A little pitiful today and questions

Spencer went in for chemo treatment number 9.  This was a Vincristine week.  Only 6 treatments to go – 2 more of his mitox doses and 4 more vincristines.  I have never noticed much of a difference in how Spencer acts after a treatment.  Maybe he sleeps a tiny bit more that day; but nothing big.  Today he seems much more tired.  When my husband got home with our son tonight Spencer just hung out on his bed, no going to say hello.  🙁   He seems to be just worn out today.  Does anyone know if this is normal?  For a dog who has normally had little to no reaction from chemo to suddenly seem more tired?  Don’t get me wrong, he isn’t lethargic.  When I fed him tonight he came with tail wagging.  And when we went down to the school bus stop he was happy to go; but he also seems very happy to sleep today…

And other questions… Are there many grade 3 soft tissue sarcoma folks out there reading this?  If so, did you do chemo?  And… if yes to that, how did things go once the chemo ended?  How soon after did you do anything to see if the cancer was still around?  Today our oncologist said that we would probably wait 8-12  weeks after chemo is done before doing an x-ray or ultrasound as long as Spencer shows no symptoms.  Is this how your doctor handled things?  After chemo was over, did your dog have more energy, or did things just seem the same?  Not saying that Spencer doesn’t have energy now, just wondering if things are different after chemo…

And on to the next questions… has anyone out there gotten their dog certified (is that the right term) to be a therapy dog?  I’m not talking about a service dog, rather just a dog who visits hospitals and nursing homes.  Spencer is very friendly and social, so I was thinking about looking into this once he is done with chemo.  It is my understanding that he has to do a canine good citizen test.  It looks like there might be more than one organization out there to get certified through.  Which one is best?  Also, when out and about, Spencer is VERY social and sweet.  BUT… on his home turf (at our house, our cabin and in our car) he is protective.  he will bark at people until he has been introduced to them and given the OK.  He doesn’t do this at all when out and about though.  They don’t do home visits for certification do they?  Any other advice on getting your dog certified as a therapy dog?

Thanks for any advice on any of my many questions!!

Author: justjac

Spencer is our 5.5 year old Doberman. He was diagnosed with an aggressive fibrosarcoma on 8/22. He had his left front leg amputated on 8/24/11. Finished 15 weeks of chemo on 12/22/11 (mytox and vincristine). Lung mets found 12/28/11. Fought hard and lived a full life right up until the end. Went to Heaven 2/28/12.

4 thoughts on “A little pitiful today and questions”

  1. I can only speak to your chemo questions. Chemo tends to be cumulative, so seeing some tiredness after a few doses isn’t uncommon. Chemo is hard on a body. However, I would keep an eye on your boy and make sure that the tiredness doesn’t get worse or his appetite doesn’t change. If he’s still showing signs of feeling punky in a day or two, take him in. It could be that his white counts have dropped. We had a couple of setbacks like this — in our case, Rio got a bladder infection due to the low white counts, and that was what was making her feel yukky.

  2. Abby also was VERY tired after her 5th chemo. I didn’t know at the time that it had a cumulative effect. I was taking her on our usual walk and she lay down in the middle of the street when we weren’t even 1/4 of the way into our walk. It freaked me out. But her onc. said it’s quite normal for the chemo to make them more tired as it goes along.

    We are not dealing w/ STS so can’t answer that one. As for visiting hospitals and what not, tripawd Shelby does that. (I think that is hte username they use.) You could send them a PM and ask them about it.

    All the best to Spencer,
    Jackie, Abby’s mom

  3. gayle’s tumor on her right front leg was a grade III STS. we did five rounds of doxorubicin chemo. she did really well until rounds 3 & 4 which really wacked her out for a few days after each treatment…it was scary that she was so out of it, but she bounced back. the effects won’t last.

    her amp was feb 17, 2010, we finished the chemo in may or june 2010. she was diagnosed with a different cancer in dec 2010 (oral melanoma) and has had two surgeries to remove those tumors, and has received six injections of the melanoma vaccine. as for certification, gayle is a certified napper, and she’s probably the best i’ve ever seen…

    charon & gayle

  4. We definitely noticed a cumulative effect for sure in our treatments, even though they were a different protocol from yours.

    Lots of belly rubs to you Spencer!

    Nancy & Butchey

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