Day 9.
6 treatments down, 13 to go.
The steroids have already made the tumor smaller. The lipoma on her rear leg is smaller too, which I hadn't expected. I'll need to ask the vet about that when I have a chance.
Don't worry, she may look like she's wincing but she's just being faced with the sun, and is not keen on having her portrait taken.
Vida is a smart dog. Sometimes that helps this process, sometimes not so much.
I learned today (when she came out in record time again) that when she starts barking the first time she's ready to eat, and when she starts barking the second time she's ready to go home.
She doesn't really like taking the Animals' Apawthecary Ginger/Mint tincture because it makes her burp right away - but of course in an hour she's feeling great and wants to eat (which by that time she usually shouldn't to avoid later stomach junk).
She's learned to eat her sort-of hidden prednisone in order to avoid the indignity of being pilled.
She lets me do acupressure and tui-na to move the qi down, which I need to do a few times later in the day/evening to help her digestion. She gets so warm, it's as though the radiation is creating heat, and it's swirling around her midsection. The qi is all discombobulated. Today I gently stroked her with a zoom groom (a rubber curry), and she burped during that.
She may come to hate what I started today: dabbing her ching and irrigating her mouth to fend off burns. I'm using aloe vera juice combined with an infusion of calendula flowers and (fresh) comfrey leaf. Hopefully, when it does get more irritated, the cold soothing wash will be welcomed.
She's terribly nervous when we are waiting to go in for treatment. I feel bad about that, but I know it will pass. She knows when it's a treatment day because she doesn't get fed first thing, so she spends the next hour trying to change my mind, while at the same time refusing to drink any water. This morning I resorted to spiking her water with meat juice because I knew she hadn't had any water since early the evening before....
She normally doesn't drink at night. The steroids have made her more thirsty, and one night in particular she had a big drink at night. Poor thing wet the bed, so no more night drinking (her decision). I can tell she's feeling dry, but she refuses my entreaties to just have a sip. The dog door is open, but she doesn't want to get caught. The radiation works better on hydrated tissue so it's a bit of an issue. As for her leaking - this used to be caused by a sensitivity to chicken, but in general it seems to be that she doesn't have enough qi down there to do the job, hence the tui-na and acupressure during this process to get it moved back down the body as smoothly as possible.
Often she just wants to take care of herself. This is the disconnect between us, where she doesn't always understand the benefits of what I'm foisting on her. If it's not immediate it's hard for her to make the connection, despite what I try to say. So I just do it. After all, what she thinks about me in this moment is as important as helping her feel better and do better with this process.
I can take the dirty looks.
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