Prednisone / Lymphoma questions...

Hello everyone,

Our 12-year-old golden retriever Haley was diagnosed with lymphoma
just before Christmas 2006. After some deliberation, my wife and I
decided on a treatment path that entailed a vincristine shot every
three weeks and a prednisone tablet every other day.

Overall, the results have been fairly satisfying. Her lymph nodes,
which were swollen to the size of large marbles at diagnosis, have
shrunk to their normal size. She has maintained her weight, eats
fairly well, and generally has the same personality.

One of the things that we have noticed is that, for the first few days
after her vincristine injection, she's not herself - she doesn't eat,
she doesn't socialize, etc. This tends to go away after a few days,
and our vet feels this is not abnormal given the medicine.

However, one of the things that we have noticed lately is that Haley
has become very "nervous" (not necessarily the right word, but .

(My apologies on the incomplete first post - dang Google!)

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Hello everyone,

Our 12-year-old golden retriever Haley was diagnosed with lymphoma
just before Christmas 2006. After some deliberation, my wife and I
decided on a treatment path that entailed a vincristine shot every
three weeks and a prednisone tablet every other day.

Overall, the results have been fairly satisfying. Her lymph nodes,
which were swollen to the size of large marbles at diagnosis, have
shrunk to their normal size. She has maintained her weight, eats
fairly well, and generally has the same personality.

One of the things that we have noticed is that, for the first few days
after her vincristine injection, she's not herself - she doesn't eat,
she doesn't socialize, etc. This tends to go away after a few days,
and our vet feels this is not abnormal given the medicine.

However, one of the things that we have noticed lately is that Haley
has become very "nervous" (not necessarily the best word), especially
around food. For example, if she knows we're getting her a treat,
she'll start trembling all over. Sometimes she'll drool. She also
seems to be a bit more clumsy that she used to be, specifically with
her hind legs. The main level of our home is hardwood flooring, and
she typically has a hard time getting up, or her back legs will slip
out from under her. (This could just be a product of her age and we're
over-analyzing it).

Also, in the past few days we accidentally skipped a day of
administering the prednisone tablet. We noticed that she was very
lethargic, breathing irregularly, and trembling more.

Are these strange symptoms side effects of the pednisone? What does
prednisone actually do for the dog? I've head my vet describe is as a
"quality of life" drug, but what specifically is it doing? Or are
these signs that my dog health is fading?

I know these are questions I can put to my vet (and I will), but I was
curious if anyone else had experienced this.

Thanks in advance.
James