Hanging in There

It was a beautiful morning on the causeway. The weather: sunny 78 degrees, light breeze.

 

Dee Dee had a new-normal morning: not hungry, not interested in taking her meds. She did walk and take care of business. Next, we took her to the causeway hoping that would make her hungry.

 

When we got back home, she ate a third of a can of dog food and took her meds--a little late, but what can you do?

 

We headed back out to the causeway on our bikes and parked at the entrance station. Then we walked back to the beginning of the bridge and then back out to the park entrance. It was a beautiful morning.

By 11:00 a.m., the temperature had gotten up to 82 degrees. 

 

 

On our way back home, we took a short cut through the new Stirling Park where the old par 3 course used to be (at the corner of Palm Blvd and Bayshore Blvd). I don't think it's officially open, but we couldn't resist a new adventure. The old golf cart bridges are nice and sturdy.

Looking west from the bridge, you can see the concrete bridge of the Pinellas Trail in the near distance. The body of water is Curlew Creek. On the other side of the Trail is the outlet to St. Joseph's Sound, right at Pirate's Cove Marina.

Looking east, up Curlew Creek, you can see the water tower near the Publix and a few blocks from our house. The Dunedin Golf Course is in the scene to the right.

The vet doctor called while we were on our way home. He didn't have any conclusive news. The fluids did not show the tell-tell signs of cancer, but her lymphocytes were elevated, indicating a possible lymphoma, a common cancer of dogs and cats. It's possible that it's just heart disease.

He said he did research on draining chest fluids to see if his experience with Dee Dee was common. He says he's done it for the abdomen, but not for the chest before. For the abdomen, there is typically more fluid to be drawn, he discovered.

I asked if he could help us determine when it was time to euthanize her. He said sure. He said, if she hadn't responded to his recent drainage treatment, he would recommend to euthanize her. But he also said the mantra in med school was never to euthanize a dog or cat until you try steroids first.

Steroids have several benefits. If she does have a tumor, it acts as a sort of chemotherapy and shrinks the tumor. If she doesn't, a steroid will boost her energy and appetite. So that's his recommendation of what to try next, when she starts to struggle again. As long as she's comfortable and eating, it's best to do nothing, since steroids have side effects: they increase consumption of fluids and urination and she's got plenty of that going on already. If she has cancer, that will manifest itself soon enough in ways that will be apparent.

 Finally, she ate 2/3 of a can of dog food and curled up under the table while we ate.

 Afternoon nap time.

I worked all afternoon on my classes, so the day went by in a hurry. Dee Dee and John took a nap. John didn't sleep well last night and was up at 4:00 a.m.

We had leftover beans and rice, so we stuffed a couple of wraps with that and some avocado with a small salad on the side.

Dee Dee took her meds and the remainder of the can of dog food we started at lunch, which means she's about a can of dog food behind what her body needs. 

One day at a time.

12.17 miles biking

7.6 walking