After having measured Cassie's abdomen on returning from the vet's clinic on Friday, to monitor if the tumour seemed to be reducing in size, it had gone down by another couple of centimetres from the previous measurement. However, I noticed that Cassie's belly had grown again in diameter late on Sunday evening and I rang the clinic as I was very concerned that the new chemotherapy treatment wasn't working and her spleen was growing again. She seemed fine (as fine as she could be) in every other respect and it had taken a while to get to her current condition. She was now eating and drinking regularly (helped by the anti-inflammatory steroid, prednisone). She was walking better, although still a little weak from not having eaten for so long previously and was getting her strength back. She was a lot more alert and always had a waggy tail for us.

I was told to monitor her overnight as this was the only symptom and to ring back in the morning if there were any more developments. If I was concerned in any way before then, I should bring her in overnight so that they could monitor her. She seemed to have a good night and slept for a few hours. I was sleeping on a pillow next to her downstairs in case she needed to go out in the night. This morning, however, she had problems getting out into the garden (I had to carry her over the step) and her belly appeared to have grown even more in size. I rang the clinic and they told us to bring her in for a check-up. Her gums were quite pale, but no more so than on Friday when they told us she had a low red-cell count.

We were taken into a consulting room and Cassie even had problems getting up onto her feet and had to be lifted up after being carried from the car to the clinic. The intern went through what had been going on with her during the past day or so and made a list of things to check. On examination, she noted that Cassie had increased in weight by 1kg since we brought her home on Friday. Her girth had increased by 10cm! All other checks (temperature, heartrate, etc.) were within normal parameters. They decided to do another blood count as her gums were still so pale and an ultrasound to see if there was any liquid in her abdomen.

We decided to remain in the waiting room for what would be a half an hour testing session. We were then called back into a consulting room by the head oncologist who advised us that her bladder was extremely full and that she hadn't been expelling urine properly. This had caused the extra weight and had increased size of her belly. She was having problems getting to her feet due to the extra kg of weight and her legs were still not back up to full strength. The only thing they could do for her was to put in a catheter to drain the urine out of her bladder and keep her in for a couple of nights to monitor her and try to find out the cause. It was a possible side-effect of the latest chemotherapy treatment but they would know more in the next 48 hours.

We left her in their capable hands once again, with me shedding a few tears once we were back in the privacy of our car. I was told by the receptionist that I could ring for an update before the reception closed at 8pm. I decided to ring before the specialists left for the evening, at 5.15pm and managed to speak to the lady who had performed the procedure. She advised me that she had had a great deal of dark coloured urine in her bladder which they had now expelled and she was much more comfortable and alert than she had been when we brought her in. She is back on a drip with her medications in the fluid and they will ring overnight if there are any changes for the worse, otherwise I can phone in for an update after 9.30am tomorrow morning. The specialist said that it's possible the state of her bladder was affecting her blood count and they would perform another test in the morning and measure her abdomen again to see if it had reduced in size.

We are hoping that this latest development is not a permanent thing and that she will be able to use her bladder as it's meant to be used in future. Rex is a litte upset again that we didn't return home with her and has been moping around again. Hopefully, it won't be for long and she will be back home with us within a couple of days.

Please keep her in your prayers that she will get through this and that it's only a minor setback that will resolve itself. Thank you.

Cassie, Tracy, Mark and Rex xx