Fri., June 17, 2011 - Letting Hardee swim and other updates

A week ago today, Hardee had a reaction to chemo, at day 4 after chemo.  It was a small reaction compared to other reactions he's had, but still it caught me off guard.  He's had this chemo numerous times with no reaction, and he was compliant with all his anti-nausea meds.  It only lasted about 24 hours, but still there was tons of nausea (drooling), and some vomiting.  By Sat. afternoon he was better, but he still had the bloody nose that he had gotten on Monday.  Hardee's nose continued to bleed off and on until this Wednesday, almost a week and a half from when it started.

On Tuesday morning, Hardee didn't greet me in the morning and didn't want to get off his chair.  He also didn't want to eat, which immediately tells me that something is wrong.  After a couple hours, I coaxed him up and got him to eat, but he was lethargic and listless.  I started Hardee on antibiotics just in case his white blood cells (WBCs) were low.  I finally got a hold Dr. P. around noon, and he said to take him into my closest emergency room.

At the ER, they ran a complete blood chemistry, and everything looked good except that Hardee's white cells and his lymphocytes were low. Hardee's had low WBCs before, and it has never affected him like this.  Neither the ER vet nor I thought that the low WBCs were enough to cause the malaise in Hardee, so we proceeded with an abdominal ultrasound.  Luckily, the ultrasound came back clear, but we still don't know what was going on.  He is better now on the antibiotics, so maybe it was the low WBCs and low lymphocytes.

By Thursday, Hardee was feeling so good that he was begging to go swimming.  I haven't let him in the pool since his diagnosis of cancer that I can remember.  Hardee's been asking to go in the pool for months, and I haven't had the courage to let him.  I've been petrified about what the chlorinated water might do to the tumor.  I finally had to overcome my fear, and Thursday night Hardee went swimming.  At first my rule was no jumping off the side because of water possibly being pushed up his nose.  That rule lasted about 15 minutes, and I relented on that to.  It is hard to say no to him when he is having so much fun!  You know, quality of life for the little Bubs......

It is now Thursday, June 22, and I wrote this last week.  Just haven't posted it yet.  Stay with me as I write another update and post this one now.  It is still all about joy and all about Hardee!