The Worst Roller Coaster of My Life

It's been just over three months since Daisy started to limp.  What a roller coaster we have been on.

Do you know how much I hate roller coasters?

Three months ago, Daisy was showing signs of being an old lady but otherwise healthy.

Then she started to limp followed by the diagnosis of Osteosarcoma and the removal of her left arm.

We have all adjusted very well and are halfway though her Chemo treatments. 

We had been ticking up the roller coaster hill and then all of a sudden we dropped down the biggest hill since the beginning, into a dark tunnel.

I picked up Daisy from her third treatment on Wednesday evening.  She was extra agitated in the van but I didn't think to much of it since the van is not a comfortable place for her.  Traffic was bad and I had to run an errand so our ride home took almost a hour.  She was pacing the entire time.

When we got home, she dove out of the car and ran into the back yard.

Then like normal, she crashed on the couch until dinner.  At this point, we were not concerned.

But around 8 pm I noticed she was trembling so I cuddled up on the couch with her to see how she was doing.  Over the next hour, she didn't get any better when all of a sudden she jumped up and ran into the kitchen.  She was drooling so I took her outside and kept an eye on her.  She didn't throw up but she wasn't doing well.

She came into the house where we noticed her mouth was swollen so we called the ER at the University. They told us to give her Benadryl or bring her in. 

I gave her the Benadryl and lay on the floor with her for the next 30 minutes.  She was still trembling so I called my brother to have him come stay with Heidi while we went to the Emergency Room.

I went to change out of my pajamas and pack up some stuff for our late night trip to the ER when I noticed that Daisy seemed to be just fine.  Five minutes after asking my brother to come over, I called him back to tell him to stay home.

We decided to keep an eye on her until the morning but if she started trembling again we would take her in.

The next morning I talked to her Oncologist who told me she was having a reaction to the Chemo.  They still want to go forward with her treatment in a few weeks. At that time she will have another set of chest x-rays, since we are at the midway point, and if they are clear she will get her Chemo.  If the x-rays are not clear, then the treatment stops.

Ever since the reaction, she has not trembled again but her mouth is still a little saggy on the left side which cause water to drip out when she drinks and she is lethargic. 

I think we have made it to the bottom of this hill and are about to start up the next one.  That is unless I decide to jump off before the next treatment, take my dog, and go home.  Which really seems to be a possibility at this point.  Do I really want to put her through that again?  Do I give her one more treatment and see if she reacts or do I stop now?  It is a decision I don't want to make but one I will have to make very soon.