Second cycle over

And Shadow still fine.

3rd chemo 2nd cycle

Not much to report. Shadow bounced into the vets, wagging his tail furiously and greeting all his friends in there, and bounced out so hard that the veterinary nurse had to let his lead go to avoid being pulled over (Shads did a humongous wee when he got outside which explains this uncharacteristic lack of courtesy). His hole is no more, leaving a tiny pink scar surrounded by a ring of white scar tissue. We don't know if hair will grow back over the scar, and if it does, whether it too will be white hair - I have heard of that happening - but it doesn't matter.

The fact that he seems to be so healthy, even though he is still having chemo, is fantastic. He has his last chemo on Friday, and then will get a bit of a break as each chemo will have at least a fortnight's gap until the next. He gained so much energy back on his last weeks break from chemo that I am hoping that the next two cycles will affect him less than these first two. Shadow was a very energetic dog - the chemo has had an affect on his energy levels, he is running at about 80% of his previous maximum (which is still quite a lot) but he does tire, and it will be good if he recovers some of his lost energy back.

Second Cycle, second chemo

Shadow is doing fine. The hole is now just a small round scab with a ring of white scar tissue round it. It's about the diameter of a fat pencil, and scabs up easily. Shadow went in for his chemo yesterday, and the vets were really happy with him. His white blood cell count is good, and he's bouncy. The puppy wont leave his tail alone, and they playfight occasionally. Best of all Shadow can now be walked off the lead as his hole has healed so well.

The only thing that is different about Shads now is that he is quite brazen about wanting treats - he waits for a frozen chip when I get anything out of the freezer, and whines at me when I cook the kids their tea and he gets nothing. He has discovered that if he ignores the first treat I hand him, I will drop it on the ground and offer another. As soon as he wolfs down that one he hoovers up the one on the floor. It took me a while to catch on that he had so successfully trained me, but we are re-educating him that he doesn't get treats every five minutes. Now he seems to be bouncing about in rude health, we don't feel nearly so sorry for him.

Healing

Shadow is doing really well. Yesterday I came home and was surprised to see that the wound on his neck was raw and weeping again - I thought the puppy may have begun to lick at it. However, this morning the wound was dark with scab again, and had shrunk considerably. Shadow is more his old self - he isn't desperately hungry, but is quite happy about getting treats. He played with Sally again this morning - there is a bit of a disparity in their sizes, so when they playfight, Shadow lies on his back, with Sally darting at his throat, both of them making a lot of noise, and Shadow pushing her off with his paws. I had almost forgotten that they did that, it's so long since I have seen it.

Shadow was bounding about for a good five minutes, and whilst they have not repeated the fight, and it used to be something they did many times a day, I am very happy. Sally seems to know when Shadow is feeling better, and when not. She keeps away from him when he seems tired, so seeing her cuddled against him tells me that she knows he is feeling better.

First chemo, second cycle

Shadow is doing well. The chemo on Friday went well, though it seems to have tired him, which is a shame as the day before he went in he was playing with the puppy for only the second time since his diagnosis.

His hole is also improving. Suddenly the hole can barely be described as such, it has got very shallow, and is trying to scab up. We are immensely surprised, and given that the vet thought his healing time would be increased from the normal 14 days to about 30 due to the immunosuppressant effect of the chemo, and things look so good - we are well pleased.

Shadow is definitely less hungry, and although that sounds like such a little thing - to have a dog that is always famished - it isn't. Not when the dog is mortally ill - we all know how unpleasant hunger can be, and it was stressful to be aware that the poor dog was suffering in that way, especially when we knew it was possible that each hungry day could be one of his last.

Now that is over, I am no longer troubled by guilt. Also, as we have been through a whole cycle of chemo and Shadow coped well, and the abscess seems to have been successfully dealt with, we are relaxing a bit, and enjoying Shadow more.

Getting better

Shadow is off the steroids, hurrah! He is not so altogether famished all the time, and the vets have said that 10 days after stopping them they should not be affecting his appetite at all. he also went for a check up, and the vet was pleased with how he is doing. The hole in his neck is healing slowly - as his immunity if reduced - but it is healing, and the vets was impressed that all the retained fluid in his neck has gone. His hair is even beginning to grow back over the shaved bits. We have a few more weeks of antibiotics, and we still must walk Shadow on the lead so he doesn't roll (which he does tend to do on walks) and rub foreign bodies into the wound.

Shadow isn't loosing his hair - in fact, he isn't shedding hardly at all - my carpets are normally black themselves after a couple of days without hoovering, but that just isn't happening. I know that with us humans a shock can stop the hair growing, meaning no hair is being pushed out by new stuff, and wonder if it is the same with dogs. Maybe the chemo has shocked him.

We needed the week without chemo, but Friday is advancing, bringing round two with it. I hope we have no more incidents such as this abscess, but who knows.