Saturday, July 26, 2008
Latest Round of Chemo
Sorry for the late update -- I had a stomach virus on Thursday and still wasn't feeling well Friday. Toby had his latest round of chemo on Wednesday and continues to do well. His skin infection is cleared up. He's happy and loving, as usual. The staff at the vet school always say nice things about Toby -- he is so sweet and cooperative.
The doctors want to do a staging the next time Toby goes in for chemo. That's a chest X-ray, full exam, ultrasound, etc. I simply can't afford it. His chemo runs about $250, plus he has CBCs every week which are close to $40 a week. An ultrasound is around $100-150. Of course, we do need to do at least the ultrasound every couple of weeks so we know that the tumor continues to shrink or at least not grow. But without the full staging procedure, we have no idea if the cancer has grown into his lungs, etc.
I added it up the other day - I've spent about $3,500 since May on Toby. At this point, I'm not sure how I'm going to continue the chemo, let alone any other procedure. But as long as he's doing well, I'm going to try.
The doctors want to do a staging the next time Toby goes in for chemo. That's a chest X-ray, full exam, ultrasound, etc. I simply can't afford it. His chemo runs about $250, plus he has CBCs every week which are close to $40 a week. An ultrasound is around $100-150. Of course, we do need to do at least the ultrasound every couple of weeks so we know that the tumor continues to shrink or at least not grow. But without the full staging procedure, we have no idea if the cancer has grown into his lungs, etc.
I added it up the other day - I've spent about $3,500 since May on Toby. At this point, I'm not sure how I'm going to continue the chemo, let alone any other procedure. But as long as he's doing well, I'm going to try.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
If Its Not One Thing, Its Another
Well poor Mr. Toby now has a skin infection. This is not surprising, since his immune system is compromised from the chemo. But just when we thought he was weathering things well, this happened.
We noticed Thursday night that he had some crusty thing on his back and upon examination, realized it was raw and oozing. He was also lethargic and didn't want to eat. So, we took him to his regular vet on Friday and ($140 later) they said he has some kind of bacterial infection (not a fungal infection, which is what I suspected). He's back on antibiotics and we have to clean and put antibiotic ointment on the infection twice a day. Poor guy. But he does seem a bit better today.
He was so good at the vet. I'm sure it hurt when they were working on the wound but he didn't cry or bark or try to bite them. Just a lot of anxious licking. Good boy!
We noticed Thursday night that he had some crusty thing on his back and upon examination, realized it was raw and oozing. He was also lethargic and didn't want to eat. So, we took him to his regular vet on Friday and ($140 later) they said he has some kind of bacterial infection (not a fungal infection, which is what I suspected). He's back on antibiotics and we have to clean and put antibiotic ointment on the infection twice a day. Poor guy. But he does seem a bit better today.
He was so good at the vet. I'm sure it hurt when they were working on the wound but he didn't cry or bark or try to bite them. Just a lot of anxious licking. Good boy!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Doing Great
Toby went for his weekly blood test today. He is losing weight but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. He's happy and seems healthy, so we can only continue his treatments and keep hoping for the best.
We've been having nightly thunderstorms here and that leads to four panicked animals (one dog, three cats). Poor Toby had to go out in the pouring rain last night to take care of business. Ugh -- he smelled like wet dog (which he was) for much of the rest of the night!
We've been having nightly thunderstorms here and that leads to four panicked animals (one dog, three cats). Poor Toby had to go out in the pouring rain last night to take care of business. Ugh -- he smelled like wet dog (which he was) for much of the rest of the night!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Good News!
The report from the vet school yesterday is that Toby's tumor is shrinking! I don't have the details -- I am waiting for them to email his discharge papers. But it does seem that the chemo and piroxicam treatment is working. We are so happy! Now I just have to figure out how I am going to afford keeping his treatment going.
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