Its a very good day.

Today we had an appointment with Dr. Beaver, Ernie's oncologist.  We went over the bloodwork results from yesterday's appointment with his holistic vet Dr. King.  His WBC was up and appeared there was a bacterial infection.  he ended up getting another skin infection and is on antibiotics for that - so it could be that or his bone marrow doing wacky things.  But she has seen this with other dogs and also so things go back to normal. So no big worry right now.  Also, the kidney values were a bit off and that could be due to the higher amount of protein he is getting in his diet.  The PCV is remaining stable, so no worsening of the anemia.  AND the very good news - his liver values went way down.  Yay!! From the 900s down to the 200s.  He has been taking milk thistle and SamE and recently switched to something called Denamarin.  It is actually both the milk thistle and SamE in one pill.  Believe it or not, this is commonly used and recommended by vets.  I guess I was surprised to hear that herbal and other remedies are starting to become more commonplace in veterinary medicine.  This is a very good thing.  Especially if that is what assisted with his liver values getting closer to normal so quickly!  

Ernie relaxing while we wait for Dr. Beaver

Because Ernie had such a weird week or so following the vincristine treatment, we discussed how to proceed with his chemo.  As I have said before there is a very rare side effect with vincristine and it appears that Ernie was one of the rare dogs that experienced it.  So I don't want him to get that drug again, and Dr. Beaver agrees.  He unfortunately did not have a response to two of the other drugs in the protocol and now the vincristine is out.  So, we decided to just move forward with the power packed chemo drug - doxorubicin.  Also because he had a not so great week last week, I wanted to see about waiting another week for his chemo treatment.  He hasn't put a lot of weight on, and being that the doxorubicin is a power packed chemo drug means Ernie loses his appetite completely.  At least he did the last time.  And he has just started in the past couple of days to get back to his normal self which has been very nice to see.  Dr. Beaver examined him and felt the lymphoma for now is under control and that it would only be a very small risk to wait a week.  We both decided that it would be in Ernie's best interest to delay.  Phew and yahoo.  This whole thing is really about balancing disease treatment and quality of life.  

Tonight we went to Petsmart and he picked out a new toy - well he took it from the sales guy!  :-)  So of course he got it.  And then we found another one he liked.  AND they had stuffed dogs that were only 5.00 and went to support veterans.  So we got that too!  He scored.!!

Tonight I was able to give him his meds/supplements in meatballs.  He also ate some spaghetti with turmeric And he ate chicken and broccoli.  Chicken and broccoli!!  I am praying that the appetite continues through the week.  One day at a time :-)

A new elf to welcome in the holiday season

Toys toys and more toys.  Oh and Charlotte!

 

Ernie gets acupuncture!

Today's visit at the vet went very well! I really like Ernie's regular vet - Dr. King. She practices standard veterinary medicine and also does acupuncture, chinese medicine and other holistic modalities. She has a very calm presence, which is great because Ernie tends to get very nervous at the vet. Today he did very good while getting his acupuncture.  The Chinese believe that one reason disease occurs begins there is stagnation.  So the acupuncture helps with moving energy again among other things.

Charlotte came along today and just patiently waited.  I also had an opportunity to weigh the fatty and she had gained less than a pound.  I was quite surprised!!  

 When Ernie was done Dr. King gave him a new Xmas bandana!  He is hoping that its almost time to leave.  :-)

Dr. King and Dr. Beaver (Ernie's oncologist) discussed Ernie and how he was doing.  Dr. Beaver said that Ernie has not presented like any other dog she has treated.  All of his symptoms have been very unpredictable and different from other dogs.  While I like to think my dog is super special and unique, this is one of those times that I really wish he was just average.  He hasn't had the vomiting and diarrhea that other dogs have had, but he has had other things like the rare side effect of the vincristine.  So we just manage as we go along. But it makes things very frustrating at times.  He has been doing really great this week (except for the brief episode Tuesday morning).  Dr. King prescribed some chinese herbs to use to help with the cleansing his liver.  

Ready to go!!  

And guess who else was here today visiting the vet!

Another episode

Monday morning started out great. And Ernie was back to his normal self. I came home Monday night and he wasn't really that hungry. He had been eating pretty ok for the past few days. Not super fantastic - but he was eating here and there. I decided to head off to the park to play a bit of ball. While tossing the ball he stopped and was breathing heavy and was not himself. We stopped for a bit and then I decided we needed to go home. Once we got home he was tired and laid down and went to sleep. I got ready to go to bed and covered him up and went to bed. Tuesday morning he got up and was still not himself. We went out and he had another wobble episode. I carried him for a bit and then we went in. So now I am super stressed out.... Even if its from the vincristine, it is becoming so super hard to see him like this!! boo. I called the vet and talked to her about maybe increasing the pred. Even though I still feel that its the vincristine, I want to manage these symptoms. I was also freaking out about him maybe having cushings disease - but that is my hypochondriac nature transferred to my dog .... She apologized for not having any answers for me. And the whole thing with him is so weird. But I have read about other dogs having this even though its rare. And actually this side effect does happen commonly in people receiving treatment for lymphoma who are treated with vincristine. Anyways, she said that if it was something neurological then the prednisone could definitely help and said that he would still be on what would be considered a low dose. So I decided that I would up it that night. I left and came home at 3:00. He got up and greeted me like normal. I had brought home 2 Jack in the box breakfast sandwiches. He likes to eat the eggs from them. So he ate two eggs and some lasagna. he was normal again. I left for work. Got home Tuesday night, and still back to normal. but I decide to go ahead an up the pred. But instead of a 1/2 tablet I went with a 1/4 to see if that would make a difference. We went to bed around 10:30pm and he slept through the night. This morning he woke up and went out and all was well. He did great through the day and ate well too. Tonight he was himself again and ate a good dinner. Tomorrow we see his regular holistic vet and he will get acupuncture. I am really looking forward to seeing Dr. King and getting some thoughts on some more herbal supplements. I also want to get her thoughts on his episodes and check his hips and arthritis. crossing fingers, toes and paws that all goes well.

Friday - still not great

So last night I slept on the floor with Ernie until about midnight when he woke up. Charlotte was on the floor next to me for a bit, but she kept scrounging around looking for food... I heard her stealing treats from a bowl i had out for Ernie and then going under the couch to eat them. I never realized how loudly she eats... anyways, I finally did fall asleep. And when he woke up, we went outside. I brought the ball to see what he would do, and he ran and chased it. Whaaaaaat? A few hours ago, he was barely able to walk in a straight line and now ... Back to my thoughts of a reaction to the vincristine. How could he be acting totally drugged, and unable to walk straight and then back to himself? So weird. We went back in and he was ready to play... He finally settled down at 2am and I went back to sleep. When we woke up this morning, he was still fine. We went out and he brought his ball. When my neighbor drove up, Ernie ran up to him and followed him into the house. They invited him to stay for the day. I left for work and called later to check on him. George my neighbor said he was sleeping, but would let me know when he got up and went out to go to the bathroom. he called back and said after Ernie went to the bathroom he laid down and it took some coaxing to get him to come in. I got home at 5 and went to get him. He was completely crashed out. I went home and got his ball. He heard me squeaking it and got up, but was wobbly and drunken acting. So we walked home and he laid down. I had called the vet earlier to give and update and she called that night. I talked to her about what was going on. We talked about adding in the pred, and starting the gabapentin (I hadn't started it yet) but also we wanted to try and figure out if it was the vincristine causing this or what. And adding in too much would prevent us from really knowing. I had done some research on vincristine side effects and peripheral neuropathy is a rare side effect seen in dogs. Others on my list serve have also seen the 'wobble' post vincristine and there was a study on a 14 year old golden retriever who had the same symptoms as Ernie. Gabapentin has been used as a treatment so I decided to start that. Since i was still quite worried and unsure what was going to happen w/ him I slept on the floor again. He was on the carpet so I took the dog bed. Its actually quite comfortable :-) He slept until about 4 am. We went out and came in and I went back to bed. Saturday morning he woke up back to normal again... And was great all day long. I had to leave in the afternoon for a bit and when I got back - still ok. And then Sunday was again a great day. We spent time outside and went to the neighbors for dinner. He didn't have a single wobble all weekend. It was such a huge relief and a big weight off that things had improved so much!