A good week

Jazz has had a good week so far (touch wood). There's been no sign of diarrhoea, and on Wednesday he even jumped (and I mean in one go - none of that pathetic "can't quite manage it" scrambling) into the car. For the last two weeks or so I've been having to lift him into it.

He's been eating well, and had gained a kilo to be 23.25kg on Tuesday evening.

He has been getting us up at unpredictable times through the nights to go out though (despite being in a nappy), and his urine is quite clear, so I have a suspicion that the next crisis might be with his kidneys again unless we can manage to do something to avoid it.

He's going in for another Vincristine injection and drip today.

Much better today

Jazz is now pretty much back to normal, and even managed to produce some solid output while he was still at the vet's, but we have an emergency drip kit for the weekend away, just in case.

I also have some antibiotics to inject tomorrow and Monday, and we're booked a blood test for Tuesday evening, and next Vincristine for Friday in the hope we can gradually move his treatment so that he can be on the drip at home on Sundays, but with the blood test early enough that he can go in again next Thursday if necessary. Fiona's hoping the antibiotics will help to stretch it to Friday this week and Saturday next week.

Fingers crossed!

Some improvement

Jazz exploded on the way out to the car leaving the vet last night, but hasn't been since (except one outing at 5am for a wee). Fiona gave him a precautionary long-lasting anti-biotic injection yesterday, and he's had his Vincristine.

As far as prognosis is concerned, we're probably counting in weeks or possibly a small number of months before we lose him. It's difficult though, because although the diarrhoea is obviously quite tiring when he gets it, he doesn't appear distressed by it, and between times he's bright as a button ... although obviously less active than he used to be. And of course, he has this amazing capacity for bouncing back after apparently quite major setbacks, so it's going to be really difficult to decide when one of these is not going to be recoverable. It's going to be a rollercoaster ride for all of us (and Fiona includes herself in this), but ... we'll deal with that when we get there.

In the meantime, he's back at the vet today for his usual post-Vincristine drip. (As the cancer and diarrhoea are not being co-operative enough to manage to hang on so that we can push that out to weekends, he has to go in for this rather than have it at home, which we'd prefer.)

Looks like he'll be well enough for us to go away to Flyball at the Paws in the Park extravaganza at Canford, Dorset this weekend (well, tonight actually). It's possible that Vee (one of Lynn's customers) will be the vet on call there, so I've suggested that our emergency kit should contain a canula, giving set, drip, etc., but that we don't need to leave a canula in (which is something we were considering yesterday). If he needs it, I'll get the vet on call to insert it.

Fiona did also say she might include some more anti-biotic, and since I'm such a dab-hand at subcutaneous injections now, that might be better by injection than pill too - just to make sure it really does get into his system.

Rollercoaster

Jazz got diarrhoea again late last night, and was up every couple of hours during the night. Rang Fiona this morning, and she suggested bringing him in for the magic drip again to give his guts a rest. Also, if they can chase the blood test results through the lab quickly enough, he could have his next Vincristine today too.

Blood test

Back to the vet (Justin this morning, although it transpires I could have seen Fiona in Twyford ... hindsight is a wonderul thing!) for his pre-Vinscristine blood test.

Everything still looking good, and he's put a LITTLE bit of weight back on: 22.2kg

Getting better

Made a much more professional job of this morning's injection, and Jazz is eating like a horse and producing normal output :-)

Still OK but not eating much - and my first injection

Jazz had another fairly solid poo again early this morning. He didn't want breakfast though (half-and-half k/d and sensitivity control), but he did eat it later in the day.

I gave my first subcutaneous injection this morning. Took me a couple of goes to get it right, but I'm sure I'll improve with practice. Luckily, Jazz didn't seem to mind.

Things are looking up again

Jazz hasn't had any diarrhoea or vomiting while he's been at the vet's today. Also, when I went to collect him, Fiona said his gut's feeling much better too. She hasn't managed to speak to Gerry (the cancer specialist) yet - he was consulting when she called him, and she was operating when he called back.

Not surprinsingly, she's recommended that he goes back to weekly Vincristine, so we've booked him in for Friday morning, as we're due to be away at Paws in the Park next weekend, so we can do his post-treatment drip there.

Yesterday, Fiona had given Jazz an injection of Dexadreson steroid, on the basis that it was doubtful whether he was absorbing the oral Prednisolone. It was within an hour or two of this that he started to get visibly better, so she's given me some more, with some syringes to give him every other day in place of the Prednisolone. (I was due to get some more Prednisolone for him in any case.)

So, it's now down to whether the Vincristine can overcome the cancer in his gut (assuming that's what's been causing the diahhroea and vomiting), and whether his gut can recover enough to start absorbing food again. And of course, we have to get him eating enough too.

For the moment, he's still losing weight though - he was 21.85kg when I collected him. I've got some more of the tinned Sensitivity Control food for him, as that's what he seemed most inclined to eat yesterday.

Finally, by way of celebration, he produced a pretty solid poo on the way out to the car. Yippee!

A pretty good night

Jazz ate a reasonable amount of food last night - the Sensitivity Control tinned food by preference.

Andy slept downstairs with Jazz last night, and so far, so good. Jazz got him up a couple of times, but only for a wee (all those fluids). He's had a bit more to eat this morning, and still no more diarrhoea or vomiting.

He's going back in to be admitted for his drip today, as I'm at work and Andy's on a course, so no chance of doing it at home; besides, he may need their help today.

Not good news, but OK at home tonight

Jazz was still agitated for another couple of hours last night before he settled down for the night. He did eat some chicken though.

I slept downstairs with him and he got me up a couple of times in the night.

This morning he went in for his drip and Vincristine. I called and spoke to Fiona around 5pm and she said he's been quite bad today, with fairly frequent and watery diarrhoea again, the last time with blood in it. He also vomited up last night's chicken. He has been eating a bit through the day though. He's been quite subdued, and Fiona offered to keep him in overnight. She also said that unless the Vincristine helps, there's probably nothing else we can do about the problem with his gut (although she will check with Gerry for ideas), so if he doesn't improve we may have to consider putting him to sleep before too long.

I decided to go and see him and decide whether to bring him home when I got there.

When I arrived, he was in his own "room" and seemed much brighter than I was expecting, and pleased to see me, so I decided to bring him home for the night. So far, he's been quite quiet, but doesn't seem to be in any discomfort. I'd guess he's just exhausted from the diarrhoea. So far tonight we haven't seen any more of it though, so that's at least 4 hours since he last had to go. He's eaten some of the Sensitivity Control tinned food that they've been giving him at the vet's.

Feeling sorry for himself

Jazz seemed a little better yesterday, and ate OK (as long as I didn't "poison" his food with Canikur), but still had pretty loose diarrhoea. He's been getting us around 6am to go out though.

Today he seems to have been worse again, degenerating to liquid output. We went to see Fiona for his blood test anyway, and he threw up while we were there. She felt at his tummy and says his gut wall is feeling pretty thickened and solid. It seems that the lymphoma may have spread there. She'll check his blood as best she can in-house (both for general organ function and a best effort at the red and white cell count), and if the results are OK she thinks it's best if we bring forward his next Vincristine to tomorrow without waiting for the detailed lab analysis that she can't do there.

When we went out to the car, he was restless and didn't want to stay in it, but didn't need to be out of it either. On the way home, he pawed at the mat and at one point huddled in a most peculiar way, but I couldn't see quite what he was doing without stopping the car, and by the time I could stop, he'd stopped whatever it was that he was doing.

When we got home, I took him out to the garden, and he wandered around aimlessly for a while. He wouldn't settle, so we came indoors, and he kept wandering around indoors too for about half an hour, before insisting on going into his crate (even though I'd taken all the bedding out to wash it).

Fiona's just called to say his white cell count looks OK, his red cell count is a bit down (i.e. he's a bit anaemic), but that's been the case for a while now anyway. His kidney parameters have gone down a bit. That could be because he hasn't eaten today, or possibly because I've been trying him back on the puppy food for the cancer again. Fiona's now wondering whether the Metoclopramide injection she gave him may not have been such a good idea, because as well as acting on the vomiting centre in the brain, it also promotes gut action, but there's nothing for it to act on. Best thing for it is food and/or paracetamol, so will try half a tablet of soluble - whole if we can get it down him in a bit of cheese or something, or dissolved in as little water as possible and syringe it down his throat if necessary.

Anyway, we'll admit him tomorrow (and again on Friday, of course) for the Vincristine, and the drip will help his kidneys anyway.

Yet more diarrhoea

Jazz got me up at 3am to go out for a runny poo. He's eating a bit, but not much.

Getting better

Jazz is better again now - he started eating on Sunday.

Still not right

Jazz got me up at 6:00am for a wee, but didn't want a poo until about 7:45am - when his efforts were mostly unproductive and runny.

I have managed to persuade him to eat a bit of chicken, with powdered Canikur, but not a full dose yet.

I've been giving Jazz 1 Imodium tablet per day to keep the diarrhoea at bay. Yesterday, as he'd been pretty solid for a few days, and not wanting to bung him up, I skipped a day.

This morning, he had his Imodium again (as he's due for Vincristine on Monday), plus his Prednisolone and Leukeran. Andy and Lizzie were with him in the garden for a while around midday, and he'd been eating a bit of grass. Then Andy took Lizzie home, and when he came back about an hour and a quarter later, Jazz had had liquid diarrhoea in his crate. Around 3:30 he vomited a couple of times - producing totally undigested chicken, noodles and K/D from breakfast, plus grass.

Called the vet for advice on what drugs to give him from the collection I have available . As it happened, Fiona's on call today. She suggested that I try to get some Canikur into him (kaolin and electrolytes), and I also went to collect some vials of metoclopramide and tagamet in case he continues to vomit (particluarly as we're off to Southampton for Grandad's 90th birthday party tomorrow). She's also topped up the Canikur, and has given me some Lectade electrolyte powder to put in his water to counter the effects of the diarrhoea.

He's now eaten a bit of cooked chicken and had some more Imodium too, plus a dose of Canikur (which took some persuasion - with or without Mars bar!).