Copper's Vet Visit -- June 22, 2007

Copper had a very good chemo visit today. We were informed that he is back in remission! This is very good. He will continue his chemo visits, and we hope he stays in remission for a long time! Our goal is 9 months!

Copper's Vet Visit -- June 15, 2007

Today Copper had an appointment to get checked over. They gave him a rest between chemo treatments because he had not been responding to the medications. However, the one he had last week did work, and the bump on his nose is a lot smaller, as is the lymphnode on the side of his jaw.

However, Copper has a very low blood platelet count. platelets are responsible for sealing any leaks in the blood vessels. When platelet counts are low, spontaneous bleeding can occur. Low platelet counts indicate bleeding or excessive destruction of platelets caused by parasites or immune diseases. The vet is very concerned about this for if he hurts himself, he spontaneous bleeding could occur. He is not allowed to go to the dog park and must watch what he does. The vet doesn't want him doing anything that could hurt him. Good thing I have ramps around the house. She said we'd look at them again next week. Hopefully the platelet count will fix itself on its own. She told me that they cannot add platelets to his blood.

Other than that, Copper is doing very well. He got to eat some chicken McNuggets on the way home from the vet visit, and as always, while he was at the hospital, he charmed everyone in the waiting room.

Copper might have been ill today

I think it is sad that bassets cannot speak English. This morning about 3:30 am he got up and started roaming around the house. He'd come get on the bed and bug me. He did this all morning. He finally took a nap around 8am. Tonight he is back to normal. the chemo drug he had this week was one that has made him ill in the past, so perhaps he had a little tummy upset today. Hopefully he will sleep well tonight and feel better tomorrow.
On the positive side, the lymphnode on the side of his jaw has gone way down. This is very good news!

Need to start updating the blog

I've been very bad at not updating Copper's blog. I'll be better from now on! I have to gather his current medical bills, so I can't post them yet, but I can give a very good update of his progress.
Copper started Chemo again 3 weeks ago. He went through two weeks of chemo and seemed to be doing well on it. Then on Thursday night, the lymphnode on the right side of his jaw grew, as did the bump on his nose. The oncologist said that it appears the treatment was not working. She told me that it is common for dogs to become resistant to certain Chemo drugs. She gave me 2 options:
1. try the Chemo drug that made him ill last time -- it is a very good drug, but he did have a reaction to it. The hope would be that this drug would throw him into remission (or close to it)
2. Start a rescue treatment with oral Chemo drugs -- this would control the spread of cancer, not reduce it.

I chose to take the more aggressive approach. I felt that I'd be able to handle it if he became ill, and the vets gave me some anti-nausea drugs. These drugs did work last time, but I don't think we got started on them soon enough. Hopefully he won't become ill.

So far this drug is working though. The lymphnode by his jaw has gone way down, and the bump on his head looks smaller. Of course, now I think that that bump bassets have at the back of their head is growing, but that could be my imagination. I'm going to take a picture of his head and compare it to other pictures I have of him.
He has also not become ill yet. He received the drug 2 days ago. If he does not become ill by tomorrow, the chances are he will not. This would be wonderful!

The oncologist also took Copper off of the prednisone. That drug makes him so hungry he cannot think of anything else. he just follows everyone around with his nose up in the air and his mouth open (like a baby bird). We decided it was best to stop this drug because while it was helping, it was just bothering him too much.

This next week Copper will go back to the oncologist for a check up. He won't get another Chemo drug until next week.