So,
truth be told, I've been avoiding writing for a little while. The last
couple of weeks haven't been my best and I didn't want to needlessly worry my
friends and relations. But the reason that I started writing in the first
place was to help keep everyone up-to-date with the life and times of Little Bit
whether they be good times (mmm, Pop-Tarts) or bad (yuck, C/D kibble). So
here goes.
Turns out, being on CCNU is less fun than being on other chemotherapy agents. First off (and if you know me, you know this is a big one), it changes the way things taste. Back when I was on the hungry maker (prednisone), I had reached a "pleasantly plump" stage and I had topped out around 27.5 pounds. Fast forward to March 16, 2006 when I went to the Animal Care Clinic to have my blood work checked and I was down to 25.0 pounds. And I'm afraid that I'm down a bit from there. Fur and bones! And the problem isn't that I'm not hungry (most of the time at least) but rather that my food tastes like ashes to me. I used to love it. New can day was my favorite. Oh, and end of the can day. But now I can't gag the stuff down. And since I'm a bladder stone maker, I can't just eat any old kibble without trouble. Yesterday at least, was a turning point. The boss man finally got a supplement that will give me some of the benefits of eating C/D while eating tasty things instead. Yesterday I had beef bourguignon! Yeah Baby!!! I can't wait to see what he cooks up for me today!
Aside from the taste thing, the CCNU has been making be feel a bit queasy. Also not much fun. So what is a dog to do?
Fortunately my veterinarian Dr. Hathorn is looking out for me. She was very concerned that my liver enzymes were elevated and that I had lost so much weight since starting on CCNU. Well, she had recently been at a conference where she met another veterinary oncologist, this time working at her alma mater. Since she was also feeling that perhaps because the CCNU wasn't doing any better of a job with my lymphoma than the dactinomycin but with worse side effects (which seemed to be of small concern for to my oncologist), it was time for another opinion so she contacted this new oncologist. Well, as in so many other things in life, there are two opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes to treating dogs with lymphoma. Some say that we should be treated with the least effective dose of chemotherapy to maximize quality of life. Others think it should be attacked with a bit more force and which might make us feel a little worse during the treatment, that overall it will lead to a longer life with good quality after the treatment is over. From what I can gather, Dr. Harris is on one side while Dr. Higginbotham is on the other. To me, I think that perhaps having both perspectives can only be a good thing.
But for now, we wait. My last dose of CCNU has in fact caused a reduction in the size of my lymph nodes. It has also caused me some distress (I'll spare you the details, you can thank me later). In the next week or so my doctors will come up with a new plan of attack which will hopefully kill off this evil cancer once and for all. Die cancer! Die!
Have a great weekend!