I held off with an update until we saw Dr. Macy today; all results were normal with the exception of the same liver enzymes which are still elevated!  Dr. Macy does not think that it is necessary to pursue the causes of the elevated liver issues unless something changes.  During the period of Rusty's digestive problems, Dr. Macy ran several tests on him including abdominal scans, which were normal.  None of the tests identified any causes of his intestinal distress; Dr. Macy thinks that it is probably the result of all the Chemo treatments along with a couple of the meds which are designed to help the stomach deal with the Chemo but can cause long term stomach problems (much like my stomach after the damage that was done by Vioxx & Celebrex).  He is keeping Rusty on Sucralfate to help control any more flareups as the drug is designed to pass through his stomach without any reaction if everything is normal.  If there are any issues, ulcers or inflammation, the medicine will react and help heal those areas. The Sucralfate has to given to Rusty two hours before meals, which means 4:30 or 5:00 in the mornings; good thing we are early risers! 

Dr. Macy was arranging for us to take Rusty back to San Diego for the scans when the Dr. decided he wanted to come to the desert for a weekend; he brought his equipment with him and did the scans in Dr. Huber's office, much to the dismay of Jan who had planned on a stop at Nordstrom's when we were in San Diego.  Now that Rusty is doing better I have promised her an overnight trip to San Diego.  We have a sitter who will stay with Rusty and we will not be that far away if something comes up; we have not been away without Rusty since his cancer ordeal began almost eighteen months ago.

We have completed three weeks without any vomiting/diarrhea issues!  After two or more weeks being on all kinds of meds, which had no effect on his problems, Rusty stopped eating for three days; he refused to even look at any food no matter what it was.  During this period Dr. Macy said to stop all of the meds as he thought Rusty was trying heal himself by resting his stomach and intestinal system.  On the fourth day he was ready to eat and Dr. Macy had us start with Chicken Noodle Soup (Jewish Penicillin) which Rusty loved and had no problems with vomiting; when he resumed with his BM's they were normal with out any signs of diarrhea.  We began mixing in ground sirloin after a few days and stopped the soup after a week; he is now on ground sirloin & EVO dry food and will go off the ground sirloin and on to EVO canned food tomorrow.  Rusty lost over five pounds while dealing with his digestive distress and we are hoping he will now regain some of those lost pounds.

When Dr.'s Huber and Macy made their presentation to the Pet Club last fall, they went out on a limb and said they wanted to be invited to Rusty's third birthday party.  Rusty will turn three at the end of July and Dr. Macy is planning on being in town for his party!  We had a close friend from Portland with us all last week, she was trying to dry out from the rain, and Rusty had a ball showing off his surfing and swimming skills.  With the weather getting warmer we are walking earlier in the mornings and later in the evenings.  Rusty enjoys his rides in the GEM (street legal golf cart) more than ever and now with spring we have several new duck families and a lot of new bunnies for him to observe.  Obviously, with his stomach issues he has not been to In N Out Burgers for several weeks; we may give it a try next week if he does not have any problems switching to the canned EVO.

His next scheduled visit with Dr. Macy will be in late July or early August unless something develops in the meantime!  It is so wonderful seeing him back to normal, full of energy and still enjoying everyday to the max!  We know that we have to take these good times with subdued joy as the cancer could return any moment.  Dr. Macy is amazed that Rusty is doing so well; he celebrated his fifteenth month Ampuversary on April 25th!

Chuck & Rusty