Hello everyone. It has quite a long time since posting the last time – things get very busy outdoors in the spring, and I haven’t sat down to do this in a while.
Ginger got her first Chemo treatment last Tuesday – finally. As my last post indicated, we had an appointment with an oncologist on April 5th, but that didn’t really work out. We just weren’t comfortable there. Why, you ask?? Well…
-Is it really normal for a vet to completely ignore the patient?? …not what we are used to from our normal vets at Glenmoore Veterinary Hospital. Kudos to the docs, especially Dr. Koehl, and the staff there for helping us through this journey, and for pointing us to Tripawds!
-The oncologists first question was ‘So why are you here?’ She didn’t understand why we waited 6 weeks after the amputation to get an appointment. Made us feel like the worst Pawrents.
-From the upfront paperwork (too much financial information required) to the high end price quote, it just wasn’t the place for us.
Fast forward to last Tuesday. We had an appointment at the University of Pennsylvania Vet Hospital in Philadelphia. In the first 5 minutes that we were there, more attention was paid to Ginger than the entire visit to the other place. She had a thorough exam by a student – who clearly loves animals – and then a consultation with both the student and the oncologist (who also did an exam). We decided on a course of action, 6 treatments over 12 weeks, and Ginger had her first treatment that afternoon. It was a long trip into Philly, but well worth it. We only need to go there for the treatments. The blood tests can be done by our vet, close to home.
Ginger is handling her Chemo like a champ. We are giving her the nausea meds, as recommended by the vet, for the first week of the first course. She was very sleepy on Tuesday night, but I think that was more from the long car rides than the medicine. Since then, for the most part, she has been full of playful energy, chasing her dad and Jack, her brother, around in the yard, and tearing up some more cardboard tubes!
Just another tidbit…Ginger has begun to occasionally lie on her surgery side. I know, that doesn’t sound that remarkable, but she has been lying surgery side up for so long, that I was surprised. I was glad to see that it doesn’t seem to bother her at all.