Today we mark 6 weeks since amputation. WOW! 6 weeks! When we were at the one week mark I could not wait to get to this point. It is incredible how fast time goes by. Its also pretty darn incredible the great strides Buddy has made. The fur is ever so slowly coming back. I wish that would hurry up! On colder days I will throw a t-shirt on him just to keep him warm.
He is finally content to eat from his raised food bowl. The raised water dish is another story. He doesn’t trust it. His back legs will still shake a bit when he looks at it. It’s as if he thinks it’s the evil bath tub getting ready to make him take a bath. Maybe he see’s his reflection in there? Who knows what he’s thinking. The water dish creeps him out and I am still really not sure why. We have to encourage him to go over and drink from it. He’ll do it but he’s not happy about it.
His walks are pretty strong. Some days he is happy to go longer and others he is happy to cut it short. He is still stubborn as heck in having to turn around! On his longer walks he likes to trot along at a quick pace then he’ll stop to sniff around a bit. He’ll tire after awhile and will look up at Steve as if to say, “A little help here?” So Steve will lift him slightly with his harness and off they go! I don’t think he really needs the help. I just think he really loves when Steve runs with him like that. His face is priceless. He’ll give Steve a sign to let him know he’s done with the run then they will stop and he will always look back to make sure I’m coming.
Life is pretty awesome. 6 weeks strong.
Sometimes it takes forever for my humans to get ready for a walk so I sit on the step.
Just so there is no confusion as to who this fire hydrant belongs to…I’ll mark it. I’m helpful like that.
Oh my…IS THAT A CAT?!! I got my eyes on you CAT! I’m gonna flex my muscles and trot past you so you know who rules this neighborhood.
Dad taking me for a run. I can do this all by myself but SHHHH..don’t tell dad! I love it when he runs next to me!
Heeeeere I come!!
I’m like lightening!
I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee!
My human is pretty awesome. I think I’ll keep him. 🙂
The weather has been fabulous! And Buddy has been one happy guy! He’s loving his walk’s and working on his endurance. Yesterday we decided to drive down the street to one of the walking paths that he loves so much. He recognized where he was immediately and started to hurriedly gallop up the path. His face was priceless! He was SO HAPPY!! He will gallop a little then rest a bit. Then he’ll get a sprint going and then stop and rest. Then he’ll nose around and sniff the grass. Walks are twice as long as they used to be and much shorter but thats ok! We made him sit down on the basketball courts with us after a little bit so he could take a rest. He wasn’t going to argue with that! Life is good.
Yesterday was Friday September 25th. 12 days since Buddy’s surgery. We got up, fed him his breakfast and took him out to pee. He still needs a little bit of help getting up with the sling in the am but hey, we all need a little help in the morning sometimes! I got ready for work and came downstairs to find him panting. NO shaking which is great. So, I scratched my head and thought, well, maybe he might like to go for anther potty break before I leave. His usual routine was to go out first thing in the morning and then for a short walk before I head to work. I haven’t done that since surgery. I got him up and out the door with his sling but dropped it once he was feeling stable. Bless my soul, he wandered off a few steps, peed, hopped around the front yard a bit and did his doggy business! OMG! He turned around, hopped up the lawn, into the doorway , into the house, hopped over to his bed and flopped down. And looked up at me with a very proud face. (or maybe it was relief) OMG.
I came home from work around noon and decided to let him out back even though it was a bit gloomy out. He usually hates gloomy days and prefers to stay inside but when you’ve been staring at couches all day, I imagine a gloomy day can suddenly be glorious. Once agin, I went out back to see how he was doing and couldn’t find him. I looked over our back deck to find him happily hopping around, checking out the yard and heading underneath the back deck for a rest. 45 minutes later it started to sprinkle. I tried telling him it was time to go inside, by the look he gave me, he was clearly telling me NO it wasn’t. It took a while but I coaxed him out from underneath the deck and got him to head into the house through the garage. My youngest came home from high school to find me trying to get him up and over the step into the house. Buddy was tired. Half of him was in the house and the other half was in the garage. So we hoisted him up with his sling and got him over to his bed to rest. It was a good afternoon regardless.
That night we decided to order takeout. I went upstairs to check my emails on the computer for a bit while Steve went out to get our food. 5 minutes later I heard clunking around. Puzzled, I came downstairs to find that Buddy had gotten up from his bed and was trying to hop around in the front hallway! This was the first time that he had gotten up independently to go check out the house. He’ll flop around his bed a bit but he never gets up from that room. His exploration only lasted a few minutes, but WOW. Steve came home and we decided to see if we could get him to go stand at his new elevated food bowls to eat. He’s a little spooked by it. It’s new and the shiny silver bowls weird him out. I put his old bowls in the new bowls to make him feel more comfortable. (We had tried getting him used to it before surgery and he didn’t like it then either.) I think a larger rug underneath might help. He was hungry (seriously, I think you can get a hungry dog to do anything when chicken is involved) and hesitantly decided to try it. He got about 1/2 his food down and hopped away back to his bed. We cheered him on for trying. He was tired and this was new. I brought his bowl over to him so that he could polish off the rest of his food.
It was another great day filled with newness. It helps to write about it to remind myself of the great steps he’s taking because I worry. He pant’s randomly sometimes. Does he need more pain medicine? Is he getting to much? Does he have that phantom limb thing going on that I hear about? Did the cancer go to his lungs? The chest xray said all clear. He’s not likely to develop cancer in his lungs in 2 weeks. Why does he pant like that? His back legs still get a little shaky. His tummy seems rumbly after drinking water. Is he getting enough food? I don’t want to over feed him because he has to loose weight. The vet approved of his diet. Maybe I need to talk to her about that. All of this stuff goes through my head before I go to sleep. I must remember to celebrate all the great improvements instead of obsessing over what could go wrong. And I need to remember to place it in God’s hands. He’s helped us through this thus far. God is good. Life is good. Buddy improves everyday. Not bad for a 13 year old puppy.
We got the all clear from the vet office to come get Buddy, Tuesday night, September 15th. We loaded the car up with his big bed and headed to their office. We were excited and terrified all at the same time. The vet tech came out to discuss medications and answer any questions we had. She left with another tech to go get Buddy loaded up on a gurney while we waited in the parking lot for his arrival. My first thought when they brought Buddy through the doors was, it looks like Buddy! I was expecting some Frankenstein sort of appearance but it was our Buddy minus a limb. He really looked pretty good! The tech made mention that his weight was now 71 lbs. Puzzled, we said, ” He came in at 81.” Then the lightbulb went on and we both said, ” Oh.” They loaded him into the back of our van like a huge load of potatoes with 2 towels but he certainly didn’t seem to mind. I sat in the back just to make sure he was safe. And off we went for home. I will not lie. I sat in the back and cried thinking OMG what have we done? We drove into the garage and got him out of the car by carrying his bed into the living room. He’s probably got to pee. How in the heck are we going to do this? We carried all 71 lbs of him in his bed out to the walkway. We stuck one towel under his front end and another under his back end. He face planted and it was a struggle but some how we managed and he peed. Success. We carried him back into the house and face timed our daughter in college. Buddy looked around the room and I swear he was smiling. He was so happy to be home. (Or maybe he was hallucinating that he was in room full of giant dog bones.) We offered him water to which he refused. So I added some chicken broth to make it more enticing. Success! He loved it!
Wednesday morning was another struggle in trying to figure out how to get him out to do his business. All the blogs I had read at that point had made it seem like it was so easy. I kept seeing how other dogs were up and moving around after 24 hours. Stupidly I thought, why does he need so much help? Exhausted from 5 nights of no sleep, I wrote to one of the forums at tripawds and asked how long until he is up and mobile? I wrote a short clip about him and our struggle and almost immediately I got a response. And then there were 2 more responses. I sat and cried. The support we were receiving was overwhelming. Our new friends helped us to see that he was an older dog who needed his rest and that front limb amputations take a bit longer to adjust. Get rid of the stupid towels and get a canvas grocery bag to create a sling for him. And that rest assured, he was going to be just fine and to hang in there. I wanted to jump through my screen and hug every one of them. It meant so much to us that people cared that much and wanted to reach out to us. I finally settled down that night and slept.
Thursday morning I was on a mission to make him that sling. No more crappy towels. My youngest came home from school to help me test drive it. We carried him out to the lawn on his dog bed. Shoved the sling under him and up he went. It took a little tweaking but it worked! Yippee! My mom and stepfather were in town for my nieces wedding and stopped by. Well my goodness. Buddy was so excited! He was trying to get up on his own to greet them! He wasn’t successful but he was trying! His tail wagged and he smiled! He was one happy dog! He even ate a little more dinner than usual. We carried his bed out to the lawn and got him up with his new sling again, he face planted but he had another successful release from his bladder. Still no poop but thats ok. Poop happens. It always does.
Friday morning Buddy had more visitors. My dad and stepmother were staying with us for the wedding on Saturday. More smiles and more tail wagging. Dad and I headed to the dog food store that morning to get some advice on how to help Buddy loose weight. A sleek dog is a healthy dog when you are working with 3 legs. As usual they were very helpful. 1/2 cup of his grain free dog food and 1/2 cup of cooked oatmeal for breakfast and dinner. (This was tweaked later in the week by our vet to 1/2 c grain free dog food and 1/2 cooked oatmeal for breakfast. 1/2 c grain free dog food, 1/2 c boiled chicken and 1 cup of green beans for dinner) Friday night was more visits from my brother and his wife who were also in town for the wedding. Buddy was thrilled! More visitors for me?! My daughters best friend since 3rd grade came by with our neighbors to learn how to help take care of Buddy while we were gone on Saturday for the wedding. These people are a blessing. Carrying a 71 lb dog outside and then helping him up with a sling is no easy task. They assured us all would be well. That night we took him out for his nightly pee but still no poop. Thats ok. Poop happens. It always does.
Saturday morning was filled with lots of attention again as we all readied ourselves for the wedding. I finally removed the pain patch from his back paw. I know he didn’t like it there because he kept sticking his leg out while he was resting as if to say, what is this and get it off please. Sheer guilt took over in leaving him so soon after surgery but I knew he was in good hands. The wedding was beautiful and a welcome distraction from my constant worry over our beloved dog. Our neighbors and our daughters friend had no problems except for the fact that he wouldn’t drink much for them. That was much better than I had expected. Usually he lays around depressed all day when we are gone for long periods. We came home that night and carried his bed out to the front lawn. We lifted him up in his sling and off he hobbled to the garden. He turned, positioned his butt and mission control, we have poop! I think I yelled it! POOP! He’s pooping!! I’ve never been so excited to see poop!! Poop happened. It always does.
Sunday was a pretty good day. We carried Buddy on his bed out to the front lawn to sun himself for the first time. He was one happy dog. We said goodbye to most of our family as they headed back home. That afternoon Buddy started to shake and pant. He’s had anxiety before over storms. Rain was in the forecast for Monday but really, we weren’t sure what was up. My mom was at home with us and sat and sang to him. We stroked his paw, cuddled him and took his t-shirt off. Nothing helped. He wasn’t acting like he was in pain. That evening we took him out to do his business and off he hopped in his sling around the whole front of the garden and headed towards the street! He wanted to go for a walk! OMG! We turned him around and off he wobbly hopped back in the house and flopped on to his bed in the hallway. WOW! But the shaking still persisted.
Monday morning was filled with more uncontrollable shaking and panting. Maybe all the company we had was just to much for him. Unfortunately it was raining out so he couldn’t go sun himself. It was just awful seeing him like that. My oldest son came by to help me take him out to pee (as he had everyday at noon). We carried his bed to the garage, pulled him up on his sling and off he hobbled to the garden to pee. Just as he was finishing he face planted. But this time he lifted himself up all by himself. “Oh my gosh mom! Did you see that?!”,exclaimed my son. He did it! He had gotten up all on his own. But the shaking and panting persisted.
Tuesday morning I texted the vet. She called and we both scratched our heads as to what was wrong. Is he in pain? Was he getting to much pain medicine? Did the rain the day before bother him? To much company? We both decided that maybe it was time to introduce some doggy Xanax to help calm him down. He wasn’t shaking when I came home from work at noon. Go figure! So I held off. My son and I decided to try something different that day. Lets try taking him outside with out his bed. We laid down rugs everywhere so he wouldn’t slip on the floor. Then we hoisted him up in his sling and off he hobbled to the door. He hobbled around the garden and out came our neighbors from across the street. Oh my gosh! What happened to Buddy?!! We hadn’t told them yet. While we were explaining what had happened the sling got loose and we dropped it. And off Buddy hopped with out it!! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!! Did that just happen?!! He hopped along with out his sling, for the first time, around the garden and up to the house all on his own! He plopped himself down on his bed as if to say… And that my friends, is hows its done. 3 paws forward then one paw back. The shaking began. I gave him a Xanax and laid down with him to keep him calm. For the time being it helped. We brought him out front to sun himself where our little Chelsea kitty anxiously joined him.
Chelsea and BuddyOne happy puppy!
Wednesday morning I came downstairs to find that some how he had gotten off of his bed and had peed on the floor. He had only one accident since his surgery so this was strange. We cleaned him up and took him outside with out his bed. Brought him back in and gave him another Xanax because I could see the shaking was about to begin. I came home from work to find my son cleaning up more pee. The Xanax must have made him to relaxed. We lifted him with his sling and took him to his kingdom for the first time since surgery. The backyard is his domain. Whoa the person, animal or thing that should walk by his kingdom. He hopped along with out his sling over to his thrown(a beat up old pink blanket) and plopped himself down all by himself. OMG. Rolled himself on his back to get a sunbath and looked like my old Bud Bud again. I went out to check on him 30 minutes later and couldn’t find him! WHAT??!! I ran out back to find him under a bush pooping. He face planted. Got up, wobbly hopped to another location, pooped again. Wobbly hopped back to his thrown and plopped himself down. ALL BY HIMSELF. AMAZING. We gave him dinner. Took him out with next to no help with his sling for his nightly pee. He wobbly hopped around the yard. Stopped, stood by himself and shoved his head between my knee’s for a head rub. BEST DAY EVER.
Today, I decided no Xanax. There was no shaking this morning. And no pee on the floor. I took him out back at noon with very minimal help with his sling. (all by myself!) 30 minutes later I couldn’t find him again! Little stinker decided that the sun was to hot and got under our back deck. And he has done that several times today all on his own. His back legs are still very shaky but I imagine with time that that to will get better. Amazing. Just amazing.
I’ve been tossing around writing a blog for days. Maybe weeks but then I finally decided well, why not. If this can help someone, maybe even just one person then, excellent! I want to give back to the tripawd community as they have been so wonderful to us.
Let me first tell you about Buddy. Buddy is a mixed breed dog (maybe Rhodesian Ridgeback with a mix of something else pretty awesome) that came to live with us just over 13 years ago. He followed my son home. Well, actually he followed him down a wooded path. We got a call from our son on a pay phone with the conversation that sounded something like this: “Ummmm…Hi mom. I found a dog. He started to follow me across a street and I didn’t know what to do.” UGH!!! Well, we took him to the pound in hopes that the owner would come claim him. No one came for him and 9 days later, he was ours, much to the chagrin of our 2 cats! Little did we know how much this 3 month old puppy would soon forever change our lives. All for the good.
So now let’s fast forward. Somewhere around February 2014 we noticed a large lump on Buddy’s right front forearm. It wasn’t to alarming to us because he has fatty lumps all over. Seriously. He is Mr. Lumpy-lumpapolis. If there were doggy liposuction out there, they could make a fortune off of us. This lump, though, was different. It wouldn’t stop growing. So in January of this year, we brought him in to the vet thinking that, once again, it would be another fatty lump. Our vet aspirated it and came back with, “Guys, I don’t like the looks of this. This isn’t fat. This is likely a sarcoma.” Our hearts sank. The choice was amputate, to which we said no way, radiation ($$$$$$ OMG no way) or surgery in hopes that it would come back VERY slowly. He had surgery 2nd week of January to remove it. It was a grade 2. Which means, it’s going to come back. All was well until about May. A very nasty little bulge was starting to make its appearance. By August it had tripled in size. Once again we went to the vet with the hopes of removal. “Guy’s,” she said, “This will be the last surgery we can preform on this. It’s in a nasty spot. Not a lot of room to work with. You have to start thinking about choices again.” She could remove it, but this time it will come back twice as fast. (Cancer is just ugly like that.) It will start to bleed and become painful and then you have consider quality of life. We can see a doggy oncologist ($$$$) or amputation. (No way. That’s just cruel.) We opted to do surgery again because we wanted to prolong his life for as long as possible. Surgery was scheduled for Monday, August 24th. Our hearts were so heavy the weekend before surgery. I started researching diets for dogs with cancer. There has to be something we can do to help this dog. Then I started pondering amputation. How do 3 legged dogs walk anyway? Can a senior dog with a front leg amputation walk? They must get around in doggy wheelchairs. I’ve seen that on TV. Steve is pretty handy. I wonder if he could build one? So on a whim I texted my vet to see what she thought about these doggy wheelchairs. She called me (on her day off!) and very excitedly said, “Are you telling me that amputation is on the table?!” And I said, “I don’t know? Maybe?” After much discussion, we decided surgery should go as planned and to leave this as a future thought. In the meantime I came across this awesome website called Tripawds. Hope. There it was. My eyes welled up. Dogs, even senior dogs, CAN handle amputation. I thought long and hard that Sunday night. After a very tearful discussion with my husband Monday morning (the day of surgery)we thought, well, maybe if she goes in there and see’s there is not much she could do with the cancer, that maybe, she should just amputate. I texted the vet. She called and said,” Wait, don’t bring him in yet. Let me make a call to my dog oncologist friend and see if there is another way. Maybe I have the amount of money involved wrong.” And so we waited. Surgery was scheduled for 1:00. She called at 11:30. We could do palliative radiation to the tune of $2,500-$5,000 with the knowledge that it might not work. That was an easy no. Her heart and our heart said if amputation is on the table and he is walking around pain free right now, let’s wait. Let’s give him more time with his leg. She said, “Call me or text me in 3 weeks to let me know how he’s doing.” That week we changed his diet and gave him all kinds of supplements with the hope to slow it down. 2 and 1/2 weeks later, it started to bleed. I texted our vet pictures. She called and said, “Tracie, it’s time to stop messing around. If amputation is on the table, now is the time.” I could just feel my body starting to tremble. “Ok, I said. But I want to make sure he is a good candidate. His quality of life is what comes first. ” Buddy is 13 but you would never know it. My neighborhood is full of senior dogs but he doesn’t act like an
Relaxing after first surgery.UGLY cancer growing on right front leg.
old dog. He still chases squirrels! We feed him well and he goes for walks, without fail, twice a day. He can handle this. We just know it. So, the vet had his lungs x-rayed for cancer. She x-rayed his back and hips for arthritis. And we held our breath. All clear. OMG. Did she say all clear?! Surgery was scheduled for September 14th. OMG. My niece is getting married the 19th. The family will be here. How are we going to do this? Are we crazy? Stay tuned. More tomorrow.
