Month: March 2014

Well, we’ve made it two whole months. (and Happy St. Patty’s Day, folks.) Overall, Winnie is doing ok. But I have a question – for those of you lucky enough to get your dog back to 100%, how long did it take?

I’m getting things all mixed up in my head. She didn’t respond well to the metronomic chemo so we’re taking a month off. We’re, instead, focusing on Winnie’s mobility and comfort first and then we’ll see. She’s doing physical therapy and it’s really helping. But it’s work! About 30 minutes every morning and night – massage, passive motion exercise, “shake” shoulder stretches and stand up/sit downs.

I took her off the Remadyl for a few days because she was panting a lot. At first, she seemed really awesome. But I’ve put her back on worries about soreness/pain. Honestly, she spends about 90 minutes panting every night and maybe that’s normal? I just can’t tell.

This is all to say that she’s “ok”, that it’s a lot of ups and downs, that I’m recently not doing a very good job of living in the moment and long for some normalcy. But, I think she’s happy for the most part and I love her so much!! Maybe I’m just worrying too much?

 

Winnie hasn’t had the best couple of days. It’s her tummy. Yesterday morning, diarrhea. And she vomited around 6 pm. And this morning, more diarrhea. She’s in pretty good spirits though! I’m trying to sort out what’s what. She on Novox (I switched her back to Novox from Remadyl last night), Pepcid, Zofran twice a day. Prilosec once a day. And, of course, the chemo once a day. I know everyone says that the side affects are from the NSAIDs but I don’t think she feels that great a couple of hours after chemo. Is it me?

Here’s a link to the YouTube video of Winnie. It’s just 10 seconds.

And while I’m online…here’s a puzzler for you. Check out what’s happened to the hair on Winnie’s head since she started chemo. It’s a tear drop shape in white hair. Really truly. Have you ever seen anything like it??

 

 

 

This is something I never thought I’d say: “Gotta run. Winnie has physical therapy today.”

Yep. That’s right. She’s swimming in an 88 degree hydrotherapy pool twice a week in addition to strength and stretching.

Apparently, her shoulders (her biceps, really) are rock hard – so tight from shifting all that weight. We’ve only been twice but I think it’s really paying off. And if there can come a day when she will once again be able to make it up a flight of stairs, it’s worth it.

It will come with a daily commitment to her stretching and exercise. It’ll be good for both of us. I thought you all might like to see a video of her therapy. Here it is!! Happy wags to all!

Winnie at therapy