When we were in the vet's waiting room Friday afternoon, our vet described Ozzie as "being in remission" when she spoke with another client. What a lovely word that is, remission. The music from "West Side Story" popped into my head when I heard that word; there should be a song to go along with the word "remission." For example, to the tune of "Maria": 'Remission, remission, I just met a dog in remission.' Or the song "America": 'I like to be in remission, Okay by me in remission, everything's good in remission, only to be in remission." (my apologies to Stephen Sondheim)

On Froday Ozzie got an injection of Cytoxan, surrounded by a saline injection before and after the Cytoxan. Ozzie got the injection in his right front leg, and then we went home to watch the St Louis Cardinals play the Mets in the NLCS.

In protocol week 2, Ozzie handled the Cytoxan well, without side effects of vomiting or diarrhea, so we hope he'll do well this week. And as usual, from Friday evening through Sunday night I douse the back yard with water in the spots where he urinates and carefully pick up his feces with heavy rubber gloves.

Saturday morning when I petted Ozzie, I noticed a small, round, red sore on his skin on his upper chest; it likely is a reaction to the chemo; I applied Neosporin to it and will monitor it and also watch for other sores. Ozzie slept well last night, and there hasn't been any sign of diarrhea or vomiting, though he isn't quite himself today, he's a little listless, which is not unexpected.

On Sunday Ozzie was a little nauseous, or what appeared to be nauseous, not quite himself. This also happened in Week 2 when he had the Cytoxan; so, if the pattern continues, he'll be a little "off" today but be all right by tomorrow. I haven't noticed any new sores on his skin today, but the one on his upper chest is still there. As Sunday progressed, we noticed that the texture of Ozzie's fur changed (kind of thicker and greasier) and Ozzie himself smells. This also happened earlier in his chemo treatments, maybe it was week 2, I don't remember.

By Monday Ozzie was just about back to his normal bouncy self; he looked better and seemed to feel "normal," whatever "normal" now is. I haven't noticed any new sores, but he still has the one. On Tuesday Ozzie seemed to feel even better, and the sore on his upper chest is still there, unchanged from Sunday. As the week progressed, Ozzie got a little better every day, but the sore on his chest is still there and he hasn't seemed as energetic this week as he has in recent past weeks. We go in on Thursday afternoon for a blood draw, and we'll talk with the vet about his sore and side effects of Cytoxan.

On Thursday Ozzie got a bath with the Epi-Soothe shampoo; we went for a blood draw in the later afternoon. Ozzie now weighs 39.8 pounds, which is a little chubby for him. He doesn't get any walks, and the week has been rainy, so he hasn't spent much time outside. I'll cut back on food and/or snacks; he gets his glucosamine/chondroitin pill disguised in cheese twice a day, so I'll try to keep the cheese pieces smaller. The sore on his chest scabbed over and the bath loosened the scab; the vet wanted to be sure the sore would heal, so Ozzie now takes an antibiotic (Amoxicillin) twice a day.