Rough couple of days.

I am very concerned about our Sarge (I was told this would happen).  He was understandably under the weather on day 1 one (second day post op),  but day 3 he was up and around, doing his boxer wiggle when we would come into the room, he had a sparkle in his eye and a little bounce in his step.  He literally was improving hour by hour.  His progress was amazing to me.  The last 2 days he has actually regressed and it seems that every hour is a struggle.  He was having no issues standing up, walking outside to go potty and was even begging to go for a walk with his housemates.   We stayed with him or had his grandpawrents stay with him,  the last 2 days we have left him alone for a few hours at a time.

I almost fear he is favoring his back leg and he will turn around and almost nip at his knee.  OF course I am now wondering if his knee has taken too much of a beating.    Also some of the areas around the incision are “twitching“.  We now are having to carry him out to potty and all he does is potty and look at us to go back inside to lay down.  I called the vet and they seemed to be unconcerned.   He was drinking out of his water dish, and I am now having to drop water in his mouth with a 10cc syringe, also he will no longer eat without us hand feeding him extra special yummies.  

Please tell me that a significant regression like this is all part of the process and not something to raise concerns!  Reading others posts, I see that 2 weeks can be a turning point.  I might just need to wait and let this time pass.  It just makes me depressed to see him act so depressed.   I know a lot of websites say dogs do not get “depressed”  that we humanize our babies.  I feel strongly that this is not true.    We hear of dogs refusing to eat and starving to death after the loss of their human loved one or a fellow fur buddy…. that is depression.

SO ready for 2 weeks to get here…. then the chemo starts. :oZ

Sarge’s journey begins.

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These are my best pals, Spud in the front middle (he is another rescue and Mom calls him a “failed foster”, Sasha is on the left and the little bossy dude in the back is Gatsby.

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 were horrific. 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 fracture, we think he has osteosarcoma”. I could not even hear what I was being told.  How could this seemingly vibrant, 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 and was truly one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make. We ensured there were no macro mets in his lungs and that his blood work looked very stable. I also decided if we amputated we would also do chemo. Sarge has 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 gives us hope that he will be able to be a happy, pain free normal Sarge!!!

 

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Some dogs chase cats, some lick feet, some are addicted to ice cream, I have a fire fetish!!!
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Mom got this groovy bed for me. And I LOVE it! http://www.chewy.com/dog/coolaroo-steel-framed-grey-elevated/dp/53849?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=hg&utm_content=&utm_term=&gclid=CjkKEQjwia-dBRC07eeatYGe-78BEiQArZhbgISzkZCFMZvgobtVXMMkLh9Vnd7zxfxd4cZT0Ddq9D3w_wcB
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So comfy, I just melt! I have one for inside and one for outside.
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Mom said I am never allowed on the couch…. have you ever heard the commercial “Don’t tell Mom.”? haha!!