Arlie poses as a babysitter

 This is an older video when my son was 1.5 years old and was being entertained by the best babysitter there is...our Arlie Barley!


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=202791587596&l=7075382413542836910

Bloodwork in...still fine

"M" called. The bloodwork is looking good. That isn't so surprising because Arlie usually gets a low WBC on the 3rd week post chemo (which will be next week). Arlie has his 5th chemo treatment next Friday and "M" will do his usual bloodwork beforehand to see how he's doing.

Stay tuned.

We interrupt this regularly scheduled program to say.....

Go JMU DUUUUUUUUUUUKES!!!!!!

And for your reading pleasure:

http://www.wset.com/story/21752792/jmu-dukes-win-ncaa-tournament-opener

Sorry, although this isn't about the schnoodle, it is in fact about another dog. The James Madison University Duke Dog (my alma mater). Bring it Indiana!! Tune in Friday to watch the biggest upset in NCAA history!!! Arlie will be sporting his purple and gold and barking to the beat of a victory.

Trickery and chasing tail

I think Arlie's trickster ways are coming out once again. He is not wanting to eat unless there is freeze dried liver in his bowl and/or chicken and rice. Naturally his finickiness got me all worried and I was going to email "M" to ask what we should do. Alas, I held it together and did not email him....I instead stalked him in the preschool pick up line and asked him if I could double Arlie's appetite stimulant. He told me that I couldn't do that as it messes with chemicals in the schnoo's brain. Therefore, Greg and I will continue to feed into Arlie's picky nature and give him liver treats and his chicken and rice.

Today Arlie came in the house with his chuck it stick and a tennis ball INSIDE the chuck it stick's ball part. Think he was giving me a hint?

Next video...the ladies love them some schnoodle luvin'

Tripawd vs. 4 legged lab

Watch to see who wins...

2 days post chemo and we have a case of the yucks

Arlie has a big case of the yucks. For some reason, this chemo treatment has hit him a little bit harder than previous ones. He vomited this morning (once again, asked to go out to do so) which was unusual because he ate last night. He vomited bile which is his MO when he has an empty stomach. He is on the anti nausea meds and the stimulant. We mixed some wet food with his dry food last night and this morning and he ate that up. I was happy to see that he even ate his dry food that we had up in our bedroom in his bowls (yes, our dog has water and food bowls in our master bath and in the laundry room).

I will do my best not to email "M" with my stress and see how Arlie does this week. This is huge for me! To not run to my email and ask him why Arlie had the hiccups or that he looked at me strangely or that he jumped on the right side of the couch when he has always loved the left side... which brings me to my next topic.  Lately, I've been taping old "Friends" episodes to watch while I'm folding laundry and cleaning up. This particular one was on where Ross and Rachel are dumped by their pediatrician because Rachel is harassing him so much and asking so many questions. Now I know that "M" wouldn't "dump" us but when this episode came on, I was laughing out loud because it's a conversation that Greg and I have about Arlie. Greg tells me I need to calm down and not email "M" with every hiccup that our schnoodle has. So, I shall try. Now keep in mind, I think "M" is fantastic and Greg and I don't start our conversations the way Ross and Rachel did in the below clip, but it still made me chuckle....which is good cause I need a good chuckle every now and then.

4 down....? to go

Chemo treatment 4 is complete! "M" checked Arlie out and cleared him for launch so we went ahead with the treatment. Earlier this week we were a little concerned that Arlie was being a little too careful on his walks and trying to shorten his time outside. We had a couple of nice days where I threw the ball for him and his girl, Bella, and he took the bait and ran and ran and ran to get every ball I threw their way.

This past Wednesday it snowed. For the folks reading this blog that aren't on the east coast, DC had a storm nicknamed "snowquestration." It was a lot of hype and in the end, didn't really amount to much. Arlie had a blast taking down every attempt of the kids snowman. The kids would form a snowball and then came a black ball of fur using his one paw to rip it apart. The kids found it comical. Arlie loved it.

Here is a video of Arlie playing with Pepper. Another new friend in the neighborhood.

Arlie in the snow

Fast forward to today and the treatment. We have added another pill to Arlie's repertoire....deramaxx. This helps for arthritis. Hopefully Arlie isn't getting this but with him being careful with his leg we assume he's getting sore from being a tripawed. With the deramaxx I noticed on his discharge papers we need to also give him Pepcid. So let's review what we give our pill loving dog....SMZ (antibiotics), Deramaxx (arthritis), Anti Nausea meds, Appetite stimulant, and pepcid. The good news is he only needs the nausea meds and stimulant about a week post treatment so we don't get a puppy that doesn't want to eat. "M" has lowered Arlie's carboplatin as he's just so drug sensitive. He doesn't want to lower it anymore as it become ineffective. Therefore, we will evaluate after the 6th (and what was supposed to be his final treatment) if we need to give him 2 more.

When I picked Arlie up from his treatment, the tech said to me, "Arlie was amazing again as always. He is such a great dog. He's our favorite patient right now." You would think that I would have said, "Aww, that's nice" or "Thank you he is a great dog." Nope, I said, "I know!!!!! I mean naturally he's your favorite as he's awesome!!". When I told Greg about this convo he said, "You didn't really say that did you??" I said, "Yes because it's true."  Do I need to work on my humility?? Nope. Because let's face it...he IS awesome.

Greg asked "M" how the presentation went. "M" told him how he ended his presentation on a slide of Arlie and the whole room was silent and did a collective, "Awww" and Arlie is the message of hope. When he told me that I cried. Arlie sure is. He's AWESOME!!!! Period. Exclamation point. End of post.

P.S. This blog has now reached Ireland!! Glad that you are enjoying this blog!

Should I be stressing?

Arlie has been a little careful on his front leg lately. I'm hoping he tweaked it jumping off the bed. Then again, the last time I thought that he was diagnosed with OS. I saw "M" this morning at preschool dropoff (did I mention our kids go to school together?) and told him about it. He wanted me to take his temp (Arlie's....not "M's") and let him know. It might just be a case of feeling the yucks.Good news is Arlie's temp is normal at 101.

We might need another xray on Friday before chemo. Yuck. It might just be to calm mom and dad down and make sure the cancer isn't spreading to his other bones. So now, what else to do this week but stress.

Here's the promised video of Arlie and his new girl Bella. She is checking him out from behind her fence and was pawing and crying for some schnoodle attention. So he ended up catching the ball and sitting next to her so they can be close. What can I say...the ladies love him.

Rejected

Guess you can tell my the subject line of the blog what happened yesterday for what was supposed to be Arlie's 4th round of chemo. Once again his white blood cells were too low for "M" to treat Arlie safely. Therefore, we will try again next Saturday and in the meantime we continue with Arlie's antibiotics.

Big fat bummer.