Treatment 8: We got a little snow last night and it is cold. The sun is shining and the roads are dry. Today, I stayed home to work. Tim was on his own. Before he left, I reviewed his responsibilities and made sure he had everything for Arri. They were late in taking Arri back today so the trip was a bit longer. Once again, Arri came out with a bandage on his leg. Same spot as before. Tim did ask and she said that is where the injection was. On Monday she told me they don’t give injections there. Maybe it is a different person injecting and they learned a little different.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
January 17, 2012:
Treatment 7: Tim and I went together again. Left the 3 dogs at home in the kennel. They will be well rested and hyper when we get home. It is 40 degrees with very heavy fog. Visibility is only ¼ mile. By the time we reach Canton, it is 52 degrees and sprinkling. We were early for the appointment. Yesterday, Arri removed the squeaker from the hedgehog. Today, there is a new squeaky lamb. Arri squeaked and squeaked and squeaked while we waited for the appointment. I don’t know if they were ready or just wanted him to stop squeaking, but they took him back early. They think he is a riot. Once again, the girls said he is the happiest radiation patient ever.
No issues with treatment. He was a bit more stable when walking out today. We have to lift him into the van because he has no judgment for jumping while on drugs. He thinks he is doing it right but he will crash right into the side of the van.
The ride home was better. Arri did rest some this time. We drove through drizzle, rain, flurries and finally a pretty good snow. Winter has returned. It is supposed to be much colder and nasty the rest of the week.
On the ride home I got a phone call. Caller ID said CCI. Hhmmmm, I don’t have dogs at the center so this just might be about a puppy. Sure enough, it was Suzanne asking how I felt about overlapping pups. They have two that need homes. Teva doesn’t leave until May. Normally, I would have his successor by now. I didn’t think it would be fair to Arri, and I do need a little sanity so I have put it off. I am planning on a March puppy so now I am officially on ‘the list’.
January 16, 2012:
Treatment #5: Tim and I both went to treatment today. Last Friday, winter had arrived. Today, it is spring again. While the snow has not all melted, it is in the 40’s. The other 3 dogs – Glamis, Summer and Teva - went to day care today. At the Drs. I asked about the welt. Kathy didn’t know what I was talking about. I showed her and she said they don’t inject there. We will make sure we don’t use that leg today. Ok. So no real answer. Odd, he has a mysterious needle mark and took twice as long in treatment. I’ll let it go for now and Tim will learn to ask questions. Today’s treatment was 30 minutes, no problem. I also needed to find out what to do if I find more lumps, talk to the oncologist or our home vet. Answer: The oncologist will check them for us. Arri does have two more lumps near his collar bone. They are too small to do a needle biopsy so I will wait to point them out. The previous lump in similar location was benign.
We have started giving Arri his food 3 times a day. He gets the same amount but now gets a ‘lunch’ right after treatment. He has yet to get medicine sick or car sick so this works out well. He was pretty glassy eyed today but by the time we got home, he was his normal goofy self.
Jan 14 & 15:
January 14, 2012: day off from treatment. We won’t spend it resting at home. If the weather holds up, we will take a quick road trip to Cincinnati to say ‘Merry Christmas’.
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| In the van: Arri, Teva and Summer |
January 15, 2012: day off from treatment. Back in the car for the 5 hour trip home.
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| On bench: Glamis & Teva On floor: Arri and Summer |
January 13, 2012:
5th day of treatment. Old man winter may have been late to the party, but he knows how to make an entrance. 4+ inches of snow and still coming down. I had to work today and Tim was off so he took Arri to his treatment. They had to leave early to allow time for the weather and accidents. They got home a little later than normal and Arri has a bandage on his leg. Tim lets Arri in the house and turns around to go shovel the driveway. I open the door and shout out….’ummmm, so what is with the bandage?’ “I don’t know, I didn’t ask”. Sigh .. he did say the appointment was about twice as long. Apparently Arri didn’t come out of sedation as well today. Maybe that is the result it being the 5th day of treatment in a row. Now he has two days off.
Later in the evening, I removed the bandage from his foot. This was his front foot. At first, I didn’t notice why it was wrapped. There had been no gauze, just the stretchy, sticky bandage wrap. A bit later, I notice a very large welt on his foot. It was at the connection of the foot and ‘pinky’ toe. There was a blood spot in the middle. Had it been summer, I would have said it was a bee sting reaction. It seemed to be an extremely odd location for a needle. His ‘good’ back leg had been shaved for easy access to the vein. I’m confused. I’ll have to ask on Monday.
Monday, January 30, 2012
January 12, 2012:
4th treatment: I don’t need the alarm clock now. Arri has the best internal clock of any dog we’ve had. At 4:20 am, he was sitting on me, letting me know it was time for breakfast. I couldn’t get back to sleep today. Today I feel the effects of less/broken sleep. I am tired and a bit crabby. It doesn’t help that I am still trying to keep the bakery open – operating at minimal hours…HA. I didn’t do that quite right this week. When I get home tonight, I will have a lot of work to do for cakes and meetings tomorrow. Thankfully, Tim will be taking Arri tomorrow so I can work.
Arri’s post treatment munchies attacks are nuts. I am not sure if all dogs act like him but he is really goofy. I had hid the food in a bag in front the of driver’s seat. Gives me time to open my door and grab it before he does. We loaded him into the car and I turned to ask Kathy another question (she might be getting tired of that). Arri did his thing when I wasn’t looking. He is so uncoordinated; I don’t see how he even climbs into the front seat. When I opened my door to grab the bag, he was in the front seat, kind of. He was more in the foot well but still on the seat. He was rooting through everything on the floor. By the time I realized he was doing more than rooting, he had eaten two gas receipts and 3 kleenex. He had reached the plastic trash bag that had sucker sticks and chocolate wrappers in it when I stopped him. I shoved his rear end into the foot well with the rest of him and made him sit there and gain his bearings. I poured some food into the bowl behind my seat and waited for him to climb back. He didn’t move. He realized the food was by my feet and tried to crawl over…breaking my sunglasses, shoving CD’s out of the way…sigh I got him back in the front seat and showed him his food. He climbed over, kind of, again leaving his back end on the front seat to eat his snack. Tim is going to have an interesting trip tomorrow. I think he thinks I am exaggerating the munchie thing.
January 11, 2012:
3rd treatment: Fantastic day to drive. Sunny and 55 degrees. Forecast says it won’t last. Arri is getting the travel routine down. As soon as we pulled into the lot where the clinic is, he started clucking. He is happy to be there. He loves to do an UP at the counter to say hello to everyone. He didn’t want the hedgehog today. Maybe tomorrow. He went to the back room with no issues. He came out very drunk today. We had to help him walk to the car and lift him in. As soon as he was in, he shoved his face in my travel bag. He was going for the food. So I asked Kathy, and yes, whatever drugs they give him, will give him the munchies. He had a serious case today. I moved the bag out of his reach to the front. How he moved so quick to the front, I don’t know. He was so uncoordinated. But he reached his goal. He grabbed the sandwich bag of dog food, tore it open and wolfed it down before I could get to it. I also learned that he is not to be bathed during treatment. No soap or scrubbing the area. Now I have to ask if it can get wet in general. If the snow is deep enough, it will get wet. Is that ok, just don’t rub it dry?
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