Thurs., Feb. 16, 2012 - New antibiotic

I'm late, as usual, but I hope everyone got to spend time with their loved ones at some point during Valentine's Day and that it was happy.

We celebrated our day by starting Hardee on a new antibiotic to see if we could get the bad smell coming from his mouth under control.  Previous to Tuesday, Hardee was on Baytril and Amoxicillin.  We added in the Amoxicillin almost 2 weeks ago, and it never seemed to make any difference in the smell.  In fact, the smell was getting worse.  On the advice of someone who emailed me, I researched Clindamycin and decided that would be a good antibiotic to try.  I talked to a Vet about it, and the script was called in.  By this morning (2 days later), the smell was so much better!  Thank you so much to the person who emailed me with the suggestion, and to my "go to Vet" who always finds the time to help me out!

Last weekend Hardee ran agility again.  Jim and HH got two double Qs and placed in the ribbons each time.  Hardee continues to love agility, and Jim continues to love to run with HH.

Though we wish like hell it wasn't, the cancer is progressing in Hardee's mouth.  He continues to eat and drink well, but doesn't really chew much anymore on his right side.  We have increased HH's pain pills and lessened the duration between doses, again.  Hardee still has a good quality of life though, and still lives with much joy.  We will continue to let HH dictate his path with us. 

As always, it is all about joy and all about Hardee.  Please keep him in your thoughts for pain free days.

Wed., Feb. 8, 2012 - Keep on keeping on

Hardee continues to endure. 

We got a look inside HH's mouth yesterday and the fistula is bigger since we first found it 2 weeks ago, but we expected it to continue to grow.  Hardee continues to eat and drink just fine, though a bit slower than previously.  We switched him over to a dehydrated food that I add water to so he can just lap it up with no chewing involved.  Jim cuts the dehydrated meat into small bits, and I crumble a hard boiled egg into his food with each meal for extra protein.  Still, the pieces are small enough that they require no chewing.

Hardee has been on the strong antibiotic, Baytril, for well over a month now, and we added another antibiotic, Amoxicillin, a week ago trying to clear up the smell coming from his mouth.  It hasn't helped, so I'm debating whether to discontinue the Amoxicillin for now.  HH is pretty stuffy and snotty right now, and all our dry desert air doesn't help him.

Last weekend we had the Southern California Portuguese Water Dog Club's agility trial that we attended.  Hardee ran and did well.  He qualified in 5 of his 6 runs, and the one run HH didn't qualify in was totally his handler's fault.  Hardee continues to love agility, and it brings us such joy to see him happy.  At the trial, we also got to visit with other club members that we don't see very often, so it was a very enjoyable weekend.

Currently, Hardee is in his recliner (the recliner used to be Jim's) grumbling and now barking at me to get up and tuck his blankie under his chin so he has something to prop his head upon.  HH is still very demanding, and we take that as a good sign of life.

As always, it is still all about joy and all about Hardee.  Keep your fingers and paws crossed for us that it continues this way for quite some time.