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seeh2o

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Everything posted by seeh2o

  1. Bowie lost her appetite when she hurt her back a few weeks ago, never got it back, and almost nothing was working. I did a little research and found something called Entyce. I couldn't find anything about how it works in greyhounds, but talked to a couple of vets and thought it was worth a try. I was desperate, Bowie was disappearing in front of my eyes. I have her one dose yesterday morning and she ate like a champion all day! I didn't give her any this morning and she still ate like a champion! It's not cheap and there aren't many doses in a bottle, but, mercifully, Health Paws covered it. I wanted to share this with others who may be facing the same thing.
  2. Heard from the vet, so long as she and it are stable I am to continue the current treatment. I'm so glad I have a roommate right now.
  3. This morning it looks smaller in diameter, looks like aan irritated blister or blood blister. Still weeping serum-y pink fluid. I'm so mad, I have to work. At least it's only half a day.
  4. Well, we had a blip tonight after I posted that. I was watching our state burn to the ground on the 24 hour coverage of the fires and noticed a spot that was damp on her belly. I thought maybe she had licked it, but that seemed weird. So, I checked it and found red spot on her belly on top of the abdominal tumor that was wet - serum-y with a very pale tinge of blood - liquid you like a blister. Seems to be causing her no pain, still wanted to eat her KIBBLE, chicken, and string cheese. She had a mild temp, too. I'm lucky that her vet will respond to texts on Friday nights (Dr. Alice Villalobos is AMAZING). She wants me to put very warm compresses on 2x tonight for 10 min each and cleanse it with a non-stinging antibacterial liquid, then put a sanitary napkin on it in a belly band - and start her on an antibiotic. So, I put a warm compress on it 1x already, I'll do another one in an hour or so. Cleansed it once, will do it again before I put the pad and band on her. She's happy, bright, moving well, doing full body shakes, and is very present. She's sleeping soundly right now. Her vet thinks it's inflammatory tissue or an infection. I'm trying to swallow my fear and my darkest fears.
  5. Thanks for checking on us. She has had 2 chiro treatments, which have helped tremendously. She has become very picky with her food and stopped eating well, though she happily eats her supplements with peanut butter. She's lost several pounds. Two nights ago, in desperation, I tried giving her dry kibble in her bowl with nothing else. She ate ALL of it without coaxing! She has now eaten 3 meals of kibble in the last day 2 days. Now that she seems to be eating better she has a lot more energy and is even brighter, following me around, asking for scritches, and doing full body shakes. I've never heard of a raw fed dog turning up their nose at raw and preferring kibble, but if that's what she wants, that's what she'll get! I bought an Instant Pot and I'm going to make some bone broth for her tonight.
  6. Bright eyes, happy, engaged, curious enough to be up and around. She did a small lap last night. Only normal panting with exertion now. I can't wait until the antibiotic is out of her system and she is eating normally again. Thanks for checking
  7. The vet oncologist who gives her the osteo vaccine said he thought the fevers were from the pain/panting/dehydration cycle, not from OS tumors. He felt that the cancer causing the fevers theory was "weird". That is a very unusual word for him to use. We've decided to put off her osteo vaccine infusion this weekend until she's feeling better.
  8. Back for another chiro treatment, she's moving better, so doesn't have a big appetite. I'm hoping that's because the antibiotic that she finished yesterday. Yesterday's adjustment want as dramatic as the one on Saturday, so that's good. Temp is still 102-103 range.
  9. I think there is a lot of merit to this. Bowie had a chiro adjustment today with her regular vet, her hips were really off, it took a lot for the vet to get them back into place. She made me feel a lot better, she's not one to sugarcoat. At the end of the visit Bowie was able to get into the Sphinx possible to again! First time in about a week!
  10. Had anyone here ever heard of fevers from osteo? From lymphoma and leukemia, yes, but not from osteo. FYI, her blood work was good the other day.
  11. Eating well with the appetite stimulant. Temp was up to 103.9 this morning, I don't like that at all. She's getting subQ fluids this afternoon and chiro tomorrow. I'm going to have a heart to heart with her vet during chiro tomorrow. If the fever isn't from back pain and is from the cancer I don't know that there is anymore that can be done. She's still able to get up to go outside and walk around. I don't want to give up, but more importantly, I want her to have quality of life and no suffering.
  12. Well, we were planning for the worst, while we were waiting we actually made plans to let her go at home tomorrow night. The ER vet came out to the waiting room to talk to us and everything changed. I'm still reeling - in a good way. They don't see any osteo in her spine or rear legs. She had a pain response in her back, no neurological issues at all. I'm trying to get her in to see her regular vet for a chiro treatment on Saturday. She was VERY dehydrated, she has no mets in her lungs, the suspicious spots in her lungs that have been there since April are still there, but are not mets. They think the fever is from being dehydrated or from the cancer. They saw something in her lungs (bronchial) and think it's something associated with older dogs or a form of asthma, but it isn't bothering her at all. They gave her sub Q fluids, Cerenia to prevent nausea, Tramadol, Gabapentin, and an appetite stimulant. There is nothing that is imminently life threatening. They think the panting is from the dehydration and/or the cancer. They are sending her home with Just For Dogs bland diet. BIG SIGH. She came out to the car and the light was back in her eyes. I cried. Tonight she was too tired to eat, she is sleeping comfortably. She is on Tramadol for her back and we haven't given her the Gabapentin, but will if needed. And tonight at 11:00pm, her temperature was NORMAL without dousing her in rubbing alcohol and putting a fan directly on her!!!
  13. At the critical care. I don't think we're going to have good news.
  14. Took Bowie in for her treatment, her temp was 104.4. We attributed it to stress. Got her home and settled, 105.5. Doused her pads and abdomen with rubbing alcohol and put a fan on her and got it down to 102.2. It kept going up when I would stop the fan. She wasn't walking right either. I finally got her to eat, which seemed to help a bit. The vet stayed in touch with me via text, so I gave her Tramadol every 4 hours. That improved her walking. I'm afraid she isn't going to pull through. The vet said, "She has an FUO fever of Unknown Origin but since she has cancer, it's probably related." So she wants her to see an internist today. We need some prayers.
  15. I'm so sorry. What a beautiful tribute. She was so lucky to have had you love and care for her in the last, too short, chapter in her life.
  16. I guess she is a bit of a guinea pig, I hadn't really thought of it that way. She goes for her second injection of Immunocidin next week. Back story: Bowie and I had to move recently from my sweet home of 24 years (l-o-n-g painful, sad, story which involves my downstairs neighbor, bad choices, her schizophrenia and an eviction that began in January - not mine). The last 10 months have been increasingly stressful, I do believe that the stress of living with the tension and fear of my neighbor has taken its' toll on the health of both Bowie and me. It came to a head 2 weeks ago when at 4:30am she threatened to kill me? my good neighbor? my landlord? I had to call 911 and the police took her away on a 5150, which was extended to a 5250. It is as heart breaking as it has been maddening. She used to be a great neighbor, had a key to my place, would let the dogs out when I was at work, treated them as if they were her own. Her mental health had been slowly declining over the last 4 years, but rapidly the last 2. My feeling is that it has to do with menopausal hormonal changes in her body that were making her meds less and less effective. She took up with a religious group and decided that Jesus would be able to help her control the voices, so she stopped taking her medication. Her mental health decline became precipitous after that. She used to take things out on herself, made some very serious suicide attempts in the past. Now she is lashing out at those around her. She was so out of control, it was terrifying. I am so relieved that Bowie and I are out of there. We need to heal. I hope my old downstairs neighbor gets/accepts the helps she needs, though I don't think she will accept it. We thoroughly expect she will become homeless or lose her life by putting herself in grave danger. She has pushed her family away, she doesn't seem to have any friends. We suspect in the weeks leading up to her recent big breakdown that she was doing sex work on the streets in the wee hours of the morning, given her coming and going for periods of half an hour to an hour for nights on end. At one point she came up to my gate and posted a photo she had taken of Bowie from her window, then crawled up from her steps, assumed the lotus position facing the photo and ooomed for about 15 seconds, then looked down at her open legs and was distracted by her crotch and started taking photos of it, muttering that "this will be a good one for you". It wasn't for me, I don't know who she sent it to. She has become completely delusional, making up stories and lies about me, friends, neighbors, and my landlord. Like I said, it's as heart breaking as it has been infuriating. It's a vicious circle that, for her, I fear will not end well. So, we moved last week. Bowie now has a big house to run around in, a big flat yard to run around in, another greyhound to keep her company (I now have a roommate) and - I adopted a new boy named Barney (his call name at the track) who is the happiest, sweetest boy with such soft eyes. He and Bowie have known each other since July when he came in to Homecoming from Caliente. He has been fostered by my best friend since he came in and Bowie spends a lot of time with she, her husband, and their pack. We recently spent a week with them after the downstairs neighbor made death threats. They took us in and we were safe. I'm very lucky to have such good friends.
  17. Geez Louise, I hate autocorrect. *inject, not invest *tumor, not tomorrow
  18. It was something called Immunocidin. Go to www.immunocidin.com and read about it. It's a lot less expensive, they invest it directly into the tumor, you need about 4 treatments. Bowie didn't need any anesthesia at all. I may be crazy, but it looks like her tomorrow is slightly smaller. It isn't systemic, works on the tumor from the inside out, if I understand it correctly. One of her soft tissue mets seems to be mammary.
  19. So, we got there and everything changed. The tumors were much larger than Dr. Villalobos expected and, given Bowie's age she was really worried about major surgery in two locations. Debulking apparently means removing the tumor rather than going in and removing some of the cancer cells encapsulated in it (which is what I expected). So, she injected the tumor with a form of chemo that she has had good luck with with osteosarcoma in hopes it will kill it from the inside out. We didn't want to give it systemically because we don't want to interfere with the osteo/listeria vaccine. She will get treatments of this every couple of weeks. I don't see this as a negative or a setback, just an alternative to today's plan that is significantly less stressful on her body and spirit.
  20. Please hold good thoughts for my girl, she is having electrochemotherapy on her two nodules today. They are rare soft tissue mets, so soft tissue osteo. Dr Alice Villalobos, one of the vets interviewed in from the Cancer in Dogs series, will be doing it. Bowie's lungs were still clear at her last osteo vaccine booster shot visit a few weeks ago, her blood work was good, too. She's happy, playful, demanding, sassy, eating well, she's still able to fight it with a good quality of life, so we push forward. Every day is truly a gift. ❤️
  21. Oh, I am so very sorry. What a horrific tragedy. I'm in tears just reading this. Godspeed beautiful Moonshine.
  22. Worked wonders for my Doodles. After her FCE she had treatments several times a week, then dropped down to 1x a week. It was a godsend for her!
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