Feb 20: chemo 3 follow up

Arri is responding better than after the first chemo but not as good as the second.  I am not surprised by this.  He received a new drug so I was expecting him to be a little off his appetite anyway.  He is not terribly off.  He does not want his kibble but will eat canned food.  He is only eating 1/2 meals so I am offering him small meals every few hours.  Of course he still loves his Old Mother Hubbard cookies.  He sent them an e-mail thanking them for making such yummy treats and they are sending him a coupon for more.  That is nice because we are running low.

He continues to have the coughing/gagging episodes and too much exertion taxes his breathing.  All expected since I did not have his chest drained.  We have to go in for blood work on Monday and if necessary, we will drain fluid off then.

I had to make him wear the donut yesterday.  He started licking his incision sites.  He has one one his belly and one on his hind leg.  The one on his leg annoys me a bit.  He has bumps all over his body and they choose to cut into his only back leg.   He is doing much better today but yesterday, it clearly pained him when he hopped and toileting was a challenge.

punch biopsy off his belly

the growth on his ear...he scratches and so it bleeds regularly.

I have started to fret again so it is time to do a brain dump.  I need to get the concerns out of my head for awhile.  I know the answer will come, I just have to stop focusing on it.   There are just too many 'what if's' at the moment.   We made it through graduation just fine, what could possibly be on my mind now?    Vacation.  That is what.  We already cancelled a trip to Florida.  Now, our big vacation is in question.  It is a bucket list trip to Alaska.  It is in May.

In reviewing Arri's discharge paperwork from the hospital, I noticed for the first time that there was a prognosis statement.  With chemo treatments, the average dog survives 3 - 4 months.  This is an average - could be longer, could be shorter.  We are already over a month in.  May puts us over the 5 month point.  As well as Arri is doing he could reach this point.

There is no way I could stop treatment just because I want to go on vacation.  There is also no way I can put this kind of burden on a sitter for 2 weeks.  Looking at the calendar, Arri would be due for chemo and blood work while we were gone.

Of course, it could be a non-issue.  We may lose him before that.  The problem is that payment is due in full next week.  We bought trip insurance and I just learned that pets are not covered.  I guess I should have checked that before now.  Of course, Arri was not sick when we booked the trip.  He had just been declared cancer free.  So now I am waiting to hear what would happen if we canceled the trip right now.  I don't want to.  I am stuck between and trip and a paw place.  Continue with our plans, knowing 3 months is a long time for things to change?  The best case would be we go on the trip and Arri is healthy enough for me to leave him.  

I think I will go hug on my boy and pray about it for awhile.  The answer will come, I just need to stop trying to control it.