Wonder dog still is wonderful

Tika's rally continues, she's eating well, very much into being a part of the family. Ornery and sassy. Her diarrhea cleared up (YEP! more poopie talk)

I couldn't be happier.

In the process of fussing over Tika, I've not been paying attention to the warning signs of Caya's skin problems and she is having another flare up. I need to get her bathed with her medicated shampoo.

She doesn't like having a bath. So I keep putting off, shame on me.

End of Life care

Tika has rallied, and brought great joy to our hearts.

We found some things that she'll eat so she's getting a calorie count in her.

I give her a SubQ injection of Metcam everyday, that seems to keep the fever under control.

She also has Pepcid if she needs it.

We got to go for a walk and let them roam off leash, that dog does so much humble me.

So, we take each day as it comes, alway monitoring to make sure Tika is happy and comfortable. Dreading the days coming when things start degrading with her help.

But, we were able to buy time right now after we though we were losing her last week. That's more precious than anything.

Her Highness Calls

Okay, I'm not denying that she is sick and also dying, but man, what a BRAT.

Of course that being said, I couldn't be more overjoyed in her brattiness.

I swear if milady had a little silver bell she'd be ringing it. Please dahling, more water, more food, more treats.

Now that her appetite is returning, I'm trying to get her back on regular food, she ate some today, but the faces and theatrics? OMG!

I mean, really, we don't expect princess to just eat plain old kibble do we?

Hospice Care

Or should it be Pawspice? That's pretty much all we have left at this point.

The vet could find no indication of infection, however her lung mets have definitely grown. Tika did have a fever, so we gave her a dose of antibiotics.

Thankfully, we've ruled out all parasites or infections and her blood oxygen is an amazing 98%. The vet thinks is the crap cancerous tumors dump into her system that is causing the fever and the general malaise.

Huh, my dog is dying of cancer and she don't feel good, who woulda thunk?

We started her on injectable Metacam, subcutaneously given. That will give her comfort. I will be able to do this at home. After 2 years of fluids on my kitty, this tiny needle on this big dog seems like nothing.

She's also taking Pepcid.

We did find the magic bullet on food. Cesar's Softies--just a regular run of the mill treat. So we are getting calories in her.

Yesterday was a good day, we went for a car ride and walk and she did really good. That night, she not only ate the treats, but she had eaten a burger dad made for her and some luncheon meat and cheese. I was so excited.

But today, she's back to just Cesar treats and her dog cookies. Brat. But she's chipper and a lot more mobile, so I'm not going to complain.

All in all, I think we only have a few more weeks with her. But now it's not a run away train, and we know we are making her comfortable.

Tim started talking about Palladia again. I hid the pills, and he knows it. They aren't going to save her, and I think they were making her feel crappy.

Sleepless nights

I am usually crashing out by 9pm now. I sleep about 3-4 hours before the nightmares begin.

They are usually very weird and disjointed, and I can't remember when I wake.

Then I lay there thinking, is Tika still alive? Is she in pain? And I'm afraid of getting up for fear that she may have passed away.

I finally get up and check on her, and she's been okay. But usually it takes me another hour to try to get back to sleep.

A decision is made

We made the heartrending decision to stop any treatment of Tika. We will discuss her care and comfort for the remainder of her days.

I am getting her to eat, but now she seems constipated. She is showing a little spunk, but you can tell she's tired.

Her current favorite foods are boiled hamburger meatballs, and Turkey Hotdogs with cheese. She did have a McD's cheeseburger (plain) today. She's always been my Fry Guy, so when she didn't eat a fry today, I cried some more.

She does drink lots of water, she has shown a little more energy this evening than she has. However, every time she gets up, her 'smokers hack' starts.

We'll go to the doctor tomorrow to see if she has any secondary infections or possibly pneumonia, and we'll discuss pain treatment.

I hope she rallies, I'm not ready to say goodbye to her yet.

Tika's fading.....or not?

Lots of tears. Maybe I am overreacting I don't know. I feel like she has never rebounded from our last trip. Maybe it was the inhaled chemo. Maybe it was overexertion. But the fact remains, baby girl isn't doing well.

It's been building up but she hasn't been eating, she's visibly lost weight. She's not vomiting, but everything goes right through her.

Today she was very weak, everything was unacceptable to her. I didn't know what to do. We talked to the vet who suggested an antinausea drug. It might take a few days for it to kick in, but I thought okay, let's try. We are discussing stopping the Palladia.

Later on, I finally got her to eat. Boiled chicken. No scent to it. She's hungry, but if she smells something, she's immediately turned off. I was delighted that she ate the boiled chicken, I would dab it in some pumpkin and cottage cheese to get her more calories.

She had been digging at her eyes, I noticed that they are both horribly infected, green goo coming from both. Where did that come from? What does that mean?

I took a sick day today, I spent my time tending to Tika and running upstairs to lay down and cry.

She seems to be getting better, the food is staying in her and not immediately coming out the other end. That's good, she needs the nutrition, I boiled some ground beef in little balls and she thought that was awesome.

I hope she pulls through this, it's been a bit of a strain on the spouse and I and we are taking it out on each other, that's not helping anything.

However, it brings to the forefront the stark reality that our beautiful girl is dying. And that reality rips my heart apart.

A picture says a thousand words

However, I don't like the story line.

Here's the progression of Tika's lung mets from May to Sept.

May, looking good!

June 29, spots, starting to show. (Lower right)

August, mets are definitely growing

September. DAMN, DAMN, DAMN!

IL2 treatment

Well, we got the news. We had already come to the conclusion ourselves, but it still hurt.

The IL2 treatment wasn't effective, the lung mets have grown, and grown signifcantly.

The oncologist and vet keep telling us that it seems to be particularly aggressive. Well, piss on them for being right. Couldn't they screw up for once? I wouldn't sue them or anything. PROMISE!

We are going for one last try. Tika is still doing great, walking, sassing, eating, having a grand old time. We are going to the University of Missouri Vet Hospital to try inhaled chemotherapy and with a different chemo drug than before. We will also start Palladia which has been approved for mast cell tumors in dogs, but it might work on lung mets.

I do have some misgivings at times, are we being fair to Tika? I hope so.

So the Labor Day weekend is coming up and we will go to Columbia, MO first then vacation in the RV with the dogs the weekend.