Sky High

ALT value, that is. Off the charts. ALT is a liver enzyme that indicates injury to the liver when it is detected at a high level in the blood. The good news is that ALT levels can be very high and be essentially meaningless because they may not indicate any change in liver function. This was a not unexpected event, since it is a known side effect of lomustine, since lomustine is processed by the liver. Usually, the liver recovers between doses, but sometimes it doesn't. So we did not get Abby's third dose of chemo yesterday and we are on hold until we get a valid number for the ALT reading - it was literally off the charts of their equipment, so they sent a sample to an outside lab. At that point we decide whether to continue with chemo (reduced dose, in conjunction with a liver protecting drug, etc.) or whatever else the options are.

Surprisingly, I was not surprised by this result. I "knew", you might say... So, now Abby is not eating much of anything - whether it is all suspicion that we've hidden disgusting things in all her food or if she truely has no appetite, we aren't sure. She did eat some kibble last night and a few scraps of chicken, with our convincing - oh and she chowed on a half of a carrot. Today she had the crust piece from a loaf of bread and a few pieces of kibble (unfortunately I forgot to get carrots at the store). I gave her her supplements in peanut butter at mid-day and it wasn't too painful. She didn't eat them, but the peanut butter stuck them together and made them harder for her to spit out, in addition to tasting pretty good. Altogether, not too bad. Otherwise, Abby is acting pretty normally, maybe a little subdued, but still trotting and chasing things in the woods, she barked me into the house this evening, and was humping Jinxie last night.

So, we wait to hear from the oncologist tomorrow...