Weeks 7 & 8: Vacay, Shiny Coats & Playful Pups

This past week I've been out of town, thus the lack of updates. Xena stayed with her bestie Stella and had a blast. She's gotten A LOT of her spunk back and continues to look healthier every day.

Pics are worth more than my words, so here they are:

Week 6: Blood Test, Weight Gain & Mountain Air

knows this is the gravel road to the park

Day 36:  As we start week 6 of this craziness, we got the results of her blood tests back today to make sure that she is getting enough of the anti-fungal meds absorbed into her bloodstream. They looked great!! She needs to score between a 3 - 10 ug/ml and Xena's were 9! This means that I can stop second guessing every limp, sneeze, and whine and have some piece of mind to know that her body is taking in every bit of the meds and not rejecting them and letting this blastomycosis fungus keep growing. HUGE weight lifted. The vet said they don't need to see her back for 4 weeks. At that point they will recheck her liver/kidney (more blood tests) and do a full exam (maybe new chest xrays at that point). So what did we do to celebrate the news? I took Xena to the park for a full 20 minutes were she chased, rolled and frolicked then stopped at Chic-fil-a and got her some grilled chicken nuggets to add to her dinner :)

trying to take a puppy selfie & i got an ear full of kisses on camera

Day 37:  Xena gained another lb this week! She's up to 58.4lbs as of today. She was ~65lbs before all of this.

Day 38, 39, 40 & 41:

Made it up to Xena's favorite place this weekend -- the cabin. She had quite an adventure on Friday night with my family and their friends at the new brewery in downtown blue ridge. She's also allowed at most every place in the city, so she joined us for dinner on the patio of a newer restaurant there too. All that excitement was enough to wipe her out for the entire next day. Between the sleep, the fresh mountain air, and getting to frolic for a few minutes here and there at her will outdoors, she is a happy pup tonight!

Week 5: Vet, Meds & Parks

Day 29: Well, we've survived a month of this disease. It has not been pretty, easy, cheap, nor anything short of stressful. That being said, our pup seems to be getting an appetite back, playing a little more every day, and starting to get used to the medication (aka poison). She still wakes me up 1-4x a night to go out to the bathroom (mostly due to the new food), has some limp in her front leg when the swelling increases from the lesions draining, needs 20 hrs of sleep a day, and needs lots of love -- which I'm happy to oblige. Tomorrow we go back to the internal medicine vet for a weight check and a blood draw to check the levels of medication in her system to be sure she's getting the right dosage. Double dew claws crossed that goes well!

THIRTY DAYS ... That's right, now on day 30 ...

Seriously this hasn't been fun. I'm doing my best to not complain about going broke or the lack of sleep I get every night because Xena's way more important that both of those. Today's she's limping .. at least this morning she was not using her front left leg (same one as always) at all and tonight she's using it more but not like she was the past 2 weeks. Two of her three lesions are healed and I wonder if she's just about to open up another one on that leg. Gave her some pain meds tonight to help her out a little (waited until after the blood draw). So we went to vet today for the blood draw for the miravista lab check to make sure she's getting the amount of meds she needs in system. For the medicine that she's on we want a score of 3-10ug/ml. (if you really want the details the chart is here at this link).  We won't have the results for a couple of days even though they are overnight mailing it to Indiana. So start thinking numbers that range from 3-10 ... seriously. BUT, the vet was SO HAPPY to see the silly side of Xena today. She was wagging her tail and doing circles with the butt lean to be petted and taking treats and giving high fives.

Day 31: Today is my favorite day so far. I got home from work around 5pm. It's now 9pm. For the past 4 hours Xena has been by my side playing, eating, being silly, begging for my dinner, etc., etc., etc. This is the most 'normal' she has been since we started all of this. I know we will still have some ups and downs but if this is the start to the 2nd month of this crappy disease, then well .. I'll take it. (Also, her limp is gone today completely ... AND she at a TON of dog food today!)

Day 32, 33, & 34: I love weekends. Mainly because it's me and the pupster hanging out doing whatever it is that we feel we need to get done. This weekend was a lazy one. It was great. Xena went up to her training classes to just socialize for 20 minutes with all the other super amazing dogs they have there. She did well. Jogged a little with one or two of them for a few steps, got to sniff around a little bit, and got a little love from the owners/trainers. After 15 minutes you could tell she was tired, but man was she happy! Then today I took her to the park this evening. It has been raining here and I was hoping it would be empty so she could just walk around and sniff and get out of the house. Turns out they added some agility equipment and sod to the sorry excuse they used to call a dog park in Sandy Springs. Xena loved it. The A-Frame they built there is very low, but she kept playing queen of the mountain and it was adorable. (we were there for 15 minutes total). Blasto be damned, Xena had a good weekend. (then she got a bath ... and you would think for as much as she loves water she wouldnt mind .. but sheesh!)


















Day 35:  Another long day of sleep for the pupster (mainly because I work long days on Mondays). She's still having to pee a ton. All the time. I think at this point its just water going straight through her. Going to try giving her a little vitamin C and maybe trying to get a little more acidity into her diet the next couple of days to see if that helps some. Her bodies working overtime to process these meds .. at least it better be. Get her blood work back tomorrow. BUT, in the mean time we will keep on playing with our toys! We played tug for a good 5 minutes tonight!