Sat June 27 2009

WATER - Its all about Flow!
Lucy had stopped drinking from her bowl for several days. She would only drink water poured into my hand. Thankfully I decided to water the garden... she leapt at the hose (as usual) and drank and drank. We now have invested in a water fountain dogs bowl. Hooray! (I had to give her some encouragement to get her to start using it). It has a motor that circulates the water as a constant 'fountain'. Makes me wonder if she thinks it is bubbling up from under the floorboards??

'Cos drinking from the hose is fun... but too wet for indoors!


FOOD
Lucy will only eat bland dog biscuits again today. (This has been for about a week now). Vet thinks it is because of nausea. Its a weird feeling to see a dog refuse bacon, steak, expensive raw foods, eggs, fish.... everything except bland biscuits.

TREATMENTS

Ipecac: Thursday & Friday (Yesterday). Lucy had three doses of Ipecac homeopathic remedy six hours apart and then three more 8 hours apart. Got up at 2am and next night at 4am to give her the remedy at correct times. This seems to have helped her apetite??

10am Hydrazine Sulfate. 60 mg tablet. Supposed to be taken in the morning with food.
Lucy has been taking this for about ten days now. It has to be phoned or faxed in by a vet to a compounding pharmacy. $40 for 2 months supply.
This is one of two conventional (ie non-homeopathic) 'medicines' she is receiving. It is supposed to stop the muscle wasting and help restore apetite. For a more detailed description of this drug, look for it under the label 'hydrazine sulfate'. I was told about this drug by a friend of a friend who treated her cat and dog with it.

"I really recommend that you give Judy Taylor at the Syracuse cancer research center a call. She's a really great lady and great to talk to as well. She'll be willing to talk to your vet to explain dosage etc."

It is used on people too. I spoke directly with the research center in New York that has pioneered the use of this drug for cancer treatment.
Syracuse Cancer Research Center http://scri.ngen.com/ Judy Taylor (315)472-6616

"LUCY"S DOSE: 60 mg capsule: One capsule at breakfast by mouth or roll into cream cheese or meat. MUST be compounded with an inert starch - methyl cellulose
Regular food ok but no hard cheeses, processed meats, fresh meat & poultry is ok, no liver, no yoghourt, no chocolate, (ice cream ok). Hydrazine must me mixed with inert filler such as starch. You can mix the Hydrazine in with her food."

10.30am Schrynim Homeopathic remedy. 3 doses.
1 teaspoon from a jar with 11 teaspoons of distilled water to one dose of dissolved remedy.
One tsp last night, one this morning and one tonight. Then call the homeopathic vet tomorrow to discuss how she is doing. Lst time she did this remedy it lifted her up from a crash. That time she had Arsenicum remedy and it seemed to affect her badly. We stopped the Arsenicum and she was given Schrynum instead which reversed the situation. Now we are trying it again.

noon Prednasone 2.5 tablets twice a day. morning and night.
Lucy's first day of taking this drug.
A 'traditional' steroid treatment that I have been resisting. However it is hoped that this will shrink the (now very big) lymph glands in her neck to reduce the discomfort and thereby hopefully help her return to more normal eating habits.
I have to ask the vet again about the possibilty if changing this to Prednesalone instead?
The Syracuse Clinic siad it works well alongside the Hydrazine Sulfate...

No Essiac tea - on hold at the moment. I was worried that this herbal medicine might be affecting her apetite, so decided to take her off it for a week and see what happens with these other treatments. I have read that a break from Essiac for a few days is not a big deal. Infact is recommended.
More about Essiac tea in upcoming posts, or click on the 'Essiac tea' label.

LYMPH GLANDS
Same. No change. Left side much more swollen than the right.

WEIGHT
Lucy seems to have slowed down her weight loss, despite eating much less than she did in the first month of her diagnosis, so perhaps this is due to the Hydrazine Sulfate?
She now weighs 17.1 Kg. At the start of the diagnosis 2nd week of may she weighed in at 19.8Kg

PLAYTIME
An hour at Jericho Park tonight at 6.30pm, in slight rain. We played under a tree with a tennis ball and I took photos in the park. Didn't cover a lot of ground so not too tiring for Lucy. But it was fun for both of us.
Lucy was full of interest and energy. :)