Monday, September 8, 2014
This picture was taken a few days after Henry's first round of chemo when he wasn't feeling so great and might just prove that Cupid has some sympathy for good ole Hank.
Normally, Cupid will begrudgingly lay on the sofa with Henry, but Cupid's number one rule is no touching. But on this occasion, Cupid cut Henry a little slack and happily slept with him, even touching him, in hopes of helping him feel better.
Friday, September 5, 2014
The newest member of our family celebrated her first birthday last weekend and Henry and Cupid finally got a chance to meet her. Henry did a wonderful job and was patient and gentle. When presents were being opened, Henry might have stolen the show a bit looking to see if any presents were from him. Cupid on the other hand, literally had a "hissy fit". Overall she did OK, but she definitely had a few moments where she could have done a bit better.
It was a wonderful day spent with family and Henry received lots of love and attention. Everyone was happy that he was feeling better and up for the visit.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Yesterday marked Henry's first day back in his normal routine since his sickness after his first round of chemo. And getting back to the routine seemed to do Henry good!
On Tuesday, Henry had the stitches removed from his belly. The incision healed nicely and Henry was a very good and patient boy while having the stitches removed.
Henry started steroids to help with his IBD the same day as his first chemo session. He is still in the high dose stage, and the steroids seem to be having the most effect on him currently. He is a little restless and panty. Oh, yeah, and his appetite is back! It is a little too early to tell, but the steroids do seem to be helping his potty issues.
We were on the fence with whether or not we would continue with the chemo treatments after Henry was so sick. But after talking to our vet and the oncologist, we all agree that we can not say for sure what was the sole cause of Henry getting sick. Yes, the chemo likely played a role, but there were many other factors that definitely could have contributed. We have decided to move forward with round two of chemotherapy. But, this time he will only receive 50-60% of his usual dose. If Henry, gets sick after this treatment then we know this type of chemotherapy is not for him and we will need to come up with a plan b.
Our goal right now is to get Henry as healthy as possible and well rested for his next round of chemotherapy which will come on September 15th.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
As soon as we got the suitcase out to pack for our trip to Jacksonville, Henry started to get excited. We calmed him down and told him he had to wait for us to get fully packed before anything exciting was going to happen. But, when it was finally time to go, Henry was very enthusiastic. When Henry gets excited, he barks and runs around the house. He also likes to grab a stuffed toy and run around with it in his mouth. In his excitement to go to Jacksonville for his first chemo treatment, Henry ran and got his money bag plush toy. I tell you that pug has his finger on the pulse! The money bag is the appropriate toy to bring on this trip! Seeing the hilarity of all this, we even brought Henry's money bag to the oncologist and let them know that this was the one thing that Henry wanted to bring with him on his trip 
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
We have one more story to share about Henry's adventures before his first chemo treatment.
After his little jaunt in the field, Henry took a breather and just stood in front of the hotel and watched passers by in and out of the lobby. He dawdled getting to the elevator because he wanted to go spy on the people sitting in the chairs in the lobby. When we finally got him moving and walking toward the elevator, he wanted to take a "short cut" and check out the lady behind the front desk to see what she was doing. Henry is just an "in your business" kind of pug.
The real nosiness came when we had room service delivered for dinner. We were kind of in a bind for dinner. We were already settled in the hotel room and didn't want to disturb the calm by taking Henry back out or having one of us run out and bring something back, so we decided to order in. (It was odd, though, we knew there were local restaurants where one of us would be able to walk to real quick and bring something back, but they all closed super early or were not even open on Sundays. That was a monkey wrench we had not foreseen.)
When room service lady first arrived you would think that Henry thought she was a spy from another land! He watched her every move never taking his one eye off of her. Sure, the lady was bringing food, but it was also like he was still just a tad suspicious of her. But as his sniffer got going she got the all clear. She passed the test. But you could see his little wheels spinning! If he was a person, he would be like a preschooler on his first day of school! He'd follow the teacher around and ask her non stop questions, but yet still be leery of the answers. And as soon as the teacher sat down, he'd be either in her lap or sitting so close to her that he might as well be in her lap. He wanted to be uncomfortably close to the room service lady. He practically crawled up her leg yearning to be picked up.
Yes, of course Henry got some goodies off the tray of food. So he was aptly rewarded for his outgoing (and nosy) nature.
Monday, September 1, 2014
Labor Day is one of those patriotic holidays where we of course hang our US flag. We wish you all a very happy Labor Day!. We also wanted to thank Sue VDB for our newest flag addition - just in time to hang for Labor (and every day). It's the garden flag in memory of our little Looney. Sue has generously sent flags for each of our dearly departed puggers. Sue was having hip replacement surgery/recovering when we lost Luna. She was so kind and reached out to us (even during her own recovery!) to let us know that our flag would be coming in a little while. My goodness! How kind and generous of a soul to not only think of us but during such a crazy time of her own life. So considerate and thoughtful. She is too kind.
We have the small garden where Benny and Luna are together. The Solsey flag flew for so long that sun faded sweet Solseys face beyond the point of recognition. But the memories of all of them live on. Thank you again, Sue! Your kindness is extreme, your generosity supreme.
Have a happy and safe Labor Day!
Henry Update:
Henry is doing much better. He really started to feel under the weather on Wednesday night. By Thursday morning his stomach was very upset. He slept all day Thursday and we took him to the vet on Friday afternoon after seeing minimal improvement. Our biggest concern was dehydration. Our next biggest concern was that the chemo was hitting him too hard. While we knew there was going to be side effects, he seemed to be having a much worse case than they described.
At our local vet, Henry got an anti nausea shot, some fluids and blood work done. His white and red blood cell counts were on the low side of average (which was expected from the chemo), but he was in no way bottoming out. Our vet suspects all of Henry's sickness could not be blamed solely on the chemo. That the general stress of the biopsies, kidney removal and chemo could be combining to create a perfect storm and dragging him under the weather.
On Friday night, after his appointment at the vet, Henry had a very restful night of sleep. This seemed to help him tremendously. He was much more like his normal self on Saturday morning. We had a very low key weekend and allowed Henry to get as much rest as possible and that has really seemed to help.
Friday, August 29, 2014
We wanted to take a moment to sound like a Public Service Announcement (PSA). We say that with a bit of sarcasm, but really, we want to express the importance of early detection in cancer cases. Since early detection played such a critical role in our good fortune (and who refers to cancer as good fortune?). But seriously, it was truly by happenstance that Henry's cancer was uncovered. It was only discovered because we were looking to help his health in a different area. Henry still has IBD and that is manageable. But if we had overlooked his poopy problems and if our vet had not been diligent and opted to keep going down a road of not just "tying new foods" then we would not likely not have noticed Henry's cancer until it was too late.
Here is the moral of our story.....if you or your puggy (or anyone you love) is "not right" and you know that there is something more going on, keep pushing to find answers. Your suspicions are probably right. Don't put off a test that could ultimately save a life because you think it's frivolous or that they won't find anything anyway. If we had not had Henry get that second sonogram, we would like be talking about how Henry only has x amount of time left, rather thank looking forward to a more positive future. We know, of course, that this is not always possible and by nature we have a tendency to let "little things slide" but I urge you all to at least try to pay attention to the little warnings and don't let them go until they are so big that your lives are so forever changed that you can only think of how things would be different if you could set the clock back in time.
We are truly so thankful that our vet suggested another sonogram (and also grateful that he did not charge us for it) and how it revealed more than we bargained for but that without that second screening we would not be in a place where we could so confidently move forward.
Just as Solsey Baby, Baby Benny and Little Looney have all taught us life lessons, let us also learn from Handsome Henry what he is teaching us now as we go along the pug loving path. Early Detection. Early Intervention. Henry Strong. All day long.
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