Every day is a little better.

 

Different dogs have different looking incisions.   How do you think mine looks?   Lots of staples?

 

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Author: c1nicolei

Sarge has been the the love of my life since we rescued him in 2007. He was thought to be a carcass on the side of the road in our community park. As I walked over to look at the pitiful dead dog, I soon realized he was still breathing, barely. We rushed him to the vet and although severely malnourished and in a terrible state, with TLC he miraculously pulled through. Snap shot ahead to 6/2014, we decide to go outside to play fetch, he was so excited and full of energy, doing his typical bouncy boxer pelvic shuffle. He took a nasty tumble and the sounds that followed was nothing short of heart piercing. My heart stopped, because I knew it was bad, very bad. I am a PA, not a veterinarian, but I knew instantly the leg was broken badly. I splinted him and rushed him to the vet. What initially was going to be an orthopedic surgery to repair a broken radius and ulna, quickly turned into, "Your dog sustained a pathological cancer, we think he has osteosarcoma". I could not even hear what I was being told. How could this seemingly happy, healthy, FULL of life dog have CANCER?? The BX confirmed my worst fears. This whole process took over a week. In that time I researched every aspect of canine osteosarcoma I could find and I had already made up my mind, we were going to fight this, not for me, but I knew he was not done living!!! Making the decision to amputate was not one taken lightly. We ensured there were no macro mets and that his blood work looked stable. I also decided if we amputated we would also do chemo. Sarge had his leg amputated 2 days ago and I am amazed at his hour by hour improvement. We start chemo in 2 weeks. I will keep everyone updated and love reading stories on here that give me hope that he will be able to be a happy, pain free normal Sarge!!! This is when we joined TRIPAWDS! What a wonderful, reassuring supportive community! I love you TRIPAWDS!

4 thoughts on “Every day is a little better.”

  1. Looks like a bigMole’ “owweeee”! Actually looks good for this early in recovery. There does not seem to be any excessive swelling or over the top bruising. I know it’s hard to see it, but it will get better!

    Sare is such a handsome handsome boy! Always love seeing pictures of him!

    It seems, for whatever reason, my Hapoy Hannah’s stitches were left in a little longer than two weeks. May be the same with Sarge, especially since these are staples. I know it will feel good when those things are out! Mare sure the vet doesn’t miss any…it’s been kn own to happen!!

    Keep us updated on Sarge and your wonderfulMpack!

    Good job everybody!

    Sally and Happy Hannah

    1. Thanks… Good to hear others feed back. He was having a tremendous amount of swelling around the incision and on his chest area. In human medicine to reduce collection of post op fluid in “free space” we always apply compression, so I did the same with him. I was actually surprised he had nothing on but a t-shirt and that was just to prevent anyone from touching the area where the fentanyl was applied. The compression really seemed to help and I perceive that he was more comfortable too.

  2. I HAVE NO IDEAL WHAT THIS STUPID TABLET TYPED IN THE FIRST SENTENCE……was trying to say a big ole’ owwweee

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