First Chemotherapy Treatment

The day after we discussed the chemo plan with the oncologist, we took Logan in for his first treatment. He had 6 - 8 hours in the hospital to look forward to..ugh. The first 4 to 5 hours I believe, they pump lots of fluids into a dog receiving this type of chemo drug (Cisplatin). They also administer fluids after the drug is given as well. This is done to protect the kidneys during treatment. I picked Logan up early evening from the hospital and he seemed so-so. Really lethargic and sort of out of it. And of course peeing every 2 minutes! I took the "back way" home as opposed to the highway in case I had to pull over to let him go pee.

It took us a long time to get home due to traffic and I kept glancing at Logan in my rear view mirror. For some reason, Logan has never wanted to lie down in the backseat of the car! He refuses to ever since we brought him to live with us. So, it broke my heart to see that he was trying with all his might to stay sitting up, but finally he just couldn't anymore and ended up plopping down on the seat with a huff and a sigh. He just looked plain miserable! Wouldn't look at me when I talked to him or sang silly stupid songs to him. Wouldn't wag his tail when I said his name. I cried the rest of the way home. Are we doing the right thing?

When we got home that evening, Logan passed out on the floor and slept the rest of the night. I'm sure he needed it.

It was explained to us that with Logan's first treatment, he would most likely experience "delayed side effects" that would begin 4 - 6 days after treatment and would consist of loss of appetite, diarrhea, nausea and lethargy. This would last for a day or two and then he should snap back to normal. Well.....definitely not the case! Logan wouldn't eat at all. Nothing. He turned his nose up to everything and anything...even his favorite treats..."Happy Hips"!
This lasted most of day one after treatment when finally he ate a few bites of canned dog food for my husband.

Day two after chemo....still no appetite. Thankfully no vomiting, though. We tried so many combos; baby food, cat food, all flavors of canned dog food, etc. Nothing.
I finally got him to agree to boiled chicken and rice! So for days, that was the only thing he would eat! Not good.

As the days went on we noticed even more and more the muscle atrophy developing on Logan's head. The top of his head was now pointed, and his temples were totally sunken. This really started to concern us, so I took him to the vet on the fifth day after treatment. I also wanted to talk to our vet about the appetite issue as we were now becoming very worried.

The vet took one look at Logan and became very concerned. He told us that the atrophy was not his primary concern and that Logan needed nutrition - stat! We weighed him, and he was down to 89.4 lbs. Logan weighed 102 lbs. prior to all of this mess. The vet felt around, did some food reaction observation, listened to Logan's lungs, etc. Everything seemed from that perspective. Finally the vet decided to give Logan an injection of Cerenia (an anti-nausea drug) hoping that the root problem was that Logan was just really sick in his stomach. He became very serious and explained that if we couldn't get the stomach and appetite issues under control in 48 hours or so, we needed to think about getting a feeding tube put in as Logan was now considered to be anorexic (which happens a lot in dogs as a result of chemo side effects).

That night I tried to feed Logan everything under the sun. After sobbing for about an hour, I was finally able to get him to eat some lean ground beef! My husband then gave him a few pieces of chicken / dark meat that he ate, but that was it for the night. You could just tell Logan was disgusted by anything we were holding under his nose.

And this brings us to today - the 7th day after the treatment. This is the day I really had my breakdown wondering if we're truly doing the right thing for Logan. At least my husband and I were on the same page and agreed that we would NOT put Logan through this 5 more times for the treatments! We were also still unsure about the feeding tube option. Today was the worst I've seen Logan thus far.

I worked from home again today so I could attempt to feed Logan every hour or so (and had luck only with bacon). I took him back the our general vet in the afternoon for his 2nd Cerenia injection and another weigh-in. Down another pound, just in a day. UGH! We talked about some other food combos to try. The vet then explained that the esophageal feeding tube (in the throat with the feed tube coming out the neck) is no longer an option because of Logan's size (we wouldn't be able to get enough calories in him via that method), so if we did go with a feeding tube, it would have to be gastric (directly into his stomach and out his side), which is more involved. Another bump in the road! We wrapped up with the doc and headed home once again.

Logan and I sat on the kitchen floor pondering what I could go buy for him at the grocery store. After another big sobbing party - I headed out.

So, after the shopping trip I had success with deli meat and hot dogs! So, things are looking up again. It's like a roller coaster! My husband was also able to get Logan to eat quite a bit of protein tonight with all of the different things I bought at the store. So, we're hopeful that Logan will show more improvement by tomorrow. We're taking him for a "recheck" appointment tomorrow with his oncologist to discuss this whole ordeal. I'm also finding out through research and talking to different people that most dogs receiving chemo are also given pre-treatment of anti-nausea and anti-diarrhea meds as well as pills to take home directly after the treatment. This wasn't even offered to us. If Logan continues to improve over the next few days, the only way we will go through with the next chemo treatment is if the doctor can help us figure out a way to NOT put him through these side effects again. We plan to stand pretty firm on this tomorrow. We have also decided that we will not go down the path of a gastric feeding tube.

Wish us luck!