Jan 11: My Friday was great - how was yours?

Arri here.  I logged in while mom is at work.  I have to tell you about my day yesterday.

breakfast in bed

It started with breakfast in bed.  Yep, I act all helpless and sad and mom brings me food and water in bed.  I had some canned mush and meatloaf and cookies.  When I am done, she leaves me to go back to sleep.

At 9:00 I went on a cake delivery with mom and then we went to the vet.  I love the vet. In my new helpless routine, I go behind the reception desk as soon as I get there.  They give me pets and loving.  Then I move over to where the cookie jar is.  Tammy is a pushover and I always get some treats.  They wouldn't give me any today because I had to visit the vampire.  I got on the scale and my weight was back up to 57 lbs.  I had lost 2 last week when I wasn't eating so this proves, meatloaf is the cure.  Into the exam room we go.  I was pretty happy to see the tech but for the first time in my life, I would not go out the back door.  Last time I didn't get to see my mom for 2 days.  They picked me up and carried me back to the vampire.  I was a good boy and wagged my tail while they bit me.  As soon as they put me down, I dragged them back to mom and did the happy dance.  I was silly happy.  Dr. Mike came in the room and he could not believe what he was seeing. He went to give me a cookie and mom warned him that my that my inner alligator was back. He tossed the cookie to me and the alligator (with incredibly bad aim) lunged for the cookie and missed. I thrashed on the floor until I found every crumb.  I don't know why they were laughing.  I can be a ferocious beast at times.  He called me 'The Amazing Arri'.  Ok, maybe it wasn't worded quite like that but it should be.  On the way out, I got more cookies and mom scheduled my next chemo for Jan 25.  With the way I am acting, I just might be around to need it.

Mom had a lot of cakes to work on so I spent the rest of the day in the basement with her, guarding her back like always.  I'm not getting as many treats now that I gained the weight back.  When it was time to go upstairs I was ready for the challenge.  Mom was a little concerned that it would strain my lungs  but our options are limited.  With mom giving me butt assist, I made it up.  I was panting pretty hard but I didn't have a coughing fit or anything.  Mom felt better about that.  She is certain that the chemo worked and has made the tumor smaller.  The negative part of going up the stairs is that mom was certain she had been sprayed by a skunk.  She started coughing and saying - Everybody Outside!.  Yes, the toxic fumes escaped me and she was in the line of fire.  I was not ashamed.  A dog's gotta do what a dog's gotta do. While the sun was not out, it was in the 50's so I planted myself in the middle of the yard to survey my domain.  Everyone else went inside for dinner.  They have not learned the lessons I have.  Dinner will always be served and if you don't move, it will be brought to you.

picnic dinner

So I had a picnic dinner in the middle of the front yard.  Mom forgot the blanket for me to lay on and candles and a goblet of water but I forgave her because she brought me out a buffet of dinner.  I ate the meatloaf first, then the Eukenuba and then some mush for dessert.  The garbage disposals had to stay in the house and drool.

Garbage disposals wishing they could help me finish dinner

The rest of my evening was spent watching TV with dad while mom went back to work.

It was a Very Good Day!

Jan 10: Good news among the sadness

This week has been full of sadness.  The CCI dogs went to the Rainbow Bridge and my church lost two strong, christian men.  Half of me is sad because there has been so much loss by so many but the other half is so happy.

Glamis, Oregon, Arri & Summer

Arri has had two very, very good days.  Since starting on the appetite stimulant, he has been eating very small amounts, non-stop.  He still loves the Old Mother Hubbard biscuits. Occasionally Eukenuba nuggets are good.  A bit of apple, some baby carrots, a little chicken but by far his favorite is the Doggy Meatloaf.  Thank you Anne for sending me the recipe.  It has ground beef, chopped celery, grated carrot, diced apple, egg, oatmeal, bread, wheat germ, and tomato paste in it.  I mixed up a pound of beef and the rest of the ingredients and split it into 3 small loaves.  Arri ate two over the course of the day yesterday.   He appeases me with 2 -3 slurps of canned dog food at the 'main meals'.  Every time I pass him, I offer him some chicken or cookies.  He even ate some fruit loops yesterday.  Yep anything goes. If he will eat it, he can have it.

 His energy level is up.  Even though he sleeps quite a bit, his tail wags and his eyes are bright.  He has been barking when someone comes to the front door.  He has not really done that in months.  I had commented to Tim on how Arri's doorbell wasn't working.  I assumed it was his hearing or his vision.  It is possible that it was one of the first subtle indicators that something wasn't quite right.

Yesterday we took a road trip to Grandma and Grandpas.  Some things don't change.  Enter the house and head to the workshop to see if there is any dog food on the floor and tissues in the trash.  Visiting  cousin dogs don't always finish their food.  Arri learned that long ago so he checks every visit, even if there are no other dogs in the house.  Next stop is the kitchen to the cabinet with the dog cookie jar.  There he waits until he is successful.  He had a good visit.  The rest of his day is spent mostly resting.  We have had very few coughing attacks.

Today I did not give Arri any appetite stimulant.  I wanted to see how he was doing without it.  he is fine.  He eats cookies whenever offered.  A whole meatloaf for breakfast and a 6 oz can of puppy mush for lunch.  I could not put off working in the bakery any longer.  Customers do expect their cakes still.  I left the baby gate down to see if Arri would come guard the door.  He did.  Going down stairs has never been the issue.  I was just glad he did not have a coughing attack after the trip.  Since we were now out of meatloaf, I made Arri a meat cake instead.

Meat cake anyone?

The only real problem I am having with giving Arri all these small meals is the 3 garbage disposals that follow me around.  They are getting pretty pushy and I have to protect Arri when he eats or someone will cause a distraction while another goes for the gold....er...meat.

Even the cat wants the meatloaf.

Jan 8 Extended dog family

Yesterday was a hard day in my extended dog family.  

There are some who bring a light so great to the world 

                          That even after they are gone, 

                                    The light remains. 

                                                Annie 

                    March 27, 1999 - January 7, 2013

This morning, Arri and I are very sad.  Last night, Sweet Annie went to the rainbow bridge.  She started having seizures as a result of the neurological disease.   Combined with the cancer in her lungs, her mom made the torturous decision to ease her pain.  We will miss hearing Annie's Adventures.  I am comforted knowing she will be waiting at the Bridge when Arri moves there.

In addition, CCI also lost Service Dog Garbo.  Garbo graduated in May 2002 from North Central Region.  She was in Glamis' graduating class.  Peace and hugs to Brian.

With all the sadness, I do have a bit of good news.  Arri had a quiet night with no coughing/breathing episodes during the night.  This morning I gave him an appetite stimulant and within and hour he was looking for his food bowl.  He did not eat a huge amount of food but the was happy to be eating it.

Jan 7...back to the vet

Well, this hypochondriac mother needs to cut back on caffeine or something.  With Arri not showing an increased interest in food and what seemed to be shallower breathing.  I called and got an appointment to see the vet.

It turned out to be unnecessary but it was informative and helpful.  Arri is down 2 lbs from last week.  He showed the most energy of the day thumping his tail and wiggling while laying down.  Arri was more than happy to eat the cookies offered to him. He even left everyone's fingers attached.  One of the workers went through chemo and said that it caused her taste buds to change.  Certain things she used to love, she couldn't stand the smell.  She had cravings for other (sometimes unusual) foods.  I learned is that it very well could be more than a week before his spirits perk up - although it was good to see him so happy to see everyone at the vet.   I guess that means he needs more visitors.   Decreased appetite is not at all unusual and may take a while to come back.  I understood this much better when I was given a 14 day supply of appetite stimulant.  Oh- it can take that long.   They offered him some different canned food.  He seemed to like the baby food best.  He has been preferring small bites of food.  He is actually chewing his food but he does want to bite pieces in half.  With this said, it was suggested that I add water to any food I offer and mash it up.  Make it easier to just swallow down.  It is moments like that that mean a lot.  It seems like a very simple solution but it never crossed my mind.

And then I learned that I was taking his current condition for granted.  I was worried about slightly shallower breathing.  The vet said he was honestly amazed at how well Arri was doing considering the x-rays.  Dogs with x-rays like Arri's don't act like Arri is acting.  He also said that in talking with the people at MSU, they also were amazed by how well he was doing.

Hug your pups and cherish the time you have.  They leave us far, far too soon.

Jan 7 We made it to another day.

By the end of the day yesterday, I was happy with the food Arri ate.  We discovered he enjoyed Oregon's Eukenuba.  So he had 5 handfuls of that as well as some more cookies.  

I have to force myself not to smother Arri in hugs and pets.  Last night he sat on the sofa with me.  Started on the opposite end but ended up right next to me with his head in my lap.  Oregon is such a jealous boy.  As soon as Arri put his head in my lap, Oregon jumped up and was going to squeeze between us.   I don't think so Oregon.   So he laid down on Arri's lower half - causing a coughing fit. That got him kicked off the island.  That boy needs a day of play and out of my hair before I kill him.

We had a brief sighting of his old self last night.  Uncle Darryl, Aunt Debbie, cousins Becca and Joel stopped by.  He have them a couple of good warning barks - the kind we have not heard in months.  Once everyone was in the door, Arri laid back down to recover from the excitement.

Arri had a rough spot during the night.  Thought we were going to have to tap his chest for fluid today.  He seems to have stabled out but again, not eating yet today.  His 'happy' is also missing.  His eyes are bright but the tail is still.  I am walking such a fine line between illness and chemo reaction.   I am not sure when to stop making the chemo excuse.

Thanks for bringing me mom, but I don't think I want to walk around the park today.

The 3 garbage disposals are at daycare today.  They needed to run and play and I needed them out of my hair for a bit.  We tried taking Arri to the park.  He did get excited - jumped up and grabbed a toy ready to go.  But when we got to the park, he didn't want to get out of the car.  I pulled him to the edge but still he didn't want to get out.  When he did get out, he went to the grass, peed, walked 5 feet and sat down.  He was done.

Now he is laying with his rear in a patch of sun, guarding my back as I type.

Jan 6 Eat puppy, Eat!

This morning I didn't force Arri to get out of bed with everyone else.  He would get up when he needed to.  It was not long after everyone was fed that he did get up and go to the door.  He seemed to have some energy so I was hopeful about breakfast.  Boy was I wrong.  He completely turned his nose up at turkey and rice.  He also refused:  cooked egg, dry kibble, canned kibble, cold chicken and much to my amazement - peanut butter on bread.  He took one bite and not another of:  baby carrot, meatloaf, bread and yogurt.  The only thing he would eat happily was Old Mother Hubbards Classic biscuits.  The goof ball will only eat cookies for breakfast.  Since it was the only thing he would touch, I gave in and he got a handful.    I am hopeful that as the day goes on, he will take something of a bit more nutrition.  He always loved popcorn so during the football games, I will see if he will eat some - no salt added.

Oregon and Summer are never far away when
Arri is getting his mini meals hand fed to him.

I was briefly encouraged after church when Arri gladly accepted a piece of hamburger and a chunk of canned food.  When the other 3 dogs went to the park, I fixed Arri a bowl.  He turned his nose up at it.  I gave him a few more cookies and he ate them.  Tim took him for a short trip to the park.  He really wanted to go.  He didn't go far but he enjoyed the trip.  While there, he ate a few carrots and 2 handfuls of kibble.  So I think now we know the game he is playing.  Some food still doesn't appeal to him but what food he will eat must be hand fed to him.  Well, if that is what it takes, we will do it.  Really small amounts of food seem to be better anyway.  If he eats to big a bite or too much at once, he starts coughing.

With all the trial and errors on food, the other 3 garbage disposals will be very happy with their dinners.  They will split what Arri refuses to eat.

Jan 5 Arri has trained me well.

After refusing breakfast, I went to the store for chicken and rice to make for Arri for lunch.  I didn't want to start him on special food just yet but he does need to eat something.

Around 1:00 I gave him a small meal of chicken and rice.  He only ate part of it.  Every time I walk through the kitchen, I grab a piece of kibble or biscuit and he eats those pretty quick.  Since he is not eating or drinking much I am not making him go outside.  As soon as he went to the door on his own, I jumped up and let him out.  I was so happy he was motivated enough to move.  He did what he needed to do and all was good.  Dinner was more chicken and rice.  Now this is how quickly Arri trained me.  Yes, he is already getting an extra meal and it is special food.  But now I am not even making him get up to eat.  I brought his dinner to him and let him lay down while eating.  Spoiled dog?  Maybe a little.  He managed to telepathically convince me to give him a bite of my bread with peanut butter on it.

I believe his lethargy and disinterest in food is a side effect of the chemo.  The doctors certainly did not give me an imminent end attitude.  Still, i touch his paw or scratch his ears often enough to annoy him.  And at the moment, Tim or I has to be at the house with him.  No reason other than I just don't want to leave him alone.

Annie replied to Arri's e-mail today.  What I didn't mention before is that Annie is also very close to the end. Her illness is slightly different but she was in the hospital at the same time as Arri with fluid in her lungs too. They took slightly different routes in getting there, but they are on the same road to the Rainbow Bridge now.  Arri was hoping to get there first so he could prepare the place for her and show her around but it may happen the other way around.  Everything Arri and I go through we think of Annie and her mom and pray for them.