I currently have two patients in my care now: Ernie and Rose. Rose had to go back to the vet on Friday as she had blood in her urine. After many (expensive) tests, they found bacteria and crystals in her bladder. She is now on antibiotics for the infection, meds for the pain and a special urinary tract diet to make sure this goes away and does not come back. Unfortunately, we've had to quarantine her as she can't be far from the litter box when nature calls, which was about every 5 minutes. We let her out for a bit today so she could lay in her sun puddle. Hopefully she will be back to normal before our company arrives on Thursday.
Ernie continues to develop new and painful side effects. His voice is now incredibly hoarse and it is difficult for him to talk above a whisper. Like the other side effects, his voice may remain hoarse for up to two months after the last treatment. His throat is also more swollen, presenting a real challenge when it comes to taking pills let alone swallowing food. We gave up on real food after dinner last night. We are now down to pudding, yogurt, instant breakfast and Ensure. This means that we must use the feeding tube to deliver the calories and nutrients he can't take by mouth. After a few fits and starts this morning, we were successful in using the tube on our own. Tomorrow we add a second feeding and then on Tuesday, he can use the tube as many feedings as needed.
So far he doesn't appear to have lost weight. The docs stress that patients that maintain their weight are less fatigued and recover faster--a good incentive to keep up with the calories.
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