Back To "Normal"-Reflections on a Cheese Wrapper

It is perhaps a measure of how bad the last few days have been Millie that I was delighted to find a chewed cheese wrapper on her blanket tonight. This means that Millie was feeling well enough to rummage in the trashcan (a habit from her street days she hasn't entirely given up) Although still low on energy, Millie is back to eating her regular food and sleeping without needing go out every 45 minutes. There were many paper towels, a lot of Nature's Miracle and a lot of culinary experimentation over these days....I joked with Kimberly that Millie was telling the other dogs at the park that they should try not eating: "It's AMAZING what they will feed you!"  Dad and Millie did split a hamburger at one point, gravy got added to food...also cheese...we tried eggs. Very little went in....what did was not there long. And I don't think I really appreciated to irony of oral medication for nausea till now...that would not stay either. (a side note on Kaopectate, which we tried because my mother had success with it for their dog....it doesn't stop the diarrhea, but it does make it darker and harder to clean)  But now we are on the other side (after an added $200 vet visit) and we will approach the Doxirubican with much more preparation next time. Still on track to start the next course on the 22nd.

murphys law

Clearly I posted a little too prematurely the other day. We have endured about 36 hours of liquid from both sides of Millie. No food staying down. Plenty of baths for our sweet girl. The Oncologist does not work on Mondays so we did not see the doctor until today. The good news is that the sickness is simply a reaction to the most recent chemo med used. Her white blood cell count looks good and her UTI is completely gone. She was given a shot of liquid to help rehydrate (and she was only marginally dehydrated) they also prescribed some meds to help with both the coming and going. Moving forward when she has the appointments that require the tough drug...they will go ahead and prescribe some of the other meds so she doesn't feel so bad from the start. So tonight we are still taking it easy but she has eaten a little and kept it in so I will be thankful for that.

Please eat

At this time Millie has not actively been nauseous or had diarrhea....however she continues to turn her nose up at food. I had bought the same company food for her this last purchase but in the senior formula hoping it would give her some added vitamins. After the first 2 days of eating it...she just simply won't. I have tried adding broth, gravy, steak whatever and can still only manage to sometimes get her to eat a minute amount. I tried to purchase the old food and it seems Purina has reformulated all of the Purina One foods and she won't eat this either. I'd like to say that it is simply the food she does not like but she also turned down a cracker with peanut butter which is unheard of for her to do. We gave her another anti nausea pill. I have seen little improvement. I know she has liked to steal the cat's food on occasion and I did manage to get her to eat a half cup of cat food. I went to the store and bought a brand we have used in her past and she would not eat that either. Her energy level this morning prior to going to the park was up but she has tired quickly today.