Friday, January 31, 2003
Maybe the Adria Helps
Last evening and this morning Remington is definitely perkier. So maybe the adriamycin still has some kick. I'm beginning to wonder about the Cytoxan, though--he seems to have gotten worse/had bleeding twice now after the 2nd week of it.
Thursday, January 30, 2003
Egrets and Gophers and Holes, oh my!
We just went for a walk, just the two of us, ending over in the big field. Tall, pencil-thin white egrety thing there, watching us--but when it decided we were harmless, I got to watch it stalk its prey. Not at all sure what it's finding out there to eat, but it pounced on SOMEthing and shook it and snarfed it down while the crows swooped and scolded.
Remington found a good gopher hole with fresh scent and set about digging out the offender. I let him go at it for about a minute on the way out and again on the way back. You'd think this dog had all the energy in the world. However, based on how awful he felt after the day the roomie let him dig "for about 20 minutes," I didn't want to repeat that. I said, "you want to kill yourself digging for gophers?" And he said, his head buried in the hole up to his ears, "snork! snuffffffffffle!" which I interpreted as, "there could be worse ways to die."
We both got soaking wet up to Rem's chest height from all the dew on the outacontrol grass--all of which will be foxtails in a couple of months and then, in the natural progression of field ecology, two months later will be an 80-unit housing development.
At home, Rem went back to being meatloaf dog (lying there like a lump, cooking himself in the sun), occasionally rousing to lick off more of the nanoparticles of moisture that are detracting from his aura of Mr. Cool and that mom somehow missed while toweling him off. He ate most of his breakfast, but when he was pretty sure that no chicken particulate matter remained, he blew off the rest of the cottage cheese and rice. I had to point out to him with a spoon all of the remaining chicken substance, which he painstakingly removed from its surrounding Boring White Food.
I then offered him a handful of his regular dry food (he's not getting enough fiber with this other diet and it's clearly not interesting him except for the chicken). He sniffed it carefully and turned it down, until I asked him to do a couple of tricks, which he did in extended slow motion, accepted pieces of kibble as reward, and then chomped down the rest of the handful as if it were his due for a job well done. Funny guy.
But definitely the low energy continues. We're not getting upsidedown dog first thing in the morning. He descends from his bedroom a while after the rest of us and goes straight to his downstairs bed to rest up from the ordeal. Lies down while waiting for me to get dressed to go for a walk.
Last night I took him to my compost demo, and I don't usually take the dogs. I scritched his backside the whole time that other people were presenting, and he seemed to like that. Lots of folks commented on how well-behaved he was. Truth--he is, but he's also just really subdued. Looked really worried every time I got up and moved away from him, so I just moved his little bed right up next to where I was doing my presentation, and he hung in there quietly. By the time we were done and all these strangers were coming by to give him skritchies, he decided it was time to go exploring and very quickly found the refreshment table on the other side of the auditorium. Nuthin' wrong with that doggie sniffer. Then, when we got home, he collapsed into intense napping mode and hardly moved again til morning.
Remington found a good gopher hole with fresh scent and set about digging out the offender. I let him go at it for about a minute on the way out and again on the way back. You'd think this dog had all the energy in the world. However, based on how awful he felt after the day the roomie let him dig "for about 20 minutes," I didn't want to repeat that. I said, "you want to kill yourself digging for gophers?" And he said, his head buried in the hole up to his ears, "snork! snuffffffffffle!" which I interpreted as, "there could be worse ways to die."
We both got soaking wet up to Rem's chest height from all the dew on the outacontrol grass--all of which will be foxtails in a couple of months and then, in the natural progression of field ecology, two months later will be an 80-unit housing development.
At home, Rem went back to being meatloaf dog (lying there like a lump, cooking himself in the sun), occasionally rousing to lick off more of the nanoparticles of moisture that are detracting from his aura of Mr. Cool and that mom somehow missed while toweling him off. He ate most of his breakfast, but when he was pretty sure that no chicken particulate matter remained, he blew off the rest of the cottage cheese and rice. I had to point out to him with a spoon all of the remaining chicken substance, which he painstakingly removed from its surrounding Boring White Food.
I then offered him a handful of his regular dry food (he's not getting enough fiber with this other diet and it's clearly not interesting him except for the chicken). He sniffed it carefully and turned it down, until I asked him to do a couple of tricks, which he did in extended slow motion, accepted pieces of kibble as reward, and then chomped down the rest of the handful as if it were his due for a job well done. Funny guy.
But definitely the low energy continues. We're not getting upsidedown dog first thing in the morning. He descends from his bedroom a while after the rest of us and goes straight to his downstairs bed to rest up from the ordeal. Lies down while waiting for me to get dressed to go for a walk.
Last night I took him to my compost demo, and I don't usually take the dogs. I scritched his backside the whole time that other people were presenting, and he seemed to like that. Lots of folks commented on how well-behaved he was. Truth--he is, but he's also just really subdued. Looked really worried every time I got up and moved away from him, so I just moved his little bed right up next to where I was doing my presentation, and he hung in there quietly. By the time we were done and all these strangers were coming by to give him skritchies, he decided it was time to go exploring and very quickly found the refreshment table on the other side of the auditorium. Nuthin' wrong with that doggie sniffer. Then, when we got home, he collapsed into intense napping mode and hardly moved again til morning.
Wednesday, January 29, 2003
Clarifying Remington's Status
I think from folks' responses that I made Remington's state sound much worse than it appears. Medically, the news is as bad as I said. However, he himself doesn't seem to be too concerned about it. He's acting like a subdued dog but not like a really sick dog.
He's eating, he's pleased about going for walks (but in a quieter manner), he does tricks for goodies (but conserving energy), he jumps up and barks at things (was that a noise or something? or not?). Sometimes he plays a little bit, just not as often, or for as long, or with as much energy. (Which was never a lot anyway.) He's generally a happy boy, not acting as though he's on his last legs like I might have made it sound.
He probably won't be doing agility, unless he decides he wants to--he always wanted to before, but right now he doesn't want to do more than hop over a few low jumps, and likes to do a couple of slow contacts for goodies. He just doesn't want me to waste my time on those *other* annoying little twerpy dogs who insist on doing agility.
He got a good dose of adriamycin chemo this morning and maybe that'll help knock back the tumor a little bit for a brief while--or not.
He's had it with the vets' office, though; friday, mon, tue, & today every day I've dropped him off & left him for an hour or more, and today he told the vets constantly, apparently, that he'd had enough and was ready to go home and not come back. He has been SUCH a good boy about going in there--still wags his tail, says hi to everyone, never put up a fuss before. He's so popular over there (or is that pupular?). Poor baby. I'll try very hard not to leave him there again without me.
He's eating, he's pleased about going for walks (but in a quieter manner), he does tricks for goodies (but conserving energy), he jumps up and barks at things (was that a noise or something? or not?). Sometimes he plays a little bit, just not as often, or for as long, or with as much energy. (Which was never a lot anyway.) He's generally a happy boy, not acting as though he's on his last legs like I might have made it sound.
He probably won't be doing agility, unless he decides he wants to--he always wanted to before, but right now he doesn't want to do more than hop over a few low jumps, and likes to do a couple of slow contacts for goodies. He just doesn't want me to waste my time on those *other* annoying little twerpy dogs who insist on doing agility.
He got a good dose of adriamycin chemo this morning and maybe that'll help knock back the tumor a little bit for a brief while--or not.
He's had it with the vets' office, though; friday, mon, tue, & today every day I've dropped him off & left him for an hour or more, and today he told the vets constantly, apparently, that he'd had enough and was ready to go home and not come back. He has been SUCH a good boy about going in there--still wags his tail, says hi to everyone, never put up a fuss before. He's so popular over there (or is that pupular?). Poor baby. I'll try very hard not to leave him there again without me.
Tuesday, January 28, 2003
Better and Worse
Well, Rem's white and red blood counts are back up today. (Red is back up to about 34, I think she said.) He looked somewhat perkier later in the morning and early afternoon. I let the roomie take him for a 10-minute walk after our 5-minute one earlier, because he was looking more alert and SOOOO miserable when it looked like she was going to take Jake instead. He was very jazzed when he came back.
Had to take him to the vet's & leave him there for about 3 hours for chest xrays and ultrasound. He was VERY happy to see me--put up a big fuss when he heard my voice in the front office. When they brought him out on leash, he was your stereotypical dog-who-can't-get-traction-on-a-smooth-floor beast, he was pulling SO hard on the leash to get out to me. It was pretty funny, his legs were working SO hard and he was getting nowhere--
Right now he's wiped out again, though.
And the news is just not good. Tumor on the heart is back up to about the size it was when we started. Means that it has figured out how to squish the chemo drugs right out of its little cells and go back to merrily reproducing. And there are small spots in his lungs, which is where the vet had originally said it was likely to metastasize. There is a wisp of fluid in his chest, just a teeny bit, which is probably why he's floating in & out of anemia: a little bleeding going on and off from the big tumor.
We'll give him another dose of adriamycin tomorrow morning. Vet will check with oncologist on whether there are other protocols we can switch to for this cancer, but she doubts there will be.
If only he'll be healthy and happy enough for our trip to Oregon to go play in the wilderness over Presidents' weekend.
Had to take him to the vet's & leave him there for about 3 hours for chest xrays and ultrasound. He was VERY happy to see me--put up a big fuss when he heard my voice in the front office. When they brought him out on leash, he was your stereotypical dog-who-can't-get-traction-on-a-smooth-floor beast, he was pulling SO hard on the leash to get out to me. It was pretty funny, his legs were working SO hard and he was getting nowhere--
Right now he's wiped out again, though.
And the news is just not good. Tumor on the heart is back up to about the size it was when we started. Means that it has figured out how to squish the chemo drugs right out of its little cells and go back to merrily reproducing. And there are small spots in his lungs, which is where the vet had originally said it was likely to metastasize. There is a wisp of fluid in his chest, just a teeny bit, which is probably why he's floating in & out of anemia: a little bleeding going on and off from the big tumor.
We'll give him another dose of adriamycin tomorrow morning. Vet will check with oncologist on whether there are other protocols we can switch to for this cancer, but she doubts there will be.
If only he'll be healthy and happy enough for our trip to Oregon to go play in the wilderness over Presidents' weekend.
Monday, January 27, 2003
Oh, Things Aren't Good
Blood test results are back. White blood cell count is down, which is the first time that's happened except for the first week or 2 after adriamycin (last dose was over 3 weeks ago). Worse, red blood is down to 29 (36 is normal), and it was 34 on Friday. This is kind of what it looked like just before xmas, except xray on Friday didn't show any fluids in chest. Also not good is that there is some (new word for the day-- sponsored by the letter A--acanthocytes--indicators in the blood that there's damage to red blood cell membranes, which can sometimes happen during cancers especially of this nasty hemangiocrud type.
So he seems to have some microbleeding going on somewhere, but where & how much & can we do anything about it? We'll go back in tomorrow for another blood test and then have the radiologist do a thorough ultrasound of his bod, especially his abdomen, to see whether there are indicators of the cancer spreading there. Might not tell us anything, but it's the best diagnostic tool we've got at the moment.
Meanwhile, vet says go ahead & give him all the chicken he'll eat. "Make him happy," she said. So I'm cooking up a big batch more and we'll go sit & do some tricks & see how much more he'll chow down. [Yup, just gave him some, plus put chicken-boiling water on what was left of his breakfast, and he was very excited about all of that!]
So he seems to have some microbleeding going on somewhere, but where & how much & can we do anything about it? We'll go back in tomorrow for another blood test and then have the radiologist do a thorough ultrasound of his bod, especially his abdomen, to see whether there are indicators of the cancer spreading there. Might not tell us anything, but it's the best diagnostic tool we've got at the moment.
Meanwhile, vet says go ahead & give him all the chicken he'll eat. "Make him happy," she said. So I'm cooking up a big batch more and we'll go sit & do some tricks & see how much more he'll chow down. [Yup, just gave him some, plus put chicken-boiling water on what was left of his breakfast, and he was very excited about all of that!]
Just Not Recovering
Rem's just not getting back to looking perky and healthy. He'll does tricks and look interested and accepts goodies, but with low energy output rather than the usual wow-I-love-doing-tricks. No diarrhea or gas yesterday or today, and he was eating OK, but this morning he picked all the chicken bits out of the rice & cottage cheese--not only didn't eat the rice & cc but spit out the parts that were attached to the chicken bits. (Not what he was doing Sat & Sun--ate everything although sedately.)
His weight is down 1.5 pounds from where it's been holding steady since early november--so since Friday he's dropped that much. And he *hasn't* had diarrhea. Doesn't look dehydrated. Wondered whether maybe I'm not feeding him enough--but as I said this morning he's not that interested.
They took blood this morning for a CBC. Vet has to decide whether to do our scheduled adriamycin this afternoon. The quandry is--if he's feeling sick because of the cancer, we definitely want to do the adria. If he's feeling sick because he's just got something cruddy going on in his digestive tract, we *don't* want to do the adria. And it's hard to determine which it is. Soooo right now we're just waiting to see whether the blood test results tell us anything helpful.
And the news isn't good all around. I know 3 other dogs with cancer at the moment. Tanith--who has hemangiosarcoma like Rem but was on spleen instead of heart--is doing well. But Sparky--with adenocarcinoma of the anal gland--started bleeding last night and the news isn't good. And on Saturday found out that Scud, who's been in remission from lymphoma for at least a couple of years, has it back again. Boo.
His weight is down 1.5 pounds from where it's been holding steady since early november--so since Friday he's dropped that much. And he *hasn't* had diarrhea. Doesn't look dehydrated. Wondered whether maybe I'm not feeding him enough--but as I said this morning he's not that interested.
They took blood this morning for a CBC. Vet has to decide whether to do our scheduled adriamycin this afternoon. The quandry is--if he's feeling sick because of the cancer, we definitely want to do the adria. If he's feeling sick because he's just got something cruddy going on in his digestive tract, we *don't* want to do the adria. And it's hard to determine which it is. Soooo right now we're just waiting to see whether the blood test results tell us anything helpful.
And the news isn't good all around. I know 3 other dogs with cancer at the moment. Tanith--who has hemangiosarcoma like Rem but was on spleen instead of heart--is doing well. But Sparky--with adenocarcinoma of the anal gland--started bleeding last night and the news isn't good. And on Saturday found out that Scud, who's been in remission from lymphoma for at least a couple of years, has it back again. Boo.
Saturday, January 25, 2003
Tummy Recovery
At the vet on Friday morning, they injected a ton of subcutaneous fluids for dehydration. So he came home with a huge 'ump on one shoulder and a few other random big squishy lumps. He was very happy to see me, even more so than usual. He's not typically a snuggly dog, but he just about threw himself into my arms and onto my lap and wrapped himself around me as much as he could and just clung there while I was waiting for the vet to come out and talk to me.
Now he's taking:
Vet ordered no food last night. I gave him about a tablespoon of food in which to embed several pieces of pills--and about 20 minutes later he threw it all back up. Sigh.
So then I learned how to do what I've never had to do before, which is to pry the dog's mouth open and reach back inside and drop the pill behind the "sort of rise/lump in the back of the tongue" down towards his throat. He hated it, but as the vet tech said, "He just has to get over it." It worked kind of OK; I might not have still been dropping them down quite far enough, but we did get the pills down him.
He was a *real* grouch last night. Probably not feeling really well, plus who know what the fluids under his skin made him feel like, plus I'd left him at the vet's all day, plus he thought he was hungry and everyone was getting something to eat except him. He was showing his teeth & landing on Jake & Tika at the drop of a hat all evening. AND he continued being amazingly clingy, continuing to just push his way right up onto me and my lap and putting his arms around my neck and just adhering to my lap like velcro. Poor baby.
This morning his appetite was back full force and so was his more typical mellow mood. The energy level is still not up to par, but better than it was yesterday morning. He had rice, cottage cheese, & chicken for breakfast and kept it all down, although still a little background gagging occurred. He'll be eating like that for the next few days. Poor baby. (Yeah, right.)
We went up to Power Paws this morning for some unstructured agility practice. Rem good-naturedly went over a couple of jumps and a dogwalk but really had no interest in running or doing agility, although he did recognize Karey on the far side of the field and went into a full run to go see her. Mostly he spent the time looking through the fence at a ewe and her lamb. Ewe even came right over to the fence after a while and they were nose to nose for a couple of minutes, which thrilled the big dog boy no end, little barks just exploding from him.
With Jake and Tika, I ran some more complicated courses. Tika did great! Feels like she's come so far in just the last month or so, from still being a beginning dog, to being a good strong competitor. She's still not clear on "teeter" command or on what one looks like--still flew off the first couple, which I dont think she liked much, actually (unlike certain Australian Cattle Dogs I can name). And her reaction to being uncertain about what she's supposed to do (undoubtedly dumb things I'm doing) is to sort of put her ears back and veer off in some other direction pretending to be interested in something else. She has been coming back when I call her, tryig to sound cheerful, and I give her goodies & some playing when she comes back. But otherwise she's still very focused and very fast and a real blast.
And Jake is just a really good experienced boy. He's doing better and better on his contacts--I hope--last trial he got almost all of them. It's about time, too--
Now he's taking:
- metronizadole, an antibiotic for nonspecific possible bug in the digestive system, common for unknown/persistent diarrhea
- Metoclopramide, which is an antinausea, stomach-coating thingiebobber
- pepcid-AC, which is--well, pepcid-AC
Vet ordered no food last night. I gave him about a tablespoon of food in which to embed several pieces of pills--and about 20 minutes later he threw it all back up. Sigh.
So then I learned how to do what I've never had to do before, which is to pry the dog's mouth open and reach back inside and drop the pill behind the "sort of rise/lump in the back of the tongue" down towards his throat. He hated it, but as the vet tech said, "He just has to get over it." It worked kind of OK; I might not have still been dropping them down quite far enough, but we did get the pills down him.
He was a *real* grouch last night. Probably not feeling really well, plus who know what the fluids under his skin made him feel like, plus I'd left him at the vet's all day, plus he thought he was hungry and everyone was getting something to eat except him. He was showing his teeth & landing on Jake & Tika at the drop of a hat all evening. AND he continued being amazingly clingy, continuing to just push his way right up onto me and my lap and putting his arms around my neck and just adhering to my lap like velcro. Poor baby.
This morning his appetite was back full force and so was his more typical mellow mood. The energy level is still not up to par, but better than it was yesterday morning. He had rice, cottage cheese, & chicken for breakfast and kept it all down, although still a little background gagging occurred. He'll be eating like that for the next few days. Poor baby. (Yeah, right.)
We went up to Power Paws this morning for some unstructured agility practice. Rem good-naturedly went over a couple of jumps and a dogwalk but really had no interest in running or doing agility, although he did recognize Karey on the far side of the field and went into a full run to go see her. Mostly he spent the time looking through the fence at a ewe and her lamb. Ewe even came right over to the fence after a while and they were nose to nose for a couple of minutes, which thrilled the big dog boy no end, little barks just exploding from him.
With Jake and Tika, I ran some more complicated courses. Tika did great! Feels like she's come so far in just the last month or so, from still being a beginning dog, to being a good strong competitor. She's still not clear on "teeter" command or on what one looks like--still flew off the first couple, which I dont think she liked much, actually (unlike certain Australian Cattle Dogs I can name). And her reaction to being uncertain about what she's supposed to do (undoubtedly dumb things I'm doing) is to sort of put her ears back and veer off in some other direction pretending to be interested in something else. She has been coming back when I call her, tryig to sound cheerful, and I give her goodies & some playing when she comes back. But otherwise she's still very focused and very fast and a real blast.
And Jake is just a really good experienced boy. He's doing better and better on his contacts--I hope--last trial he got almost all of them. It's about time, too--
Friday, January 24, 2003
Just an Upset Tummy--
--we think. This morning he was very droopy, then ate only a couple mouthfuls of breakfast and refused the rest.
Sooooo it was back to the vet's. At least it was Friday instead of a weekend or holiday so I didn't have to do the Emergency Room thing.
Xrays don't show fluid in the chest, so that's good, especially since Wed's blood test showed him marginally anemic again (I think she said 34 of normal 36). But they do see something like a stick or a bone in his stomach. I have no clue what it is or where he got it or why he ate it. Doesn't seem to be a serious concern.
Xrays also show, at the moment, that he's full of....it...and lots of gas... Although possibly diarrhea has let up because neither I nor vet have seen anything come out all day, and he's been over there since about 10:30 this morning. Vet is thinking it could still be a reaction to the cytoxan--maybe he ate random stuff because he wasn't feeling well (he has CERTAINLY been doing more than his share of keeping large hunks of grass grazed down to the knees the last few days). Or maybe he's got some kinda bacteria or who knows what--she's hoping to get a stool sample.
And he's very minorly dehydrated, which is what I was thinking this morning when I was trying to trick him into drinking a lot (tasty goop mixed in a cup or 2 of water--works good).
Anyway, I said I didn't think from hearing all that that I really wanted to leave him there overnight, so I'll go pick him up around dinnertime.
Sooooo it was back to the vet's. At least it was Friday instead of a weekend or holiday so I didn't have to do the Emergency Room thing.
Xrays don't show fluid in the chest, so that's good, especially since Wed's blood test showed him marginally anemic again (I think she said 34 of normal 36). But they do see something like a stick or a bone in his stomach. I have no clue what it is or where he got it or why he ate it. Doesn't seem to be a serious concern.
Xrays also show, at the moment, that he's full of....it...and lots of gas... Although possibly diarrhea has let up because neither I nor vet have seen anything come out all day, and he's been over there since about 10:30 this morning. Vet is thinking it could still be a reaction to the cytoxan--maybe he ate random stuff because he wasn't feeling well (he has CERTAINLY been doing more than his share of keeping large hunks of grass grazed down to the knees the last few days). Or maybe he's got some kinda bacteria or who knows what--she's hoping to get a stool sample.
And he's very minorly dehydrated, which is what I was thinking this morning when I was trying to trick him into drinking a lot (tasty goop mixed in a cup or 2 of water--works good).
Anyway, I said I didn't think from hearing all that that I really wanted to leave him there overnight, so I'll go pick him up around dinnertime.
Thursday, January 23, 2003
Sickie Tummie
Grumbly stomach continued, along with diarrhea yesterday & today. It's been a while since we've had that. Not certain what's causing it; he had Cytoxan sat/sun/mon, maybe it's lingering effects? This morning switching to rice & cottage cheese & kaopectate for meals. Yum, huh?
Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Tummy Upset
Rem tossed his cookies last night, so to speak, around bed time. He'd been looking as if he felt kinda gorpy most of the day, if I remember correctly, doing that Something-Tastes-Wrong thing with his tongue. Still doing it some this morning when he woke up.
I don't actually think he's been all that chipper the last few days, although he's not looking ill exactly (except for the upset tummy). Was very excited to do tricks last night and to nurse on Mr. Furry Squirrel for quite a while. Still running out to the yard to check out real squirrels, still wants to keep on keeping on when we're out walking, still leaping on & off the hot tub rather than using the bench as a step. But something--
I don't actually think he's been all that chipper the last few days, although he's not looking ill exactly (except for the upset tummy). Was very excited to do tricks last night and to nurse on Mr. Furry Squirrel for quite a while. Still running out to the yard to check out real squirrels, still wants to keep on keeping on when we're out walking, still leaping on & off the hot tub rather than using the bench as a step. But something--
Saturday, January 18, 2003
Fine today
Apparently he really was only sore. Although he did some of the cough-gagging a couple of times during the night, still, by bedtime he was moving a little less carefully and his tail was up instead of down, and this morning he seems completely fine. His appetite was fine for dinner and breakfast. Guess I'm glad I waited til morning.
Friday, January 17, 2003
I hate when this happens--
Rem not feeling goodThe new roomie has taken Rem for nice long walks the last 2 days. I figured this is good because he loves walks and it's not intense activity. This evening I just got home and he's all hunched over and moving really slowly, tail and head down. Roomie says she let him dig a really big hole over in the gopher field today, and he certainly has dried mud caked real hard under his toenails. She says he was fine when they got home.
So--is he sore from trying to dig to China? Or did trying to dig to china break something loose and the tumor's bleeding again? How and when do I decide to take him back over to be checked out? And of COURSE it's friday evening, so anything from now til monday a.m. will be emergency room, with emergency-room extra-high fees.
Meanwhile, vet called and left a message that his blood count is fine and go ahead and start this week's cytoxan doses.
Jake damaged Meanwhile, Jake's head is really sensitive. He's been following Rem around growling and stalking all the time again. I've been correcting him & putting him in a down stay on the other side of the room, but he goes back at it eventually. So Wed. late afternoon I was sitting at my desk, and all of a sudden there was a dogfight behind me where Rem usually lies. So I figure Jake was over there growling & stalking and Rem decided it was too much and landed on him.
So Jake ended up with two bloody punctures on his forehead. But I had noticed he's been yelping at slight touches in odd places all around his head even before that (yesterday & today he'smuch worse). So now I'm trying to figure out whether there's something else going on there, maybe another wound that I didn't see that got infected? Can't find anything. Ears look & smell OK. Dang dang dang.
So--is he sore from trying to dig to China? Or did trying to dig to china break something loose and the tumor's bleeding again? How and when do I decide to take him back over to be checked out? And of COURSE it's friday evening, so anything from now til monday a.m. will be emergency room, with emergency-room extra-high fees.
Meanwhile, vet called and left a message that his blood count is fine and go ahead and start this week's cytoxan doses.
Jake damaged Meanwhile, Jake's head is really sensitive. He's been following Rem around growling and stalking all the time again. I've been correcting him & putting him in a down stay on the other side of the room, but he goes back at it eventually. So Wed. late afternoon I was sitting at my desk, and all of a sudden there was a dogfight behind me where Rem usually lies. So I figure Jake was over there growling & stalking and Rem decided it was too much and landed on him.
So Jake ended up with two bloody punctures on his forehead. But I had noticed he's been yelping at slight touches in odd places all around his head even before that (yesterday & today he'smuch worse). So now I'm trying to figure out whether there's something else going on there, maybe another wound that I didn't see that got infected? Can't find anything. Ears look & smell OK. Dang dang dang.
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
Things Go Good
Remington is acting so healthy--I just can't believe how different he is. Such a happy, active boy. It's a little scary--making me hopeful, making me enjoy him so much more--
Thursday, January 09, 2003
I Can Tell He's Feeling Good
For months, I've thought Rem was kinda slowing down & getting old, or the new house & yard just weren't interesting enough for him after the previous house, or he was still depressed about moving twice in a year. Maybe could have been any of those things, too. But I'm thinking a lot of it might have been this disease.
Since he recovered from his Xmas mess, he's doing all kinds of things that he used to do but hasn't in a very long time--jumping up & following me around the house when I'm doing stuff instead of staying on his bed; howling at sirens (not saying everything he does is *good*), picking up toys & asking me to play, going out into the yard in search of squirrels instead of just looking out the window or just lying there when the other dogs go, spending time in front of the living room window watching the world go by.
Lots of little things.
We went to agility class last night. I jumped him at 16" and he was slowing down a bit in places by the end of class, which is more typical, but mostly he was fast and happy and delighted to be there doing something interesting.
Since he recovered from his Xmas mess, he's doing all kinds of things that he used to do but hasn't in a very long time--jumping up & following me around the house when I'm doing stuff instead of staying on his bed; howling at sirens (not saying everything he does is *good*), picking up toys & asking me to play, going out into the yard in search of squirrels instead of just looking out the window or just lying there when the other dogs go, spending time in front of the living room window watching the world go by.
Lots of little things.
We went to agility class last night. I jumped him at 16" and he was slowing down a bit in places by the end of class, which is more typical, but mostly he was fast and happy and delighted to be there doing something interesting.
Wednesday, January 08, 2003
White Blood Cells Normal
A pretty standard cycle--today his white blood cells look good, so we're starting the 3 days of Cytoxan tablets.
He's just a happy, active, alert dog. He wasn't, off and on, for a few months even before his "episode" in L.A. at the end of August. I really wonder how long this thing has been ragging on him. Poor beastie.
He's just a happy, active, alert dog. He wasn't, off and on, for a few months even before his "episode" in L.A. at the end of August. I really wonder how long this thing has been ragging on him. Poor beastie.
Monday, January 06, 2003
Rem's white blood cells low
Today's blood test shows that his white blood cell count is still "quite low"; this has been the pattern, staying low for well more than a week after each adriamycin dose. Vet says that they are hitting him hard with this chemical, but they want to keep doing it because it hasn't made him actually sick and it seems to be effective with the tumor. So--2 more days of antibiotics (also standard protection) and another test on Wed.
A Good Weekend
Today's topics:
Remington's health: He appears to have survived 2 days last week of running amok at parks, plus 5 runs (a fairly light load) of agility this weekend with no ill effects and a positive effect on his mood and outlook. I was afraid I had overdone it when his last run turned slow, and on the way home he was cough-gagging, but he's been fine ever since and this morning is perky, active, enthusiastic, and interested in the world around him. Vet says he looks good & heart sounds great.
Remington's agility: I ran him in veteran's this weekend, which in NADAC is only 16" (he jumps 26" standard in USDAA, in comparison). He was an excellent agility dog:
Jake's agility: For an old man, he did really well in some places. I ran him in standard (16" nonveteran) for his regular classes and veterans (12") for jumpers and gamblers.
Tika's debut agility weekend: I feared the weekend would be terrible, but of course hoped she'd dazzle everyone. The truth was tremendously better than I feared, and in fact she dazzled me, although she just missed getting all 3 titles. (In all 3 class types, she could've earned a title with one more Q.) Out of 8 runs,
she got 2.5 standard Qs (.5 due only to a knocked bar), a jumper Q (missed 2nd Q due only to a knocked bar), and a gambler Q (missed second Q due only to a popped contact in gamble).
So pardon me while a hopelessly excited mom brags about the details.
===========
Details
============
Our 1st standard run was a mess. Chalk it up to First Standard Run At A Trial EverTM. She didn't stay at the start line while I was leading out, so I walked calmly back the start, waited for her to return, and reset her. This is an automatic Elimination, but it's OK in NADAC to do this. Then she stayed--but was light on her first contact and popped her second, so I stopped and put her back on it to make her Touch--which would've also been an automatic E. (She was good the rest of the weekend on contacts.) Then, coming out of a tunnel where I crossed, she missed a couple of jumps, but I just kept running to keep her excited, and we finished fine. But I sure came away thinking, "Boy, I had hoped we were ready, but we sure aren't." Fortunately I was a little wrong about that.
Our 2nd standard run was gorgeous--she didn't stay at the start line, so I stopped and waited for her to come back next to me (but didn't reset her at the start line). She didn't take any extra obstacles, but it wasted about 6 seconds. She Qed clean, and out of 12 dogs in her class, she came in 2nd--just under 6 seconds (note wasted time) behind the 1st place dog, and 15 seconds under SCT.
Third standard run also gorgeous--was sending her 2 or 3 obstacles out and hauling butt to get into position-- she pulled up before last jump, wasting time, so she managed only a 2nd place for her Q (2 seconds behind 1st and 20 seconds under SCT--and she was the 2nd fastest novice dog of any height).
Fourth standard run was awesome, although she knocked a bar (AND stopped before the last jump), for 1/2 Q, 21 under SCT and faster than any other novice dog.
First jumpers run was flawless except that she again stopped before the last jump and came back to me (I have a little problem here). Took about 3 seconds to fix that--and she came in with a Q about 1.5 seconds behind the 1st place dog and 3.5 seconds under SCT [it was a FAST/straight course, so no slop in SCT at all].
Second jumpers run--she was fastest of any novice dogs again, by a second or so, but had a knocked bar.
First gambler's run was a blast. Got a Q, including a ton of opening points and the bonus gamble obstacle--only 4th of 21 dogs in her height, but her opening points were among the highest among all novice dogs, and the other 3 were all experienced novice dogs & handlers. :-)
In 2nd gambler's run, I experimented. I had never done back to back obstacles with her before, but I tried it with 4 different obstacles, and I'm almost ashamed to say that she responded far better than my 2 experienced dogs. Turned on a dime and charged right back to where I directed her. What a doll! I forgot my course, though, so wasted time dashing around looking for obstacles I hadn't already taken twice. She was merely SECOND highest opening points of all novice dogs, by one point. ;-) Plenty of time on gamble, but she popped the Aframe.
I am a very happy handler! If only she'd stop pulling on the leash all the time.
- Remington's health and agility performance
- Jake's agility results
- Tika's debut agility weekend
Remington's health: He appears to have survived 2 days last week of running amok at parks, plus 5 runs (a fairly light load) of agility this weekend with no ill effects and a positive effect on his mood and outlook. I was afraid I had overdone it when his last run turned slow, and on the way home he was cough-gagging, but he's been fine ever since and this morning is perky, active, enthusiastic, and interested in the world around him. Vet says he looks good & heart sounds great.
Remington's agility: I ran him in veteran's this weekend, which in NADAC is only 16" (he jumps 26" standard in USDAA, in comparison). He was an excellent agility dog:
- Did one nice standard round for a Q AND 4th place out of 12 dogs in his class.
- First gamble was nice, fairly fast; missed the bonus obstacle by a bit because he was sight-seeing on the Aframe before the gamble & I couldn't get him moving. But a Q anyway.
- Second gamble again a happy, pretty fast boy, who popped his Aframe contact during the gamble so missed the Q. (Either sight-seeing or popping contacts--I'm dyin' to ever achieve middle ground with him on contacts.)
- Jumpers run was in Super-Rem mode, where he leaned into his turns and never slowed down even on 180-degree turns--not only Q and 1st place, but was faster than all except 1 other dog in *regular* (nonveteran) classes! And that's tough in NADAC jumpers.
- Last standard run was slow and uninspired--last run of the weekend and I probably should've scratched him, but he had looked like he wanted to run.
Jake's agility: For an old man, he did really well in some places. I ran him in standard (16" nonveteran) for his regular classes and veterans (12") for jumpers and gamblers.
- Standard: He needed 6 full Qs for his O-NATCH (that's a double championship, FYI). Got 2.5 this weekend. Included one 2nd place among about 7 dogs in his class--all quite a bit younger than him (.3 secs behind first place dog), one where he was faster than the other dogs but I managed to push him into an off-course (so even with the off-course he was faster!), one where he was 2 seconds faster than the other dogs but knocked a bar, and the last run of the weekend where we were both a little slow but were still 2nd place.
- Jumpers: He was SuperJake for both runs--first run he was almost as fast as the fastest nonveteran 16", and second run we had some problems and went a little wild on the course for 110 faults (takes a lot of skill for a champion in 2 org's to get that many--) but MAN he was flying!
- Gamblers: This was Gamblin' Man weekend; in his first run, he had the second highest total of *all* elite dogs, *all* heights (missed top-scoring dog by 1 pt); in his second run, he had the *highest* total. We just really clicked, and he was flying, and for a change he got all of his contacts. Whatta man!
Tika's debut agility weekend: I feared the weekend would be terrible, but of course hoped she'd dazzle everyone. The truth was tremendously better than I feared, and in fact she dazzled me, although she just missed getting all 3 titles. (In all 3 class types, she could've earned a title with one more Q.) Out of 8 runs,
she got 2.5 standard Qs (.5 due only to a knocked bar), a jumper Q (missed 2nd Q due only to a knocked bar), and a gambler Q (missed second Q due only to a popped contact in gamble).
So pardon me while a hopelessly excited mom brags about the details.
===========
Details
============
Our 1st standard run was a mess. Chalk it up to First Standard Run At A Trial EverTM. She didn't stay at the start line while I was leading out, so I walked calmly back the start, waited for her to return, and reset her. This is an automatic Elimination, but it's OK in NADAC to do this. Then she stayed--but was light on her first contact and popped her second, so I stopped and put her back on it to make her Touch--which would've also been an automatic E. (She was good the rest of the weekend on contacts.) Then, coming out of a tunnel where I crossed, she missed a couple of jumps, but I just kept running to keep her excited, and we finished fine. But I sure came away thinking, "Boy, I had hoped we were ready, but we sure aren't." Fortunately I was a little wrong about that.
Our 2nd standard run was gorgeous--she didn't stay at the start line, so I stopped and waited for her to come back next to me (but didn't reset her at the start line). She didn't take any extra obstacles, but it wasted about 6 seconds. She Qed clean, and out of 12 dogs in her class, she came in 2nd--just under 6 seconds (note wasted time) behind the 1st place dog, and 15 seconds under SCT.
Third standard run also gorgeous--was sending her 2 or 3 obstacles out and hauling butt to get into position-- she pulled up before last jump, wasting time, so she managed only a 2nd place for her Q (2 seconds behind 1st and 20 seconds under SCT--and she was the 2nd fastest novice dog of any height).
Fourth standard run was awesome, although she knocked a bar (AND stopped before the last jump), for 1/2 Q, 21 under SCT and faster than any other novice dog.
First jumpers run was flawless except that she again stopped before the last jump and came back to me (I have a little problem here). Took about 3 seconds to fix that--and she came in with a Q about 1.5 seconds behind the 1st place dog and 3.5 seconds under SCT [it was a FAST/straight course, so no slop in SCT at all].
Second jumpers run--she was fastest of any novice dogs again, by a second or so, but had a knocked bar.
First gambler's run was a blast. Got a Q, including a ton of opening points and the bonus gamble obstacle--only 4th of 21 dogs in her height, but her opening points were among the highest among all novice dogs, and the other 3 were all experienced novice dogs & handlers. :-)
In 2nd gambler's run, I experimented. I had never done back to back obstacles with her before, but I tried it with 4 different obstacles, and I'm almost ashamed to say that she responded far better than my 2 experienced dogs. Turned on a dime and charged right back to where I directed her. What a doll! I forgot my course, though, so wasted time dashing around looking for obstacles I hadn't already taken twice. She was merely SECOND highest opening points of all novice dogs, by one point. ;-) Plenty of time on gamble, but she popped the Aframe.
I am a very happy handler! If only she'd stop pulling on the leash all the time.
Friday, January 03, 2003
Assorted Good News
Remington's chest looked clear of fluids this morning after the vet did a "quick ultrasound." He's definitely snoozier & more tired today, though. I'm hoping it's just because he's been to the park 2x this week and not because there's slow leakage that isn't yet detectable.
Tika's blood tests came back all normal; this is good, since I've been thinking about the dog with kidney failure from a bladder infection gone rogue.
Another big yella Remington! While I was at the vet's yesterday, a lady escorted her big yella dog into the vet's office. "In, Rem," she said. I said, "wow, he looks a lot like *my* dog, Rem--that's Remington." She said that her dog's name is Remington, too. But he's full lab (and a really good-sized one, too). I've heard of other dogs name Remington, but never actually met one, and the resemblance to a lab seems pretty indicative of his partial ancestry.
Tika's blood tests came back all normal; this is good, since I've been thinking about the dog with kidney failure from a bladder infection gone rogue.
Another big yella Remington! While I was at the vet's yesterday, a lady escorted her big yella dog into the vet's office. "In, Rem," she said. I said, "wow, he looks a lot like *my* dog, Rem--that's Remington." She said that her dog's name is Remington, too. But he's full lab (and a really good-sized one, too). I've heard of other dogs name Remington, but never actually met one, and the resemblance to a lab seems pretty indicative of his partial ancestry.
Thursday, January 02, 2003
Dog Fancy Cancer Article/Tika Bladder?
Just read an article in the Dec '02 Dog Fancy magazine about recent innovations in treatments of cancer for dogs. Not clear there's anything there of use for Remington. But they did identify "five common canine cancers": lymphoma, osteosarcoma, mammary cancer, skin cancer, and hemangiosarcoma--which Remington has on his heart and which was just diagnosed in another friend's dog on her spleen:
"With this aggressive cancer of the blood vessels, tumors commonly appear on the spleen, liver, heart muscle, and skin. German Shepherd Dogs are particularly susceptible [my theory has long been that Rem is part GSD]. Because of this cancer's tendency to spread, prognosis is usually poor."
Not encouraging, but then the vets weren't encouraging, either.
We went to another park today and Rem ran around and had too much fun--took off over a small hill and didn't come back. As usual, after I started to panic, wading through mud along a streambed with the other dogs on short leashes so I didn't have to pay attention to them, calling him constantly, he reappeared casually with the "I'm right here, I don't know what you're yelling about." He's so good so much of the time, and then every once in a blue moon pulls this. But he sure had fun up til then (and probably during those 5 minutes or so, too--).
Took Tika in to the vet today--3rd time (previously May & July) for what looks like bladder infection. Peeing drags on forever with little dribbles and drabs, like she's straining to finish; boy dogs especially think she smells fascinating-- Even after keeping her in the house for 3 hours before the vet, there wasn't enough in her bladder to get a sample. They decided to do an x-ray, because one concern has been that she might have some sort of blockage. Nothing showed on the one x-ray they managed to get. They took a blood sample, too. But becuase I *think* she showed fewer symptoms the last 2 times after antibiotic treatment, they gave me 10 days of antibiotics again, and said that if the symptoms improve again, we'll do as much as a month's worth to try to really knock it out.
This is a little scary, too, since *another* friend's agility dog is in renal failure, apparently from an incompletely diagnosed and/or cured bladder infection when she was a young dog. Argh.
"With this aggressive cancer of the blood vessels, tumors commonly appear on the spleen, liver, heart muscle, and skin. German Shepherd Dogs are particularly susceptible [my theory has long been that Rem is part GSD]. Because of this cancer's tendency to spread, prognosis is usually poor."
Not encouraging, but then the vets weren't encouraging, either.
We went to another park today and Rem ran around and had too much fun--took off over a small hill and didn't come back. As usual, after I started to panic, wading through mud along a streambed with the other dogs on short leashes so I didn't have to pay attention to them, calling him constantly, he reappeared casually with the "I'm right here, I don't know what you're yelling about." He's so good so much of the time, and then every once in a blue moon pulls this. But he sure had fun up til then (and probably during those 5 minutes or so, too--).
Took Tika in to the vet today--3rd time (previously May & July) for what looks like bladder infection. Peeing drags on forever with little dribbles and drabs, like she's straining to finish; boy dogs especially think she smells fascinating-- Even after keeping her in the house for 3 hours before the vet, there wasn't enough in her bladder to get a sample. They decided to do an x-ray, because one concern has been that she might have some sort of blockage. Nothing showed on the one x-ray they managed to get. They took a blood sample, too. But becuase I *think* she showed fewer symptoms the last 2 times after antibiotic treatment, they gave me 10 days of antibiotics again, and said that if the symptoms improve again, we'll do as much as a month's worth to try to really knock it out.
This is a little scary, too, since *another* friend's agility dog is in renal failure, apparently from an incompletely diagnosed and/or cured bladder infection when she was a young dog. Argh.
Wednesday, January 01, 2003
Still OK--I think
I think he's still bright & cheerful and more active than he's been. I took them to the Gopher Park yesterday, [foolishly] thinking he'd just trot around cheerfully like he's been trotting around at the local park. No such--it was full-scale kamikaze attack across the hillside. So I've been worried ever since that I did a dumb thing by letting him do that & that he's reruptured the recently closed rupture. But he had so much fun! But since then I'm thinking he's not as active & energetic as he was Saturday through yesterday morning. Just keeping an eye on him--
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