saturday. I asked the neuro team to check her temperature, and it was fine. On the high side of normal, but still normal.
Lilly also seemed antsy in the car Sunday, but I suspect that was from feeling sore. You see, Lilly sometimes forgets she cannot do the things she used to do.
Lilly made a flying leap from the back of the sofa Saturday night, and:
- Split open her left lip.
- Tweaked her left wrist and right elbow.
We didn’t see it happen, only hearing the THUD as she slammed into the tile floor, but we’re pretty sure that she did NOT hit her head.
I cleaned and coated her lip the best I could, and we iced her arms while we cuddled. She never really limped, but she was licking her wrist and elbow a lot, so we assumed they hurt.
It isn’t a surprise if being in her crate in the car for 4 hours on Sunday wasn’t exactly comfortable for her.
After her injections, I tend to notice every little deviation, like panting a lot. Lilly does, however, seem to handle the injections really well. I hope so, at least.
Sunday, she played food jug and slept in front of the fire between injections. When we go outside, Lilly throws sticks at us to start a game of fetch, so she feels OK, enough, for that.
Other Important Notes
We’ve started taking short, real walks each day. We began slowly, like hardly up the road at all, but we’ve worked up to about a 1/2 mile per day. It’s good for both of us to get out.
We’re cutting out LUNCH starting today. I’ll still give her things like carrots, green beans, and apples around lunchtime, but she won’t get kibble anymore. She has gained about a kilogram each time between injections, and she is honestly looking a little tubby.
Other than one night, where Lilly barked for 90 minutes at around 2 am (for no reason), she continues to tolerate her x-pen bedroom in the basement and let us sleep. It’ll take a while to fully recover from such long-term sleep deprivation, but it is helping.
I often find wet blankets in the morning, but I was already doing extra Lilly laundry most days, so it isn’t that much of a change … except for more sleep.
So, that’s all the news I can remember to share in my tired (and possibly getting sick) state.
We hope all of you are doing well, especially those in the storm zone who’ve suffered so much.
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I cannot promise will resume or maintain our usual 5 posts a week schedule. We are fresh out of blogging mojo.
There are times I think maybe no one notices (or cares) when we miss days or a whole week, but then I post again, and people unsubscribe via email in droves, so we know for sure people notice when we resume posting (but not necessarily when we don’t post).