This weekend we learned what was almost a very hard lesson - so I wanted to share in case it helps someone else. 

Grover had his #3 dose of carboplatin 16 days ago before we had a weekend trip planned. Based on his previous doses we check a CBC on day 9 and 14 - at his highest dose of carboplatin the WBCs started to drop on day 9 and hit the lowest on day 14. The oncologist had us start antibiotics when he ran a mild fever after the first dose. We reduced his carboplatin dose after dose #1 and saw no changes on his CBC so we increased it slightly for dose #3 (but still less than dose #1). Day 9 his WBCs were normal. Day 14 the neutrophils were just barely under the normal range. We had a weekend trip scheduled to the beach so that Grover could see and play in the Pacific Ocean (#groversbucketlist). Oncology gave us the thumbs up and at the very last minute, I tossed his thermometer and antibiotics that were left over from chemo #1 in the car and headed out for our 8 hour drive to the beach. (as a side note, we stopped the antibiotics when told to for dose #1, and the oncologist said to hang onto the extra antibiotics in case we needed them again in the future while on chemo). 

Saturday was a great day. We rented a wonderful AirBnB right on the shore and he had the entire beach to himself. We didn't over do it and watched him carefully to make sure he didn't eat anything weird or drink much ocean water. I just had a funny feeling, so we took his temperature three times a day (paranoid much?) and it was normal on Saturday. Sunday, he woke up and wasn't interested in breakfast (uh-oh) and .... had a fever of 104F. We started the antibiotics and immediately started the 8 hour drive back home. When we got home his fever was still 104, so we went into the ER. 

His white blood cell count was 900 (Normal is >5,000) with only 300 neutrophils (normal is >2,800)!  We got SO lucky - he could have died from sepsis and our oncologist said that she has had that happen to patients - and said that getting him on the antibiotics so quickly might have made a big difference in the fact that he bounced back. 

I am SO glad that we brought the antibiotics with us and our oncologist said that she is going to consider sending them with clients that are going to go on trips with their dogs on chemo (and may not have rapid access to a veterinary hospital). I wanted to share so that if anyone else has a dog on chemo and is considering a trip away from home when their dog's white blood cells might be decreased, they may want to talk to their oncologist about a "just in case" plan. 

Grover is on home-rest/isolation - they sent him out of the ER as soon as they saw his white blood cell numbers because he was at risk for picking up hospital acquired infections and he was not hypotensive or otherwise needing care - and 24 hours later was back to his normal self.