Thanks, shea’smom! How is your dog doing?
Riana, really, is doing very well. I am watching her like a hawk for any changes, and I am taking vitals several times a day. If she feels icky, it is very minor. I’m excited that she is eating so well–that is a definite improvement–and that her lymph nodes are shrinking.
Spoiled rotten babies…LOL…
We put ours on Prednisone to make him more comfortable, plus anti-nausea pills to help make him want to eat. You know something’s wrong when your Ridgie doesn’t want to eat. 
Mine went to work with me at the barn every day the last month, he would hang out in the sun while I mucked stalls and follow me around everywhere. He would not let me out of his sight, was much more independent before he got sick, not sure if it was the Pred or just the comfort of mommy, or if he was just making an effort for me.
chism, that’s awesome that you were able to keep him with you. I’m lucky enough to work for a company that lets me bring Riana to work, too, so she hangs out with me all day.
Riana-dog is feeling a touch icky today and had some diarrhea this morning. She also walked away from her breakfast about halfway through She is bright and tail waggy, though, and excited to eat her kibble if I feed it to her by hand! Vitals are good.
Flow cytometry is back! B Cell! Yay!
(B cell responds to chemo much better than T Cell.)
[QUOTE=Simkie;5625619]
Flow cytometry is back! B Cell! Yay!
(B cell responds to chemo much better than T Cell.)[/QUOTE]
Great news!
Glad that you got some good results. My dog does not know she is sick. She is acting fine, eating, going out, telling off the other dogs. But she is full of lumps :(. I guess we will keep hanging in as long as we can. she has had a good long life.
Awww, shea’smom, that’s the best. I’m glad she feels good.
Riana-dog is doing okay today. Still some diarrhea, although it seems to be well treated by the Tylosin. She ate most of her breakfast out of her bowl this morning, and is happy to eat more kibble or cookies if I feed her by hand. She does seem tired (although she’s pretty bright for the 8 ish hours following her prednisone dose!) and I was really surprised at how much muscle she’s lost when I was giving her a rub down last night. She’s also gotten very careful with how she manages stairs. I have no idea if it’s due to treatment or disease or what.
Did you talk to my brother? So happy to hear your pup is toleraing the treatment!
Just an FYI that the muscle loss may be due to the pred, too. Higher doses certainly can cause loss of muscle mass. Glad to hear she’s tolerating things well so far and loves her food!
MRF, yes! I did! I’m so sorry I forgot to tell you about it–we discussed the protocol and tricks and the difficulties he had. It was a great conversation–thank you so much for the offer to hook us up.
Pancakes, that’s interesting. Is there anything I can do to help with getting some back, or lessening the loss? Riana is already on a high protein, low carb food (I was feeding EVO but just switched to Pinnacle Peak this week, as Riana is FAR more interested in eating it!) and she is also on a wee bit of Wellpride for omega 3s. I’ve reached out to the wonderful vet/acupuncture/alternative medicine person that I used when Blush was going through her stuff, as she also does small animals, but I have not heard back from her. I’m a little lost on what I should be doing to support Riana from a holistic perspective.
We call it pred-head…they really loose muscle on the top of their head first. Unfortunatley if she is going to be on pred forever, it likely wont come back. If she does come into a complete remission and you stop the pred she will get her muscle back. Unfortunate side effect, but doesnt seem to bother the animals too much 
Weird. Yeah, I guess her head is pointier than normal. I hadn’t really noticed that, but her butt is definitely lacking muscle.
She’s only supposed to be on Pred for 4 weeks, per the protocol. She’s on 2 mg/kg this week.
She’s brighter tonight, which is nice to see. Still some diarrhea, despite the Tylosin. And she’s eating really well, as long as I hand feed her.
2 mg/kg is a high dose. Like Squish said, the muscle probably won’t come back. You’re doing everything right for her it seems! It’s up to her now.
Not a good day for Riana today. Diarrhea, and not at all interested in food. Her belly looks a bit distended perhaps, so I am concerned that she has some sort of intestinal blockage–her output does not seem to jive with what she’s eating. CSU at 10:30.
How is she doing this afternoon?
I just spoke with the vet. I left her at CSU and went back to work, as I am not allowed in their treatment areas and everything takes FOREVER there.
She has some pleural effusion from the cancer. They want to hit her with some l-asparaginase (another chemo drug) to hopefully push her into remission. She will have to stay tonight for monitoring. Her CBC looks okay. We will also run a chemistry and do a belly ultrasound.
Not a good day to be a Riana-dog. I’m really struggling because I want her to feel BETTER and I really wanted to avoid hospitalizing her 
I went and visited and Riana is bright and does not seem to be distressed or depressed.
The belly ultra sound was … surprising and discouraging, with a lot more disease than we’d thought from the radiograph.
We are giving her 24 hours to respond (or not decline) and will then re-evaluate about the difficult decision that none of us want to make.
Ouch. Jingles for both of you.
I hope you can get her to have some good days at home. Darn it.
Aw crap, not the update I wanted.
Jingles for Riana and hugs to you.
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