You're right - with so many losing their battles - it just seems trivial .... I still have my best friend. 

I got Sophie back from the hospital at about 4:30 today. She has 2 new meds to take - Cerenia (1 every 24 hours), and they also gave me Famotidine to give her every 12 hours. She has been resting quietly - no, not really quietly - she snores - and it is nice to hear. At least I know that she is more comfortable. And she wags her tail again. And - the most important thing, really, is that "the look" is gone from her eyes. 

She is licking a lot. And it seems more noisy than it used to. Maybe I'm just more attuned to her noises. Maybe she's still a bit dehydrated?

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to give the Cerenia on an empty stomach? Does it make much difference whether it is on an empty stomach or not? They didn't say at the vet's - and didn't seem to know when I asked them. The other drug is in place of the Pepcid - it's to coat her stomach.

So, we have a little more time, anyway. How much more? I don't know. We never know, do we?  

She was still hooked up to the IV when we went to get her, and she was sleeping. They had called me to come and get her - I assumed she was all ready to go. She came out of the back, hopping and looking quite disheveled - like she had slept on her hair the wrong way or something. She smells bad - and needs a bath badly. But I can deal with that. The carpets in my house still smell really bad, too. 

No, we will not be continuing with chemo. I can't put her through anymore. This was scary enough - and I really didn't know if she would pull out of it or not. It made me question what I was doing - and who I was doing it for - it certainly didn't appear to be for her. After all, isn't this supposed to be all about her quality of life? This past week has not been quality. It has been existence. I am hopeful that we will move forward more comfortably now. 

Thanks, Cometdog.

Famotidine is generic Pepcid, they're the same thing.  You might want to ask about carafate, it actually coats the stomach. Is she eating at all, or interested in food yet? Glad she's home!

If she's not drinking water either, try giving her an ice cube if she licks that, then at least she gets some fluid.  I'm not sure why pepcid would cause the tarry stool.  It shouldn't cause it in people, but I know dogs metabolize and react to medicine differently than we do.  For example, Metoclopramide (reglan) that Sophie had for nausea (so did Sadie), can cause diarrhea in people. I brought this up to the vet because although I didn't want Sadie to have nausea, I also didn't want her to have diarrhea, since the chemo can cause that too.  Anyway, the vet told me that in dogs, it doesn't usually cause diarrhea. Sadie never had either problem (thank goodness). He told me if she got diarrhea to give her canned pumpkin.  Anyway, call the vet in the AM, and have a peacfull night (snoring and all!)

Oh, Sophie...hope you're feeling better today....gawd, how scarey...

Hugs to you,

Tracy, Maggie's Mom

I'm so sorry to hear about Sophie's reaction to chemo. As mentioned above, I agree not to worry about the treatment now and try to work on getting some food and appetite back. Titus just had Mylanta today to soothe his tummy and he ate more (handfed) and even licked his bowl. Not sure if the active ingredients are similar to famotidine but it's liquid and fast-acting.

He's not recently post-amp and had his last dose of chemo april last year but we didn't have diarrhea but vomitting and excessive panting (and hyperactivity!) on 2 out of the 6 treatments (carboplatin) was experienced. I guess having strong drugs in our system will somehow tip a balance in our system and different for certain individuals. Boiled chicken breast and rice helps with diarrhea for Titus since he was a pup and I mostly always get quick results when he does his number 2.

I hope Sophie gets better soon and big hugs to you both.

Tana:

Sorry that Sophie is having so much trouble with the Chemo; Rusty has been able to tolerate his Chemo treatments fairly well, the Dr.'s think his being so young helps, other than the diarrhea issues and some nausea.  From the first IV treatment Dr. Macy has had Rusty on Maropitant Citrate, same as Cerenia (whom Dr. Dressler has endorsed in his advisory emails) giving it to him in the IV and then pills for the next four days.  The smacking and licking lips is a sign of nausea; Rusty does that a lot after his mid month oral Chemo.  There are a couple of months we had to extend the medication for ten days to get him back to eating regular meals.

The diarrhea has been a battle from the first treatment.  We have tried all of the diet adjustments, pumpkin brown rice, etc, along with Imodium without much success.  Rusty gets daily dosages of Fiber-con & a Pro-biotic to help his digestive system.  Dr. Macy finally put him on Budesonide twice daily which has really worked well in reducing the frequency of episodes. 

Jan gives all of Rusty's pills in the form of "meatballs" made from EVO canned food; the surgeon recommended giving his pills after surgery using the meatballs to protect his stomach and get small meals into him.  He now eagerly waits for his twice daily allowance of meatballs. 

He was doing so well this week with no episodes that we reduced his Budesonide to one capsule daily, which Dr. Macy said we could do, and last night he had a serious episode of diarrhea with about 15 stools leading from his potty box along the patio.  Fortunately for us Rusty is really good about getting outside to go potty, even with the diarrhea and we have not had any accidents in the house.

Good Luck!

Chuck & Rusty