o'cockaigne

January 6, 2015, an extreme black day for O ' Cockaigne; I have had to take the inevitable decision to make Calhoun sleep.

    It started sometime in October; Calhoun coughed so very occasionally and of course the alarm bells were ringing. The first place where metastases of bone cancer emerge is in the lungs. So we made an appointment for October 30th in Terneuzen with Johan de Vos. On the long photographs that were made then no metastases can be seen but a strange white spot above Calhoun's heart, between the bronchi. The week on it was the opportunity to make an ultrasound to see what exactly that was. It was hard to see but the diagnosis was; Heart base tumor. There is still no official treatment for this, but the oncologists have already achieved very good results with certain drugs. So I went loaded with a cooler and a bag of medicine out the door. After three days Calhoun got high fever. One of the drugs could cause this but after I had stopped for quite some time, and with everything actually, the fever continued to flare up. All kinds of antibiotics have been passed. In the end Calhoun responded the best to Xeden or Marbocyl and Prednoral. Meanwhile, Calhoun lost his appetite and therefore his energy resulting in muscle decrease. Of the nearly 50 kilos he used to weigh, he now weighed only 38. There were also all kinds of blood tests, including heart worm and Pancreatitis to explain the fever. On 21 November another echo made his belly to see if the pancreas looked abnormal. Absolutely not so. Also all the other bodies looked good. Then Calhoun was again a fever-free period and started again with the chemo in pill form and other medications against his heart tumor. Three days later, Calhoun again had a fever stopped with the medicines. We then decided to make a CT scan on December 15. After a long study the conclusion was drawn that it was not a heart base tumor but a cancerous lymph node. This pressed his esophagus partially close and also in his small left lung lobe was a small scoop to be seen. After a long reflection, a lot of thinking and contemplation, we decided to let Calhoun operate in Ghent. The surgeon, Bart van, is very skilled in this type of operation and he gave Calhoun a decent chance to survive. Unfortunately, Christmas and New Years were at the door, so the operation was scheduled for January 6, 2015. And this was just too late. Meanwhile, Calhoun deteriorated. He stood on nierdieet in canned feed form supplemented with white bread and spaghetti, at least this was almost liquid so that he could put it into the slob. But after a week he had to eat smaller bites and had to go slower to avoid accumulation in the esophagus. When he drank and kept his head too low, the water ran out of his beak again. He regularly felt troubled by fever attacks and had no more fut to walk. Because of this he became increasingly slacker. Sometimes he had good days and he walked another round but then he was also ready for the rest of the day. With old and new we have still fled to France to avoid the fireworks, there he could not stop at all. Luckily he had a fever-free period and felt pretty good. He liked it, a new environment, new pieces for walking but his bad condition prevented nice, big walks. 6 January, early morning, for me and Calhoun far too early, in the car and towards Ghent. Fortunately, not too much delays on the way because I was already stressed enough. When I arrived I asked if it was not wise to make a CT scan first to see if a lot has changed. Unfortunately, there was no possibility, only the next day but then the surgeon could not wait and another week could not. After consultation nevertheless decided to operate. We had agreed that if it went well and the tumors could be well removed, one of the assistants would tell me but it was a ' mission impossible ' then Bart would come to say it. After two hours of waiting I saw Bart appear…. Unfortunately, in those three weeks, the tumour had grown in such a way that it fell heavily against it. He had grown over a length of 20 centimetres around the esophagus and also partially in it, and he also pressed the esophagus close to the mouth and had grown into the right lung. It was no longer possible to remove all of this. Yes, and then you can not do anything but give permission to make Calhoun sleep.     I have waited heavily for the Calhoun to take home again, after a small hour he was back in the car. When we drove there, a cat crossed, I still said; "Look, Calhoun, a cat!" but his beloved head did not appear next to me.    

Calhoun's first three legged birthday!

  Yesterday we drank only one bottle of sect; Calhoun's first three legged birthday! But for this we made a lovely walk in the Mastbos with lots of water, wind and especially mud. Calhoun and Brandir were constantly in the weather and I therefore also to keep them with me. Calhoun's ears went up regularly and Brandir was able to read this language in the meantime. Brandir is also becoming more free and disappears from sight. Fortunately he listens very well to the whistle and in no time stands with me to receive his biscuit. Of course they all get a biscuit so I have to make sure that the Buideltje is well filled!   Very sorry I didn't have a camera with me, I could have shot beautiful pictures. But a few weeks back we were on the way to take the Christmas picture and of course we made some more pictures. So this is not the Christmas picture, which you can find under O ' Cockaigne Deerhounds-photos-Christmas pictures.   This year we didn't need much time to take the picture. With only four hounds it's a lot easier but still they always cops to jump on all sides after a couple of pictures and see them once again to get a neat list! Sometimes we make 50/60 pictures and there's nothing in it to my liking, also it happens that we drive two times somewhere to take the picture. Very often there is always one that looks duf or close the eyes, just stands to yawn or with crossed legs standing. Yes, and of course that is not possible!   Calhoun is doing really very well. He is also happy and lifelong. Every day he plays with Brandir and also shows that he is still the boss. He is still pretty fast but also knows very well with his powers to go. If it is pointless to chase behind Brandir, or if it is a difficult terrain with a lot of undergrowth and fallen tree trunks, Calhoun awaits a strategic place to take Brandir. He also knows exactly what he can and cannot do on three legs but I am very regularly looking at what he can do! There is a tremendous power in that one hind leg!     I am very pleased that a year ago I took the decision to amputate Calhoun's Paw. My feeling that I had then, that Calhoun could handle it, has proven to be true. Hereby the happiness of early discovery and no metastases has resulted in me still enjoying my Calhoun every day and Calhoun can still enjoy life every day. And he does!!!

At the end of August, I got blood again at Calhoun. The creatinine was then 140. Not frighteningly high but higher than late July. On 10 October the weather had risen slightly, to 142. Since I did not see that rising line, I had made an appointment before 18 November with Mr R.J. Cantu. This doctor is specialized in nutrition and wanted to see if Calhoun's diet could be adapted so that his kidneys would be more well-known. I had already emailed Calhoun's complete nutrition list and during the consultation, Mr. Cantu told me that it was one of the better nutritional lists he had seen from private individuals. Also Calhoun's urine and blood were researched and now it turned out to be my fright the creatinine rose to 176! Also there was still some blood in his urine. Mr Cantu mailed me that same afternoon the result of the blood and urine tests with the necessary changes for the diet. Calhoun had to eat more, I also found him slightly too skinny, and there had to be more choline, zinc, iodine and less gistocal and no more garlic by his food. The 200 grams of boiled potatoes were 400 and the amount of mashed vegetables was also doubled. Calhoun became a potato eater! The meat I kept at about 200 grams. Luckily he ate it well but soon I noticed that it was very much. He arrived within 11 days a thick half kilo, which was fine but really much heavier he should not be because then his joints are taxed too much. By now I had an appointment with Johan de Vos. On Friday 29 November a CT scan would be made to see if there were any metastases.

The days before November 29th I had quite a bit of nerves. How would it look? How high would the creatinine be now?

First of all, Calhoun was well looked at and felt. No strange things. Then his blood and urine were examined again. For his urine I have to make another ultrasound because there is still some blood in it. But then came the first good news, the creatinine was again sunk to 141! That goes again in the right direction! Also the other values were slightly lower. Then an X-ray has been taken to see if there were any metastases. If they were already on an X-ray, we didn't have to make a scan anymore. That would be a waste of money and time. But……. The X-ray looked beautiful! Nothing to see, at least no metastases. So Calhoun and prick got to go to sleep and was pushed into the scanner a little later. After a small half hour he passed and I was left with him in a room to let him wake up. Now the scan was viewed and I was told that everything looked fine! What a relief, no metastases to see, Calhoun may have a while on this kind of bastard running around!! It is of course not a guarantee and next month it may be different but we are now almost a year after the amputation so we have good hope that it will continue to go well for much longer. So on December 21st we draw a bottle of sect open on Calhoun's second birthday, last December 2 he was 6, 21 December he becomes 1!!!

We hope to do so often! A playing Calhoun! and a coursing Calhoun!

After having received his 7th chemo cure on June 4, Calhoun, he has been lousy for a few days. Lifeless, diarrhea and not eating said me more than enough. On the 1st of July we went back to Terneuzen and his blood was also watched in his urine. It turned out that there were traces of blood in his urine, and some blood values were too high. So… no chemo and after a week come back for an extended echo of his guts to see where that blood comes from. June 9, on the echo everything looked fine; No distortions, no visible metastases, no bleeding, nothing was there to see what the blood in the urine could explain. But there was still some blood in it and his creatinine was even slightly higher than the week before. The only explanation for the blood in the urine is that the kidneys are slightly damaged inside, so Calhoun must be on a nierdieet. That in itself is no problem at all, especially not with Barfen, and Calhoun eats everything I do to him. Meanwhile we went to De Bilt and Tomas was very satisfied with Calhoun. He hamzah no negative things only showed indeed the medulla of the kidneys what to be affected. After a good acupuncture treatment, we were reassured to go home again. Before the 31st of July we have an appointment with Johan de Vos and we hope that the values will come back.

In the meantime Calhoun has had his third chemo cure and fortunately again no nasty side effects. The first four days after administering, he gets Cerenia tablets against nausea and they do their job fine. He just keeps eating. Also the Peroxicam he still gets. However, he is currently losing his garnish. Also his paws are getting balder. But if that's the worst, I'll make sure. Johan de Vos has decided to Carboplatin Calhoun one time and the other time epirubicin to serve this in connection with the kind of osteosarcoma. Now but hope that the desired effect also reveals itself; Longer service life. However, Calhoun receives holistic support and recently Salvestrol. This seems to work very strongly celbeschermend and we have already heard very positive stories about it. So try it! In the meantime, we find that at Calhoun his hearing was in his linkerachterpoot. He barely listens, and certainly if he thinks something to see or wants to see something, he is gone. I can only walk a little behind him because he does not do it in principle. If I stay in his neighbourhood, and at some point the others give a biscuit loud and clear, he will come back again. It is difficult, because you have to take the time, as soon as you have an appointment there is no more. Keeping him on the leash is very difficult because his tempo is quite different and it is quite difficult for him to walk more slowly. If I want to walk so that it's easy for him, I have to jog. I like that, but not 20 minutes or longer! It is also quite frightening when he shoots behind, when something happens with his right hind leg we have a big problem. But yes, he still has to be able to stay a little himself and enjoy life.  

             Chemo cure.

  Yesterday, January 8th, Calhoun has had its first chemo cure. After an intake interview in which things were explained and after Johan de Vos had examined Calhoun, some blood was taken and examined. Fortunately this looked good, the alkaline phosphates were not increased and also Calhoun's kidney-values were okay. After this, we had Calhoun on his own dress at work height and the cannula was inserted. The chemo liquid, Carboplatin, was sprayed into the vein in two stages for 20 minutes. After this, it became a bit flushed with a physiological saline solution. Calhoun behaved all the time like a real Deerhound. No hassle or whining, while he still has very nasty experiences in the meantime. Afterwards he got a hand full of yummy biscuits which I expected he would not take. He is absolutely not corrupt and if he does not have the same meaning, he does not eat. But these were apparently irresistible for he took it. At home, Calhoun has to be kept separate from the other hounds for the first 5 days and we have to look very much with saliva, urine and feces. He now sleeps in "Cody's" room and is stretched out on his back on the Gelmatras. Brandir does not like this, who wants to cuddle him so much, but that is not allowed. With exhausts, therefore, it is also very careful that they do not smell each other and clean up stools. Once at home he had to get one and a half Cerenia tablet, this against nausea. A little half an hour later I finished his food and this went well with the drug Peroxicam, a painkiller and an inflammatory inhibitor. Happy. Calhoun has slept well, he is not sick, shows no side effects, his old temperature of 37.9 C has returned again and has eaten well today. It's going well with Calhoun, hopefully it stays that way.

Sunday, December 23rd, Calhoun’s scrotum starts to swell, and really very much! This is of course very painful and with a cold cloth I try to cool it. It does help something but it didn’t decrease a lot. Monday I go back for control, Rens gives a spray for it but this only makes things worse! Partly because he lays constantly on his good side, his skin soon starts to blemishes. First Christmas Day my sisters are coming to eat and I quickly call Astrid if she does have some baby powder or talcum powder. She got it and will bring it with her. Also I have some small strips of Terry and in combination with the powder I get Calhoun’s skin dry again. But it remains to be careful because the skin is well broken. I’m busy with it day and night because the last few nights he’s quite restless. Over time there are formed large crusts and on Friday morning it all looks much better, not so swollen and red.

I had been given antibiotics for 5 days, so on Wednesday evening he got his last tablet. Thursday the wound looks still beautiful, not thick, not red. But in the course of the Friday afternoon, red spots began to form and the operation wound looked a bit swollen. All this time Calhoun has had no increased temperature, 37.8 was the highest! But now it was 38.8 and I made myself great worries. Of course I immediately got new antibiotics, but that night Calhoun was very restless and his temperature had risen to 39 degrees. For a Deerhound really not good. It also seemed as if he was afraid in the dark and he slept again with us on bed.  On Saturday we went to the vet again and he gave Calhoun an analgesic injection and said that I could increase the Tramadol (painkiller) something. Once home, Calhoun calmed down over time. Very calm, he seemed drugged! He didn’t feel like eating that night, despite the can of tuna I had stirred through it. Fortunately he ate the most, with the medicines. I was hopeful that Calhoun would sleep well, but after an hour and a half I heard him get up and jump off his bed, he insisted on sleeping with us. By the morning he started squeaking, he didn’t need to urinate. He continued to beep, even after he had been out and had eaten with long teeth. I was at the end of the board and sent an email to Cecilia van der Drift, the animal interpreter who helped me so well with Amy. Although it is Sunday, I received a mail a few hours later that she had some time for us tonight. In the meantime, Calhoun was happily quieter and sleeping.

At the end of the afternoon, Cecilia called and after half an hour I was not only reassured and a lot wiser but also Calhoun made a much quieter impression. The fear of Calhoun arises from the fact that he does not know what is going on with his body, everything feels different than normal. He has muscle pain (I thought so) due to the other load of his muscles and joints. He doesn’t have much pain but it feels irritated. However, he is relieved to get rid of his sore leg and he also understands why that happened. Cecilia also told him that when the chemo cure starts he gets all sorts of other feelings, but that eventually all comes well… and we’ll just stop there.

It is now half past nine in the evening, Calhoun is quiet, he has eaten well and is sleeping well, how long, we will notice that.

Will you keep your fingers crossed for us ??

Last night, by half past seven, we were able to pick up Calhoun. Operation succeeded, Hound still alive. Happy!! I always have the nerves anyway and certainly after Cwillyaigne! After discussing some of them, we heard Calhoun shouting, he had heard me and thought it was time to go home. When I came back, he got out of himself and got full confidence from his kennel. Rens had already said that he was looking at how Calhoun reacted in terms of standing up and moving but he was completely perplexed when Calhoun walked in the corridor and then with minimal help in the car jumped. That looked very promising! Once at home he did not want to urinate at first but right in and on his bed. He laid himself very smoothly and easily, without help. Of course I made a delicious meal for him, with lots of tuna through it, and he ate it all wonderfully. After one and a half hours he needed to do a pee. He thought I was nice to be outside and to "walk", he wanted to necessarily the fence and only 200 meters away he did a gigantic puddle. Immediately he turned around and "walked" back home at very high speed. At home he found that he was allowed on our bed (that's all sick hounds) and coaxed himself. I greased the sutures with Calendula ointment so that they would not irritate and soon Calhoun fell asleep. After a while he became somewhat restless and had to urinate again. That went fine again. The night is reasonably quiet. At one point he found the waterbed a little too hot and had a few hours in the kitchen sleeping on his bed. By five o'clock this morning he wanted to stay with me again and he was sleeping well until we were awakened by a squeaky Brandir who also wanted to have some attention. Calhoun has eaten well again this morning and has moved several times during the day. He's getting more and more handy on three legs, I'm really looking forward to seeing how quickly he has what he can and can't but actually he can do everything! However, I have laid a cold, wet rag over his wound several times, it is of course a gigantic bruising and cooling does wonders. To prevent him from licking too much, I throw a large, very thin towel over him or get a cut, airy, very stretchy trouser. Rens did not get the results of the biopsies last night, so it is a osteosarcoma. Hopefully it hasn't spread yet and heals the wound quickly so that we can start with the chemo cure. Do you thumb a bit for us?