2nd Week of Vinblastine Chemo.....

Max did really well with his first round of his new chemo drug, Vinblastine. His only side effect was that he was pretty tired most of the week, but he never experienced nausea or an upset tummy likehis previous chemo. He ate like a champ and his stools looked like healthy dog poop (I am obsessed with his poop!).

Starting on Saturday, 9/28, Max started getting really restless. He just couldn't relax and he would get upset when I wasn't in the same room as him. He would moan and whine until I came in the same room and he was just over all pretty restless. We had a restless night's sleep as well. Sunday wasn't too bad and he seemed less anxious but then on Monday and Tuesday (10/1) he was restless again and just wanted to be near me.

He had his 2nd round of Vinblastine chemo today at MSU and clinically his oncologist is very happy with him. His bloodwork looked great (WBC count was even high) and his lungs and heart all sound great. She said she was very happy with how he looked. She wasn't sure what the reason was for his restlessness.

I can't think of anything that we changed or that is different except he did start getting constipated onSaturday and he has been straining to poop since then. He will go eventually, and his poop looks good, but he is straining now more than he has been lately. Maybe he is having constipation pain? He isn't passing gas or anything like that and I give him 1/4 teaspoon of MetaMucil in his meals but maybe it has to do with constipation pain. I will keep an eye on that and just continue to baby the heck out of him.

We will see what this week has in store for us. Hoping he continues to do well with this new chemo med and praying it stays in stock. There was a nationwide shortage a few months back on this drug so we don't want that to happen again!

**Update 10/3/19: As the week has gone on, his restlessness has subsided but he has also turned the corner on pooping (he is back to pooping well!). I am thinking his restlessness was bc he was constipated and could not get comfortable and just wanted to be babied. He was probably having tummy pain. 

2nd week of Vinblastine Chemo:

Day 1: (10/1) Max was restless again today when we got home and only wanted to be near me the entire day. He has been straining to poop for a few days now.

Day 2: Max had a pretty good day today. He was tired and rested most of the day and he ate well, although he wanted nothing to do with his green beans this morning and kept spitting them out, which I found hilarious! Sammy swooped in to save the day! LOL! He is really straining to poop right now. We are trying to figure out why. I also spoke with his oncologist about putting him back on his joint supplement again bc he seems to be achy. This could be from the crazy weather changes we have been having lately but not sure. Hoping the joint supplements help him. We are watching his pooping closely.

Day 3: Prayers were answered (Thank you God and everyone that prayed) because Max finally turned the corner with his pooping! I think with the nature of his disease, there are just going to be times when things happen that I can't put my finger on. I am VERY focused on trying to figure out what is happening with him at all times and when something like constipation happens when we haven't changed anything, I freak out. I try to adjust his foods but that probably makes things worse. Last night (10/2) around dinner time his pooping changed. He had a great poop without straining and ever since then (12 poops - yep I count) he has done great! His poops all look great and he is not straining. Thank you God! I need to just remember to take deep breaths. He is doing well, eating well, and was back to his chipper self more today. I think the tiredness from the chemo is starting to wear off now and he had a couple of barking moments today and a bigger pep in his step.

He is back on his joint supplement so I am hoping to see an improvement over the next week with how he's doing there. He is losing hair at his radiation site, which is normal. He stopped radiation several weeks ago so it just shows us how it continues to work even after treatment. His hair loss doesn't seem to be bothering or itching him thankfully. We will see how tomorrow goes with his eating bc day 4 & 5 after chemo on his last chemo med gave him an upset tummy day 4 & 5. He did not experience this on Vinblastine (new chemo drug) 2 weeks ago so we are hoping he will do just fine tomorrow.

Day 4: Max did great today! He ate really well and never had nausea or issues with eating. We have given him a Cerenia pill every day to help keep the nausea at bay and that seems to work great. He does way better with Vinblastine than he did with Mytoxantrone. It just seems to be much easier on his tummy. No issues today. He is eating well and pooping great. Energy is coming back and he is not as tired.

Day 5:  Max did well again today. He is still eating well and not having any issues with nausea. I did not give him a Cerenia pill today. He still did well. Smaller pooping today. Little straining. We left him and Sammy for 5 hours today to go to the camper show. It is the first time we have left Max for more than 2 hours since May. He did fantastic. No peeing in the house!

Day 6: Max had smaller poops this morning and is straining a little to poop. He seemed antsy again this morning a little bit wanting to be rubbed all morning. Not sure if his constipation is coming back again or not. Will monitor this all day today.

Day 7: So far so good today! Max woke up bouncing around and excited to eat! He pooped well late last night and so far this morning. We are wondering if being sore is a side effect of Vinblastine. He appears to be super sore and has even yelped a few times when he has had to jump (off the bed, out of the tub). We will continue to monitor this for a possible side effect to the new chemo med. At 11am today Max was really nauseated for some reason. He was restless and was pacing and very nauseated. I gave him a Cerenia pill and then CBD oil and the CBD oil finally helped him. He was able to rest in the afternoon, but would have little bouts of nausea here and there. I gave him a few tablespoons of boiled chicken for dinner along with 1/4 cup of warm bone broth. He was able to keep that down, but that is all I gave him the rest of the day. Not sure why he was nauseated. Maybe his wbc's regenerating themselves rapidly?? He fell asleep at 8pm and slept hard till 12am and then we took a potty break and gave him benadryl (for his allergies) and he slept then until 6am.

Day 8: He ate really well this morning (day 8) and was not nausous at all today. He had his blood panel done to check his wbc count and all of his blood work looked fantastic and his wbc count was low (3.61) but not too low to be worried about. He started pooping normal again after missing a meal yesterday and over night he had great poops.

Day 9: Over night last night he was up at 12am, 3am, and then 5am on. He pooped all those times and his poop was really good. He ate really well this morning but then threw up his food about an hour later. He threw up again around 12pm and then we gave him a handful of kibble around 1pm and he threw that up. I gave him 1/4 cup of white rice around 6pm and he kept that down. He has been VERY clingy today - not wanting to be without me and glued to my side. He is clearly not feeling well at all. He is drinking but straining to poop and nothing is coming out (probably bc he doesn't have anything in his stomach). I gave him a Cerenia pill around 2pm and he hasn't been nauseated since then. He finally laid down to rest at 8:30pm. We will see how the night goes.
*nothing in his stomach bc he threw it all up except for a 1/4 cup of white rice - prob the problem with pooping

Day 10: Max ate only rice and chicken for his meals today. He is having a real problem pooping. I am giving him metamucil and pumpkin but he hasn't pooped since day 8. He is very constipated.
*only ate chicken and rice today and he usually has super small poops on that meal. Could be the reason he still is not pooping.

Day 11: Max was up twice last night and has finally started to poop. I gave him kibble today bc I want to start feeding him some carbs to see if that helps him go to the bathroom. He pooped a few different times today.

Day 12: Max was up at 4am and he threw up. It was just stomach bile and we are thinking it was bc the last time he ate was at dinner at 4pm. We didn't give him his usual snack around 8pm bc we wanted to give his tummy a break since he has been off and on nauseaous this week. He ate kibble at 6:30am this morning and kept it down and drank water fine. Then at noon, I wanted to give him his Dr. Harveys bc he is still constipated and I wanted to get him back on his normal food and just the smell of it made him throw up. He didn't eat any. He has been vomiting since then (Once bc of the smell of it, then after I gave him a cookie with CBD oil on it, and then two more times after he drank water.). At this point, it's been 4 hours and he has thrown up 4 times after smelling food, eating a cookie, and drinking twice. We gave him a cerenia pill. His last pain pill was at 7am this morning. He seems to be doing better with his joints and muscles although he is visibably still sore, but, he has jumped up on the couch on his own several times. He even trotted outside a few times. He is pooping, but not a ton. He is still constipated but he has poop some (not a lot though). When he does eat he is still getting pumpkin and metamucil.




He is incredibly sore right now. Especially his back legs. He is struggling to jump up on the bed and the couch and we usually have to lift him up there. He has even yelped a few times when he has tried to jump or when we have picked him up.

Cost of treatment today:
$325