Day 13- chemo day
I don’t now what “chemo” is, but mom says it went well. All I know is I got to go for a ride in the truck. I LOVE rides in the truck! I surprised mom by jumping right into the backseat. She put the harness on me that she used before my surgery because it has a handle, but I didn’t need her help! She insisted on lifting me out when we got to UC Davis for some reason. Something about my not hurting my front leg. We got there early and we had some time to check out the fenced dog area next to the clinic. It has a bunch of agility obstacles in it that I can play with when I get stronger. Mom promises. It had some nice smells so I pooped in there to make sure other dogs knew I’d been there. After my potty trip to the dog area, I sniffed every bush on the way into the clinic. Gosh, a lot of dogs have been here! Mom checked us in and put on my rubber booties since the floors are slippery. I was pooped so I laid down right in front of the counter and that’s where we waited. No chair for you mom! When they came to take us in the back I got excited and took off running/hopping and we nearly bowled down some folks on the way back. Shot right past the scale and had to go back. Why do they insist on telling me I am fat? I only lost 1.5 lbs since surgery! Now, I now my leg weighed more than that!
The oncologist sat on the floor with me and I plopped down in her lap and we had a bit of a love fest going. She’s very nice and pretty and when I lifted my bask leg, she scratched me in just the right spot. She warned mom that the technicians who would be taking care of me in the back, whatever that is, “aggressively give out treats” and was that ok? I said YES. Who cares what mom thinks? She’s not the one who had her leg chopped off while she was asleep! They took me away from mom 🙁 and poked me with something sharp. They said my “blood work” was good and I got my first dose of something called Carboplatin. They warned mom a few dogs get sick to their tummy with this stuff, but I have meds for nausea and diarrhea if I have any trouble. They also gave mom a lower dose of gabapentin so she can start lowering that, but still give it twice a day. It makes me sleepy, but helps with the pain where my leg used to be. That’s weird btw. I’m on 50mg tramadol 2x day now and my pain is ok and I don’t dream about pick elephants any more. They said my incision is healed and we have the go ahead to go to the dog park and the barn. YAY!!!! Mom asked whether the dog park was a good idea since my “immune system” will likely be affected by the chemo and the oncologist said “we are doing this to improve his quality of life. If he enjoys it, well….”. That’s exactly right- I want to do what I LOVE. I only go once in a while so I’m ok to go as long as I don’t have diarrhea. My poop has to be completely picked up since the chemo comes out in my poop and urine. The barn has no dogs and the doc wasn’t worried about my eating horse poop ( I think that horse manure is a buffet made just for dogs) or rolling it in for that matter. Well, of course it’s ok why wouldn’t it be? It’s my favorite place to be and mom says we can go there this weekend!
I was there for about 3.5 hrs and was really ready to leave. I had to go potty really bad and I was thirsty. Mom brought water so I had a drink at the truck. I jumped in the truck and mom went back to get my meds. I was supposed to get an ice cream cone right away, but I fell asleep. Since we had an hour drive, mom decided to wait until we got home and stopped at Burger King. Picture! OMG- ice cream cones are SOOOO good! Who knew such a thing existed? I still had room to eat a good dinner and slept for the rest of the evening. Mom says I am doing so much better at navigating the dog door and the stairs, I am now allowed free roaming in the house and yard without supervision. I still want to sleep outside either on the concrete or the rocks though. Mom thinks I am a weirdo, but the rocks feel good!
