Sunday, October 25, 2009

To Medicate or Not To Medicate?

So, I started Abby on metronidazole on Saturday morning. It's an antibiotic the oncologist gave us a just-in-case prescription for, that also helps to control diarrhea. I tortured myself with, "Medicine? No medicine? Medicine, no medicine, medicine? She loves me, she loves me not, she loves me..." But why did I torture myself? That's the interesting question. Why medicine? So that Abby could be on a somewhat normal diet for the upcoming three days before her next chemotherapy treatment and build up her strength as well as not losing any weight due to reduced rations and increased "exports". Why not medicine? Because I don't like to medicate if there is another option, such as resting her digestive system for a day or so (which we tried, and did help). Because I know that she'll be on a prophylactic antibiotic starting on the day of chemo and that means being on two antibiotics at the same time. Because I want to be able to say, "She's doing great!", when we arrive for the chemo, instead of, "Well, her stomach was upset last week, she probably got into something she shouldn't have (at the barn, most likely) and she's had diarrhea and is taking metronidazole." So, I decided to go with the medicine - I guess we'll see what happens...

Chemo on Tuesday, if her bloodwork is okay... No one ever said this was going to be easy. By the way, she's acting normally and running, jumping, and playing with toilet paper tubes - I'm tortured, she's definitely not...

2 comments:

  1. Aww. I read them all and am happy that Abby isn't tortured, but I understand why you are. I'd be tortured too. I'd fret over medicine or no medicine too. I wish you and Abby the best (and Samson and the kitties too:))

    Brooke (from the Zero Waste group)

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  2. Thanks, Brooke! I really appreciate your support. I called the oncologist's office today and they said that the metronidazole is no problem - won't affect anything adversely. Also, Abby is really acting normally today (except for being suspicious that I've hidden things in her food...), she's barking at me, jumping into the window seat, playing with the cats - all good!

    Take care and I'll see you soon!

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