Jasmine's Cancer Story
Chemotherapy
Friday, September 3, 2004
Jasmine had her first chemo session yesterday. Her blood work came back fine, and she was there about two hours. They gave us tylosin and metoclopramide for the side effects, if any. At least they'll happen on a long weekend, if they do occur.
She's doing well. Back to eating her normal ration of kibble (ProPac low fat, 'cuz she's a chunk!) and even eating her Nutro Senior dog biscuits.
Jasmine, "smoking" a fry. September 2, 2004.
We decided that we should take her off the Benadryl, because we didn't think we could tell the difference from a Benadryl haze to chemo side effects. We went to PetCo last night to get her a pretty new blue see through e-collar. She hates it, but at least I could sleep last night. I've been worrying that she's going to do some damage to her surgery site without the cone on her head.
Saturday, September 4, 2004
Jasmine had her first dose of adrimycin Thursday, so I suppose today is day 2 post-chemo. She still scratches at the inside of her mouth, so she is forced to wear a pretty blue e-collar most of the time. She is sneaky about it, and we don't want her tearing apart the maxillectomy site. She is slow and mopey and looks like she just isn't feeling well. However, she just ate 1/2 a cup of the pups' food (Pro Pac large breed) and almost an entire 10 oz can of Eukanuba lamb and rice, so it isn't nausea. She's drinking and eliminating normally, so that isn't it. Do dogs on andri get this way? She's had the e-collar off for an hour now, so she isn't mopey about being "coned." She also wants lots of loving, more than usual—she gets in my face and wants petted all the time. The instructions we came home with don't talk about malaise. Is this to be expected?
Monday, September 6, 2004
Jasmine is perkier today. We haven't given her the tylosin or Reglan yet, and after reading the posts from this weekend, I question whether I should start.
One good thing--she has finally stopped pawing at her face, so she doesn't have to look like an astronaut in her pretty blue e-collar. She let us look in her mouth Saturday night, and we noticed that the gum had receded from the one remaining incisor in her upper jaw, and it was barely hanging there. She lost it yesterday morning, and has been much happier. Looking at it, the root was cut in half from when they did the maxillectomy, so it wasn't long for this world.
Levi always has to have his picture taken.
September 2, 2004.
She still lays around and mopes at times, but she also jumps up on the couch and barks at passers-by, which is more normal for her. She appears constipated today, so I tried to give her some canned pumpkin, but she didn't want it. I was prepared for diarrhea, not constipation, as a result of the adria. She did eat some canned food this morning, so maybe that will loosen things up.
Ok, I take back the constipation bit from earlier. She now has the runs, but they are controlled, and we gave her a Tylan which has seemed to help. Good news is that she just ate a whole can of dog food, so no nausea.
Friday, September 10, 2004
Wow, this "little" dog keeps amazing me. She was diagnosed with oral fibrosarcoma early last month, then had a partial maxillectomy, and was then diagnosed as osteosarcoma. She had her first chemo dose last week, and only had mild lower GI symptoms. She was back to eating dry kibble a week after her surgery.
Wednesday night I was getting ready to take our youngest dog, Nixie, to obedience class, when Jasmine decided she wanted to go too, and scooched out around my husband's legs, under Nixie's legs, out the front door, and straight down to the mini-van (the dog limo) where she sat like a good girl waiting to go for a ride. Silly dog. I took her for a walk yesterday, for about 20 minutes, which tired her out (bad mom) but then she was chowing down food and being perky again. She even initiated play with Nixie, which is hysterical to watch. When Jasmine rears up on her back legs and she can almost reach Nixie's head. It worried the in-laws who were there, but I figured if she started it, she can fend for herself. She hasn't played with Nixie or Levi since before she was diagnosed.
I am slowly accepting that the OS will probably cause her death, but she's not ready to give up, and neither am I. Maybe she'll be in that group that conquers this cancer. One can always hope.
Nixie relaxing on the Ikea chair. September 13, 2004.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Last Saturday, we took her to our local GP vet for her CBC test, and he was amazed at how wonderful she looked. He was so glad we did the surgery, and how well she's adapted to having a crooked nose and part of her jaw missing. Her blood work came back great. He looked in her mouth and was amazed at the reconstruction job that was done. I asked how far back they took it, and it appears back to the second premolar, so not as far as we thought.
She gets chemo dose #2 on Friday, and I hope she does just as well with it as she did with the first dose.
Friday, September 17, 2004
Jasmine had her second chemo (adriamycin) session today. They want to do a heart ultrasound before her third adria session. I understand that adria is very toxic, especially to the heart muscles. My question is—is it normal to do a heart ultrasound half way through treatment? It seems a little backwards to me. And, they don't want a CBC done in between sessions this time.They told me to start the tylosin at day 2, and give that to her for a few days. I suppose straining during defecation is a side effect of adria. We still have a whole bottle of Reglan. I also haven't given her any Rimadyl in a week, but she does seem to have a bit of a hitch in her gitty-up, so maybe I should.
Showing off her new look. September 18, 2004.
Jasmine is so funny--she climbed all over the furniture to visit with everyone in the CSU VTH waiting room, especially the vet techs and oncology nurses. When we got home, she proceeded to chow down her food, and visit with my dad, who is up from Arizona. She hasn't seen him in over five years, but there she was, climbing into his lap, trying to shower him with her dainty ant-eater kisses. Levi and Nixie weren't too sure of him, but Nixie warmed up to him. Levi hid behind me the whole weekend. It may be my father's hearing aids. Who knows what kind of doggie pitch they may be putting off.
Saturday, September 18, 2004
Silly dog keeps playing with Nixie, and the funny thing is that she starts it. They do the bitey-face, mouth jousting thing, Jasmine nips at Nixie's ears, and Nixie does the whirling-dervish on the couch. Poor Levi must be feeling left out, because he got a bacterial skin infection on his back so he is on two weeks of cephalaxin.
Friday, October 1, 2004
Jasmine had her third round of chemo yesterday (adria). She went through it like a trooper, as always. She loves the car ride down to CSU VTH, but once we go inside she starts trembling, poor old girl. Everyone came up to meet the crooked nose dog, but she shied away.We were late by 15 mintues because of the weather (nasty rain, couldn't see the car in front or behind us on I-25), and then we waited 30 minutes until they took her back. Three hours later, they still hadn't gotten her into the cardiogram people (they were backed up for some reason). It was a long day--over 5 hours at the hospital, and over 8 hours with the travel time and the bad weather. Poor dog is shaved across her chest from arm pit to arm pit, and winter weather decided to descend upon us today. I may have to go to PetCo and get her a fleece. She's got old dog skin--no elasticity. Kinda funny. Her bloodwork came out fine, too. She even chowed down her dinner when we got home.
Dr. Hillers (onco-vet #6 for those with a score card) called me today to give me her test results. She also said that she couldn't get a good exam of Jasmine's mouth, so she isn't sure about local recurrence. She also questioned why Dr. Dernell (onco-vet #4, and Jasmine's surgeon) wanted the adria dosed every two weeks and not every three. I said that he told me that because they think it is osteosarcoma that they should treat it agressively. She questioned this, but, hey, I'm just a librarian, and I'm paying them to know what is best for my dog. I doubt that I will ever hear the answer.
I started her on the Tylan today, which should keep the runs at bay. I still have a full bottle of Reglan that I haven't had to use. Hopefully this and the next two chemo treatments will be as easy on her as the first two.
Levi's skin infection is better, but he is on two more weeks of Cephalexin for it. Goober boy. I think he was feeling left out between Nixie's knee surgeries last year and Jasmine's cancer. What an attention-hound!
Chewing on a Greenie. September 26, 2004
Wednesday, October 6, 2004
I'm a bit at a loss over how Jasmine is acting post-chemo treatment. She had her third adria treatment last Thursday. With the first treatment she experienced a bit of diarrhea, but the Tylan fixed that. We gave it to her this time too, for four days following the adria. However, last night she wouldn't eat much. Not unusual for her--she is the pickiest dog I've met. However, this evening, she threw up a tiny bit of orangy bile stuff, that smelled awful (or maybe she had really bad gas). The "pups" are constantly sniffing her rear and mouth. So, I gave her a Reglan dose in some cheese. Half-hour later she was begging for the crackers I was eating, and then she ate some of her food.
Does Reglan act that fast? Or, is she reacting to something other than the chemo? This is one of those issues I'd like answered tonight, but it isn't important enough to bug the emergency vet at CSU. I understand each dose of adria causes different symptoms in different dogs, and even from dose to dose, so is that it? How long should I give her the Reglan? The nice people on the Canine Bone Cancer list answered these questions–yes, it does act fast, and it depends on how she reacts to the adria.
Within an hour later, Jasmine is acting like a total spaz. I looked up the side effects of Reglan--drowsiness or hyperactivity. Well, it looks like she reacts with the latter. She's jumping on Nixie and chasing the pups around the house, tearing up the beds. All I want is to get some sleep. She's did laps around the house and she climbed into my lap, and then she climbed up behind me on the chair (which she's never done before). I think the pups will tire before she does. The Mar Vista Animal Clinic site (http://www.marvistavet.com/html/pharmacy_center.html) says we can dose with Benadryl to bring her down. I may just do that.
Thursday, October 7, 2004
Jasmine did calm down about midnight last night, and ended up sleeping on the bed between Nixie and Levi, who slept between my husband and I, so it was very crowded. I didn't have the heart to kick them off. I didn't give her the Reglan or her Rimadyl this morning. I'll check on her at lunch to see how she is doing.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
She had chemo dose #4 last week (adria). I mentioned to onco-vet #7 (Dr. Mullins) that Jasmine gets WAY hyper when she is on the Reglan, so I try not to give it to her. She was going to give us something else, but then she noticed in the chart that Jasmine was on the highest dose, 20 mg, 2 - 3 x a day (she's 46 lbs). So, we are supposed to cut the 10 mg pill in half and give it to her whenever she exhibits symptoms. For her, she eats normally, but then, hours later, and usually in the morning, she'll vomit bile.
Hopped up on Reglan. October 10, 2004
Today is day 7 post chemo, and she vomitted sometime this morning. I gave her half a Reglan (1/4 dose) this afternoon. She is crazed! Not as crazed as on 2 Reglan, but still! She wanders around the house in circles, and picks fights with Nixie, our Great Dane. They've played on the bed, on the guest bed, on the sofa, outside, everywhere! Jasmine is standing on the couch now, and is almost as tall as Nixie, biting at her ears. Nixie is getting pooped, but Jasmine is going strong. She tried to play with Levi, but he snapped at her. I ended up holding her in my lap to keep her from playing, while we watched Return of the King on DVD. That helped her, and she calmed down a bit. She crashed about 8 p.m. and then she felt it, and was stiff and sore the rest of the night.
I'm glad that two months after her cancer diagnosis she is going strong, and isn't in any pain. She looks kinda funny after her maxillectomy, but it makes me laugh when I look at her.
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Jasmine had her last adria treatment yesterday. Everything went well. She also had a set of chest xrays taken, and those turned out fine. We get to go back in "1 - 2 months" for more chest films and bloodwork, and then I think we go back every three months, unless the cancer comes back.
So, does that mean she's in "remission"? Or is remission only when the cancer had spread, which hers hadn't, and then goes away? Either way, I'm very happy that she is beating this disease, and maybe we can make those survival rates climb a bit.
The worst part of yesterday was the wind--sustained at 40 mph, gusting 60+ mph. Six miles of solid tumbleweeds. Four semi-trucks had turned over on the interstate, and it was a nasty cross wind. It was even windy in Fort Collins, which it usually isn't. It was even worse in Wyoming, which it frequently is.
