Penelope was drowsy until about 7 pm last night because of the sedation. The new drug is IV infusion, takes about 30 minutes to give, so they had to sedate her to keep her still. Also because of the new drug, I don't have to give her prednisone or cyclophosphomide (oral chemo drugs) anymore. And also they had to shave part of her right front leg to administer the IV.
When we were at the vet school on Tuesday, the vet tech told us that if Penelope were to have side effects from doxorubicin, then it�s going to come between day 3 and day 10 after the IV infusion. Well, if it were just on a schedule, Penelope had loose stool on Wednesday night, then on Thursday, she started having diarrhea all day. In fact, when I came back to the apartment after TA for a class at school, I found puddles of diarrhea all over the apartment. It just seemed like Penelope couldn�t control herself. She pretty much needed to go every 45 minutes. It took me about two hours to clean up the mess, but Penelope just kept pooping around the apartment, because every time she needed to go, she just got up and went. Whereas in normal circumstances, when I see that she needs to go out, I would get my coat on, and put her boots and leash on, sometimes her coat on also, and then take her out. But it happened so fast on Thursday that it didn�t seem like I could clean up after her as she pooped on the carpet. And also I had to wash Penelope�s behind about four times that night. Finally I finished cleaning around midnight and slept for about four hours. Then on Friday morning, I found some poop on the bed also, so I called the oncologist, and she said to buy this over-the-counter medication called Imodium (anti-diarrheal), and give it to Penelope for three day, three times a day. The oncologist said because the diarrhea doesn�t start until the third day, the next time we�ll just start giving Penelope the Imodium on the first day. Penelope wouldn�t eat anything on Friday, and I didn�t want to force her, and besides I thought it would be good to empty her GI tract out like back in November when she had the same episode, but it was in a milder manner. I still had to TA a class on Friday afternoon, and when I came back to the apartment, I found Penelope had pooped all over the bedroom again. It took me about another two hours to clean up the bedroom and to wash Penelope, then I had to change the bedding that Penelope slept on about every two hours so she wouldn�t lie in puddles of diarrhea. When I finally got to sleep around midnight, I was exhausted. But when I woke up four hours later, I found poop all over the bedroom again. Also Penelope vomited the food she had on Thursday night on the carpet. So I started giving her the anti-emetic medication that we got on Tuesday. So it took me another two hours to clean up, and went back to sleep for another four hours. And of course when I woke up, it took me another two hours to clean up the carpet and to change the bedding and to wash Penelope. Also by Saturday, Penelope had started having blood in her diarrhea, I guess it�s because she has nothing in her stomach for a full day. I tried to call the vet school in the afternoon about it, but nobody picked up the phone. And I didn�t think it�s an emergency because Penelope had similar experience (but not as bad) in November before. I had nothing in the fridge to eat that day because I try only to do grocery shopping every two weeks, and I was suppose to shop that Saturday. But I didn�t want to leave Penelope because I knew she needed to poop every 45 minutes. But when she was sleeping, I sneaked out for two hours to get food. I also bought a one-liter bottle of pediatric electrolyte at the grocery store, and made Penelope drank the whole bottle over the weekend. And when I came back from the grocery store, of course there were puddles of poop all over the carpet. Then I made Penelope eat one baked potato, and then I give her a bath to clean her up. And because it was a warm and sunny day, I took Anastasia and Penelope and we took a walk around the campus. I had to do five loads of laundry so we would have clean towels and blankets and sheets. That night I set the alarm so I could wake up every two hours to take Penelope out. But I still ended up having to clean the carpet and change the bedding and wash her behind a little. But it was much better compare to what I did on Friday and Saturday. Around three in the morning, I couldn�t sleep anymore, as I started thinking all that has happened this weekend and that maybe I should have Penelope euthanized over spring break at the end of March, because I just can�t take anymore of this if this is what will happen every time they inject her with doxorubicin.
Penelope's looking better today; she seems to have a lot more energy. I might start her on the treadmill again tomorrow. And no poop for 12 hours! About half of her stool looked almost normal, but the other half was still a little loose. And I was able to sleep the whole night through without having to wake up to change the towel under her. She ate some canned food by herself, but I still have to make her eat the dry food. And she drank some water this morning by herself.
