Shadow has sailed through the third chemo - the second lot of vincristine. He bounced into the vets Friday morning, and we had a surprising call to say he was finished just after midday. How a 24 hour drip can be given in about 6 hours is still a mystery, but when collected, Shadow bounced out, and came home full of beans. However, all is not quite as good as it seems, as the vets gave up some large pink antibiotics as Shadow's white blood count is low.
The vets had drained his lump again, but said now to leave it, and although it rose up alarmingly on Saturday, it seemed to begin shrinking on Sunday, and has stabilised. Hopefully this means that it is now healing. The antibiotics must be helping him heal.
Shadow was a little sick on Sunday - nothing major, and nothing all that unusual, he is on a fibre powder with his meals because he tends towards eating grass and vomiting on occasion, which the vets tell us is pica caused by insufficient veg in his diet.
Today I came home and was horrified to see five clumps of black hair on the kitchen floor. Of course I immediately thought that he was one of the few dogs that do suffer hair loss with chemo. But when I picked them up, the hair clumps looked chewed, so I wondered if our puppy had begun suckling Shadow's fur, something she did all the time until shortly before we realised that he was ill. Soon enough I realised that she was, she was attacking him mercilessly - at one point he rolled on his back and they had a short play fight - something he hasn't done at all in the last few weeks. I find it surprising that the puppy has known to leave Shadow alone when he hasn't been up to her antics, and when she decides that he is up to them again, he seems to be proving that she is right. It was lovely to see them rolling together on the floor.
We are hoping that the lump on Shadows neck will soon improve enough for us to put his collar back on. Because he could not wear it with the stitches in his neck, Shadow has not worn his collar since we took him into the vets, and somehow the collar has become a symbol of Shadow healthy. It is unreasonable to think that getting it back round his neck means anything, however, we are unreasonably looking forward to the day when he can wear it again, and will seem to be our old healthy dog.
The vets had drained his lump again, but said now to leave it, and although it rose up alarmingly on Saturday, it seemed to begin shrinking on Sunday, and has stabilised. Hopefully this means that it is now healing. The antibiotics must be helping him heal.
Shadow was a little sick on Sunday - nothing major, and nothing all that unusual, he is on a fibre powder with his meals because he tends towards eating grass and vomiting on occasion, which the vets tell us is pica caused by insufficient veg in his diet.
Today I came home and was horrified to see five clumps of black hair on the kitchen floor. Of course I immediately thought that he was one of the few dogs that do suffer hair loss with chemo. But when I picked them up, the hair clumps looked chewed, so I wondered if our puppy had begun suckling Shadow's fur, something she did all the time until shortly before we realised that he was ill. Soon enough I realised that she was, she was attacking him mercilessly - at one point he rolled on his back and they had a short play fight - something he hasn't done at all in the last few weeks. I find it surprising that the puppy has known to leave Shadow alone when he hasn't been up to her antics, and when she decides that he is up to them again, he seems to be proving that she is right. It was lovely to see them rolling together on the floor.
We are hoping that the lump on Shadows neck will soon improve enough for us to put his collar back on. Because he could not wear it with the stitches in his neck, Shadow has not worn his collar since we took him into the vets, and somehow the collar has become a symbol of Shadow healthy. It is unreasonable to think that getting it back round his neck means anything, however, we are unreasonably looking forward to the day when he can wear it again, and will seem to be our old healthy dog.
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