June was insane, and July was beyond insane. But I promised more details about how Rio’s been doing.
She finished up her last chemo on Wednesday. I expected fireworks or champagne or something for our trouble, but it was very anti-climactic. Rio didn’t even get a “Cancer Survivor” bandanna like she did the last time. I was joking with the vet tech about it, and she said they’d been talking about ordering some, but just hadn’t yet. I told her, navy blue on a black dog didn’t really work all that well, and that bright pink was really more Rio’s color…
She’s really doing well with the chemo this last few doses. No nausea, no lethargy to speak of. We haven’t even needed the Cerenia or metronidazole the last couple of times. Her appetite is still really good, too.
On the other hand, she had another urinary tract infection and had to go back on the antibiotics for three weeks. We’ll do another check next week to see if it’s cleared up. She’s also been having a heck of a time getting around. I’m not sure if she tweaked her knee or if Zeff knocked her down and hurt it, but I had the doctor look at it and she said there doesn’t appear to be any “structural” damage. She’s on an NSAID to see if it will help. Five days now and she’s a little better, but still having troubles.
Her hair has grown back on her hiney, finally! She’s a little patchy still where the worst of the calcinosis is, but it’s so nice to see her shiny black furry butt again! Her numbers looked really good on the last ACTH stimulation test that they did a few weeks back. Exactly where the doctor wanted them to be! Her muscles are starting to beef back up, and the bloated belly has gone away! So we don’t have to retest that for another three to four months!
Rio will have an ultrasound in a month as follow-up, but for now, she’s got a clean bill of health!
One more thing, and maybe this is something worth asking in the forums: Rio’s lipomas have mostly all disappeared. I wonder if it’s the change in diet or if the chemotherapy took care of them.
