I came home to my parents place to spend some time with them, and focus on Patchy. Her appetite seems to be holding steady. She is less interested in breakfast in the morning, but is eating fairly regularly at night. She’s had two accidents at my parents house (today and yesterday) but had diapers on both times. Thank you inventor of doggie diapers. Continue reading
I feel bad. She’s been consistently having accidents every morning now, before we leave for work. I let her out first thing (and she pees) and within an hour, while I’m cooking breakfast or getting dressed, she pees in the house. Thankfully this morning it was on linoleum and not the carpet. I’ve taken to isolating her in my bedroom when I’m home in the afternoon/evenings, and it appears I’ll need to do the same in the mornings. (My bedroom is linoleum, and has an open door to the backyard.) She looks so forlorn when I force her to be in my bedroom, but its necessary for her to avoid more indoor accidents. Especially with her starting chemo, and her fluids needing to be “handled with gloves.”
First, a quick update on Patch. Her appetite has been sporadic. Skipping meals, binging later. For reference, prior to the last few weeks, she had a very consistent routine of wet food in the morning and evening, and access to dry food, which was sometimes consumed in the evening. She was consistent in devouring that wet food when it was given. Currently, she is ignoring her wet food entirely in the morning, and all food in general at that time. When we get home, she might be inclined to eat it (or her dry) but only after much prodding, and sometimes hand feeding from me. The last two days, I’ve been bringing some dry food with me to work, and around lunch time, she’s been gobbling it up. Continue reading
The pharmacy (based in Arizona) called today to collect shipping and billing information. I was informed that her medication will arrive in 3-6 days, in a refrigerated shipping case. With little dots that will change color is the medication didn’t stay cold enough. Thats pretty intense. To make it scarier, the oncologist emailed me her chemo instructions.
The oncologist called just before 5pm today. Patchy’s X-rays look good (confirmed by radiologist) and her blood work came back pretty clean. They noticed a slightly elevated liver enzyme, which has been noted in previous blood tests dating back to her car crash on Halloween. Its unclear what the cause of the elevated liver enzymes could be, or if its even affecting anything. It could also be related (or not) to the nodules that were seen on her liver. Its not clear what those nodules might be (cancer, benign or malignant), but its not an easy place to get a sample. For now, it isn’t something to worry about, unless things change.
After consulting with the oncologist, he explained that based on the location and description of the mass in her bladder, it is unlikely that this tumor could be a different diagnosis. There is not a 100% diagnosis without a biopsy, but Transitional Cell Carcinoma is the most common and likely for a bladder tumor. Continue reading
After weeks of unexpected and frequent accidents, I took Patchy in for another UTI check on Friday. The previous two (one 2 weeks before, and the other a month or more prior) were both negative. Though, the most recent showed evidence of an immune response, just no bacteria. While taking a sample, the vet decided to take a closer look and scoped her vulva, finding an unusual mass. When they both returned, she heavily suggested that we should look at it closer with ultrasound. Continue reading