Chatterbox

An unexpected side effect started this week. In the middle of the night, Sophie’s jaw started to tremble uncontrollably and make her teeth click violently together. This little tremor would continue for a minute, stop for a while and then start again. We were all scared and exhausted by sunrise.

The vet called this phenomenon “chattering”– it could indicate jaw pain (best case) or small seizures (worst case.) I read somewhere that it could be a side effect of the prednisone, but didn’t find anything authoritative to support that.

The chattering hasn’t stopped but it’s a lot less frequent. We’re hopeful that it’s a temporary side effect and will eventually pass.

Otherwise, Sophie is in good shape. Her eye is drippy but not disturbingly so; she has more saliva but I wouldn’t call it excessive. She’s been tired lately but I attribute that to all that late night chattering. For a dog who got a whole month of radiation, she’s holding up pretty well.

postscript: chattering lessened and then stopped shortly around the same time we stopped using prednisone. 

 

first side effect

We’re in our final week of radiation treatment for nasal chondrosarcoma and there’s one noticeable side effect: BAD BREATH!

Eating a whole litter box bad. Smell it ten feet away bad. Wake you up in the middle of the night bad. Even Sophie seems to notice and be distressed by it.

There are many reasons for this. We’ve stopped brushing her teeth to cut down on the risk of gum infection. Also, the vet feeds her canned food after radiation each day. But most of all, I blame the prednisone. One of the side effects of the drug is increased appetite; the vet warned that dogs will do bad things to get more food, like go through the trash or jump up on counters, even if they’ve never done it before.

Sophie’s bad behavior involves horses. She has been sneaking under the fence to eat the horse manure in the green space behind our house. We’ve lived here four years and she’s never shown the slightest interest in horses but now they produce such a delicious delicacy that she simply can’t resist.

I can’t wait until the prednisone bottle is empty.

 

Now for the hard part

We are officially more than half done with radiation. Sophie has not exhibited a single side effect– no jaw pain, no blistering, no hair loss. So far, it’s been a pretty easy experience.

As I took her for her 11th treatment on Monday, I thought “okay, the easy part is over.” We’ve been warned that she’ll start developing a sunburn on her face soon, and it will continue for a couple weeks after the last treatment.

So while we have completed half of the radiation, we know that we’re not half way through the radiation experience.

Poor Sophie.