Better and Worse

Well, Rem's white and red blood counts are back up today. (Red is back up to about 34, I think she said.) He looked somewhat perkier later in the morning and early afternoon. I let the roomie take him for a 10-minute walk after our 5-minute one earlier, because he was looking more alert and SOOOO miserable when it looked like she was going to take Jake instead. He was very jazzed when he came back.

Had to take him to the vet's & leave him there for about 3 hours for chest xrays and ultrasound. He was VERY happy to see me--put up a big fuss when he heard my voice in the front office. When they brought him out on leash, he was your stereotypical dog-who-can't-get-traction-on-a-smooth-floor beast, he was pulling SO hard on the leash to get out to me. It was pretty funny, his legs were working SO hard and he was getting nowhere--

Right now he's wiped out again, though.

And the news is just not good. Tumor on the heart is back up to about the size it was when we started. Means that it has figured out how to squish the chemo drugs right out of its little cells and go back to merrily reproducing. And there are small spots in his lungs, which is where the vet had originally said it was likely to metastasize. There is a wisp of fluid in his chest, just a teeny bit, which is probably why he's floating in & out of anemia: a little bleeding going on and off from the big tumor.

We'll give him another dose of adriamycin tomorrow morning. Vet will check with oncologist on whether there are other protocols we can switch to for this cancer, but she doubts there will be.

If only he'll be healthy and happy enough for our trip to Oregon to go play in the wilderness over Presidents' weekend.

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