Jenny Update

I wish that I could report that Jenny responded well to the treatment plan we worked out for her (which consists of two anti-nausea medications, an appetite stimulant, an OTC antacid and the daily subcutaneous saline fluids). But when the first of the anti-nausea medications was taken out of the picture (the plan being that if she responded, each medication would gradually be taken out so that she would only have to deal with the Zantac and the saline three times a week), she could no longer keep what very little food she was eating down.

We talked to the doctor on Wednesday and unfortunately, her continuing to not eat is very troubling. Its a sign that she feels really bad (even if she manages to keep her food down). Her interest in food is spotty at best. If she's interested at all, its only a few bites. But we keep trying and we keep throwing out a lot of untouched food. And we aren't talking dog food here...we are talking untouched hot dogs, ground beef, chicken, tuna, hamburger helper, meat balls, etc., etc., etc. THAT is how sick she is :(

So on Wednesday we added back in the first anti-nausea medication to see if that will help to keep her food down and hopefully stimulate her appetite enough so that she is getting food a few times a day. Unfortunately, its hard to hold out much hope since this wasn't even the case when she was on the medication last week and she's started to spiral down again (I can tell because her breathe changed - its a sign that the toxins have built up in her body).

At the most Jenny has another week. But if she continues to be like she has the last couple of days, I don't think it will be humane to wait that long. I know when the time comes, it will be the right thing to do to let her go, but it is still hard for me to contemplate that final decision being made.

But before I leave this post on such a note, I wanted to share a story about the true devotion of a dog. While setting up for Jenny's saline treatment Wednesday night, I lost it. Everything hit me at once and I knew that we were close to losing her. I started to cry, but despite being VERY sick and hardly feeling well enough to get out of her doggie bed in the living room, Jenny got up and came to make sure I was okay. Her first concern was me. To make sure that she could do everything she could to make me happy. This was a wonderful reminder as to why we have these wonderful little 'people' in our lives and why we will do it again once Jenny is gone. Despite the ultimate pain that their too-short lives will always result in, their selflessness and dedication is something we can all learn from and grow from.