After our scare last time with the free floating liquid in Rumble's abdomen, my vet decided to up his chemo by 10%. That sounded ok to me. He wants to find the balance between the most medicine possible with the least amount of side effects. Well, I think there were side effects.
As you know anyone on chemo vomits; so does Rumble. We like giving him the Mirtazepine pill for nausea because it also has an appetite stimulant. Well, this last week Rumble vomited so often that we had to combine both the pill and the liquid anti-nausea medicine (Metaclopramide). It still didn't work all the time. He puked probably twice as much as he normally does and I think the vomit changed. It is usually pretty clear because I think it's mostly made of drool and few bits of food. This time it was dark brown and smelled horrible. I was not happy.
So, after vomiting both weeks during his drug holiday, I asked for the chemo to be taken back down by 10%. They agreed. This is week one of round five of his chemo treatments. We are only doing five rounds this time, so I'm really looking forward to this all being over for awhile.
They have changed how they are administering the chemo. It was originally 2 chemos, 4 hours apart, but that meant putting him under anesthesia twice and Rumble was really beginning to fight the second anesthesia. So, now they are giving one, waiting 20 minutes, and giving the second. You all know there is no set guideline to follow with this disease. I asked if this would hinder Rumble and my vet explained the first chemo breaks down the cancer cell walls and defenses. The second chemo kills the cells. So, is 20 minutes enough time for the first chemo to act before putting in the second chemo, he really doesn't know. But, that's what he has decided is best for Rumble at this time.
Rumble did not gain any weight, which I was really disappointed to hear, but he also did not lose any weight. With the change in his vomit over the past two weeks, I was ok with that. We have his second week of round five chemo this Friday. I'm really looking forward to it all being over. We will have a 6 to 8 week break before we bring him back in for an ultrasound and decide on our next plan of attack.
Thanks for keeping Rumble in your thoughts and prayers.
