"It will get worse, before it gets better."

Oh, Lulu. This week the raw, tender area on Lulu's nose is getting bigger. It's irritating her even more now so she is back in the cone. When we don't watch her she tries to rub her nose against the wall since the cone prevents her from rubbing against the ground.

She is now on Tramadol (pain medication) 3x a day to keep her knocked out and pain-free for as much of the day as possible. The top of her nose is crusty and dry and the inside of her mouth is still raw and s-m-e-l-l-y. Fortunately she still has her appetite and is eating well. An ice cream a day, keeps the doctor away!

Last Day of Radiation

Today is Lulu's last day of radiation therapy. I thought I'd finally give you a peek into the place Lulu has to go to everyday! We start off at the parking lot at the roof of the building. As soon as Lulu sees the stairs she starts walking slowly and more hestitantly.

Here is the entrance to 9599... radiology on the left and cancer therapy on the right.

This is the wall of radiation graduates. Can't wait til next week when they will post Lulu's picture up!

Lulu hides under the chair as soon as she hears them calling for her.

And this is Swix, the cheerful gal that takes Lulu in and out of the radiation therapy room. Lulu likes her for one reason, and one reason only: she's the one that feeds her lunch when she wakes up!

A Frozen Treat

Lulu is entering the beginning of the worst... two more weeks and we'll hopefully see some healing. Every day her nose is redder than the next. We can see more bare skin around the lips now and her right nostril is misshapen: bloody, swollen and ridden with crust. Tomorrow is her last day of radiation therapy and her discharge appointment... we can't wait!

We had a hard time getting her to drink water during the day to keep the area licked and clean until a co-worker gave me an idea about ice cream. Duh! Lulu loves doggie ice cream! We bought her a dozen treats to last the next couple of weeks. Though with Cora always demanding her own cup, I'm not sure we'll last that long.

Almost there~

I can't believe Lulu has been to the vet almost everyday for over a month. Also can't believe that in 17 of those times, she's been knocked out under anesthesia.

I had a short chat with her doctor today about the side effects and again he reminds me that it will continue to get worse over the next two weeks as radiation effects are typically delayed by 3-4 weeks. Her breathing will be more and more labored as more discharge (both wet and dry) starts building up in her nose and around her muzzle. He advised that we up her pain medication intake to 3x a day to help her knock out and sleep more.

He says she is walking slowly most likely due to being groggy on all of the medication but I still think she looks pained. Her mouth is the stinkiest ever but unfortunately we can't do anything to flush it out. We tried "forcing" her to drink some water but if a dog doesn't want water, there isn't much you can do.

For now all we can do is make sure she is as comfortable as possible when she's resting. She is pretty uncomfortable during the night and makes funky sounds. Most of the time she sounds like Darth Vader but she's also started this weird clicking sound in her throat, almost like her mouth is too dry as she tries to use it to inhale. Since I am a light sleeper, that means I have barely gotten any sleep over the last 3 nights. Also, she gets into sneezing fits that freak her out a little and she jumps up to sit as close to me as possible when she's not feeling well. Needless to say we've adopted a towel system to try to keep as little of her bloody mucus/discharge from spraying on our faces as possible.

She has 3 more radiation treatments left and will be discharged from radiation therapy on Wednesday. She will continue chemotherapy for the next 5 months. We'll welcome the less frequent vet visits!

Radiation Therapy: Week Four

Lulu isn't doing so well. This must be the "worse" that the doctor kept warning us about. She is miserable. She is sniffly. She is wheezy. She can't stop sneezing and doesn't have the energy to get up and walk around anymore. We picked up a new cone for her because the other one just didn't look comfortable. She spends all day sleeping (loudly) and doesn't even get up to greet us at the door. :(

We forced her to take a short walk with us to the park but she was walking so slowly she didn't even need a leash. She kind of slumped along and looked like she was in pain. But once we were at the park we caught a couple of tail wags and she enjoyed sitting in the shade for a few minutes. After that she napped through the rest of the day.

The "open sore" areas around her muzzle are larger and more prominent. The front and top of the nose look like a raw open wound and the inside of her mouth is tender. She can no longer eat dry dog food so we are keeping her on wet canned food for now. The good thing is she still has her appetite so she hasn't lost any weight yet.

Lulu pretty much sleeps in the same spot all day unless we move her. We have to carry her out to the grass to force her to "go" and bring her food to her. She is so miserable -- I hope the pain meds are helping her. If she has trouble breathing through the night again tonight then I might bring her into the vet tomorrow, just in case.

Chemotherapy: Dose 2

Lulu had her second dose of chemotherapy today. The doctor gave us special gloves to pick up Lulu's poop and we were instructed to keep other dogs away from her eliminations as it will have hazardous traces of chemotherapy that passes through her system.

So now I'm wondering... if chemotherapy is so "safe" for dogs and only 20% ever get side effects, then why is it so dangerous for other dogs to accidentally step in pee which will only have trace amounts of the chemotherapy drug in it? I'm getting a little worried that this is doing more damage to Lulu than we can see.

We picked up a new dog bed for Lulu so she has a safe spot where she can be alone. So far she's loving it, as uncomfortable as it might be with that crazy cone around her head.

Radiation Therapy: Week Three

Oh, poor Lulu.

We're midway through week three and Lulu has picked up mucositis among other side effects. Mucositis is a painful inflmmation and ulceration of the mucous membranes lining the digestive tract and the mouth. It's very common to chemotherapy and radiotherapy and Lulu has started antibiotics and pain meds to help counteract the discomfort.

The fur around the muzzle is starting to look sparse and you can see more of her pinky brown skin showing through. The top of the nose is starting to become bare and you can really see where the mast cell tumor has taken over close to the skin. The original bump by her nostril which disappeared in the first two weeks of radiotherapy has come back in the form of a large, raw pink bump. The doctor explained that the skin has degraded a little bit and the tumor is fighting back, releasing histamines which has reformed the bump.

Lulu's nose is constantly runny and she sneezes throughout the day (and night). She sneezes even more when she gets excited (like when we come home from work) so we're trying our best to keep her calm. She's also having a tough time sleeping through the night, waking up in fits of sneezes, so I'm going to hunt down a dog bed for her so she can keep her chin up and her respiratory tract clear while sleeping. Unfortunately this probably means no more park visits or playdates for Lulu. Maybe just long quiet walks at night so she can still get some exercise.

Radiation Therapy: Week Two

After 2 weeks of being dragged kicking and screaming to the vet, Lulu is finally having a long, relaxing weekend at home. The radiation machine is broken! Okay, not a great thing to be happy about but for Lulu it meant 4 days off of treatment.

It was a weekend full of play since all of the sister's dogs are over... and it has definitely brought Lulu's energy level back up to normal. For a few days she started getting grumpy and slumpy, but this weekend we even caught a few smiles.

Also, we've noticed that the muzzle area is looking like it's back to normal: no swelling, the "wart" isn't as visible and her nose even looks symmetrical now.

Lulu hates the vet.

There isn't much changing on a day-to-day basis. If anything, she gets smart a little earlier every day in realizing that we're headed to the vet. At first she was excited to get in the car, to get out of the car, to go into the vet and freaks out at the weigh machine. A few days later she was excited in the car and changes her mood as soon as she recognizes the vet parking lot. Now she won't even get out of bed in the morning.

The saddest part of all is dragging her into the radiation room every morning, with all four of her paws pushing against the floor. :(

Radiation Therapy: Week One

Lulu has completed her first week of radiation therapy and so far all is going well. They've shaved the parts of her muzzle and shoulder that need the treatment and drew a grid to help focus the radiation gun. I couldn't do anything but laugh when I picked her up -- she looked like an intense football fan that painted her team's colors on her face. :P She also had a hot pink bandage around one leg (for IV) but she chewed that off in about 2 minutes.

I am not allowed to give her a bath for these 4 weeks so I guess she'll look like graph paper the entire summer. :) The side effects (hair loss, skin rashes) don't start until the 3rd or 4th week in so the next couple weeks should stay easy.

Lulu's surgery site is drying up pretty well. They haven't removed the stitches yet but you can barely see the scar now that her fur is growing back in. You can see that her skin is rashing up on some parts that were shaved though -- she's always had sensitive skin and had past rashes from the groomer shaving too close. :(

Overall she is eating, drinking, sleeping normal. The only change is she seems to be a little lazier in the afternoons, but a quick trip to the "dog park!" usually fixes that.