Mouth Ulcers, Family Visit, Ennis Update

Mouth Ulcers

New side effect with infusion 3 (of 4) of the Taxol. Mouth ulcers. Venita had these with the earlier chemo, so she has tools in her toolbox, but unfortunately those tools are not very effective.

These mouth ulcers differ from the earlier ones. Those were swollen glands like from tonsilitis or the mumps. These ulcers are open sores like from chewing on your cheeks and tongue. Venita's face appears swollen.

Venita is taking an antiviral for the ulcers, and hoping that the Dilaudid that she is otherwise using for the bone pain will minimize the mouth pain. She will have to call the oncologist on Monday, and likely take a drive down there. Sigh.

Family Visit

Venita's brother Les and his wife Donna arrive on Wednesday for an almost week-long visit. We so hoped the weather would have cooled down some so that we could do some outdoor things, like the Philly Zoo. That may still happen, but we are looking into alternatives, like the NJ State Aquarium in Camden, across from Philly on the Delaware river.

Of course, Venita has her ever-ready "to do list" in case Les and Donna would like to do some chores around the house.

Cooking for and feeding this group is going to be a challenge. Venita has little to no appetite. Les is on a no-to-low fat diet, including no red meat. Jim's stomach is completely screwed up with worry about Venita and not being fed well. Donna is trying to support Les's diet, but really, if you don't have to, how many broiled fish/seafood and fresh fruit dinners can one eat?

Venita put Les and Donna on notice: Venita will cook the first night, but after that, they can have the keys to the car to go to the grocery/butcher/Trader Joe's/farm stand.

Venita and Jim are very excited about having Les and Donna visit. It's been almost a year since they've been together, and everybody is worried about how everybody else is taking Venita's cancer diagnosis. This will give us all a chance to talk/walk/hug through all those feelings.

Ennis Update

It's likely that only those from the feline diabetes community will understand this detailed babbling. For others, the bottom line is that Ennis still has severly diabetic blood glucose levels, but for the most part is acting like he feels OK

Venita's attempt to aggressively slam Ennis's blood glucose (BG) numbers down into a normal range is not working well. She started using Dr. E. Hodgkins' protocol and sliding scale on Sunday, but she is getting mostly high numbers--at midnight Ennis's BG was 372, +6 after a 2U shot. So Venita gave him 4U. Venita is not sure how much she trusts this "shooting into rebound" theory, but she'll try it for a couple of days.

Meanwhile, Tuesday's vet visit for an exam and to draw blood and urine to look for an infection can't come too soon. Venita wants to get Ennis on antibiotics ASAP.