Day 16 – Post Chemo

Porter had his first chemo on Tuesday, the same day that his stitches were removed.  Now, two days post chemo, I’m happy to report that Porter has handled it spectacularly!  I was most worried about nausea or loss of appetite, but in fact it’s the opposite – he’s ravenous!!  Which is funny – Porter is the most hungry dog I’ve ever owned.  However, the tramadol reduced his appetite.  So, we decided since he wasn’t too hungry, we’d just cut his food back and get a head start on the weight loss goal.  Dr. Brown enthusiastically reported that Porter had lost 10 lbs (5 lbs of which was leg) – but still, 5 lbs in two weeks was pretty great!  Then we started reducing his Tramadol.  Whoa, it was like Porter realized he’d been shorted food for two weeks & he’d make up for it!!

We got snow in the last few days – Porter has always loved snow, especially eating it!  But eating it on three legs took a little bit of work.  Dad thought he was spending too much time outside eating snow…I told him, if we’ve learned anything from this whole Big C experience, it’s that you should eat snow while the snow has fallen!  If he wants to spend all day eating snow, he can darn well do it!

Porter has also started making more adjustments to his daily routine because of his new three legged status.  We captured this brand new sleeping position tonight.  Porter has always done this very uncomfortable S-curve shaped sleeping position, but this new one involves bending his left paw under his head.  It’s fun watching him figure out new ways to be!