Latest on Sandy and clutzy me

Hi all,

My apologies if you're waiting to hear back from me about something, but I'm very behind on my emails and such because we're sort of focusing on Sandy right now. As you know Sandy is also my pet therapy partner at Mercy Hospital. Here are the latest updates:

If you've been following this blog you know that we've been working with both our regular vet and an oncologist specialist (and both of them are contacting labs and other resources to get additional opinions). I've also been doing quite a bit of research online at recommended medical and vet sites. Just after his diagnosis we started Sandy on Piroxicam - a pill taken orally each day to try and control the growth of the tumor. After additional discussion we decided to start him on the 4-treatment series of intravenous chemotherapy as well to hopefully maximize his longevity and comfort.

Unfortunately, we ran into problems with Sandy's body's response to the cancer drugs (stomach ulcers from the Piroxicam, and colitis and bladder infections due to his weakened immune system), so then the oncologist vet prescribed other drugs to try and treat the complications; but that just seemed to make it worse. We're working with both vets (and thankfully, our regular vet has consulted IDEXX and other sources as well for other opinions). We've stopped all cancer treatments and reduced the drugs to the bare bones to two - antibiotic to fight the infection and antacid for his stomach.

But the biggest concern is for the last 2-3 weeks he's pretty much just stopped eating, and no matter what we try, we can't seem to get that to improve. Presently the only food we can seem to get into him is this canned food I squirt into his mouth with a big plastic syringe (not a needle, just a pointy thing) - but sometimes he doesn't even want to do that. I can't really say I blame him, because between colitis and bladder infection he must feel pretty miserable. Although you'd never know that to see him when we go for walks and such, so it's very confusing.

We're not sure if the antibiotics to cure the infections aren't working because his body is resistant to them, or if perhaps the urinary and digestive tract issues are being caused by the tumor instead of the infections - but the latter is starting to look more likely which of course is not good news. We've scheduled another ultrasound tomorrow (Thursday) to hopefully at least find out for sure what is causing his current difficulties with bathroom functions - in hopes we can make a more informed decision about what to do next, or whether there's even anything we CAN do without him suffering unnecessary discomfort. Sorry to run on but as you can see that's where my head is right now.

And silly me fell down the steps last night (guess I let myself get a bit distracted) and twisted my right ankle pretty good. That's the 2nd time I've fallen down that same section of stairs since we moved into this house (from the top down to the first landing at the window and the "turn"). The good news is I didn't sail through the window and land in our neighbor's yard below. :>) I think I need to get myself one of those child safety gates or something to remind me there are steps there.

That's all I can think of for now, but many thanks for the many kind wishes and messages of support. They help more than you know. Our love to all!

Best, Carla