About to go back on the chemo

Fiona has now spoken to Gerry (the cancer specialist), who recommended putting Jazz back on the chemo ASAP, resuming with the same regime (i.e. Vincristine, Leukeran and Prednisolone). None of the drugs have any known detrimental effect on the kidneys (if anything, they can affect the liver), but we do need to make sure he's getting fluids through him to force the kidneys to keep doing some work, rather than getting "clogged up". Meanwhile, we've stopped the antibiotics and potassium supplements. (For the first time in ages, he's not taking any drugs at all!)

Jazz's skin and coat have taken a turn for the worse since he's been off the chemo (or possibly since he's been ON the kidney-friendly diet). Before, his coat looked really healthy and glossy, but now it looks dull, and his skin is flaky (the poor boy looks as though he has dandruff).

However, his bladder has definitely been better in the last couple of weeks. In the last couple of weeks he's made it through the night with a dry nappy almost every night. In the last couple of days though, we've had one accident when we went out for 3-4 hours and forgot to put a nappy on him, and the night before that he didn't make it through the night and the nappy got used. He's also had a bit of diarrhoea in the last few days.

During the last week or two (barring the last couple of days), he's been very bouncy - the best we've seen him for months.

When Fiona examined him, she found that his lymph nodes were slightly enlarged again, so that definitely means we put him back on the chemo. The lymphoma could be the cause of (or contributory to) the bowel problems. He's also started "stress panting" again just recently, which we haven't noticed for a while. Fiona's theory was that this was to do with pain in his bladder. I suppose this could still be true if he's struggling a bit more to hold it. His urine is very yellow - this is both good and bad news - good because it shows his kidneys are doing something, and bad because it confirms he's not really drinking enough.

So, we'll be going in for another Vincristine injection on Monday morning. To try to make sure it doesn't knock his kidneys for 6, we'll also have him on a drip for a few hours to make sure we get some fluids through him. The plan is that I'll take him in and stay with him while they put the canula in, then I'll leave him there and he'll half half an hour of fluids, then the Vincristine and then another couple of hours or so of more fluids, and I'll collect him after that. Also, the Prednisolone should make him thirsty, which is good under the circumstances.

Fiona has taken blood samples (to check the kidney function and - I think - histology re the lymphoma). She's also taken a urine sample ... or to be more accurate, one of the nurses did when we left the building ;-)

He weighed 24.25kg at this visit.