Ok so I am still remaining positive even though the pain meds are making Honeybear, well……..not Honeybear! She is on tramadol, gabepentin, previcox and her antibiotic. We know she handles the previcox well but the other two make her very sedated and at times anxious. It is very frustrating to us because she was getting around perfectly at first and now with all the meds she is wobbly and weak when walking and doesn’t want to move a lot. I talked to a doctor on call the other night and we discussed dropping down the gabepentin a little to see if that would help but then literally an hour after I talked to her Honeybear experienced “phantom pain.” She cried out while she was calmly laying down. I am not an expert on this but my understanding is the nerve still feels the pain the arm would feel if it was still there. It will take a couple weeks to heal this nerve (thank goodness its not a permanent side effect) but gabepentin is the one drug to help with this. So we have to keep her “drugged up” for a couple more days. I definitely don’t want her to be in pain but I want to see that full of life Honeybear that I know!
On a positive note when she does get around she does great! She has mastered going to the restroom, she handles the ramp to the back deck like a champ, and she is still eating and drinking. Tomorrow we go back to our local vet to remove her bandage and if she is healing well she will start her first chemo on Thursday. I am excited to meet the oncologist and get on with healing Honeybear!
I read over and over the first two weeks are the hardest and at this point almost a week out I would hope to agree as we don’t know what the next few weeks will be like. From what I’ve been told chemo has very little to no side effects on dogs, let’s pray this is the case for Honeybear. My birthday is next month and the perfect present would to be able to take her to the beach! That’s 4 weeks away so come on Honeybear you can do it!