A Normal Sunday!



We're enjoying a peaceful, relaxed Sunday afternoon around here.  It's so nice to have a couple of 'normal' days.  

 

Emily enjoying a nap.  I realized she should be wearing a yellow bandanna for cancer.  I'll have to get some fabric and make her one.  Note she's lying on a mat!  I think she's starting to embrace the mats which not only help her get up although that steadiness is greatly improved, they also help her with pressure points where the fur is gone.

 

Ollie is waiting for his cup of tea and a cookie (not really but I always think that when he sits on the couch and hangs out with us)

Emily is eating everything at the moment.  She's getting all her supplements.  I'm trying to get her well fortified for her next round of chemo.  I hadn't really thought of the chemo treatment as occurring in rounds, I was seeing it more as one continual treatment.  So when she crapped out week before last I was in a panic as I saw it as a reaction to her treatment overall instead of her body being in overload as we finished the round. 

I really had no idea what to expect.  I had read a great book ("Help your dog fight cancer" by Laurie Kaplan) and numerous sites but I still wasn't prepared to see Emily so sick.  Like I mentioned in my last post, they say dogs handle the chemo much better than humans.  Which is a whole level of hell I simply can not imagine.  I've never been around anyone actively going through chemo.  At least as we go through this round I'll be more prepared and not think this is the end of Emily's time on earth.  I'll remember how she has bounced back this time.  She's still not 100%, she does still have cancer after all.  She tires more easily and occasionally she looks at me like she's a little confused and she's not completely steady on her feet but she's Emily and I can clearly see her in there.

I had a thought today.  Emily has huge cataracts on top of the fact that her eyesight has never been great.  She seems to lack a degree of peripheral vision.  I looked into her eyes today and said "Emily you're going to live to a ripe old age, blind and a bit confused".  I don't know why I thought that.  I guess because she'll be 10 by the time this treatment is over and if she lives another year that will put her at 11 which is a good for a Bouvier.  Anything after that will be gravy.  I have always worried that she'd end up blind or with a significant loss of sight as she ages.  Today I just had a strong feeling that we'll see that, that she will be here long enough.  I just hope the chemo treatment doesn't leave her with too many long term effects.  I know they have refined it over the years but still... 

Enjoying the good days and preparing for the next round of ups and downs,
CJ, Emily and Ollie (who still doesn't know what all the fuss is about!)