The Long night

Last night was a long one. Poor Boney was up all night (and so were the rest of us) throwing up. It started around midnight. At one point, about 15 minutes before it started, Sally said, "she's drooling." To which I said, "well, that's weird. I wonder why?" Then she started to smack her lips like she had peanut butter stuck on them. And I remember thinking, for a split second, "what does that mean when she does that?" And then almost at the same time, Sally and I remembered. Lip smacking, when not caused by peanut butter, means there's throw up not far behind. We both jumped off the couch running around looking for some piece of reading material that we had both finished reading to put under her mouth. Of course, Arrow will have none of that and she moves her head away from the "Health" magazine that Sally sacrificed and placed under her. Then, she also dodged the Target ad. I think by morning, she had thrown up 8 more times. Twice outside at 4:30 am. Yep - I got up with her.

This morning I called the hospital to find out if throwing up was a side effect of radiation. They said it was highly unlikely. Of course, my mind goes to a bad place and wonders if the tumor matastized to her belly. When they examined her to determine if the cancer spread, they only did a chest x-ray. That's because her tumor, when it metastizes, goes to nearby organs. In her case, that is the chest. Which is clear. The ER vet on the phone said to keep and eye on her and if she gets lethargic or has a swollen belly we should bring her in. It's been about 12 hours since the last abnormal bodily function so I think she's out of the woods. She still is staying on her hamburger and rice diet for a day or so. Sally and I are placing our bets on the greenie she ate at about 10 pm. We think that was the culprit.

Tomorrow, week 2 of treatment starts. By the end of the week, they said the burn will be inflamed and she'll be in some pain. They'll put her on etogesic, a pain med that she tolerates pretty well and I think they give us some ointment. She is already starting to lick the wound a little bit. To keep her from licking her stitches when she had surgery we put a shirt on her. She looked like this:

Isn't she adorable? We might have to play dress up again as the radiation continues.

She really is being a trooper. We are going to board her for two days this week, Wed. and Thur. night. It kills me to do that as she'll being feeling worse by then, but I don't think the 3 hour a day drive make her all that excited either. I think they treat her well there. I asked the Dr. if she get enough water while she's there because the first night I brought her home she seemed to drink a lot! He said they keep water in her cage and they change it FOUR times a day! Wow, did I feel like a slacker. She was in puppy day spa out there! Here, she gets fresh water twice a day AND has to share it with the kitties. Maybe its not so bad at Tufts....