(Originally posted on Facebook, moved here for easier access for friends not on Facebook….)
Dagmar’s at the emergency vet [Thursday], and may be there for a day or so. (Update: she’s home! See updates below.)
After Monday’s chemotherapy she started to take a somewhat expected dive yesterday morning, refusing food. (Never a good sign in a Corgi.) She had done that the last time she got this same chemo drug, so we kind of expected it, but this time was a little quicker.
We also expected that she’s probably come out of it, as she had before, around the end of the day or so.
Nope.
We’d been taking her temperature from time to time as the day went on, and that, at least, was normal. She clearly wasn’t feeling well, but other than trying to get some anti-nausea meds down her, there was little we could do. When we couldn’t even do that after some deliberation we did make a run to our regular vet in the afternoon for some injectable meds and fluids.
Last night at around 3AM Kathy got up and decided to check on Dagmar. Fever. (105.2 for those keeping score – over 103.5 is considered a fever in dogs.) Off to the veterinary ER we went.
Very low white blood cell count. Basically they think she has a UTI. When you’re immunosuppressed from chemotherapy any infection is serious. IV fluids, antibiotics and monitoring are the order of the day.
Kathy mentioned to someone a while ago we’d probably be visiting the ER at least once during Dagmar’s treatment (happened at least once with each of our previous lymphoma dogs in treatment), just not quite this soon.
Prognosis is guardedly optimistic. Need to get the fever down, and her appetite back. Right now we’re hoping for tomorrow. We shall see.
Think good thoughts for her….
Updates
15:30 – Just heard from the ER vet. Temp is slowly coming down. 103.6. They want it at 102.5 or lower for 2-3 hours consistently before sending her home, and willing/able to take oral meds.
19:20 – We visited Dagmar earlier this evening. She’s drinking (which is very good) but not the least bit interested in food (which is not). Her temp is slightly lower, but holding. She’ll be there overnight, and hopefully much improved in the morning.
Friday – We picked her up at around 1PM. She’s really, REALLY tired (and really, REALLY stinky 🙁 ), but walked out from the ER back room under her own power. Her WBCs are still low, and she’s on several oral meds (anti-biotic, anti-nausea, anti-diarrheal, plus the chemo-related meds), but she’s drinking, and taking small amounts of food. That’s a very good sign/step. We remain cautiously optimistic. Her next round of chemo may be delayed a bit, though.
Tuesday 12/15 – Well, over the last week or so she’s pretty much come back 95% to her sassy old self. The 5% being that there are still specific foods that she’s not that excited about, and that she’s still peeing a lot (due to one of the drugs she’s on). But most food is taken with normal Corgi vigour, a very good sign. We’ve been working to put some weight back on her, to which she has raised no objections at all.
Today we have another appointment with the oncologist. We delayed last week’s scheduled chemo as a result of the events above. Today we’ll make a decision as to whether that should happen today, or wait an additional week. Besides her general demeanor and spirits, the blood work they’ll run today will probably be the big determining factor. The issue is that the next drug also has the potential to be pretty rough.
We. Shall. See.