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!)

Supplements and Post Appetite Loss Update

Emily's appetite has returned to normal.  Now I just have to get her pill schedule back to normal.  Right now she's reversed, Prednisone in the AM and Prilosec (for her stomach) in the PM.  She had a huge breakfast with all her components, meat mix, veg mix and garlic turmeric mix, no problem.  Yesterday she got her supplements.  I've added a multivitamin, Centrum Forte, and 1000 mg of L-Arginine and 2 tsp of L-Glutamine in powder formula.  When she eats the ND diet she really only needs half of these but she's hit or miss on the ND diet so until I'm sure she's going to eat it I prefer to give her the full dose.  Thank god Santa brought me a mortar and pestle for Christmas.  The most use it gets is smashing up her pills to sprinkle on her meals. 

Aside from the Multivitamin, Arginine and Glutamine, Emily also get digestive enzymes with each meal, 1 glucosamine/chondroitin tablet per day, 10 wild salmon pills (yup, 10... plus she gets fatty fish during the day!) and 1 tsp of flax seed oil drizzled on either yogurt or cottage cheese.  Both yogurt and cottage cheese have active bacteria cultures which are not only excellent for digestive health but also general health overall, for both our dogs and us!  Watch for additional ingredients.  I like to see nothing else but milk and active bacteria cultures. 

There are a lot of options out there for supplements and you can make yourself crazy.  One important warning - You must be sure they don't interact negatively with the chemo or any other meds your dog is on.  Consult your vet.  But be aware, a lot of vets aren't well versed in supplements so do your homework if you aren't confident.  I have an entire vet office consulting and researching on Emily's case so I really like consulting them after I've done my research just to be sure I haven't missed something.  I'm sticking with the basics as recommended by Dr. Ogilvie years ago and still supported by conventional research.  Arginine, Glutamine and the Omega Fat pills in the form of Wild Fish Oils are the most important. 

Today Emily has had a raw from frozen, straight from the freezer beef marrow bone, 2 play session in the yard with her balls, a huge breakfast and is now enjoying a well deserved nap.  I need to get her in the tub but she's had such a rough week and is just now feeling like herself so I hate to torture her (or I might just be procrastinating...)  We'll see how the rest of the day goes.  Staying on top of her grooming while she is feeling okay really is the best idea.  She's just so damn peaceful and content at the very moment.