Chemo and Other Drugs Part II

While Sheba has squished herself next to me on this small armchair and naps with her head on my leg, I type this post. 


We came home from Dr. Kane's office and gave Sheba her first round of Lomustine and Prednisone. The Lomustine is actually an off-brand human chemo drug. Dr. Kane told us that cancer drugs are simply to expensive to produce for cats and dogs.


The Prednisone was given first. The small white pill is cut in half and given once a day for three weeks. This was rather simple because it was so small. I simply pushed it down her throat and she swallowed. The Lomustine was not so easy. 

The red and green long oval must be handled with gloves because it is a chemo treatment and by extension: toxic. Our doctor advised that Chris handle the chemo as it can be very dangerous for women if they are pregnant (I'm not, it's just a precaution.) He donned the thick blue gloves and shoved it down. Sheba coughed it up. After a couple repeats of this, Sheba bit down and broke the pill in half. This is not good, we need the treatment inside her, not on the floor. Luckily it seemed the treatment was stuck to the sides of the pill and didn't spill out. We managed to get it down after a few more shoves. 
That was the hard part. 
After all the abuse, you might think Sheba would be flustered, angry, even confused? Oh no, not this dog. She just stared with a big goofy grin and wagged her ever swishing tail. 

I asked Dr. Kane about supplements and he suggested Fish Oil which we picked up at the pharmacy. While he did not believe it had an effect on cancer, he did believe it helped the heart, brain and circulatory system which can in turn help the whole body. 



Turns out.. Fish Oil smells like Fish! Sheba could not have been happier to lick up the oil I broke into her food bowl and chew up the little soft pill. It must have been delicious the way she inhaled it.