3-23-2012 Chemo shot today

I didn't know if Dannii would make it through the night or not.  He was really bad yesterday.  While I was at work, the vet's office called to say the Elspar had come in, but since I was at work, there was no way I could get Dannii in.  So, planned on bringing him in Friday morning, that is, if he survived the night.

Thankfully, I can say that he was still among us this morning, but not doing good.  The vet even asked me if I was sure that I wanted to do this, instead of just letting him go.  I thought he deserved one more chance of feeling good and having some good days ahead, hopefully, so yes, I went through with the Elspar.

The vet told me that if there is no change by Monday, then it is probably best to let him go.  I agreed.  So the next couple of days will tell the story.  When we got home, Dannii ate a jar of baby food, granted it was only a 2.5 oz jar, but non the less, it was something.

I had gone out and mowed the backyard, as it's going to be raining now for several days.  While I was mowing part of the lawn, I had to take a break.  Zak came out to check things out around "his" tree.

Dannii and Jenna came out also.  Dannii had been out earlier basking in the sunshine, then had gone back into the house.  When I went back outside to finish the lawn, him and Jenna came out to see what I was doing.

Now, you have to remember, we had only been home from the vets for about an hour or so, so I think he was doing ok here.

Also, it turned out that he was dehydrated again, so he got some sub q fluids at the vets, and I have the remaining of the bag here to give him some over the next 3 days.

So far today, he has eaten a total of 4 baby jars of food, a little bit of my tuna sandwich, and a few treats.  That's the most he has eaten since Wednesday.

Am praying that things will improve over the next few days.  He's hung on this long when the vets said he would never see his birthday in December (past), and here we are the end of March!  Praying that we get through the week-end. 

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3-22-2012

Not sure how much longer Dannii is going to be hanging on.  When I got up this morning, he was not in his chair.  Not unusual, I figured that he had gone outside to go to the bathroom.  After getting the laundry out of the dryer, I stuck my head out the back door, and in looked in the yard.  I didn't see Dannii at all.  So, I thought that he had come back inside, while I was at the kitchen sink.  So, take laundry inside, and check, and no Dannii!  I put the small amount of laundry away, and go back outside, and walk the yard.  Still not seeing him, until........I turned and looked in the corner.  There he was, down.  I was half sick that he had passed, or was just asleep.  He was asleep.  Outside, were its cold, and the grass was semi wet with due.

So, I got him up, and had him come back into the house.  He kept wondering out to the garage and back inside, like he was trying to go poo.  Right now, he is laying down in the hall.  I gave him his nausea pills and apptite stimulant, about a half hour ago.  Right now, he doesn't look like he will eat anything at all.  So am not even going to try yet.  Hopefully in another half hour or maybe an hour, I can get him to take something.

My friend Chris, from our Basenji meet-up's, had called my vet and paid for another round of Elspar for Dannii.  That was so very kind and sweet of him.  I left the decision up to him, if he wanted to do that or not.  This will be the very last round he gets, as it will be his 4th and 5th shot.  There is enough in one bottle for two (2) shots.  I am just praying that he doesn't have a reaction to any of them.  I also pray that they will kick in like it did before, and give him another few weeks of comfort.

I hate seeing him like this.  He has his head hanging down most of the time now.  His face has sunken in some.  It just would have been nice if we could have gotten the Elspar last week.  I pray that its not too late this time.

These 2 pictures were taken on 3-20-2012

These pictures were taken yesterday 3-21-2012

This one is taken of Zak.  He was half under a blanket, with his head resting on the arm of the chair.

Just praying now that the Elspar will come in either today or tomorrow, and I can get Dannii in to get his shot.  I won't be able to pick him up, as I will be at work, so hopefully, I can get my son to pick him up and bring him home.

I wanted to mention that Dannii finally ate a little bit late yesterday.  He ate a 2.5oz jar of baby food.  A few hours later (I had some stew left over from last week, that I had in the fridge), so I gave him a small amount of stew (after I heated it up), and he went to town on that.  I gave him a bit more, and he ate that also.  I have enough for two more feedings, and hopefully he will eat at least one of them today, of not both.

Well, that's all for today, you all come back again, now hear?

3-20-2012

Not much of a change since the last post.  Dannii's hardly eating at all.  I only have 2 of the nausea pills left, and put in an order for more with KV Vet, and found out that there is NO refills!  So they faxed over to the vet for some more, but am afraid I am going to have to go into the vets and buy a box, as the one's I ordered will not be here in time.  Through KV the meds are only $8.98 a box, at my vet's they charge $20.00, and these are only for a box of 4 tabs.......even through KV!  Vets are out to suck you dry to matter which way you look at it.

These were all taken today.  He is having a very hard time going poo.  He strains, and you can hear him grunt, like he is trying to push everything out.  I feel so badly for him.

Yesterday, he did drink a can of DogSure, all but about a tablespoon.  I guess that's pretty good considering.  He only drank a little of his DogSure this morning.  Will see if I can get him to take some before I leave for work, which is in a half hour.

A friend will willing to do another round of Elspar for Dannii.  I never asked.  Am going to leave him up to him.  I emailed him the vets number again, so he can talk to them and decided what to do, but if we do go through with this, this is going to be the last one.  This is will the 3rd round of the Elspar, and I just don't want to have to drag this on any longer.  Dannii is still among us, his eyes are very much alive, so I know that he is really not ready to make his final journey home.

Still would like prayers for my baby.  Its so heartbreaking to watch him having to go through all of this.  Thankfully, he doesn't seem to be in any pain right now.

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3-16-2012 Dripping a lot of blood

For the past couple of mornings, when I get up, my living room floor is covered in poo and blood.  I'm not talking just a little bit of blood, but quite a bit, that's mixed in with the poo.  Not fun waking up and first thing, have to mop the floor!  I have tried putting a diaper on Dannii, but he will only leave it on for so long, then he rips it off.

I tried to see if he would go outside, but he didn't even want to get up out of his chair.  Not good.  Besides, he's breathing "kind of hard".  Not really sure what I mean by that, but its not his normal breathing.  Just kind of "heavy" is more like it, I guess.

I think his time is very close at hand.  There's still much going on with his eyes.  Am praying we can get through the week-end before any decisions have to be made.

I hope that this is not the last photo of Dannii.

He has not eaten anything so far this morning.  I did give him his nausea pill and appitite stimulant pills.  I tried to see if he would take some DogSure, but no.  So I gave him about 12mls of DogSure, and then two smaller amounts.  Hoping that that might stimulate him into drinking, but so far, no.  Will try again after a little while.  Have to leave for work soon, and son will be gone for his daughter's birthday.  So, nobody's going to be home, until I get home around 8pm.  Hopefully either I or my son can get Dannii to take some DogSure or at least maybe eat something, before we all have to leave.

Well, that's all for right now.  You all come back again, now hear?

3-13-12

All Dannii had yesterday was some DogSure.  He didn't even finish the whole can, but did drink most of it.  No solid foods, no lunchmeat, nothing.  I fixed all these different foods, and now he won't touch them.  He used to chow down liver, but no more.  I had to end up giving it to Jenna and Zak before it went bad.  I baked up chicken thighs and cut them all up, and so far, he's refusing to eat them too.  No scrambled eggs, either.

I doubled his cerena (nausea pill) and his appitite stimulant pills, he used to just get one of each, but I gave him two of each, and am waiting for them to kick in.  Directions say a half hour before a meal.  Well, I am waiting longer than that.  Before, he would go all day and not eat until around dinnertime.  Am going to see if I can get him to eat or drink his DogSure before I have to leave for work. 

These pictures were taken yesterday.  We are going to have rain for the next 5 days or so, so I doubt if I'll be able to get him outside during that time.  One just never knows.

He likes being outside.  If he didn't stop and try and poo every few minutes, you would still never know that he was sick.  Sometimes this disease has me so totally baffled.  I keep thinking that if he truly has cancer, shouldn't he have passed over by now?  Could it be something else entirely?   I just don't have the $$$$ to find those things out.  He got an Elspar shot (chemo), and that seemed to help very well back in February.  So, if he doesn't have cancer, would the Elspar still do any good?  If its not cancer, what else could it be?  All interesting questions, and to which I will never have an answer.

Like I stated previously, we are just taking it one day at a time.  I have no idea how much longer he's going to be able to hang on.  I was thinking that IF he was still here when I get my settlement (and depending on how much it is; from the car accident from two years ago), then I would certainly do a few tests, just to begin with to see what's going on.  The mediation for the settlement isn't until the end of June, so I doubt that is going to happen.  It would be nice if he was still here and all, but if I can't get him to eat or drink the DogSure................. need I say anymore?

Well, you all come back again, now hear?

3-11-2012 Follow-up to this evening's blog

It is after 9p.m. here in California.  Before I trotted off to my room, to finish checking my email and Facebook.  I decided to try and see if Dannii would eat any of the round steak that I had pan fried up earlier today.  He ate pretty well!  I have the steak cut up into small (not too small) bite sizes pieces and put them in a covered bowl in the fridge.  So, I only grabbed a small handful, just to see if he would eat.  Which he did.  So I went and got some more, and he ate them.  So, I went and got the bowl, and was hand feeding him pieces, maybe hoping he would eat them all.  But, he didn't, but he made a pretty good dent!  There is just enough for one meal tomorrow.  Hopefully he will finish the bowl off then. He did good!

I also wanted to mention that I have been noticing that he, (I don't really know how to described it), he shakes a bit.  Not like he's cold, but more like a person with Parkinson's disease.  I've watched him kind of stumble when walking, almost loosing his balance.  Funny thing though, when he's outside that barely happen's...........it does, but just not ask much as when he is in the house.  Could the cancer have gone into the brain.........possibly.  Not going to be running any tests to find out, as nothing can be done about it anyhow.

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3-8 & 11-2012

These 3 pictures were taken on 3-8-12

This is Sunday March 11, 2012.  Dannii is still barely eating anything.  Ran out of DogSure, but even the last can he played with, would drink some, and then not want it, but did finally finish it off.  I ordered 10 cans, but they have yet to arrive, would have thought they would have been here yesterday, but no.  So, I went to Petco, they didn't have any, but I bought a can of Goats milk, and then a can of puppy milk, which he has had before.  I thought maybe he would take to the Goats milk, but nope, and he wouldn't touch the puppy milk either.  Had Pappa Murphys pizza last night, and he did eat a few slices of that, so at least it was something. 

Today, I bought a couple of packages of thinly sliced round steak (stir fry).  I pan fried one package up, and Dannii ate a couple of slices of that.  Am not sure if his teeth are bothering him or what. But it seems that he doesn't want to chew anything.  I fixed myself a Fiesta Potato for dinner, and usually divide the skin from the baked potato into 3 slices, so all 3 dogs can have a piece.  Dannii will normally chow this down, but again, its like he doesn't want to chew, so he only ate a few bites and left the rest.  In the meantime, I baked up the last of the chicken thighs, I cut one piece up, and he wouldn't touch it.  So, I divided it into 2 bowls, one for Jenna and one for Zak.  Dannii came and ate most of the chicken thigh that I had in Jenna bowl!  He wouldn't eat it from my hand or off of a fork!  He wouldn't eat anymore, and left a piece in the bowl.  I don't know what's going on.  He has got my truly baffled as far as his eating will go.

I can't afford to take him into the vets, as I had thought he would be near his end days by now.  He is still drinking water, so I know he's not dehydrated and that is a good thing.  I think I mentioned in a previous post that I upped his prednisone from 1.5 tablets twice a day to 2 tablets twice a day.  So he is actually getting 1 extra tablet for the whole day.  Not sure if its making any difference or not.  After when he got his Elspar shot last month, he had NO problem going outside to do his duty.  Now, because he feels like he has to go all the time, now he will hunch himself over in the house, and I have woken up in the mornings to bloody poo on the floor.  When I happen to catch him in the house doing that, I run him outside.  With his bloody poo and Jenna peeing and crapping on the floor, now one of the cats, threw up on my bed!  Am so tired of all this mess.  Before I could clean that up off the bed, one of the dogs decided to eat it!

These pictures were taken today.

Nice head-shot of Zak with his brand new collar!

 

Well, you all come back again, now hear?

3-8-12

I fixed Dannii an omelet yesterday for breakfast, he wouldn't eat, but maybe 1/3 of it.  Turned his nose up at it.  However, he did drink some DogSure, maybe just a bit more than half of the can.  About an hour or so later, I gave him the rest of the DogSure, and he finished it up.  Since I was off yesterday, I had let him outside along with Zak.  I even let Jenna out, but I had her on a leash, as she takes off. 

Dannii nearest to car, and Zak

Dannii

Girl Cat, looks a lot like Mocha, but she has shorter fur

Fat Zak needs to go on a diet

Jenna waiting to go outside

Jenna has to be on a leash, she will take off, & Dannii

Jenna's not happy being on a leash

Dannii

Zak crossed the road, but came back when called

Zak on our side of the road

Dannii

Shadow, neighbor's dog, can't stand being in the sun for long

Shadow and Zak

All waiting to go back inside

Dannii laying next to the woodstove for heat

I fixed spaghetti for dinner, hoping Dannii would eat some, which he did, but truly it was not very much.  I was disappointed.  I was hoping he would have eaten more than he had.  He did eat some lunchmeat (chicken), so he did get some food in him.

We are just doing one day at a time, as I have no idea how long this is going to go on.  All the foods, he used to eat like the chicken thighs, he won't touch anymore, not even chicken breasts, nothing.  Maybe its because he knows that he will have to poop it out sooner or later, I just don't know.  The lymphoma is in his rectum, and he is starting to bleed now.

I hate this disease and what its doing to Dannii.  Of all the places for this to show up, why in his rectum?  Even the oncologist said that its rare, but it does happen, and that he has treated a few of them..  My prayer is still for the good LORD to take Dannii in his sleep.

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3-6-12

Dannii in his chair

Dannii is hardly eating anything now.  He is even refusing the DogSure, and no matter what, he would always drink that!  He kept following me around this morning, in the kitchen, acting like he was hungry, and I know that he probably is.  No matter what I tried to give him, he refused.  So, I fixed him an omelet with some ham lunchmeat inside.  After it cooled down a bit, I gave the bowl to him, but he refused it, wouldn't touch it at all.  I ended up making myself an omelet, and I took my plate and fork, plus his bowl and another fork, and went and sat down.  I would take a bite of my omelet, and then I would give him a forkfull of him omelet.  He finally ate the whole omelet, except for one piece.

Around 10:55a.m he had a seizure.  He has never had one during the day before, at least that I know of.  Afterwards, I usually give him some vanilla ice cream, and he would just go to town on that.  Not today.  He refused the ice cream!  Have no idea what is going on.

I had to leave for work, and he followed me to the door, wanting to go outside.  I couldn't let him out, and no one was home.  I had gotten my son to try and feed him at dinnertime, and he managed to get Dannii to eat some left over Hamburger Helper.  Still wouldn't take the DogSure when I got home from work around 10pm.  So I poured some into Jenna's bowl, and some into Zak's bowl.  Dannii decided to drink some of the DogSure from Jenna's bowl.  Jenna drank the rest of the DogSure from the bowl that I had it in, in the first place.

Tomorrow is another day, and I am fixing spaghetti.  So we will see if he will eat some of that.

He has been stumbling alot, weaving from side to side, acts like he's going to topple over, but hasn't.....yet.  A while back, my vet said that to her, it sounds like that cancer has gone into his brain.  Its a possibility I guess.  We aren't going to know for sure, unless we run some tests, which I am not going to do, because for one thing, nothing can be done about it.  I think his time is getting close at hand.  I wish I could be wrong, but I don't think so.  He doesn't seem to be in any pain.  I guess that my one wish would be that when his time doesn come, that it not be on a week-end.  As I have no way of getting ahold of my vet.  If I have to use another clinic they would charge me an emergency fee, plus the euthanasia fee, and then I would have to take him inside the clinic.  At least with my vet, when the time does come, she will come out to the car, and do it there.  The car is Dannii's home away from home, and he feels safe there.

Well, am off to bed.  You all come back again, now hear?

3-5-12

Beautiful outside today, but where I am at, its a bit windy.  Dannii wanted to go outside, so I let him out, and managed to snap a few photos.

I wanted to mention, that late yesterday afternoon, Dannii was looking for something to eat, but whatever I put down, he didn't want it.  So I had bought some lunchmeat just for that reason.  So, I gave him some smoked turkey, and he started eating it.  It was only a 9 oz bag, but he ate "almost" the whole bag.  That was the first food, he ate in two days, as he's only been drinking DogSure.  I fixed myself some Hamburger Helper for dinner, and put some in his bowl, and since it had hamburger in it, I figured he would eat it, and he did.  I had enough left over from dinner for "left overs", but decided to give it to Dannii.  So, he got some for breakfast this morning.  At first he didn't eat much, when he came back in from being outside, he finished off the bowl.  So far, so good.  Yesterday, I decided to up his Prednisone.  He was getting 1.5 tablets twice a day.  So I gave him a total of 4 tablets yesterday, and will do the same for today.  I think the 1.5 tablets are no longer working (the vet did tell me that the prednisone will stop working after awhile).  Am just hoping that this may give Dannii a bit more time.  But no one knows for sure.

Another basenji?

still looking good

Nice head shot

after coming back inside, Zak's not happy that he didn't get to go outside

Dannii eating

As long as I can get him to still eating something or anything, as long as its food, even the DogSure, he will be around for awhile longer.  At least I hope so.

We are no longer doing a cancer diet, as Dannii will no longer eat most of the foods on the diet.  So its just whatever he will eat at this point, even if its cat food.

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Pictures from our "photo shoot" on 2-22-12

Dannii

 

 

 

Zak meeting "BoJanggles" the bloodhound

My sweet Danni

Jenna, the priss

I love my boy, Dannii

Zak, Dannii, Jenna

Goofing off, and Dannii is embarrassed

Praying for my boy

Leave it to Jenna to do her "own thing"

There are a whole lot more pictures, I think M.C. took a 100 more photos.  These were the one's that were already on my computer.  The rest are on a CD.  But you all got an idea how well Dannii looked just a week ago and a half ago.   All these photo's are courtesy of M.C.

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