Month: March 2011

Things are going well – Lucky snuck up the stairs by himself twice today when we weren’t looking!!!  Coming down is a different story – waits for the ‘ole Ruff Wear Harness for the trip down!  Had a CBC done today to catch the low point of the WBCs after his first Carboplatin dose last Wednesday – hopefully we’ll have the result tomorrow.  Continuing to show more strength and stamina day by day, hair continues to grow – yeah! Doing well on his 200 mg daily dose of Gabapentin – getting ready to take it down to 100 mg for week 4.  Appetite is great – amazing to see everything “normalizing” this week!

Wonderful weather, great walks, lots of tail wagging – overall a great weekend!   Lucky loves his Ruff Wear Harness – jumps up whenever we bring it to him because he knows something fun is going to happen (a walk, a trip upstairs, etc)!  Also started using his “bean bag” dog bed this weekend!  We had bought a more firm, thinner type of bed for him that he used for the first couple of weeks, but brought his old bed back into the family room and next thing we knew he was all snuggled on the bed looking comfy and cozy!  Looking forward to a “boring” week – one blood draw scheduled for Wed but no other major appointments!

A big sigh of relief that the first 48 hours post Carboplatin went smoothly – great appetite, no GI problems!  Still resting a lot and loves to lie in the garden/woodchips!!! (Must be that connection with nature that many others have described). Seeing more of Lucky’s “old” personality every day!  Nice to know from others that he may experience a couple of “energy dips” between chemo doses – it’s so helpful to know what to expect!  He’s scheduled to have a WBC check in 7 days – we’re told that is usually when the biggest drop occurs.  Looking forward to a great weekend!

Had a busy 2 week ampuversary today! The stitches came out – one more goal achieved- and had the first dose of chemo. Didn’t feel up to a “Frosty paws” treat after the chemo, but was up for some roast beef slices and that good ole Velveta tonight! Going to try “weaning” the Gabapentin, going from 300mg to 200mg per Dr. V. Keeping our fingers crossed those phantom episodes are gone for good! What an exhausting day – looking forward to a great night’s sleep!

Lucky’s slowly but surely making his way closer to the 2 week mark!  It’s nice to see hair starting to grow back – hopefully it won’t get in the way too much when the stitches are removed in 2 days.  Gabapentin is still keeping him pain free which is fantastic!  He seems to be getting a little stronger every day – on his walk tonight he didn’t lie down in the neighbor’s yard to take a little rest on the way back – he even had a little “jog” going on for the trip back home!  He’s only going a couple of blocks, but he seems very excited to be getting out and about.  I think someone else talked about the virtue of patience in their blog – it really does take a big dose!  You want so much to see them back to their “old self” that it’s sometimes difficult to slow down and appreciate each small step forward.  Still loving the Velveta!!!!!!!!