Author: dsimas

Stitches out on Wednesday, whew I never thought he’d heal after that seroma battle.

We had company yesterday and I think he really overdid it. It was great to see him happy, bouncing, wagging his stubby. Friends couldn’t believe it, they’d heard he had cancer/amputation and he blew away their expectations. 🙂 I am posting videos over on Hopping Around Forum on occasion, so check over there. Today he’s resting and sleeping all day, but understandably.

Raven’s favorite place was in the bed. It’s an antique bed that was my Grandma’s, so it is very tall. He can’t get up onto it now without help after his amputation. So, he waits for a boost. I have to lift his 108#.

Yesterday I spent part of the day installing cedar bedding in the horse paddock. Raven LOVED it.

Another GOOD day with my boy. 🙂

His elbow has actually healed back to it’s original leathery callous. So I removed his “carpal tunnel wrist brace” that’s been protecting it today just to give him some freedom for a bit. I will put it back on, but it’s not that comfortable, so he has the day off. His Dogleggs For Amputee prototype came last week and he was fitted and sent it back. His permanent custom made one will be here in about 5 days.

Raven is doing just wonderfully. He tires easily as hopping is not as easy as walking/trotting was. He has panting episodes at night that baffle me. And a couple fatty tumors that are of some concern that I am checking with the vet about next week. But he’s healthy and happy. 🙂

Here he is going out with his bulldog buddy Betty to the yard. Sorry the video is so dark, not the best camera. (Hope these video’s show, I used the “embed” code and inserted it here with HTML, but they aren’t showing in the Preview, ugh)

Here’s another video, he’s learned to chew his bone without the 2nd leg to hold it up.

And here a video, he is actually *digging* with one front leg. Sorry, I had to shoot it through the window screen, he’d stop if I went outside. This is his favorite dirt spot to sleep under the tree.

The entire house is a series of dog beds and pillows to keep his elbow happy until the Dogleggs comes.

And a BIG THANK YOU to Mac’s Mom and Emily’s Mom for passing along their Ruffwear Harness through Angel Exchange to Raven. It will be here Monday afternoon. He really does need one, he needs help with the couch, bed, car, steps outside. This helps me so much to not have yet another thing to spend money on. I am so grateful and moved by Debra’s generosity (and Jacki’s when she sent it to her) in her time of grief. Will post pics next week. 🙂

Email from my friend at Auburn Univ that showed Raven’s current head and chest xrays to oncology to look for mets:

“Consensus here is that no mets visible on Raven’s xrays but spots in lungs may be due to fluid issues he was having after the surgery.”

I’m even more relieved that I was when my vet couldn’t see anything either. So, being chondro and slow to metastasize, odds are good we got it all. Not doing chemo, not bothering to monitor for mets later (wouldn’t be any options really later and I guess I’d rather not put us both through it). For now Raven is doing *great*. He runs and eats well, is back to his old self prior to surgery.

You know how happy it makes you to see your dog enjoy a snooze in the sunshine, or play with a toy you bought them? I want God to know that I fully embrace the gifts He’s given me in these creatures, so that He can look down at me and see me content and fulfilled as I am.

I truly am so relieved. 🙂

Naked for the first time in two weeks – “What’s this stuff?”

Wants to lick his stitches…

To keep clean and prevent licking, he’s wearing a t-shirt now. With his buddy Little Miss Betty Cuteface. Yes, she only has one eye. And had her spleen removed only 3 weeks prior to Raven’s surgery. My Mom says we should call this place the Missing Dog Parts Ranch. 🙂

Here’s his zipper. Goes from the top of the shirt to below it. Finally dry and healthy looking! I just removed the top half this morning, which were fine. The bottom half are in for one more week because the seroma slowed the healing process on that section.

Good news–I think??? Not osteosarcoma like we thought, but still cancer. Good news: It can be slower progressing and often gotten rid of by amputation (which we did 2 weeks ago). Bad news: It doesn’t respond to chemo and usually originates in nasal passages and ribs. It’s a cartliage cancer, so doesn’t make sense that it originated in the center of a longbone.

The lymph nodes were negative for cancer, but reactive (normal considering they were reacting to the cancer nearby).

The concern is that his origin is in fact his nasal, he’s had a runny nose/sneezing for the last few weeks. And that it may have metastacized to the leg we removed. Today we took films of head and ribs. But Raven was squirming and I didn’t want to pay for sedation on 110#. He’s never needed it in the others, but he was having an anxiety attack after all he’s been through there. So, they aren’t the best shots. But from Tom’s perspective, he couldn’t see mets in the lungs. The nasal cavity looked clean. He feels that the bones look good in all shots, but that they weren’t the best films. So, I’ve sent the films to my friends at Auburn Univ vetmed to have the radiologist/oncologist look. If these are truly negative, I think we are done. Banking that it originated in the leg, is slow to metastacize, and we got it all. Although chrondro is a cartliage cancer, so we are baffled as to where it started?

Relieved, I think! We removed his drain today. And stitched his peasized hole closed (with no local, wide awake, Rambo-style, what a GOOD BOY). I can remove the stitches in one more week. 🙂

Raven has been steadily healing and leaking less. Tomorrow is his next vet visit, we are hoping to remove the drain and start drying up by then. But his attitude has been wonderful, although not as active, when he is active, he is happy and lopes around and wags his stubby.

Yesterday I had to go on a 4 hour road trip. Raven LOVES to ride shotgun and hasn’t yet. He’s doing well, so he got to come yesterday. The whole time was in the cab of the truck, with one pitstop for pottying. Sitting on the bench seat, his one front leg would slide to the bounce of the truck, so it wasn’t easy, and he’d have to just lay down (but then cannot see out). So, not like it used to be, but he seemed happy to get to go.

When we got home, he was exausted. He couldn’t even make it to the house from they truck, just layed down in the grass for a while. Once he was in, he ate dinner and went to sleep. Only to wake up after dark panting. Then he panted *all* night until about 5am he finally slept soundly. This morning, he ate breakfast and is back to his old self, albeit a bit tired, but very normal attitude and no panting.

The terrifying part is that he snorts a lot. Like a stuffy nose? Not a full on cough, but still… It’s been only 2 weeks since his xray that showed clear lungs, the next day was his amputation. I STILL haven’t gotten the biopsy results. I understand they have to “decalcify” the bone to test it and they said it could take more than a week. But I don’t understand why they can’t tell me the result on the lymph node??? I don’t want to be a pest, but I worry that I should have started chemo by now? Although, I guess it’s better he finish healing first, so I haven’t pressed the issue, and I’ll just ask the vet about chemo tomorrow.

Just a bit of a low point in worry, but really he feels fine, so not that bad. 🙂

I have had 3 trial and errors since yesterday with makeshift elbow protectors. I went to the drug store to get a neoprene knee brace. I also ended up getting a carpal tunnel wrist brace. $25 each, ugh. I'm fastly on the way to the poorhouse. The Dogleggs will be $120, plus $40 in shipping (shipped twice as they send a prototype for a fitting first), so we are well over $200 just on the elbow issue and that is if it doesn't ever need vet care…

The wrist brace has a squishy pad for under the wrist, like you can get on the edge of a mousepad. I thought it would be ideal. And not even need to do any custom fixing, as the size was about right. I put it on and velcroed it to his body bandaging. He stood up and it immediately twisted so that the padding isn't under his elbow. The only way I could prevent that was the tape it to his fur at the top and bottom, which would make it unremovable on a regular basis to check the wound. So, I got the knee brace and it has velcro and is neoprene. No fancy squishy pad, but at least it doesn't matter if it spins then. But within a few hours, it was not only below his elbow, but the hookpart of the velcro grabbed the blanket he laid on and he now had velcroed his one good leg to the blanket and hogtied himself in the living room while I was at work. Poor man! Found him that way when I got home last night. He was struggling to hop to me dragging the fullsized blanket with him.

So, we went back to the wrist one, yes it rolls so that his wound isn't always on the squishy pad, but the rest is a thin neoprene, which is better than nothing and it is working for now…and I tied it with string to his bandaging to keep it up.

His wrist brace:

His knee brace with large velcro straps. I am thinking of trying this with the beaded wrist support I have for my computer mouse pad inside. If I can make them stay put somehow.

His current getup: the wrist brace tied to his bandaging. Just not padded as well as I'd like since the padding inside shifts.

On the lighter side: Raven's cat brother Cowboy has discovered Raven's new elevated feeder makes a fun house.

Happy boy.  His elbow is wrapped temporarily, I have added the horse boot now.  And the towels are at the drain site, which I change out 3x a day. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAmfVNYhhis

All the swelling continues to stay gone.  🙂  And he’s completely off the Lasix and Tramadol.  Only antibiotics now, and Rimadyl stops tomorrow.  And his joint supplements, of course, will be for life, as he’s used them for years already.   He does drain a LOT still.  Saturates a dish-sized towel 3x a day.  I remove the wet one, dab the incision/drains with hydrogen peroxide, and place in a new clean towel.  Not looking too bad, and I’m just so relieved that he’s not retaining all that fluid now.

Getting the meds out of his system, he seems perkier.  This morning he accompanies me on my barn chores.  Woohoo for Raven!  He loves to do this routine.  He actually loped along in a little “rocking horse canter”, ears flapping, sloppy grin on his face.  It’s only 1.5 acres here, so not too far, he’s just so happy to accompany me again.  🙂

Last week, I wrapped his elbox to prevent it from ulcerating.  I took a look today and it’s wet and raw.  🙁  

Today I spoke with Schon at www.dogleggs.com and he’s getting one made!  It’s a padded boot for his elbow that he will wear full time to prevent a pressure sore there…and hopefully will allow this one to heal as soon as he can start wearing it.  It’s custom made, so will be 10-14 days I think.  In the meantime, the best I can do:  Gauze with Neosporin to prevent more abrasion, vetrapped (flexible bandage for bendy part of the leg), then a piece of sheepskin over that taped on.  Schon recommended going and getting a knee brace made of neoprene and cutting it up for padding in place of the sheepskin.   I realized that I have a horse “splint boot” of neoprene, so I just tried putting that over his elbow, we’ll see if it stays in place.

Still no biopsy results.  Waiting on pins and needles…

Yesterday it was much improved.  Only his front leg was puffed up, I hotpacked it a few times.  But today, all the filling in his legs, ventral line is gone.  Along with the purple bruising.  🙂  The drain/Lasix did the trick. 

The body bandage always slips by the 2nd day and I’d like to just remove it now that the swelling is under control.  I have a call in to the vet to ask when I can do that, Raven will be much more comfy.   I can rewrap just the shoulder area, as it is still draining out the drain.  He soaks a dish-sized towel 3x a day.

I have an issue with a raw elbow though.  He bears all his weight on that front elbow and it quickly became raw.  I have put gauze on it and wrapped with sheepskin padding.  But am open to suggestions as to how to remedy this longterm?  When outside, he likes to lay on the concrete, propped up on that elbow, just observing the goings on around the farm. It was never a problem in the past. Now I can’t tell him *not* to lay there.  He hasn’t much post-amp, but when healed, he always enjoys that spot.  Inside, I have all floors, no padded carpeting.  He has a few dog beds, but likes to lay on the floors.  *sigh*

All in all, I am just sooo happy that he’s no longer the Pillsbury Doughdog.  🙂