In Remission?

Mojo seems to be feeling ok, is eating good, is playing with Pepper, and is having normal bowel movements. I think! Saturday he was still posturing but Sunday, for the first time in almost 3 weeks, he was not posturing at all. He went out, had a bowel movement, and came back in. We were thrilled but didn't want to get too excited.

Yesterday I took him back to Blue Pearl Vet for our appointment with Dr. Johnson. I gave her an update and since he stopped posturing she said she wanted to hold off on the round of Doxorubicin she had originally planned on giving him. She feels that Mojo not posturing anymore is a sign that the lymph nodes on his lumbar spine are shrinking. I asked her about doing an ultrasound to confirm but she didn't think it was necessary. Instead, she said to just keep an eye on him and to take things 24 hours at a time. If anything at all changes, not just Mojo going back to posturing, she wants me to let her know and bring him in immediately.

So now we are still hoping and praying that he is back in remission and more so, will STAY in remission. I am watching him like a hawk and am way too worried about him. Basically, I keep wondering whether anything he is doing or not doing is normal. I wonder if he's too quiet, too excited, eating too much, eating too little, sleeping too much, panting for no reason, pooping too much or too little...you get the picture. It's pretty stressful to say the least.

Here's a picture of my boy earlier today with Pepper curled up between his legs.

Cocoa Beach, FL and a Mojo Update

By the time I got to Orlando last night I was exhausted. We took a shuttle down to Cocoa Beach, checked into the hotel and walked across the street to the Cocoa Beach Pier to grab some dinner. After a small glass of white wine (happy hour special was half off all alcoholic beverages and the wine glass was about half the size of a regular one!) I finally relaxed a bit. Dinner wasn't anything amazing - all the restaurants at this pier are owned by the same owner and they have one central kitchen. We split naked chicken wings, Bob had a steak, and I had a burger without the bun.

Walking back to the hotel the sunset was beautiful and Bob wanted a picture of me on the surfboard with the fake wave.

We spent the morning at the Ron Jon Resort listening to a sales pitch. In return the shuttle to and from Cocoa Beach was free, plus we got $75 cash. I thought that was a good deal.

As soon as McCormick Animal clinic opened I called to check on Mojo. Daniel, the guy taking care of the animals, was on the phone. The first thing he said is that Mojo is such a "happy dog" and when he let him out this morning he apparently walked up to everybody to greet them with "kisses" and by trying to climb on them. That's my boy! When Daniel told me this I was so relieved because it tells me that he is feeling better. Daniel also said the swelling is down a bit and Mojo seems to be feeling ok. So that was a huge relief plus we decided to go ahead and go on the cruise.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing, going for walks, shopping, and just taking it easy. Now we're going to do some laundry and spend the rest of the night in. Looking forward to getting away for a week and doing nothing but fun stuff. Our pet sitter will check on Mojo daily and will send us an email with an update. If I have to fly back I will but I am praying that Mojo will be feeling better every day now.

April 2012 Update

It's been almost two weeks since I got back from Seattle and I have seen some good changes. Dr. D added Custom Probiotics 11-Strain Formula to my treatment plan since I still had some and she says they are good probiotics. For a long time I could not tolerate any CP at all but now I am up to 1/4 of the adult dose a day, in addition to various ferments including Kombucha, plus Pro Calm, Acidophilus, and Supernatant. Just a few months ago I could barely tolerate a drop of Sauerkraut brine so that's a definite improvement.

Last week I had several days where I felt joy. There was no dark, gloomy feeling and I was able to just enjoy the day, be happy, and have fun, despite all the other nasty symptoms, including the daily, and very uncomfortable abdominal distention. For the longest time I felt that the negativity was out of my control and having those days where I didn't have to try or work very hard to think positive was proof that I am right.

On the days I felt more joy I also had more energy. I even did a mini-workout on a few days in addition to cleaning the house. That is a HUGE improvement for me and I am so looking forward to when I can work out on a regular basis again.

A few days before I went to Seattle I had started taking Ivermectin and Pyrentel Pamaote. On those two anti-parasitics I felt that I was even hungrier than before and I was craving sweets again. Luckily I am done with those and have been taking Albenza for three days now. The second day on Albenza I started getting a headache, yesterday it was worse than the day before and I also started feeling like I was getting a sore throat and an earache. This morning the headache is improved, but the throat pain and earache, mostly on the left side, are still there. I also have a runny nose and my teeth are sensitive to hot and cold only on the left side.

Shortly before ending my fast I started getting chest pain on the left side and my arms hurt sort of like they did after the blood donation last year. The pain wasn't bad but I was a bit concerned thinking it might be an issue with my heart. I had called CMC and since Dr. D was out I ended up talking to Dr. Z. She ordered a CMP and CBC and also asked me to get a stress EKG. I got the blood tests the next day and my electrolytes were fine. I still haven't gotten the stress EKG, but once I started eating, the chest pain improved and some days it even went away.

Monday and Tuesday this week I didn't get to eat all day and by mid-day the chest pain was back and worse than before. When I finally got to eat something in the evening the pain would go away after one or two hours. Dr. D thinks it's Babesia and not my heart itself (but she still wants me to get the stress EKG just to make sure) and said that it's very common with people who have Babs. The fact that it improved when I broke the fast and ate something those two nights also makes me think it's Babs/die off but like Dr. D I want to make sure that my heart is ok. I went to see a cardiologist on Monday and they had initially told me that they could probably do the stress EKG the next day, but they had to do a pre-cert with my insurance company first. So they had scheduled me for today but I never did hear back regarding my insurance coverage so I re-scheduled the stress EKG for 05.09.2012 since I am heading to Orlando tomorrow.

DH is at a conference in Orlando (since last Sunday) and we are meeting at the airport tomorrow. We are taking a shuttle down to Cocoa Beach and Sunday we are getting on a 7-Night Western Caribbean Cruise to celebrate our 10th anniversary. I am looking forward to it but I am also hoping the die off from Albenza and all the other stuff I am taking will subside a bit before I leave tomorrow or at least before we leave Sunday.

Our friend L is staying with the dogs while we are gone which I much prefer over them going to a kennel. Unfortunately Mojo is not doing so well this week. What seemed like just constipation turned out to be an infected and swollen anal gland. I took him to the vet Monday and Dr. McCormick drained it and put him on antibiotics. It was awful....poor baby was in so much pain and it broke my heart to see him hurting so much. Dr. McCormick said infected anal glands respond really well to abx treatment and that he should be back to normal by the time I go on vacation. Well, he's not back to normal. Right after the vet appointment he was finally able to move his bowels several times, and since then he has been back to having a hard time. I have been giving him the antibiotics, I increased his NuVet Pet tablets to strengthen his immune system, and yesterday I did several warm compresses, but just like before he tries very hard to have a bowel movement but nothing happens. I called the vet yesterday and they suggested that I bring him back in today. I was really hoping he didn't have to go back to the vet again and I am praying that he doesn't have to go through the same thing as he did last Monday. I am also worried about going on vacation tomorrow with him not feeling well. Praying that today will be a pain-free vet visit for Mojo and that he will be feeling great by the time I leave tomorrow.