And, try Velveeta for pills.  Griffin used to love Pill Pockets but he figured them out, just like Maddie did, and for a few weeks I was pushing pills down his throat until I tried Velveeta.  I make sure to give Griffin a few "blank" Velveeta squares before and after the ones with the meds so that he eats them quickly and doesn't stop to figure out what is in the other ones! ~ Stacy
  

Velveeta — what a great idea! I’ll have to get some and give that a try. Will report back after allowing Maddie extensive “blank” testing opportunities. 😀

Maddie bounced right back to the happy, playful pup we have been seeing. Those first couple days after chemo are hard for her, but otherwise she just seems to feel so good. Such a striking contrast to how she was moving pre-amputation.

Because Maddie’s counts were a bit low the last couple weeks, they wanted to do a blood draw today, one week post chemo. Glad to report things looks good today and they don’t need to see her again for two weeks until her next scheduled chemo. They will also be doing another set of xrays as part of this visit. Nerve-wracking to think about, but happy we have the next two weeks to just enjoy stuff, including the holiday weekend safe at home.

We are thinking about trying a short visit to the beach tomorrow if she seems up for it. 🥶 

Jeremy, Maddie, and I made it to the beach yesterday. We have had rain most days the last couple weeks, but thankfully yesterday stayed dry and sunny before the rain came back again today. Yesterday was a perfect late fall/early winter day to go to the beach. It wasn't even too windy so we didn't get too cold.

It is a short trek from the parking lot to the beach (probably between 0.1-0.2 miles each way), so we went assuming that the journey to and from the car alone would likely make Maddie a bit tired and that we shouldn't go too far on the beach since we would have to get her back to the car. Add to this that walking on sand is more work than concrete AND the mental stimulation from all the new smells, etc. We barely walked up the beach at all and mostly just let Maddie wander and sniff.

Although we were not there very long and did not go very far, Maddie got to have a bit of an adventure and seemed very happy to be there and out. (It was also nice to take her on a car ride that didn't end up at the vet...). She was tired but pleased, and seemed perfectly comfortable with her new tripawd beachbawd. 

Here is a video of her hopping up the beach: https://i.imgur.....ySZA6i.mp4

She thought for a second about trying to get the seagull, but that would require getting more than her toes wet so she quickly gave up on that.

Video of her second-guessing (and then sticking with) her seagull decision: https://i.imgur.....H02mMG.mp4

Hope you enjoy the videos and photos. 🙂

Thank you for this community -- I am thankful for it. 

Thank you so much for the cheesy plate tip! I tried it the other day and got some a couple pills down no problem. The tweezer tip was a good one, too -- I hadn't through about the fact that trace amounts of the pills on my fingers might be more than her sensitive nose will take. I still need to get my technique down, but will definitely be utilizing it again.

The last couple weeks have been lovely. We had two weeks between her blood draw and next chemo (today). It was nice to take a bit of break from constantly thinking about cancer, chemo, treatment, blood counts, etc. Things just got to be normal for a bit, and it was nicely timed with the Thanksgiving holiday here in the states. Maddie has been pretty playful and is moving great. There is pretty much nothing she isn't doing that she did before -- she is just slower and gets tired more quickly.

The week of Thanksgiving was our eight weeks post amputation and nine weeks from the oncologist's confirmation of osteo diagnosis by our vet. They told us that osteo is so fast that if we did nothing she might have about two months to live. We have passed that! It is a milestone I noticed come and go with so much relief because my dog seems so good and is so pain-free. 

And today is chemo round three. Maddie is there now and things are looking good. They did xrays today and the oncologist still isn't seeing obvious nodules. The radiologist still has to review, but I'm still taking it as a good sign!

To try and combat Maddie's symptoms after chemo/sedation, they are going to include an anti-nausea medication with her chemo, so hopefully she'll bounce back a bit faster today.

All in all feeling thankful and relieved. 

Do you think Maddie has some sort of muscle strain that coincidentally showed up at the same time as chemo time?  Try massaging  all up and down her spine, her neck, her shoulders....any sign of tenseness?  Any signs of back issues?  

Is her leg where she received  the chemo  swollen or tender in anyway?  I would  mention it to the Onco if that's  the case.

How is Maddie doing today? Regarding her being weak and tired after chemo, it makes sense. All the excitement of being at the vet, and then the physical process of how the body accepts the chemo, well, it can be pretty tiring I imagine. I hope she's feeling better today.

 

We haven't noticed any muscle strain or swelling. Maybe slight tenderness if I grab the area where she receives chemo, but that seems reasonable with a fresh IV site. This has happened after each chemo visit and disappears after a couple days, along with the other symptoms. She just may be over-fatigued from the ordeal of day added to the impact chemo has on her body. It had us wondering though, because she would still show some excitement about going outside, but as soon as we went out she would dig in and basically refuse to move. (have I mentioned she is a stubborn dog, haha...)

But we only have one more treatment, so hopefully won't have to worry about it much more.

She is back to her usual self now, with no real residual signs of chemo.