Tues., Aug. 31, 2010 - Color of the day

Purple is still the color of the day and the color of Hardee's tongue.  Also, his nose and lips have taken on a dark gray hue instead of his normal brown.  Dr Proulx doesn't have an explanation for it.  I asked him if he thought that it meant his tongue got radiation also.  He said that it shouldn't have and that it was separated from his hard palate by the endotracheal tube but that it could have gotten a little.  I asked him if he thought that meant that HH's tongue would now get the ulcers like the palate, but he doesn't know. 

I have to keep reminding myself that Hardee is kind of a test patient.  He's only the third dog to have gamma knife radiation done outside of New York, and I don't know how many have been done back there but very few, I think.  Mostly, this radiation has been used for brain tumors which is more common than nasal tumors.

Dr. Proulx was concerned about the purple color thinking that H was becoming cyanotic (lack of oxygen), as was I when I first saw the color.  I checked his gums right away and they were pink and still are, so he is definitely oxygenating.  I did start his pain pills yesterday because I think his face area is hurting him enough to warrant pain control.  No ulcers yet, and HH is eating and drinking normally.  He sneezes quite a bit, and I've been seeing a little bit of infection draining from his nose for a few days now, but very little.  He did sneeze something out at our obedience appointment this morning.

Trying to regain some sort of normalcy to our lives, I called our obedience instructor and asked if our spot was still open.  We haven't been to our lesson for almost a month now until this morning.  I didn't know what Hardee would feel up to doing, so we just played it by his response.  He was delighted to be working again.  We started with his dumbbell retrieve because that's what I started having problems with before we had a diagnosis.  He went immediately out when I sent him and retrieved his dumbbell but came back and threw it at my feet.  I had him pick it up and he mouthed it the whole time he was waiting for me to take it from him, but I was okay with that because I still think his mouth is hurting even with the pain control.  He did better retrieving his dumbbell over the high jump.  The other thing that I started having problems with before his diagnosis was his long sit stay which he had always been very steady on.  He kept busting it, and laying down as soon as I would put him back into a sit.  He did it this morning also 3 times.  I think he gets tired very quickly, so just lays down.  I shortened the time that is required for him to stay sitting.

Everything that Hardee did this morning at our lesson brought such joy to my heart, and he was so happy to be working again.  And as you all know, it is all about joy and all about Hardee!!