This is Arri's tinkle tree. It was growing in the landscape rocks so last fall, I dug it up and moved it to a vacant spot close to the front door. It is sheltered and should do well for a few years until a new spot is found. In the meantime, Arri waters it for me almost every day. Should this little tree survive his watering, it will be replanted in tribute of his example to fight adversity. Arri fought cancer and the tree fought Arri's toxic pee.
Arri is having a pretty good day.
- Overnight: 3 coughing spells. really not too bad. I think he is coughing less overall than 3 days ago.
- Breakfast: would not touch eukenuba and baby food. Happily ate canned food with dry eukenuba and cookies...started bad but ended good.
- Getting up: cried to get out of bed. Still standing when off the bed. good
- first walk of the day: Back leg collapsed moving from kitchen to front door. I gave him a butt lift but he wouldn't try to stand. Gave him a minute to rest while I searched unsuccessfully for his sling. Tried the butt lift again and he was fine. Did not stumble going out the door.
- Toileting: good
- Bump check: I have been lax in monitoring changes. There are a few that have definitely continued to grow and of course, BB's are still showing up. While I could be wrong, this just verifies that the chemo is not working.
- breathing: steady and the new normal for him. no heavy panting or shallow breaths while laying down.
- Followed me to the bakery: yes...bad mom, didn't close the Arri gate. I knew I was only going to be down for an hour before I had to leave for a delivery. Going up the stairs is hard on his lungs. He has done his one trip today. I will have to keep the gate up the rest of the day.
- Today is not the day.
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| Is that a handsome profile or what? |
I called the oncologist to see if the special stain slide results were back. The tests would determine Arri's specific cancer. Funny, the results came back just today. Sometimes that statement really makes you wonder - really, was my timing that good? Anyway, apparently there was some debate on the results but ultimately someone decided that yes, Arri has a 'rare for labs' cancer called Histiocytic sarcoma. Knowing this information will allow them to use a specific chemo drug. Now I had the tests done to find out,
do I give Arri another chemo or not? Two days ago, it was a definite not. But Arri has had two pretty good days. I won't know what to do until I see some test results. We go in on Monday for x-rays, bloodwork, and chemo. I told the Dr that my non-scientific mind does not believe the last treatment was effective and I am not sure about doing another chemo. I need to see the progression of the cancer. I have not seen any of the x-rays from MSU so I have no idea what has changed. I would like to see for myself. The change will give me a time reference to speed of cancer growth knowing the chemo is slowing it down.
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| King of the snow pile |
Summer is a little miffed that Arri gets all the attention so she got me up at 3 am to squat in the yard 30 times. I only had 1/4 of one eye open so I assumed it was the Big D. She had disappeared yesterday for about 15 minutes while I was shoveling the driveway. I thought Tim had let her in the house but no. I called, nothing. I looked in the snow to see what direction she went. No trail leading out of the front yard. I go back in the house....Tim? Are you sure you didn't let her in??? duh...he should know...No. Despite the lack of evidence, I walk around the back of the house to look. There she was, under the deck eating God knows what. Cat poop, critter poop....gross, ewwww, ick,.....she ends up in the penalty box for not coming when called. I figured I would pay a price in the middle of the night. I finally found her tracks. She was sneaky. She stepped between the garbage can and the house, walking right up against the brick, between the air conditioner and the house and on. When I first looked, I was looking along the pathway, a few feet from the house. Once daylight came and she had barked to go out 5 times and squatted 10 times each trip, I finally realized she was trying to pee. Hey - we had 10 inches of new snow, it was an easy mistake with a girl dog. I followed her around to see what was going on and sure enough, there was pink pee.
Now girl dogs are much harder to get urine samples from. Add 10 inches of snow and we have a real challenge. A long time ago, a vet tech told me to use a soup ladle. So that is what I did. I finally was able to catch one without snow in it and took it to the vet for testing. Sure enough, she has a 'serious' infection. I would say so. The poor girl must be in horrible pain. Her light pink pee is now light red. We started her on the drugs in the early afternoon. 3 hours later, she had dinner. 30 minutes later, she gives dinner back. Call the vet. Was that within the time frame to consider it drug related or just coincidence? It is right on the border. 3 hours is about the limit to call it drug related. So the next dose will be given with her food to see if that is any better. If she goes all bullemic again, we will make a trip to the vet. Meanwhile, Oregon is stalking her when she is outside. Walks right behind her taking in her scent. Boys.
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