Trying One's Best

Lucy's breathing is getting more labored—not as in she can't breathe (lung issues), but that her nose is constricted. It isn't that goobery, so I can only assume that the chronic rhinitis has the inside passages inflamed. She can't take the Piroxicam (anti-inflammatory) anymore as it conflicts with the Prednisone (for cancer). The two together cause awful, horrible ulcers. So what can I do? Should I do?

I've contacted a holistic vet and am waiting for a response. Purportedly she's worked with a lot of cancer patients and has had good success. With Lucy's blood count being so awful, I'm not expecting much change for the cancer, but perhaps she could do something for the rhinitis allowing Luce to breathe more comfortably. None-the-less, I don't want to subject Lucy to the awful anxiety of vet visits.

I hate this "should I do this?" or "am I neglecting if I don't" quandary. I want Lucy to be comfortable. Bottom line. Consciously I realize tossing this back and forth before speaking with the holistic vet doesn't do me any good and just causes me to be anxious while doing nothing for Lucy.

I guess I should just be patient until I have the conversation...

Drug Reconnaissance

Lucy's drugs are running low, so I emailed the vet and got her response. The Sucralfate, Famotidine and Metronidazole can be stopped and saved for later use, if necessary. The antibiotics should be continued for another couple of weeks (depending on what a second xray shows) and the Prednizone is a lifer, for as long as we are blessed with her presence.

Days of Grace

Lucy had been doing well since late Saturday. We didn't have any other bicycling opportunities, but she's been alert and perky on walks. And of course with prednisone, food has kept her focused. She's even been playing with her cocktail ball again and with the benefit of antibiotics, her nose isn't quite as drippy as it's been in the past.

Our contact at SVS, Becca, called the other day to check on Lucy and I gave her the bad news. I must say, we've been extremely fortunate with the vets we've chosen. They've been attentive, in general, and hugely supportive at present.

My husband made a comment last night that gave us pause. It was something we'd both been thinking, but had chosen not to voice—that old "if I don't say it, it doesn't exist" kind of thing. I mentioned how Lucy doesn't like as much rubbing as she used to, so I was only lightly rubbing her now. He said that's because her body hurts and is uncomfortable. We were both quite for a moment, said some 'lovies' to Luce and went on to another conversation. We didn't want to wallow in that sad knowledge.

Today it's snowing again. There isn't a lot of snow, but it is sticking. Lucy only went a half block today before turning around to return home. Her pace was slow.

Golden Day

Saturday was a day of grace. Lucy was not particularly responsive in the morning and although she ate, she wasn't interested in going on a walk. I needed to pick up some Metronidazole for the diarrhea, so brought her along for the ride and perhaps some stimulation(?).

When we returned home, our van was parked in front with the side doors open. My husband was planning on going on a bike ride and had loaded his equipment inside. When Lucy saw the van, her ears perked up and she trotted over to the van and leapt inside! Joy! We decided we'd all go and while he rode, we'd walk.

She wanted no part of walking; she wanted to run! So he grabbed her leash and rode while she loped along side at her steady 7.5 mile clip. Her ears were up, her eyes bright and if dogs can grin, she was wearing a big one! She was so happy and of course, so were we. She went about 2 miles perky as could be.

I expected her to be a bit slowed down this morning, but she's been as chipper as ever. She was bouncy on the walk.

Her drugs du jour are...for her upset tummy:

• Sucralfate (1 gm) 3 X day
• Famotidine (20 mg) 2 X day

For the diarrhea:

• Metronidazole (250 mg) 2 X day

For the pneumonia:

• Baytril (68 mg) 1.5 X day
• Clavamox (375 mg) 2 X day

For the cancer:

• Prednisone (20 mg) 1 tablet 2 X day for 1 week, then 1/2 a tablet 2 X day

Her food is a combo of:

• 1 lb. organic burger
• 1/3 lb. organic liver
• 1 1/3 cup organic brown rice
• 4.5 TB canola oil
• 9 grams fish oil (or 9-1,000 mg capsules drained)

She's gobbling up the food which is stupendous. If she continues on eating (and living), the vet advises me to add 3.3 grams of calcium carbonate and 2.9 grams of dicalcium phosphate. She'll also give me some other recipes so I can vary the diet if Lucy starts getting finicky.

More Results

The blood test came back. Eighty percent of Lucy's blood cells (white and red) are abnormal. The vet said she's at stage 5 cancer. Five? I didn't even know there were that many levels. She said it could be leukemia or some other kind of lymphoma, but that in either case, chemo therapy would not be effective, so we're spared debating that course of action. Kate said she'd never seen blood levels like this...this abnormal, I think is what she meant. I didn't ask.

Lucy has horrible diarrhea. It's contained, meaning she has control over it, but it's basically thick water and rice. Is it the drugs? The cancer? The fact that her diet has changed to burger, liver and rice? All of them could be affecting her. I'm waiting for a call back from the vet to see what she recommends doing about it...if anything.

Desert & Devastation

We just returned from 2 1/2 weeks in the southern California mountains and deserts. What a wonderful break from the snows and rains of this area. In fact, our timing was so good, we missed the torrential rains that caused the flooding and avalanches.

The first portion of our trip was more urban. My husband had to work a few days and we wanted to visit our nephew before he deploys. Both occasions placed us in big California cities. Lucy was quite sick during this period—lots of vomiting and phone calls to the specialty vet back home. We took her off the doxycycline for her nose and that helped, but didn't completely solve the issue. A type of chew that I've given her for years also seemed to upset her stomach, so that was also removed and her energy and well-being improved.

When her health was assured, we got her back to running with us, and though it usually wasn't daily, she did manage every other day. We kept her distance within 7 miles. She loved it! Happy! Spunky! Raring to go! One of the downsides of the desert were burrs from cactus. Not a good mix on dog feet. We had to be very vigilant where we took her and to check her paws carefully during and after. The picture is taken at Mt. Shasta. In January, the trail was covered in dry oak leaves. Lovely!

Surprisingly, or maybe not considering we were in dry deserts, her nose seemed to clear up—even off the doxy. There was still the reverse sneezing and some hacking, but not the constant goobery schnoz.

We returned to cold, damp, foggy weather. Lucy's nose immediately reacted. Constant. And her health went rapidly down hill. From being energetic and running miles, suddenly she wasn't eating or wanting to go on walks. When I got home from work and she didn't even raise her head from her bed, I knew something was horribly wrong. Pneumonia again?

I took her to the vet two days ago and got the results yesterday. I won't hear about pneumonia or not until I get those results today, but yesterday was awful—she has lymphoma. The vet said doing nothing, she might live a couple of weeks to a month; with prednisone, I could double that; with chemo, perhaps a year. The vet gave her some antibiotics while there and that seemed to revive her. For the first time in days, she ate and wanted to go on a walk.

All the "cure" methods are limited; the cancer isn't going away. The chemo would involve weekly vet visits with 1/2 hour drips—and that would be for 6 months or more. Lucy is going on 12 and hates the vet. (Who could blame her? She's spent so much time there in the past 2 years!) We don't want to make her miserable by constant vet visits, even if it might prolong her stay with us. I'm willing to do the prednisone. The vet said it could put the cancer temporarily into remission, but prednisone has its own downside.

When my husband returns tonight, we'll talk about which options we want to pursue. It's awful playing the Final Arbitrator in someone else's life. Although we'd love Lucy to live years and years, we'd want those years to be healthy, happy years. If her time is now, we need to be able to graciously and lovingly allow her to comfortably enter it.