When we walked in the lobby was empty but by the time we'd leave in the late afternoon, the entire lobby was full and had been full ALL DAY long with dogs coming in and out for their own treatments that day. We were impressed by how smooth and organized the practice was and feeling very thankful God placed us here.
Max was FULL OF ENERGY (like normal) the morning of his treatment. He was doing zoomies bright and early today grabbing Colin's hat (an MSU one -HAHA) and running around with it and bouncing around on the bed like the clown he is. It warmed our hearts to be starting out this stressful day this way.
They took Max back to run some diagnostic tests (checking his white blood cells, temperature,
The doctors were very happy with how he did for both treatments and they said "Boy does he have a lot of energy! We just love him!". Hahaha! Sounds familiar from a few blog posts ago when he went in for his surgical biopsy. I think everyone is surprised to see how normal and happy he acts with having cancer. :)
We headed to breakfast at The State Room bc we knew we had hours to kill but right after breakfast we headed back to the medical center bc we just didn't feel right not being there. We were able to chat with many other pet parents who were all there for chemo, chemo check-ups, incision checks, etc. Everyone was very nice and we all had one thing in common - our love for our furry family members.
This dog was small but it had a ferocious bark and would bite at anyone and everything that walked by. His leash and little legs couldn't carry him far but it was growling and showing it's teeth to anything that moved. Colin and I were laughing so hard I thought I was gonna pee my pants. Thank you Mr. Harry for bringing some much needed laughter to the room and into our lives at that moment. :)
Max's doctors came out to talk with us to let us know what to look for in the coming days. With radiation, Max is not expected to have any side effects at all.
With chemo, we needed to watch for the following at home:
-Diarrhea (if he had 2 stools that were saucy, we were given Metronidazole 250mg)
-Nauseousness (we were given Cerenia 60mg if needed)
-Blood in stool or urine
-Severe lethargy
-Not wanting to eat or drink
-Not being able to urinate or pass a stool
-We were given Trazodone 100mg to give him the night before his treatments and an hour before his treatment to help him calm down the day of his treatments bc he was so hyper while he was there (I think it took them awhile to get him calmed down to run tests and to start radiation). This is Max's normal behavior. He's a very energetic dog and has even been known to be put in "time-outs" at daycare bc he annoys the other dogs so much. :)
The general side effects of chemotherapy include bone marrow suppression and gastrointestinal upset. These side effects occur because chemotherapy affects the rapidly dividing cells in the body. With any chemotherapy protocol, Max's white blood cell count needs to be monitored closely to ensure that his immune system is strong enough to fight off infections. Gastrointestinal and bone marrow suppression side effects are usually mild and transient, and typically can be controlled with medications at home (such as the meds listed above).
Max will have 5 weeks straight (one week down/4 to go) of radiation. Then, he will be done with that treatment. They are doing radiation on his prostate area including the lymphnode(s) affected. The reason they only do it once per week is so that it gives the good tissue that may be affected by the radiation a chance to grow back and reproduce itself.
At the end of his 5 weeks of radiation, Max may develop some straining to urinate or soft stool during the last week and up to 1 week after the end of radiation therapy. This is all very normal and to be expected. Also, dogs that have radiation in the prostate area usually lose coloring on their thighs and the hair around the affected area (hair turns a salt & pepper color). We may not notice a change on Max bc he is already that color.
As far as chemo goes, Max was suppose to be on Vinblastine, however, there is a worldwide shortage for dogs and people for this chemo drug right now. So, Max's team of doctors decided to put him on Mitoxantrone. It's a different chemo drug but equivalent to Vinblastine. Max will have chemo once every 3 weeks, checking his white blood cell counts every week to see if they need to adjust his dosage. They will also do a urinalysis on Max prior to his next chemo treatment bc with this type of cancer, he is prone to UTIs. After this next chemo treatment, they will also do a radiograph on him.
He was in good spirits and seemed totally fine. After we got him into the car, it didn't take 5 minutes before he started getting nauseated. This has happened to him in the past after he's been sedated and in the car. It was motion sickness.
Colin actually got this after his heart surgery last week when we were on the way home from the hospital. Thank God I had plastic bags in Max's vet bag and handed them to Colin JUST IN TIME bc he puked the entire drive home. As soon as he got out of the car and wasn't moving, he was fine.
Max was pretty nauseous for the first 20 minutes or so. I kept the backseat cold air blowing on his face and rubbed his little head and he eventually fell asleep.
We did not feed him at all today, bc the last time we gave him a hand full of food after sedation, he was up all night nauseated, so we wanted to make sure he was comfortable so he could rest. Max slept all night long except for a few potty runs. He went to bed in our bedroom at 8pm and slept all night long until 6:30am. I was thankful he was able to get some good rest. When he's comfortable, we all can rest.
We will see what tomorrow holds.....
Total treatment cost for today:
$1309.60
Goodnight my friends...... xoxoxo
Your comments about the chemo waiting area reminds me of when I had chemo. It’s a group of people, all dealing with something difficult and you sort of bond with them, even if you don’t know their names. I suspect you feel the same.
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