Into the Unknown We Go

We got mostly good news today from Lilly’s blood and basic urine tests. The urine culture takes several more days, but Lilly’s complete blood count (CBC) and senior dog blood chemistry panel look good. So, there is no reason we cannot go ahead with her cytarabine injections (“chemo”) tomorrow and Thursday. As for the sudden wobbly-weakness? Into the unknown we go …

Why so Wobbly?

The short answer is that we probably won’t know for a few more weeks.

Nothing in Lilly’s blood work indicates any internal medicine type reason for her sudden inability to stand or walk without help. That’s good news.

• It could be a relapse of neurological inflammation, in which case greatly increasing her daily steroids and going ahead with her cytarabine injections are both good decision for this immediate crisis as well as for Lilly’s overall brain / spinal cord status.
• It could be a rare side-effect from the antibiotic (chloramphenicol).
• It could be a bit of both inflammation and antibiotic combined.

Because there is ZERO room for error — since our goal is to avoid a full-blown inflammation relapse — treating Lilly aggressively is critical. If in the next week, she improves, then we’ll know that her Octopus on Rollerskates Routine was indeed based in inflammation.

Because Lilly’s antibiotic-resistant bladder infection is a big deal, we cannot nix the chloramphenicol until her urine cultures come back clear, Clear, CLEAR. If Lilly does not improve until after she finishes taking the chloramphenicol, then we’ll know it was the cause. The good news is that the weakness should go away.

There are some blood protein (too low) and urine protein (too high) issues we’ll need to assess again and address, but we have bigger clinical fish to fry, right now.

Hospitalized at Home

So, we walk into the unknown and wait — while going into full Hospitalized at Home Protocol:

• Lilly is never home alone and receives near constant monitoring.
• Lilly sleeps in a crate in our bedroom, rather than in her x-pen bedroom.
• Lilly gets carried or slid through the house on a bed or gets LOTS of help standing and walking (and going potty).
• Lilly’s food and water intake — and meds administration — are CAREFULLY monitored.
• Lilly gets rotated, shifted, and supported every couple of hours to avoid pressure sores.
• And, so on

How is Lilly?

Not bad. Considering.

• Lilly is present in her mind and the core of her body.
• She looks and feels like a rag doll — as if she is absent from her limbs (especially the rear ones).
• She sleeps a fair bit.
• She is eating better now that I ditched the pumpkin puree. It seems she has developed an aversion to the taste. Sometimes, we have to hand feed her. Sometimes, she eats on her own.
• She loves to cuddle with us or her magic-comfort bear (BB).
• She enjoys snorkeling food from her KONG.

Go Ahead, Laugh

Helping an incontinent dog pee and poop is hard. Helping one who cannot feel or use her rear legs is even harder.

• Yesterday, Lilly peed on my hand.
• Today, Lilly peed on my foot.

This morning, we went out into a major snowstorm, about 10 degrees + windchill. I just had a sweatshirt over my PJs, and my aim — while supporting Lilly’s body and helping her pee — was bad.

SPLASH!

Right on my shoe.

I feel like a FOOL much of the time in this journey because it’s forever turning me on my head. Today? I’m a fool with pee on her shoe.

This current situation makes me feel like my insides have been removed with a melon baller, if that makes any sense.