Adventures in Dog Radiation Therapy

For the first time since he started chemo, Buster did a bit of barfing this evening. I have no way of knowing if he ate something weird or if this was chemo related, but it is of course possible it’s the latter. He has been doing so great, including earlier today pre-barfing, that i certainly wouldnt count this as anything major.

Buster is doing great. 4 chemo sessions down, 1 to go. No real side effects except mild hair loss. He takes cerenia for anti nausea after each session, but other than the day he had sedation for a chest x ray there have been no issues or nausea. We’ll do the chest x ray again at his last session after thanksgiving, hopefully with tweaked sedation and fewer side effects.

Next week will be Buster’s 4th of 5 chemo sessions. In the meantime, about a week ago, he fulfilled his lifelong dream and life purpose of killing a squirrel. Yeah I was sad and horrified, but also he’s a jack Russell, and if someone had told me after his amputation that he would still manage to pull this off i would never have believed it. It is possible there was something wrong with the squirrel but I’m not going to take this accomplishment away from him. So he’s doing amazing.

Buster has been losing some fur from doxorubicin, but no one except me would notice. He’s not bald. Overall he has been doing fantastic and no real side effects from the chemo except for fur loss.

 

This week Buster will have his third of five chemo treatments. Since his radiation therapy ended at the end of Juky he has been doing GREAT. Better than I would have hoped. He’s back in daycare. I travel for work a lot and he’s doing well with pet sitters, although he has to get taken to daycare in a car or his stroller. We play fetch with his toys and he’s getting around great. I put some carpet down on slick surfaces in my house so I could take up all the yoga mats I had put down after his surgery. Carpet is working well so he can run and play so I don’t worry as much about him slipping on the stairs. Three legged life is different, but he’s still my sweet dog and I don’t regret the surgery or any of the treatment we’ve done.

wednesday was chemo session #1. Very good news: Buster had an x Ray to check for lung mets and his lungs are still completely clear! Bad news: Buster did not have a great reaction to the sedative he was given for his x Ray. When I picked him up at the end of the day, he’d had the x Ray and the first chemo treatment, and he was very lethargic, unwilling to eat or drink, and seemed almost confused during our very short walks. This continued into Thursday. The vet was very sure that this was a reaction to sedation, not chemo, and they shouldn’t need to sedate him during further chemo treatments. So hopefully this was a one time occurrence. Buster is having 5 treatments of doxorubicin, once every three weeks. A little ironic that the first one seemed rougher than a whole month of radiation, but again, it probably was not the actual chemo that caused this.

buster seemed almost back to normal today and I took him to daycare but picked him up early. He had been doing AWESOME and I have every reason to think he’ll bounce fully back this weekend.

I remain very happy with the decision to go forward with radiation. Buster has been doing better and better, especially over this last week he had been basically back to the old Buster, just on 3 legs.