Indy's Latest Chemo Update

Indy had another chemo appointment today.  Jared dropped her off around 9am and Kristina received a call right before lunch saying that Indy was ready.  Kristina ending up scheduling the pick up around 2:30pm.  Indy was her normal self, pulling the vet tech with the leash down the hallway and out to Kristina.  Crazy dog!  We are pretty sure she was a sled dog in a former life!

She had another injection of Vincristine.  So, we are indeed starting a second round of treatment (as expected).  Her blood work continues to be good and all of her lymph nodes are completely shrunk. Thanks to anyone that thought "shrinking lymph nodes" for us because it worked!

Indy is feeling good and continues to seem completely normal, except for the fur trying to grow back in the shaved places.  Her appetite continues to be good and her energy level is outstanding.  We were just mentioning this past weekend how she is doing really well, and for that we are very THANKFUL!

A Chemo Break for Indy

Indy had a break from chemotherapy this week.  Although we had to still take her in to get blood work done just to make sure nothing was amiss.  Her blood work came back just fine with the levels trending in the right direction.  So that was good news and we celebrated a much needed break.

After the dose given a week ago, we had a bit of a rough weekend.  We have determined that Indy's system reacts between day 4 and 5 after a treatment.  Dr. Choy had warned us that the week of the 13th would cause a reaction, but this one was the worst.  She had a terrible GI reaction on Sunday and we actually had to withhold food for 24 hours.  This was not good because Indy was still hungry and food was going in, but we  just didn't like how things were coming out -- if you know what we mean.  However, after 24 hours of fasting (only water), her system reset and she seemed to be doing much better.  By the time she went in today, she was clicking on all cylinders.  :)  Go INDY!

Weekly Chemo Update for Indy

Today was a big treatment day today.  Dr. Choy had told us the week prior that this would be tough on Indy.  She had to fast the night prior because they were going to sedate her while they administered the drug intravenously.  Today was week #4 of the CHOP-25 regimen and that meant Doxorubicin (oddly enough the H in CHOP).  She did well with the administration of the drug and it took most of the day for it to happen.

After we got her home, she was a little subdued and wasn't interested in a walk.  Again though, Dr. Choy warned us that this might happen.  Her appetite was good.  So we'll take it day by day.

Indy's Chemo Update

Indy had another chemo appointment today.  Jared dropped her off around 9am and Kristina received a call around 2:30pm to say she was ready to go!  Kristina arrived promptly at 2:45pm to pick her up and Indy was her normal self, pulling the vet tech and oncologist with the leash down the hallway and out to Kristina.  Crazy dog!  And did we tell you, she has cancer!  The casual observer definitely wouldn't be able to tell.

Anyway, she had another injection of Vincristine.  This is the same drug she had last week, but a larger dose.  Dr. Choy said that since last week was the first dose, she got an "introductory" dose since it has the chance of suppressing her red and white blood cell counts, but Indy's bloodwork checked out fine so he could amp up the dosage today.

Her one lymph node in her shoulder that enlarged on the week off from chemo didn't shrink as much as we would have liked, BUT, it didn't get any larger either.  And the other lymph node from her infection was still swollen as well, BUT it didn't get any larger either.  So all in all, it was a good checkup.  He did warn us that next time might be tougher.  It would be an IV treatment and if she was going to have a reaction, this would be when she would.  This is coming up on the 13th, so we'll take it as it comes.  The good news is that after this next treatment, she'll have two weeks off before her next treatment!

Think shrinking lymph nodes!

December Rain

December rain was certainly a surprise.  We expected it to rain based on our November, but we didn't expect it to rain more than November.  November is supposed to the rainiest -- well December kicked November's butt with 9.42" of rain.  The news reported that it was the third rainiest month ever at SEATAC which is crazy!  The mountains have lots of snow as well...let's just hope it stays that way!