Just When You Think You’ve Got This Thing Licked

*UPDATE* I’ve called VIMP. Mina won’t eat the baby food, either. I just had a nice, fat panic attack during which Mina got a large piece of my mind. I gave her a Mirtazipine that I have left over from last time she refused to eat. I can’t find a way to handle this and I’m not going to apologize.

Mina isn’t eating her chicken or beef – at all. I can’t coax her into it any longer. She ate a little oatmeal this morning but that’s all. She’s hungry, too, but nothing tastes good to her. This is the one aspect of the chemo that no one seems to know how to conquer.

So, in about 15 minutes I’m leaving to clean out Safeway’s shelves of little jars of organic baby food. It’s not ideal but she likes it and I’m hoping this aversion to her “regular” food is temporary because of the doxorubicin. I’m going to cook the chickens and cows I have in the fridge today and freeze them for next week – rest week.

Colleen said something that totally opened my eyes: “Try and stay calm and don’t stress her out trying to feed her … T won’t eat if she thinks you’re desperate for her to do so.”

Therefore, I shall dump little jars of baby food into her dish later on and let her discover it on her own. She’s going to post a weight loss this week and that worries me only because of her vets’ proclivity to declare a weight loss as HIDDEN CANCER OF DOOM. I don’t need them going all Grim Reaper on me again.

s.

 

A Little Tummy Trouble

Mina continued to be sleepy and less interested in eating as the evening wore on yesterday. She did eat three good meals, two jars of organic baby food, and some liver treats, took three nice walks, but really wasn’t interested in moving much after 7 p.m. I offered to hand feed her around 8 p.m. and she obliged me with a few bites, then laid back down. When I sat beside her to rub her tummy I heard the gurgling noises and could even feel the gurgling. I’m not sure if it’s something she’s eating or if it’s related to the chemo treatment, but it’s always better by morning. The only new thing I’ve introduced to her is an organic, whole foods, iron-free daily vitamin. I give her half a tablet, which is half the daily human dose. Mina does occasionally suffer from IBS, but there’s next-to-no fiber in her diet right now as I’ve eliminated the brown rice.

This morning she ate quite a bit but I had to hand feed it all to her. I left a jar of baby food on the counter for her Aunties just in case, and tonight I’m Cooking for Mina. I’m getting some organic squash on my way home to cook and puree for her beef dish and if I can score some ground chicken from WFM, I’ll put some veggies in that, too. I don’t want to give her the Zofran until I see positive signs of nausea (drooling, changing positions frequently, not eating at all).

s.

 

Bad Tummy

Mina’s having tummy troubles today and diarrhea. I’ve given her Immodium and called PWEVC and her VIMP vet will call tomorrow. She’s eating but not as often as she did the past two days. It could be any number of things, really. Mina has a history of bad tummy including IBS (just like me – wonder where she got the anxiety from?) and she’s always been a puker. It could be the Keflex antibiotic, it could be the chicken which is high in fat, it could be all the damn drugs she’s taking (see the Drugs and Doses page for details), it could be the chemo, it could be the cancer.

I love her so much.

s.