Arri's Journey with Cancer: Feb 26: vampires aren't afraid of the sun

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny, winter day. Clear blue skies and just warm enough to be melting snow without making mush of the front yard.

Arri has an appointment with the vampire on this beautiful day. Woo Hoo A car ride!!!!! It is time for the 7 day post chemo blood check. He was happy to see everybody - even the annoying, ankle biting barkers that mom wanted to duct tape their mouths shut. Thanks to the tile floor, Arri went grudgingly to the back where the vampire waited. Yes, I was pushing his rear and he had no traction so he ended up where he needed to be. Back in the room with me, he bounced as though nothing had happened.

We seem to be balancing out his food even with the challenges. He has gained a pound since the last visit to this scale and that puts him at 57 lbs.....right on target. The office has a new scale that they put in one of the exam rooms. For some reason, Arri loves to lay on the scale. Every visit, he jumps on and off the scale and ultimately he decides that is the best place to lay.

Dr. Mike came in and we chatted about how he was doing. He looked at the biopsy spot and gave us some antibiotics just to be on the cautious side. I wasn't concerned about the results so I freed up an exam room and went to check out. While distracting the ladies at the front desk, the results came back. They were not great. His counts were low. Not unexpected and not so low to be of concern but lower than we had seen previously. The new medicine had a much stronger effect on Arri. The results are basically a base line to see how he rebounds. In two weeks, they will do the test again and if the numbers are up, he will be able to have the next chemo. If they do not come up, he will not likely have a treatment.

As much as I hate to do it, I had to put the donut on him. He was licking his incision from the biopsy relentlessly. The incision was not bleeding, but he had caused a bleeding lick wound right next to it. He seems to be bleeding very easily. The growth in his ear also weeps very easily. We have also noticed Arri is getting clumsy. His back leg frequently stumbles in the past few days. It may be from minimized exercise. He has not been to the park in a week. It may be weakness from not feeling well. Or it may be a long term weakness. His breathing is pretty steady. Not getting any worse anyway. Dr. Mike thought he was doing incredibly well. He agreed that not doing the chest tap last week was a good choice. If he is not laboring to breathe, don't risk it.

I got the camera out and tormented Arri again. I am certain he is not happy to be a captive subject. He can only run so far before he gets winded and has to rest. That is when I swoop in with the camera. I was able to get some nice pictures of the donut boy because he is so food obsessed right now. I just have to move a hand towards my pocket and his head turns and ears perk up.