Treatment 4: December 16

I failed to mention in my earlier post about how Emmie did with the Lomustine Pills. She was now ready for her second dose and let me start by saying I was not looking forward to it. Both types of chemo seem to make Emmie sleep more than normal. These pills, however, make her not want to get up for food and once she is up she won’t eat. As always we have a CBC one week after chemo to make sure her bloodwork looks good. Each time she has taken these pills she has a significant drop in her white blood cell counts. One of the scary & potentially fatal side effects of these drugs is that it can cause bone marrow suppression which can open the door up for infection. The weekly dose of antibiotics seemed to do the trick and prior to the next treatment her levels were back to normal.

In order to keep Emmie from losing too much more weight we tried a few different things. First I resorted to feeding her out of my hand. This seemed to work but wasn’t sustainable, especially when I had to get to work at a reasonable time. It also didn’t get her to eat the full amount at each feeding time. Anyone that has a beagle knows that they will do almost anything for food. In order to get her more excited about what she was eating, we resorted to giving her a little people food. I promise I didn’t start giving her steak or Christmas Cookies (those were mine). Instead we started adding some beef broth to her dog food and this made her scarf it all up. She still was slow to get to the food bowl but once she was there at least she was eating.

Dear Santa,

I have been a good girl this year. Please make me strong and my chemo effective. I'd like treats and to be let up on the couch.

P.S. I don't think I need to mention that Cancer should be on your naughty list FOREVER.

Love, Emmie