Ozzie and I went for our "regular" walk on Friday, but on Saturday I took him on a little longer walk after which he was *very* tired, breathing rapidly in shallow breaths for a long time. This concerned me. For about the last two weeks Ozzie has been waking me up during the night, not to go outside to pee, but it seems he's trying to tell me something.

On Sunday Ozzie was very listless, little energy. I took him out for a short walk, and again he was very tired after it. He ate breakfast and lunch, but ate very little of his dinner; for all meals he was reluctant to eat. I decided to call the vet's on Monday morning to bring him in for a progress check and blood draws to have his blood tested.

On Monday morning Ozzie refused his breakfast (he's never done that before), so I did call the vet's to bring Ozzie in and have blood tests. The vet noticed that Ozzie's lymph nodes on his neck and front shoulders were of normal size; his lymph glands behind his back knees were slightly enlarged and a little firmer than one would have expected. Ozzie was not happy during this early afternoon vet visit; he snapped more than usual at the vet when she drew the blood and felt his abdomen; he is not happy. He does have a heart murmur in his left side, probably due to aging and valves that are not as flexible as in younger days; I understand that such a murmur is not uncommon in dogs that are getting older.

Ozzie wanted a walk Sunday evening, he likes to look for the bunny that lives in deep bushes up the street, so we went for a very short walk (no bunny appeared). Again he was very tired when we returned; he was listless and not hungry in the evening.

All I could do Tuesday morning was wait for the vet to call with the blood test results. She finally called after 1 PM. Ozzie's kidney enzymes are elevated, his white cells are mostly normal though one count is high (whataver that all means). I was hoping for something conclusive. The vet thought that if Ozzie's cancer has returned, we are very early in trying to diagnose it. The white cell count seems to indictae Ozzie is fighting some sort of infection. We are to watch him, try to get him to eat the n/d canned dog food, make sure he has fresh water, and see what happens next. Eight miles to the west is Washington State University with a Vet School, so our vet suggested we could go there for an ultrasound to better see what his lymph nodes are doing. We can restart the chemo process; she said we could wait on the chemo or start sooner, timing didn't seem to matter.

So we are in a holding pattern, trying to keep Ozzie happy and comfortable. After the vet called, Ozzie did start to eat some n/d dog food out of my hand, which is a good sign. He's asked to out outside for bathroom duties, so even though he doesn't move around much, he does move when he wants to go somewhere. The fear is that the cancer is returning, that's what Ozzie's been trying to communicate for the last couple of weeks.

Wait and see what happens next.

On Wednesday Ozzie stopped eating; he'd drink some, but hardly eat. I cooked some ground beef which he ate out of my hand. He asks to go outside for bathroom visits. His breathing is rapid and shallow. Something is wrong with him, and today is a holiday.