An Over Due Sasha Update

After the last dose of vaccine in September, Sasha was doing very well up until a little before Thanksgiving.  Her left leg/pelvis began causing her more pain, and walking had become a little difficult for Sasha.  It was time for more radiation.

We spent Thanksgiving in Hagerstown, MD with one of Carlos’ cousins and his grandfather.  We had a great time, and so did the dogs.  I’m sure Sasha would have been a little happier if not for the pain that she was obviously feeling.  She spent most of her time lying around instead of enjoying the cold weather.  As we’ve mentioned before, Sasha comes alive when the mercury drops.

When we were back in NC, I scheduled Sasha to receive radiation at NCSU on December 2nd because she was already scheduled to receive Zolindronate on that day, but unfortunately it could not be done.  She received radiation on the 3rd and 4th that week.  Unfortunately for Sasha, this meant that she’d be at NCSU 3 days in a row! Sasha was not happy at all.  In fact, she was quite miserable for having to go 3 days in a row, and the treatment did a number on her.   Our girl normally bounces back quickly after her treatments and is usually back to normal within a week, but this time it took her longer to bounce back.  Sadly, the radiation didn’t seem to help relieve Sasha’s pain as much as it usually did.  Also, the radiation seems to be causing problems in Sasha’s colon.  For several days after the radiation, Sasha would feel that she had to poop, even if she didn’t need to.  She strained, and this caused her to bleed.  After several medications, pumpkin, and time, she started to feel much better.  Two weeks after the radiation, Sasha had to go back in for blood tests to see if she could continue taking Palladia – which she had started between her last vaccine on September 19th, and her radiation, December 2nd.  The decision was made to discontinue the Palladia.

Since then, Sasha has been doing OK.  The progression of the disease is obvious, and the symptoms are difficult to witness.   Sasha almost never bears weight on her left leg any more, and she has started to roll her foot in a way that causes her to step on her  knuckles instead of the pads of her foot.   However, she has stopped bearing weight on her left foot, and steps on her knuckles instead.  We believe this is probably due to the tumor pressing against her spine.

On Monday, December 30th, she went in for Zolendronate, Carboplatin and some blood which came back looking good.  She was a bit under the weather on Tuesday, December 31st, but she’s back to ‘normal’ again.

With Sasha not bearing weight on her left foot and therefore not using that leg much, she doesn’t walk as much as she did just a little over a month ago.   But please don’t think that Sasha is just lying around all the time.  This girl gets up and ‘runs’ when she feels like it…if she’s not up to it, she knows that mom and dad will pick her up and take her outside to enjoy fresh air and/or do her business.

Now that taking long walks is not really an option for Sasha, we’ve started to use something to help her enjoy outings to some of her favorite places.