Osteo Thread Part 9

[Guest MnMDogs]

I'm so glad to hear that Jet seems to be getting back to normal, and is providing comfort for you. As hard as it is to lose one of our hounds, I can't imagine how much harder it would be if we were left with none.

 

I think the amantadine is having an effect on Macy's appetite. I gave her dose 1 Wednesday at ~6:00pm, second last night, and she wasn't very interested in breakfast yesterday or today. I was able to get enough chicken and steak in her to give her meds, though. The artemisinin was started several nights ago, so I don't think it's that. She seems really painful getting up and down, and I just don't know what to do. She also wasn't terribly interested in her walk this morning, so we cut it very short.

 

I had an awful dream about her last night. She had cancer in her front left leg and had been doing really well, then suddenly the tumor grew and started to bleed, so I called the euthanasia vet. She wasn't available and wasn't calling back, so Ryan and I were frantic. We ended up seeing our old CA vet who had come to our house for Matty and Mara and she said she would definitely come over, but she had to have lunch first.

 

It was weird and awful.

[NeylasMom]

Mother...!! I just typed this whole long post and it got deleted! So here's the Cliff notes version.

 

Carol. I'm sorry Macy is hurting. I need to give Z his meds and walk the girls and then I'm going to post what the vet told me about pain management so maybe you'll find something helpful in there. Also, it sounds like the Amantadine is the culprit of Macy's inappetance, but I did want to mention that for Z the nausea from the Artemisinin didn't show up until after he'd had his second dose. Just in case you remove the Amantadine and that doesn't resolve things.

 

Lori, I am THRILLED to hear that Jet is back to his usual self. Continuing to send good thoughts and to you. And I totally get the work situation. I've pretty much been there the last 2 weeks and Zuri is still here. I've burned through all of my sick time and most of my vacation time so I don't exactly know what I'm going to do when things get worse again. I'm not even sure who I'm going to bill all of this week's hours to. Hang in there.

 

Quick Z update - he's doing well today. I've decided that how well he is doing is defined in terms of his level of "bounciness". Bounciness on walks, as in he's trotting ahead and sometimes pulling to get to things and bounciness inside in terms of running around playing with his toys. This morning was full on bounce. He ran around with a toy when I called him to get up to go out for his walk and then on the walk he was doing little spurts of trotting and pulling. I was a little worried yesterday as it was his first day on the full new dose of Gabapentin and he wasn't his usual bouncy self, but I wonder know if he wasn't still getting over that sedation thing. So I decided something this week, which is that I need to give things a full day, if not 2 when there are changes (barring anything really terrible, god forbid). While this doesn't eliminate my worry completely, it does help mitigate it and it will help me make more rational decisions. We're not in a place where a day or two puts him in a really bad place so I think this will really help me.

Okay, I have to medicate Zuri and get the girls out for their morning walk. I'll post again later with that med info when I get a chance.

 

ETA: Oh Carol, I meant to say that that dream sounds horrible. Sunday night, when I thought I was going to let Zuri go on Monday I didn't really sleep at all. The little pseudo sleep I got was filled with dreams like that. I am dreading having to go through that again.

Edited August 26, 2016 by NeylasMom

[NeylasMom]

Okay, so since some have asked about how I'm stepping up Zuri's Gabapentin and there was I think some interest in hearing what the in-home vet said about pain management, I'm going to do my best to summarize what she told me. With the HUGE caveat that I am not a vet and may not be relaying what she told me 100% accurately and I am not suggesting anyone make dosage changes to their meds based on what I'm saying, but perhaps go to your vet armed with additional info and have a discussion. The link that I posted on the first page is a really good resource that outlines the pain process in dogs: http://www.vasg.org/newer_options_for_chronic_pain_management.htm

It's something I had read in detail many times and thus corroborated a lot of what the vet was telling me.

 

Tramadol:

The actual pain relieving component of Tramadol is a metabolite of it. In humans, a much larger percentage of the metabolites are that specific one, but in dogs it's a miniscule amount (I believe she said 2% or something along those lines). So Tramadol is not actually relieving pain in dogs via that mechanism. What it actually does is play a role in the Serotonin system in the brain, blocking the dogs pain perception. This is still useful, but if you read in detail the link above, you'll see why other medications are needed to stop the actual pain process. Additionally at higher doses you are likely to see sedation and/or constipation.

Safe doses range from 2.5-7.5 mg/kg QID (4x/day) according to my vet though I have read as much as 10 mg/kg is safe. Safe meaning won't necessarily cause harm to your dog, but doesn't mean you won't experience noticeable side effects.

 

Gabapentin:

Gabapentin on the other hand basically has no limit in terms of safe dosages. She told me she had a Newfie (granted, a very large dog) that was up to 2100 mg PER DOSE! The potential issue with increasing dose is side effects, but typically those (generally just sedation) resolve in 3-5 days and she also had suggestions for how to increase the dose to mitigate those. So instead of what I had been doing, which is increase all doses at the same time, she suggested started with the nighttime dose. So if you were giving 300 mg every 8 hours at 8 am, 4 pm, and midnight and wanted to go up to 400, you would do 300 @ 8 am, 300 @ 4 pm, & 400 @ midnight until you saw the resolution of any side effects. Then you might do 400 @ 8 am & midnight and 300 @ 4 pm and then finally 400 for all doses. For us, this time around we were changing frequency, not dose. So I had been giving 400 mg every 8 hours and wanted to switch to every 6 hours. Giving 400 every 8 is the same as 300 every 6 (both 1200 mg/day) so what I ended up doing was switching to every 6 hours, but varying 300 & 400 mg doses. The only side effect we see is a little less back leg awareness. Doing the increase this way it was much less noticeable and each time I saw it had pretty much resolved, I increased another dose. So for a couple of days he was getting 300 mg twice a day and 400 mg twice a day. Yesterday I ended up just moving them all to 400 because he was doing well in terms of side effects.

The other point she made about Gabapentin is that there is some evidence that the body adjusts to it over time. So in some cases, when you increase the dose, you may not really be increasing it in the sense that the dog's pain has increased and they need more medication, but rather just that the body has adjusted to the medication some and now a bigger dose is needed to get the same pain relieving effect.

 

Amantadine:

As I mentioned earlier, she hasn't seen side effects in her patients from this medication, but there are rare reports of nausea or agitation that resolve with time. Her opinion is that it's a can't hurt, might help sort of thing. It doesn't relieve pain on its own, but is thought to enhance the pain relieving effects of other medications, particularly NSAIDS so your dog does need to be on other pain meds if they're going to take this one. It is a little pricier than Gabapentin and Tramadol, but probably not cost prohibitive (especially if you use GoodRx ). It's available as a 100 mg capsule and is given once per day. She said it didn't matter what time of day you give it because it builds to an even level in the body (so you don't have to give it with the NSAID for instance so long as you give it at the same time each day). If you need a smaller dose, you can get it as a liquid.

 

Anti-inflammatories:

We didn't really discuss these because Zuri is pretty much maxed out on his Deramaxx dosage. All I will say is that an anti-inflammatory is a requirement if at all possible for pain management with osteo imo. From my limited knowledge, if you have a choice of which one to use starting out, discuss in detail with your vet the pros and cons of the various ones and choose one that you think is likely to be best for your dog long term because once the dog is on it, in order to change you need at least a 3 day washout period, which often isn't an option with a dog with cancer pain.

 

Tylenol/Other codeine drugs:

She felt Tylenol was another reasonable option to try. It's often given in combination with a codeine drug (Tylenol 3 or 4), but she said you are very likely to see sedation with those drugs so trying Tylenol alone was a viable alternative. I have read that hepatotoxicity is not thought to be an issue in dogs like it is in humans fwiw. And contrary to what some people still believe, Tylenol IS safe for dogs. It's cats for whom it's a total no go and the myth that it wasn't safe for dogs either came around because people thought it would be easier to just say it wasn't safe for pets rather than risk people giving it to their cats.

 

 

 

So after having this discussion, she suggested we just stay at our current dose of Tramadol and play more with the Gabapentin, plus add in the Amantadine. My initial reaction was, but when I increase the Tramadol I see improved pain relief to which she pointed out that he was very up and down. Having now been working at increasing the Gabapentin this week I will say that we've been holding steady with slight variation despite his level of activity, whereas when I was bumping up the Tramadol before, I was seeing little bits of improvement but as soon as he was feeling better and was more active he'd be very painful again. It hasn't been that long with the Gabapentin increase so we'll see, but so far what I am seeing corroborates what she said as well. I hope I've done a decent job of passing on what she said and that this is helpful to someone down the line.

 

 

ETA: Note about sleep:

At one point the issue of the timing of his meds and my sleep came up. She encouraged me to alter the timing a bit to get more sleep. Her suggestion was to give one an hour early and the next one an hour late to at least allow myself 7 hours (so the one before bedtime would come at 5 hrs instead of 6 and then the next dose would be in 7 hours then we'd resume every 6 hours for 2 doses). My oncologist had earlier said varying an hour each way was perfectly fine when we were dosing every 8 hours. Sharing that in case anyone is struggling. For us, switching the Gabapentin to every 6 hrs makes things easier because I can now go to bed earlier. That's making it a little harder to fall back to sleep after the middle of the night dose, but I think we'll adjust to that. I also tweaked times a little so instead of the wake up call coming at 2:30 am it comes at 3. I think Zuri's internal clock is still on the old schedule because he'll often wake to move beds or drink water at 2:30, which wakes me. So I think when he switches over to 3, I'll be able to sleep right up until the alarm and fall asleep easier. Anyway, for what it's worth.

Edited August 26, 2016 by NeylasMom

[Guest MnMDogs]

Jen - thank you for taking the time to write all of this down!

 

I had a call out to my vet, so I want to bring up the gabapentin information. Macy is zonked out, she didn't get up when I just got back from the store, and seems out of it. I'm wondering if she had a delayed response from the amantadine, or if she had it yesterday as well, but I wasn't here to observe it.

 

Are you currently at 100 mg x 3 for tramadol?

[NeylasMom]

Ha, I wish. That was his dose when he was doing really well from the Zoledronate. We're at 150 mg every 6 hours. But part of me now wonders how much those recent increases are helping, but I don't think backing off any meds to find out is a good idea right now either. Meanwhile, as we're now blowing through the Tramadol I realized we are going to run out of it this weekend so I called in a refill, except the vet had stupidly written the last scrip as 2 pills every 8 hours so they won't refill it yet. Commence multiple phone calls to vet and pharmacist. At one point, the pharmacist starting asking me questions about the dose, asking how much Zuri weighed, saying that would be an overdose in a human, asking who told me to increase the dose. I got pissy. Don't mess with a mama bear who's dog needs his pain meds.

 

 

I hope Macy's just feeling restful today, though I have to admit I would feel slightly vindicated if another dog also experienced some sedation from the Amantadine. But I certainly wouldn't wish side effects on anyone.

 

Oh, I meant to also include in my post above a note about varying the dose schedule so you can sleep. I'll edit my post now to include that.

[Guest MnMDogs]

That's all really helpful information, Jen. We're still at every 8 hours, I guess we can see if every 6 will help, and I can at least start that this weekend! This just made me really excited to see if it will help. I hope I can get the meds in her now though...I just got the artemisinin and butyrex in with fish skin (hopefully not a ton of iron) and a bit of coconut oil. She may be fed up with me and the meds now, but I'll give it a try... at least the gabapentin. And she took them all!

 

Ok, I don't know why I didn't consider the every 6 hours, and why I was stuck on every 8 (even though you say QID up there). So at least that's something we can try for the next several days and see if we see an improvement. I think I'm going to skip the amantadine tonight, and see if her appetite and energy picks up tomorrow and Sunday.

 

I'm in the same boat with my meds and refills. I keep telling the vet I'm giving gabapentin 3 times a day, and 100mg tramadol 3 times a day, and they keep writing the script for gabx2 and 50mg tram x 3... they run out so fast and it's getting annoying, I'm tired of driving to the vet every 10 days. I could order the tramadol online but I'm going to run out in a few days if we keep to every 6 hours. That's good to know about varying the med schedule, and Ryan generally takes late night duty (which is anything after 9pm for me... no kidding), and I take early morning, which is between 5 and 6.

 

Anyway, all the help here is wonderful. I find that my vet here just isn't the caliber I had in CA, and I miss her very much right now.

[NeylasMom]

Especially with Gabapentin I think more frequent dosing is better. I held off when the Zoledronate was doing it's thing because we could and it meant more sleep for me, but Gabapentin is known to have a short half life. There's at least one study that measured levels in 6 greyhounds. Peak levels were reached in about 2 hrs and then dropped off from there. I'll see if I can find the link and post it as well.

 

We have definitely seen notable improvement just switching from every 8 to every 6 for the Gabapentin. The schedule is really tough for me with no help but it's worth it.

 

ETA: Here it is:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2891228/

 

And I meant to ask - do you have an oncologist? I know you don't have a definitive dx, but if you're operating on the assumption that this is cancer, you'll likely get better help on the pain management from an oncologist. You might also think about Zoledronate at this point.

Edited August 26, 2016 by NeylasMom

[Guest MnMDogs]

We can't do anything that involves a vet visit. Well, I guess we can, but it's too much of a stress on her, she now hates the car and can't get in without help (which she fights) she fights being handled at the vet, and I think the worse case is that she will end up hurting herself more. I just looked it up, and even with just a 15 minute drip, we'd have to do all the consulting and diagnostics prior to it to definitively diagnose. As much as I wish this were an option for us, I don't think the benefits outweigh the stress and anxiety for her (and tbh, for us too).

 

That's an interesting link. I knew that gabapentin was processed more quickly in greyhounds, but didn't realize how quickly the peak was reached. Still waiting for my vet to call...

[NeylasMom]

Oh shoot, of course. I totally brain farted on the vet issues, sorry.

[Guest MnMDogs]

Oh shoot, of course. I totally brain farted on the vet issues, sorry.

No need to be sorry at all! She used to love the car and was unfazed by the vet until we ran into a mystery hematoma, which led us to discover a bleeding issue due to pentoxyphylline, which resulted in many many vet visits in a very short time. Then when the hematoma healed, there was still a nodule left - which turned out to be a fibrosarcoma. So between the end of September and the end of November 2013 she had many many unpleasant car trips, and vet visits

[greysmom]

Thanks for writing all that out Jen.

 

I would just add that the nsaid piroxicam is said to have some anti-cancer benefits, aside from the pain relief ones. At one time, it was THE go-to nsaid for cancer patients, then a study came out and said it wasn't that great, but it did have *some* benefit. So I would think *some* known benefit is still better than none. It's also not that expensive (or at least, it wasn't when we were doing this 5 years ago).

 

Also, another pain relief option is codeine sulfate, as I've mentioned before. it seems to be very effective in helping with nerve pain, specifically in conjunction with gabapentin.

 

Gabapentin also comes in 300mg capsules, in addition to the 100mg tablets.

[Guest MnMDogs]

It's been a stressful couple days. We're planning on saying goodbye to Macy May, Ryan's and my first greyhound together, the first "ours". I've left a message for the vet to see if she can come next week,

 

Her outgoing message said due to a health emergency she won't be available for a couple days... Which freaks me out since I dreamed something similar Thursday night.

 

Anyway, we're afraid to let her go too long, she no longer jumps on the couch, or roaches, and has been panting a lot even though we're keeping the house frigid for her.

 

I hope Zuri is at a high bounciness level today, Jen!

[NeylasMom]

I'm so sorry Carol. Did you change your mind about increasing the Gabapentin or are you still going to try that? Hope you are able to keep her comfortable for a while longer.

 

I had to work today. Z was pretty mellow when I got home though he did play a bit. Painwise he seems good. He gets another massage tomorrow, which always makes him feel really good.

 

I don't think I told you guys about our latest home improvement for him. I really miss our couch snuggling time so I had a full size futon mattress delivered. Moved the leather chair into my spare room and put the mattress down instead. That plus a little swivel stand for the TV and we can now spend many hours of the day snuggling.

 

Here's our new set up:

 

He seems to really like it.

 

Even so, I thought it could be comfier so today I stopped at Home Goods and bought a memory foam mattress cover. Have I mentioned how broke I am? Now you know it's not just his vet bills.

Edited August 27, 2016 by NeylasMom

[Guest MnMDogs]

Oh I love it!!! That's absolutely perfect!

 

I'm kind of disgusted with my vet, but that's for another time. I've increased the frequency of gabapentin, but it's still 300 per dose, and I guess I could split the caps and try to get just the powder of half or so in her. But she's been declining for the past 5 weeks or so, and she hasn't roached on a month. That was her absolute favorite position to be in, and that's what she was always doing when I checked in on the webcam from work.

 

She hasn't been on the couch, but she also avoids the soft beds, and a big piece of memory foam I put on the floor for her. She finds the small bit of floor that is bare (rug only) and lays there. It's hurts me to watch her try to get up and down.

 

We had a pretty decent walk this morning, she really wanted to go, but I know she's in pain, just describing all those changes, I know she's in pain. She's 12 and a half tomorrow .

[llm51807]

Hope Zuri is having a good weekend, Jen. Seems things are going well for him and I love your futon mattress idea. Cuddling is everything now. He's such a handsome gentleman - great photos!

 

Carol, I'm sending good thoughts to Macy May that some of these changes with the meds start kicking in for her.

 

We're hanging in there. Jet is back to normal and has been such a good boy. Jet and I went to pick up Cecil's ashes on Friday and then we stopped at our favorite park and went for a walk in the woods and then to DQ - Cecil's favorite things. I had ordered a beautiful turned-wood urn for his ashes from an artist in Columbus, OH and it also came on Friday. Today we'll take some time and reflect on how wonderful Cecil was and how lucky we were to have loved him for six years. And we'll put his ashes in the urn. It's a beautiful piece of art and perfect for his final place of rest. We'll love looking at it for the rest of our days.

[NeylasMom]

I hope having Cecil's ashes at home is bringing you some peace Lori. Would love to see a photo of the urn if you're willing to share at some point.

 

Zuri is having a high bounce day. Woke up that way, but then got his massage this morning, which always make him feel really good. Only in our house would the massage therapist and I be hanging on a futon mattress together chatting while she works on my dog. I asked her if this was the first time she could say she'd been in bed with a client, to which she said yes.

 

We'll be going in for blood work sometime later this week. I hesitate to even say this because we're really still in day by day mode, but Z will be due for his next Zoledronate treatment a week from Tuesday provided the oncologist is okay with his kidney values, which I am certainly not counting on. I was also thinking of x-raying before the treatment, but I think I will do it if we end up getting the treatment and see some improvement from it. I can't believe I'm even thinking that far forward, but we've had a good week since the Gabapentin increase. Still, 9 days is a long way off. First things first. Tomorrow I have to call the oncologist and find out how soon I can do the bloodwork and not have to repeat it again before the treatment. I'd like to take him in Tuesday since that works best with my schedule, but that's a full week beforehand and I think she's going to say no. However, they're not in on Fridays and Monday is a holiday so that makes the timing tricky. Will see what she says.

[Guest Roux]

First, to everybody, I would like to apologize for my absence of several days. I, too, was way behind on several work projects and needed to try to catch-up with the day-to-day matters that were put aside to care for Crouton. We miss her terribly, but are so grateful she is no longer in pain.

 

It's been a stressful couple days. We're planning on saying goodbye to Macy May, Ryan's and my first greyhound together, the first "ours". I've left a message for the vet to see if she can come next week,

 

Carol, I know it has been a while since you posted this. When you are in this awful space I know hours can seem like days. Just want you to know I have been thinking about you, Ryan, and your Macy May, and hope that you have all the resources you need.

 

And, Lori, I cannot say how happy I am that Jet is back to normal. I don't know what I would do if Niels and Pi weren't here to help us find joy in our day-to-day lives. We are very thankful for them! Your urn sounds really lovely.

 

Finally, Jen, thank you so very, very much for detailing what you are giving and doing for Zuri. I found the info about staggering meds to get some sleep to be something I also had to do with Crouton when we were on a 6 hour schedule, and it seemed to be okay from a pain standpoint. I am copying and keeping all of this in my greyhound folder, if I or anyone I know needs it in the future. I would rather there is never a future need, of course, but having this collective knowledge and experience is invaluable!

 

I don't think I told you guys about our latest home improvement for him. I really miss our couch snuggling time so I had a full size futon mattress delivered. Moved the leather chair into my spare room and put the mattress down instead. That plus a little swivel stand for the TV and we can now spend many hours of the day snuggling.

Even so, I thought it could be comfier so today I stopped at Home Goods and bought a memory foam mattress cover. Have I mentioned how broke I am? Now you know it's not just his vet bills.

 

Thank you, thank you for continuing to supply us with wonderful photos. They really lift my heart. I am so happy he is doing so well, and hope all your lab values are good.

 

I know what you mean about going broke. Among other things, we bought a high-end, memory foam bolster bed for Crouton right after our initial osteo diagnosis which she only wanted to use for two days. Within a very short period, Crouton would use only beds that had a very low profile because it was so much easier for her to turn before she sat. We were fortunate to have recently purchased several Serta memory-foam topped, egg-crate beds that were only 3" high and somewhat rigid. These worked really well since they didn't bunch-up and she could do her minimum of three circles before settling.

 

Anyway, we are doing okay here. I think I am still a little numb from missing our girl, but hoping I can work on a remembrance over the next several days. Will let you know if I get one posted.

 

Edited August 29, 2016 by Roux

[NeylasMom]

Roux, do not apologize! Glad to hear you are hanging in there.

 

Well I came home to no AC. Which is not great in a 3rd floor condo in the DC heat and humidity with a dog who runs super hot. At least it's night and not the worst weather we've had. But it's 85 degrees in here and the dogs are all panting to varying degrees despite 4 different fans blowing on us.

 

A local company should be able to come tomorrow, buy I'm waiting for the company that installed my HVAC unit to call back to tell me their emergency fees. Its probably not worth it, we can survive until tomorrow, but I hate to see my boy panting.

Edited August 30, 2016 by NeylasMom

[Guest MnMDogs]

Roux, thank you for thinking of us. After my breakdown Saturday, Macy decided to start feeling better. I think it was Jen who said her vet suggested giving med changes a couple days to kick in, and by Sunday (after increasing dosing frequency and adding two 400mg doses of gabapentin on Friday), she seems much more comfortable and has an easier time settling. We're back to day by day, but so far she's having good days

 

I'm firing my vet - long story, but they are completely unwilling to work with me to control her pain, and the vet who has seen her through all of this has not called me (was told she would call Friday and then Monday, nothing). I'm having a house call vet come and try to assess her and at least I will have someone I can work with since she understands that my options are pain management or euthanasia.

 

Macy is a demanding, bratty, talky girl, and I'm so glad that she's back to herself for the most part.

 

Jen - I really hope your AC is fixed. I can only imagine how stressful that is for you and the dogs! We have Nest thermostats, and I am obsessively checking them all day long with this hot weather we had all summer. If it gets much above 74, Macy starts getting uncomfortable.

[llm51807]

Roux, great to hear from you. So glad you're doing well.

 

Awesome news about Macy May; it really is a day by day situation and you absolutely must have easy access to and the support of a vet. I don't know what we would have done without that. Good for you for firing your vet, Carol! Hopefully the in-home vet will be a good fit for you and Macy May. So happy she's back to her demanding self!

 

Jen, terrible timing on the A/C! It's been so super hot. I hope they're able to fix it today.

 

We're still hanging in there. Jet's getting even cuddlier with me and he's been such a good boy. He's still a little afraid and paranoid about flying things when we're in the backyard after the bee attack last week, but I think we're getting past it. He's been fine on his own with zero separation anxiety when he's left alone. We crate Jet because he's a famous shopper and will get into drawers and cabinets like he has opposable thumbs. He starts perusing the minute you walk out the door. But in his crate, he's perfectly content. Cecil was always the one to remind us when it was time for anything; he'd be in your face 2 minutes beforehand giving you the stare-down. Jet just waits patiently. New rhythms, but we'll learn.

[NeylasMom]

So glad to hear Macy is doing better! And that really sucks about your vet. That is absolutely the last thing you should have to deal with when facing this. I hope at some point, even if it's down the line that you'll tell them why so that hopefully they smarten up.

 

We are still without AC though someone should be here to look at it in a half hour. It was a little better overnight, but still required an ice pack change and some wetting down for Z a couple of times throughout. Since we've been up Zuri had been back to panting off and on with a lot of on though he's resting comfortably now. I really hope this is something they can fix immediately because I hate him being at all uncomfortable. If they can't, I checked and the Lowe's across the street has fans in stock so I will go pick up a couple of those big box fans if I need to.

 

In other news, I called the oncologist back today. We're scheduled for bloodwork on Friday and presuming his kidneys are okay Zoledronate on Tuesday, but because of the holiday weekend they can't review the bloodwork until Tuesday morning and I realized knowing whether or not we can do the Zoledronate might be important if things change over the holiday weekend. So I asked at what point would she say no to the treatment and the answer I got was if his creatinine were above 2.5. Well his value last time was 2.4. Give me a break. I mean, we have gone a period of 4 weeks with no change, but I don't think we're going to be so lucky this time. And at this point I don't even think it's likely it's the Zoledronate doing it.

 

Anyway, I knew it was probably a long shot and obviously we have to wait to see what the results are, but that's a bit disheartening. Good to have the information though.

[Guest MnMDogs]

Jen, given the circumstances, is there no room around that creatinine level? That's so stressful to have to wait all weekend to find out You've probably already asked all of this but is there any possibility of same day results if you get him in first thing? I'm stressed out for you :/

 

I do plan on telling my vet exactly why I won't be using them anymore. I'm really disappointed, because the vet that has been seeing both Macy and Greg has been so reasonable and so responsive... until she wasn't. I don't get it at all, but my rage has finally subsided so I feel like I can tell them exactly why we will no longer be using them.

 

Lori - Cecil sounds like my Mork. That dog was a canine alarm clock/reminder, and our lives revolved around him. Even with 2 dogs remaining, he left a gigantic hole in our lives. I hope day by day you all settle in a bit more to the new routine.

 

ETA - I hope your AC is fixed, Jen. Ours went out early in the summer, and looking back at how bad this summer has been, we were really lucky with that timing. First the downstairs went, then the next week the upstairs went. I'm not sure what we would have done if it had happened during one of the really miserable stretches.

Edited August 30, 2016 by MnMDogs

[NeylasMom]

The oncologist we see is in DC and it's an hour drive each way with traffic. So I've been trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to set things up so we get the bloodwork done with our regular vet in advance and the oncologist reviews them before we drive down. So that's why there's the delay. We are going in to run the bloodwork and I will get the results that day, but our oncology office is closed on Fridays and of course is closed for the holiday weekend. I would have liked to take him in earlier this week so we could discuss before they closed, but she wants them close to the treatment so Friday was the earliest she was willing to go. I just wanted to have some information in case he took a drastic downturn. I certainly wouldn't want to be increasing meds just to get through the weekend to get to the treatment only to learn Tuesday morning that he can't have it. So basically, I will have the info on Friday and it will either be really clear - values haven't changed, we're good to go, values have skyrocketed, it's definitely out - or creatinine is right at 2.6 and maybe I'm going to try to argue with her Tuesday morning.

 

And I don't know that there is any flexibility. We had a pretty in depth discussion about this last time and she basically said she took an oath to "do no harm" so if his values were getting higher to the point where she thought it might send him into kidney failure she wouldn't do it. I understand that, but I also think that when we're seeing the values fluctuate seemingly independently of the Zoledronate timing and it's only going up small amounts when it does, that it would be reasonable to repeat it if the values weren't sky high and symptomatically he's doing well. But I won't worry about it too much until I see the results. It's certainly going to suck if he's right at 2.6 and she still says no.

 

On a positive note, our AC is fixed! It's starting to cool down and Zuri is sleeping soundly with no panting.

Edited August 30, 2016 by NeylasMom

[NeylasMom]

Patricia McConnell had a blog post today remembering her dog Lassie where she summarized her dog in 6 words. Here's what she wrote when she lost him:

 

Lassie went home today.

I am thinking of the famous story about Hemingway, in which he challenged his writer friends to write the shortest story possible. All agreed that he won. Here’s what he wrote:

For Sale. Baby Shoes. Never Worn.

Since then, summarizing one’s life in six words has become something of a parlor game. I have done so for Lassie, summarizing what she means to me in six words, and I think it would bring pleasure and comfort to everyone who reads this blog if you were inspired to do the same for your own special dog, and to share them, if you would, for us all to read.

Here’s for my Lassie:

French Vanilla. Ice Cream. Summer Day.

Off you go dear Lassie, my god how I loved you.

http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/six-words-to-summarize-your-dog

 

Anyone want to share their 6 words for their dog, gone or still with us? Here are mine for Zuri:

 

Silly boy. Handsome man. My rock.

[Guest MnMDogs]

Macy May.

 

Pink bellied beast. Generous with affection.

 

Though her belly isn't quite as pink as it used to be, she's still very generous with affection. One might even say demanding of it