Tomorrow is Newton's next round of chemotherapy. He was a bit lethargic earlier this week, but has bounced back to his old self. Newton's stool is still a bit soft. I'm not sure if it is a result of our changing to a new food (even though we did it very slowly).
He is doing a pretty good job at getting into and out of the Jeep. He hasn't tried to venture up the stairs since the last time. That is the only part of his old self that I really miss.
Newton had a super fabulous day. He was full of life and ready to go. We played a little chase and fetch outside. Then I decided to load him up in the Jeep and we took a field trip to Target. He jumped into the Jeep on the first try. He did great except for the fact that he likes to ride standing up. It was much easier to brace himself when he had 4 legs...although having 3 legs didn't stop him. His day was so fun filled that now he is sacked out and snoring on the sofa.
We have our next round of chemo on Thursday up at CSU. Hopefully round 2 will be as uneventful as round 1 was. His incision is healing quite nicely as well. I'm very happy with my decision to amputate followed by chemo. I can tell that he is now pain free and hopefully the chemo will keep the cancer away.
Today I took some videos of Newton that are too cute not to share. Since the videos are quite large in size, they may take a few minutes to load:
- http://www.luckyloungelizard.com/videos ... 09_08a.mov
- http://www.luckyloungelizard.com/videos ... 09_08b.mov
- http://www.luckyloungelizard.com/videos ... animal.mov
Since Newton was a puppy, he has been eating Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken. He has never been a kibble-only sort of guy so I have always had to add mix-ins in order to get him to eat his kibble. Several owners on one of the bone cancer boards I am on have been feeding their dogs Evo since it is low carb. I have also heard that low carb is a good diet to feed when your dog has bone cancer. I have slowly been switching Newton over to the Evo. He seems to love the Evo and will even eat it without mix-ins. I never thought that I would see that day! However, today he had loose stools. I gave him some Tylosin, so hopefully that will help.
Today we got to see Dr. Roberts for the first time since Newton had his amputation. I have been chatting with Dr. Roberts via email and over the phone, but it was good to see him in person today. Dr. Roberts examined Newton's incision and removed the 3 remaining staples and found a couple of sutures that he snipped.
I was concerned that Newton's incision may be getting reinfected. Dr. Roberts said that the incision is looking good and appears to be healing. He didn't want to put Newton back on antibiotics, but gave me some Animax cream to use. He also cut some of their hair from around the area so that it would be easier for me to make sure that it is kept clean.
I also got a copy of Newton's CBC report. His white blood count was 7.1. Dr. Roberts said that is is a less than what it was when he had his neuter in May, but it isn't alarmingly low which is what they worry about during chemotherapy treatment. His Eosinophils and Platelet Count were both a bit high. The following was the comments from the pathologist: "The peripheral blood smear has been examined. Microscopic findings correlate well with reported CBC results. Leukocytes exhibit some degenerative changes compatible with sample deterioration. A mild eosinophilia is observed. This finding may be nonspecific but may be indicative of a hypersensitivity process occurring in response to allergic or parasitic stimuli.".
I decided that unless we have to go up to CSU, I am going to start doing more of my check-ups, etc. at VCA. It seems like most of our CSU visits take all day and sometimes I leave very frustrated and VCA has always been very good at giving us the attention that we need. Our next appointment is up at CSU next Thursday for round #2 of chemo.