Mina perked up quite a bit by the time I got home yesterday afternoon. Everyone must’ve left town because it took forever to get out of the District and another forever to get home – an extra half hour.
I bought eight jars of baby food on my way home, mostly organic, and so far she’s eaten four of them and completely rejected the butternut squash/apple combo. If it didn’t contain gelatin (which might contain the bodies of dogs and cats euthanized at kill shelters) I might’ve eaten it myself. Maybe she can smell something in it that I can’t?
This morning she ate a small portion of brown rice, almost a full jar of organic chicken-with-vegetables baby food, and only a couple of spoonsful of vanilla yogurt. I’ll just feed her these small quantities throughout the day and see how it goes. She’s taking the metoclopramide (for nausea and vomiting) three times a day now and I plan to continue that until she’s back on her Chow Now, which may not be until next week.
Yesterday evening we went outside for a potty break and she stopped at my neighbor Joann’s door and sniffed. I thought she might like to see her friend, Turk, who’s Joann’s elderly chocolate lab. Turk was very excited to have Mina as a guest, perhaps a bit too excited because he bumped into her bad leg a couple of times and got a snarl and a growl in return. Mina was wary of him after that and you could see that Turk’s feelings were wounded.
Speaking of that leg, it’s time to get a firmer brace for it. There’s no cartilage left in her right carpus and it’s bowed out and her foot faces inward when she walks. It’s gotta hurt and that’s why she takes 50 mg. of Tramadol twice a day. I’m going to photograph her crooked leg today and send it to dogleggs.com, where we got the original brace, and see if they can come up with something sturdier for her.
Today, I’m working from home because, according to her other caregivers, she really doesn’t eat that much for them and I want to get some food into her. I know she’s going to lose weight this week but I’d like her not to lose the entire two pounds she gained over the last week or so.
Overall, I’m handling this round of chemo side effects much better than I handled the Vincristine side effects. I honestly believe that switching Mina’s chemo day to Tuesday so she can see Drs. Birnbaum and Smith has helped me a lot. I’m less anxious and more hopeful about this process than in the beginning and that helps Mina, too.
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It's OK to Talk About the Cancer 