29 October 2001
It’s been a couple of months since the last Sparky Report and a lot has been going on.
Right after the last report Sparky had a REALLY bad time ...screaming, yeowling, crying, trying to run and hide from her swollen, red, weepy butt, etc. We added Prednisone to her meds that evening and she got much better over the course of the following week. However, her weight was down to 48.8 pounds: she seemed to be getting thinner and bonier by the day. We have since weaned her off the Prednisone though she still sports an open ulcer just inside the anal opening.
Sparky has a zillion nicknames: The Little Dog, The Beast, Beastie, Goofy Thing, Little Miss Marker, Miss Marks-a-Lot, Dog Thing, Dog Butt, Dog Face, ... What with her radiation-induced colitis and all, she has had a variety of gastro-intestinal distresses. One of these is, of course, flatulence. She never has quite figured out what that's all about. Every time she passes gas (which is normally quite infrequently) she looks at her butt like something surprising happened ... like her butt just spoke the wisdom of The Ages. "Is your butt talking to you?" is the question I often ask. Since mid-August her butt has been very talkative, hence her new nickname: Locutus of Butt.
In mid- to late-September Sparky opened a new [complete] perianal fistula. By early October the external opening had healed. The treatment that worked best was daily doggie-sitz-baths, a warm compress of Nolvasan solution, and a good coating (inside and out, if possible, to help the anal ulcer) of Otomax. Any infection that might develop is not likely to be bacterial since she’s been on antibiotics since late March, but Otomax also contains an anti-fungal as well as Prednisone to aid in healing. The external perianal region looks healthy …other than the lopsided-ness due to the original surgery, and the lumpiness from the tumors, and the baldness because the shaved area has been irradiated thoroughly. OK, at least it’s not read, angry, weepy, swollen, …
Sparky also developed a couple of ear infections that came on fast and hard. We did some clean up with Solvaprep and treated the infections with Otomax. Each time the infection cleared within a few days.
Despite her on-again/off-again appetite Sparky has been putting on some healthy weight. Her last weigh-in put her at 54 pounds! I’m sure some of it is tumor mass, but her ribs and wasp waist have disappeared and she’s looking less gaunt. I can still feel every process and trochanter on her leg bones, but she’s feeling active and perky. Enticements to eat her road kill have included at various times: plain yogurt; Italian dressing; tuna “juice;” tuna; browned ground beef; chopped, cooked marinated chicken; and the juice from heating Hebrew National Beef Franks. She’ll still eat it plain on occasion.
Sparky is off Alkeran and Vinblastine and is now on Lomustine. As always, she's on antibiotics. Because of the Lomustine we can’t give her Rimadyl (or aspirin or its derivatives). She still gets Metoclopramide for nausea and cramping on an as-needed basis, but that’s now only when she gets the Lomustine which should be once every six weeks – with lots o’ blood testing. Since Sparky is eating sporadically and since she’s got the internal fistula going, she’s getting Lactulose but in doses relevant to the size of the meal – when eaten. This is 4 ml on average and given one to three times a day. The dosage was arrived at experimentally. We don’t want her to have diarrhea, but we don’t want to cause her to strain unduly. This dosage usually provides for firm, well formed, reasonably passed stool.
Stephanie Fenton
A.K.A. Sparky’s Mom