Hardee sneezes quite a bit, a symptom of the tumor, but today he had a sneezing fit that went on and on and on. He sneezed well over 50 times. As I followed him around trying to wipe up what was coming out of his nose with each sneeze, I called Jim so he could hear what was going on. I tried to play with Hardee and distract him with a toy to see if I could stop the sneezing to no avail.
Usually this type of sneezing would set off a bleed, so I felt like I was holding my breath for quite some time waiting to see if the blood would come. It never did, thank goodness, but the nasal discharge being sneezed out was blood tinged.
As the day progressed, HH kept crinkling up his nose and lifting his lip like he was going to sneeze again, but the sneeze never came. Something inside his nose is bothering him, and he's been rubbing his face, both sides, on the sofa edge. I don't know what to think of this. He has settled down this evening, finally.
This increased sneezing accompanied by the increased nasal discharge has me distressed. It is still all about joy and all about Hardee, just accompanied with more worry than usual. Please, keep the faith for us.
Handsome Hardee
We are a patriotic family!
Face of Courage
Face of courage
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tues., Mar. 29, 2011 - Nose drainage
Since last Thursday, Hardee's nose has been draining more than usual. It is very worrisome to me, making it very hard to sleep, concentrate, and not freak out about it. Just yesterday I started to see the drainage slow down just a little, I think, or maybe it is just that I hope it is.
The drainage is mostly thin and watery (serous), and just pours out. Sometimes it is thicker and hangs like strings out of his nose. It is most often clear but blood tinged. When it is thicker, it is tan or yellowish, and sometimes blood tinged. If it were the thick tan color all the time (mucoid), I would say it was an infection and get him on antibiotics, but I'm just not sure. I can tell the drainage goes down the back of his throat because there is a lot of gurgling, choking, gagging, and coughing, while trying to clear his throat so he can breathe.
The last couple of days I've been reading some blogs about dogs with nasal cancer, and these dogs have already passed to the rainbow bridge. The nose drainage increase was never a good sign for them, so this is very distressing to me. Hardee's nose usually drains, just not this much.
Next Tuesday is chemo again, so I will ask Dr O about the drainage, again, but he just keeps telling me that it is normal for nasal cancer. Maybe it means that the new chemo we tried last time is working to kill the tumor, and the drainage is just the dead tumor sloughing off. A girl can dream and hope, can't she?
I took Hardee to the base vet last week for a fecal and heart worm test for his therapy dog renewal. Even though he isn't doing therapy work right now, I want to keep his certification current, if possible. They would have to accept his rabies exemption that Dr O wrote for me, so we'll see. I also talked to the base vet about trying to get some of Hardee's meds there trying to save a little money. Some of his meds they carry, and I can get them there. Why didn't I think about this 8 months ago? We are well over $40,000.00 now, so any little bit of savings helps! That 40 grand does not include all the travel expenses, like hotels, gas and food. The little bubs is worth it though.
Keep the hope for Hardee with me. We are doing all that love can do. Until then, it is all about joy and all about Hardee. You know we wouldn't have it any other way.
The drainage is mostly thin and watery (serous), and just pours out. Sometimes it is thicker and hangs like strings out of his nose. It is most often clear but blood tinged. When it is thicker, it is tan or yellowish, and sometimes blood tinged. If it were the thick tan color all the time (mucoid), I would say it was an infection and get him on antibiotics, but I'm just not sure. I can tell the drainage goes down the back of his throat because there is a lot of gurgling, choking, gagging, and coughing, while trying to clear his throat so he can breathe.
The last couple of days I've been reading some blogs about dogs with nasal cancer, and these dogs have already passed to the rainbow bridge. The nose drainage increase was never a good sign for them, so this is very distressing to me. Hardee's nose usually drains, just not this much.
Next Tuesday is chemo again, so I will ask Dr O about the drainage, again, but he just keeps telling me that it is normal for nasal cancer. Maybe it means that the new chemo we tried last time is working to kill the tumor, and the drainage is just the dead tumor sloughing off. A girl can dream and hope, can't she?
I took Hardee to the base vet last week for a fecal and heart worm test for his therapy dog renewal. Even though he isn't doing therapy work right now, I want to keep his certification current, if possible. They would have to accept his rabies exemption that Dr O wrote for me, so we'll see. I also talked to the base vet about trying to get some of Hardee's meds there trying to save a little money. Some of his meds they carry, and I can get them there. Why didn't I think about this 8 months ago? We are well over $40,000.00 now, so any little bit of savings helps! That 40 grand does not include all the travel expenses, like hotels, gas and food. The little bubs is worth it though.
Keep the hope for Hardee with me. We are doing all that love can do. Until then, it is all about joy and all about Hardee. You know we wouldn't have it any other way.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Mon., Mar. 21, 2011 - Hardee's new blog picture
I added a new picture of Hardee to the blog last night. The picture was taken back in January at an agility trial, and I just love it.
The picture was taken by Susan Rennie of Faces Of Dogs. Susan was attending the agility trial taking some pictures, and she asked if she could photograph Hardee. Here is a link to her website. http://facesofdog.com
Hardee has his own chair that he gets to sit in at trials, like the prince he is. Since we are a patriotic family, Hardee's chair is a flag chair. He was sitting in his chair when the picture was taken, and I love that you can see the stars and stripes in the background of the picture.
When Hardee went through radiation back in Aug. 2010, he lost the hair on his face, muzzle, and the top of his head. Some of the hair grew back; some didn't. Most of what did grow back, grew back white instead of brown. There is also a spot on his lower right eyelid that lost pigment when they had to radiate some of his right eye. His nose is now crusty, hardened, and a different color than before radiation, but we don't care. We love all his new parts, and we still think he is handsome.
We think of the changes that have occured to Hardee, since chemo and radiation have run their course, as his battle scars or his war wounds. He has earned a purple heart in our opinion. He has fought hard to continue to live, and we have fought even harder to keep him with us and maintain a good quality of life for him. It is the face of courage that you see now when you look at him, which is what I titled the picture....face of courage.
Here's to Hardee, our courageous little bubs. Keep the good fight my boy, as long as you can. We are so proud of you, and so happy you are ours. As always, it is all about joy and all about Hardee.
P.S.- There have been no side effects from Hardee's new chemo drug that we tried a week ago, but I have kept him on all of his side effect drugs. And, a small brag here....Hardee has moved up in the agility rankings and is now ranked the #4 dog of all the Portuguese Water Dogs in agility for the AKC Agility Invitational for 2011. We are thrilled and oh so proud of him!
The picture was taken by Susan Rennie of Faces Of Dogs. Susan was attending the agility trial taking some pictures, and she asked if she could photograph Hardee. Here is a link to her website. http://facesofdog.com
Hardee has his own chair that he gets to sit in at trials, like the prince he is. Since we are a patriotic family, Hardee's chair is a flag chair. He was sitting in his chair when the picture was taken, and I love that you can see the stars and stripes in the background of the picture.
When Hardee went through radiation back in Aug. 2010, he lost the hair on his face, muzzle, and the top of his head. Some of the hair grew back; some didn't. Most of what did grow back, grew back white instead of brown. There is also a spot on his lower right eyelid that lost pigment when they had to radiate some of his right eye. His nose is now crusty, hardened, and a different color than before radiation, but we don't care. We love all his new parts, and we still think he is handsome.
We think of the changes that have occured to Hardee, since chemo and radiation have run their course, as his battle scars or his war wounds. He has earned a purple heart in our opinion. He has fought hard to continue to live, and we have fought even harder to keep him with us and maintain a good quality of life for him. It is the face of courage that you see now when you look at him, which is what I titled the picture....face of courage.
Here's to Hardee, our courageous little bubs. Keep the good fight my boy, as long as you can. We are so proud of you, and so happy you are ours. As always, it is all about joy and all about Hardee.
P.S.- There have been no side effects from Hardee's new chemo drug that we tried a week ago, but I have kept him on all of his side effect drugs. And, a small brag here....Hardee has moved up in the agility rankings and is now ranked the #4 dog of all the Portuguese Water Dogs in agility for the AKC Agility Invitational for 2011. We are thrilled and oh so proud of him!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Wed., March 16, 2011 - Hardee's birthday
On Saturday, March 12th, our sweet boy turned 6. It was one of the most memorable days of my life. Sounds corny, I know, but it was. Hardee means the whole world to us, and it was such a wonderful day.
Jim had to work out of town for HH's birthday, so we arranged for a friend to run Hardee in agility for the weekend. We wanted Hardee to be able to do one of his favorite sports on his special day. We didn't care if they qualified or not, just that HH got to run and have fun. Susan and Hardee have never practiced together before, but they still managed to qualify in 2 runs! It was fabulous! It proves again how much Hardee loves agility, that he will run for the joy of running with anyone, though he does really love Susan. She has the best treats! We are so appreciative of Susan, and the fondness she has for our boy.
And just in case that wasn't enough greatness for one day, Susan also threw Hardee a surprise birthday party. There were decorations adorning our set-up at agility, birthday plates, napkins, and tablecloth (which I kept as momentos), lunch, dessert, dog party favors, dog treats, presents and cards for Hardee, and best yet, friends and their PWDs. It caught me off guard, and it truly was a surprise. It was so very nice, and it sent me into the ugly cry the whole drive back to the hotel, which was about 70 miles away.
On Monday, Hardee had to go for chemo. His original appointment was for last Thursday, but I didn't want him to get chemo before his birthday. We tried a different chemo this time, Mitoxantrone. It is a replacement for doxorubicin, the bad chemo. Usually the side effects are minimal with most dogs, they say, so we aren't expecting any side effects as long as I keep HH on all his anti-side effect meds. So far, so good. We spent an extra night in SoCal just in case before we headed home.
Hardee's hair is starting to grow back....well, some of it. Most of his brown is growing back in, as is the white on his belly. The white on his neck and chest is still missing though, except for one small patch of white on his chest that he never lost. His brown hair is darker brown now. I don't know if that is a color change from chemo or the fact that the white hairs intermixed with the brown have fallen out with his loss of white hair. Either way, he is still our handsome boy.
He still sneezes, both eyes water and drain, and both sides of his nose drain now, though it mostly drains from his right side. He's been having problems with his allergies lately. It is that time of year, and he has no hair on parts of his body to protect him from the allergens, so he is really itchy right now. I've started him back on the Claritin to help a little with his allergies.
No matter what Hardee has been through, he is still our happy, handsome boy, thus the HHH now or H3. We would like to add a fourth H, for healthy, and we are still fighting for that. Odds are not in our favor though, nor is the oncologists prognosis of not curable, but we fight on. We don't know any other way. Our boy deserves every chance we can give him, as long as his quality of life is still there. Keep your fingers and paws crossed for us, your positive vibes coming our way, and/or your prayers. We'll need them. We would sure love to celebrate a 7th birthday with him.
Thank you, all, who attended Hardee's party and made our day so wonderful. A special thank you to Susan for giving us such a memorable weekend. We had a fabulous time with loads of fun. You all mean the world to us!
As usual, it is all about joy and all about Hardee!
Jim had to work out of town for HH's birthday, so we arranged for a friend to run Hardee in agility for the weekend. We wanted Hardee to be able to do one of his favorite sports on his special day. We didn't care if they qualified or not, just that HH got to run and have fun. Susan and Hardee have never practiced together before, but they still managed to qualify in 2 runs! It was fabulous! It proves again how much Hardee loves agility, that he will run for the joy of running with anyone, though he does really love Susan. She has the best treats! We are so appreciative of Susan, and the fondness she has for our boy.
And just in case that wasn't enough greatness for one day, Susan also threw Hardee a surprise birthday party. There were decorations adorning our set-up at agility, birthday plates, napkins, and tablecloth (which I kept as momentos), lunch, dessert, dog party favors, dog treats, presents and cards for Hardee, and best yet, friends and their PWDs. It caught me off guard, and it truly was a surprise. It was so very nice, and it sent me into the ugly cry the whole drive back to the hotel, which was about 70 miles away.
On Monday, Hardee had to go for chemo. His original appointment was for last Thursday, but I didn't want him to get chemo before his birthday. We tried a different chemo this time, Mitoxantrone. It is a replacement for doxorubicin, the bad chemo. Usually the side effects are minimal with most dogs, they say, so we aren't expecting any side effects as long as I keep HH on all his anti-side effect meds. So far, so good. We spent an extra night in SoCal just in case before we headed home.
Hardee's hair is starting to grow back....well, some of it. Most of his brown is growing back in, as is the white on his belly. The white on his neck and chest is still missing though, except for one small patch of white on his chest that he never lost. His brown hair is darker brown now. I don't know if that is a color change from chemo or the fact that the white hairs intermixed with the brown have fallen out with his loss of white hair. Either way, he is still our handsome boy.
He still sneezes, both eyes water and drain, and both sides of his nose drain now, though it mostly drains from his right side. He's been having problems with his allergies lately. It is that time of year, and he has no hair on parts of his body to protect him from the allergens, so he is really itchy right now. I've started him back on the Claritin to help a little with his allergies.
No matter what Hardee has been through, he is still our happy, handsome boy, thus the HHH now or H3. We would like to add a fourth H, for healthy, and we are still fighting for that. Odds are not in our favor though, nor is the oncologists prognosis of not curable, but we fight on. We don't know any other way. Our boy deserves every chance we can give him, as long as his quality of life is still there. Keep your fingers and paws crossed for us, your positive vibes coming our way, and/or your prayers. We'll need them. We would sure love to celebrate a 7th birthday with him.
Thank you, all, who attended Hardee's party and made our day so wonderful. A special thank you to Susan for giving us such a memorable weekend. We had a fabulous time with loads of fun. You all mean the world to us!
As usual, it is all about joy and all about Hardee!
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