Week 9: 2nd Dox day - Everything OK.

Everything went very well with Gaby's Dox day this week, the second Dox treatment in her 12 week protocol. Man, with all of the chemicals going in her - the Doxirubicin treatment plus the prednisone, cytoxin, etc, I can't believe one poor little delicate flower can take all of that.

I notice that she sits up and pants alot after her Vet days. I don't think it really matters what she gets at the vet, she stresses. I can look in her eyes the days after her Dox days and can see that she struggles with the drugs corsing thru her veins.

Am I doing the right thing? Is it right with this world that I delay her inevitable demise by buying her a year or two? The days when I really look in her eyes after a heavy dose of drugs the answer is No. She seems to ask me "Daddy, Please let me go.".

The other 6 days a week I see a "I don't know what you are talking about Daddy, Fuck it, let's party!" I think for 90 percent of the time, we are doing the right thing.

Week 8 - Gaby loves to go to the vets!

I noticed this week that Gaby loves to go to the vets now. This morning was the day after her week 8 Visticrine treatments and both Jennifer and I were leaving for work. We had Gaby go outside and she immediately went to my car as if she were going bye-bye. I couldn't convince her that she wasn't going with me.

Yesterday, I didn't even have to put her on the leash when I got her out of the car to get her blood drawn for the CBC. She leaped from the car and walked to the door to go inside. Once inside, she is the best girl! She stays right beside me until I sit down and then comes up to me to be petted until the vet tech comes back to take her in the backroom. She really doesn't shake anymore while waiting which makes me think she is very comfortable in that building now.

Dr. B told my wife when she picked her up that she thought Gaby was telling her something. She tolerated her treatments ok but was exhibiting strange behaviour. She would come over and put her head on the side of Dr. B's leg wherever she was in the room. Dr. B thought Gaby was trying to tell her that her ears were bothering her. Jennifer laughed and told Dr. B that Gaby only does that for a few people and it means that Gaby trusts her. Gaby even fell asleep in Dr. B's arms while she was getting treatments.

It seems that Gaby considers Dr. B part of the family now.

Last Tuesday, Gaby had some tummy issues again. We had to get her some meds again for that but now she seems to be OK again. Those goldens sure have sensitive tummies.

More good news that her CBC this week showed increase white blood cell counts.

Treatment and the nausea bug

After Gaby's first Doxorubicin treatment she did great! She was more easily fatigued around day 3-5 after treatment but seemed to get back to playing with "moo" - her favorite toy.

Her white blood cell count came back this week and good news, it was back to normal. Dr. B said Gaby was an angel and laid on the rubber mat to get her meds. Then she took in a staff meeting where Dr. B's daughter brushed and petted her.

Everything was great up for her next Visticrine treatment yesterday and Gaby seemed fine. Today, she was kissed goodbye for the day and fed. When I got home, I noticed that Gaby would not eat. I looked outside for signs of vomiting and found it right away. Dr. B prescribed nausea meds and GI protectant (the same as she was given described a few posts back) and that did the trick in 3 hours. Gaby is doing well tonight and ate a plain meal of boiled chicken and white rice. She ate all of that and wanted more.

(First post by guest author: Jennifer! Love you, sweetie! typed by fw)

A little more on the low white blood cell count

As I stated in my last post, Gaby was delayed from her 7th week of treatment due to red flags raised at the labs.

her energy levels have seem to wane a little from last weekend until yesterday. Just a little as she still played during her normal times - when Jennifer gets home she wants to play until I get home. Then we go outside in the yard and hang out until dinner.

Her stool has been as soft as I had seen it since this first started. Good news is that today it has seemed to clear up. Her energy level has also been really good today.

You ought to see the trends that the graphs from her blood work show! Her white cell count peaked around April 16 and then slowly declined at steady levels until this past Wednesday when they were really low. So, we had flags from the labs. Hopefully her increased energy levels today mean that we are past that point and we are starting on the way up. I wonder what happened on April 16? Was that the day we started her Cytoxan pills every other day? Could that be affecting her this much? It definitely was not the Dox, she just had her first dose last week. She was declining at least 2 weeks from then.

The lab work sheets show alot of interesting information, especially if you follow the trends.