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5
April
2012

Day Nine – Stitches1

I noticed early today one of Bailey’s stitches came out – as the day progressed a second came out and it looked a little red.  He had not been chewing or licking them ( a perfect patient).  I thought there might be a little odor too so I called the vet who did the surgery and they wanted to see him.  His stitches were scheduled to come out on Monday.   We drove the hour drive to the vet hoping there was no infection.

Happily, the vet said he was doing great and removed his stitches; no infection.  We are now just waiting on the chemo doctor to call our vet to discuss treatment options.  As a courtesy to our vet they discuss it with him first.  I am not that thrilled having to wait because every minute could be a life saving one, but I also respect professional courtesy and am not quite sure what is best for Bailey now (I am hoping some divine intervention will give me direction – I have told all the vets we didn’t come this far to give up but Bailey’s comfort and quality of life is most important)

The vet today said Bailey is an unusual dog having lived this long and having done so well with surgery.  I told him about this website as I was wearing a necklace from the gift store. I explained to him how helpful it was to hear from other people and their experiences.  He said he would check it out.

I don’t think I have yet mentioned this vet who works at the location Bailey had his surgery. (If I did he deserves mention again).  This doctor was so kind, spent plenty of time with us answering our questions and appeasing our concerns, timely returned every call and showed true compassion for Bailey.  He even told me he sat on the floor with Bailey after surgery when Bailey was whimpering; he told us Bailey calmed down once he opened the cage and let him just sit there with him.

Once we arrived home Bailey started running and lost his balance on the street and fell, rolling over.  He got right back up but my heart is still in my stomach hoping there is not some latent injury. I find myself worrying about him falling that he might break another bone, considering the cancer weakens his bones. I thought the stressful part of all of this would be the surgery, but I think it is living in fear waiting for the next ball to drop.  We are definitely focusing on enjoying the time we have left,  but I don’t  think I will ever not worry.

4
April
2012

Day Eight – A Car Ride1

Another great day for Bailey.  Both my husband and I had to work today at the same time so I took Bailey to work with me.  My daughter joined us at the office so she could “dog sit”.  I was worried about the car ride.  Bailey is a total window dog – loves to have his head out the window or to be standing on the middle console from the back seat.  I was not sure how this was going to go.  I put him in the front seat with a harness that I used to use to walk him so I could hold on.  He thought he could look out the window on his lone hind leg.  He found out quickly that was not going to work.  He then took to standing and leaning on the seat allowing his nose and face to get some wind.  He had a few slips but nothing seemed to discourage him.

When we got to the office he went running up the handicapped ramp – I couldn’t help but get a little chuckle out of that.  Later when he went out for a little walk he took the curb up and down like an old pro.  Stressed me out but he just went with the flow.

On the ride home he eventually came and sat on my lap where he was a little higher and could get a little more wind.  I am thinking about getting him a car seat but I am going to give it a little more time for us to adjust.  Does anyone use one?

3
April
2012

Day Seven – Week one over6

It is hard to believe that it has been a whole week since this began.  Bailey is doing great.  He is even navigating the doggie door.  He did fall down today on the tile when he was moving to fast around a turn – he was fine, I was more freaked out.  I have tried to lay area rugs down around the house (the house looks like a carpet store) but the whole house has tile in it.

I spoke with our vet today about the chemo for Bailey.  He is not sure we should put him through chemo depending of the recommended drug.  He said there is a drug out there that dogs don’t tolerate well.  We are now waiting on the internal specialist/chemo doctor to speak with my vet and see what she recommends.  I expressed to my vet I didn’t come this far to give up now, however I did nto want him to be miserable. I feel fairly confident my vet has Bailey’s best interest at heart.

Thank you again for all your positive and supportive messages.  They really help.

2
April
2012

Day Six – good day for Bailey but not for mom5

Bailey was taken off the Rimadyl today and his pain meds were reduced because he has done so well.  He is able to get up on his own, use the “restroom” on his own and he even made it through the doggie door by himself before we could tell him “NO”. He has true spirit and strength.

Well, if you recall in earlier writings, not sure if they were in posts or chat rooms, we were still waiting on the pathology reports regarding the tumors in his leg.  They “suspected” osteocarcoma.  Today we got the call it is hemangiosarcoma- cancer of the blood vessels.  Not the best news as this cancer is very aggressive.  The doctor says his life expectancy is not as long as with the osteocarcoma.  Chemo was not necessarily recommended with the osteocarcoma since the cancer was removed, but is recommended with the hemangiosarcoma. Chemo will extend his life expectancy from possibly two months to eight to ten months.  I am waiting to talk to my vet, as so far this doctor, who works at a veterinarian clinic with a great reputation, has not been right about any of her predictions (I understand this is not an exact science but your emotions go up and down based on what the vet says).  She told us after she saw the tumors in his leg it would likely be osteocarcoma and be spread into his lungs already – she prepared us to start to think about euthanizing. When his Ultrasound came back it showed no cancer anywhere else in his body and now we find out no osteocarcoma.  I recognized that the ultrasound only showed cancer cells larger than  3 mm; we understood there were likely cancer cells- just small.  She said the amputation was still necessary because he would never heal and be in pain.  I am not going to look back on this decision as I have a wonderful dog who is doing great.

In true Bailey form, once I got off the phone with the doctor and left the room to process outside the presence of my 5 year old daughter he came to find me and tucked his head into my stomach and just licked me.  He always knows when I am sad and finds me to give me his strength.

I have already done my research and have found a book out there about a diet for dogs with cancer. Has anyone changed their dogs diet upon their cancer diagnosis?  The book was basically discussing changing your dogs diet to include more holistic type foods.

All I know is that I plan on filling Bailey’s last few months, optimistically year, with as much love, laughter and fun I can. We only have a few more months until his 18th birthday (July).  When he leaves this earth he will know he was truly loved.

 

 

 

2
April
2012

Day Five – 4/1/124

Bailey went out to the front yard today and in true Bailey form started barking and moving quickly to defend the property (there was no-one there but that is his usual form).  I was able to keep up with him but he is ready to go once he is off his bed.  He is still sleeping most of the day.  We had a friend come over and he appropriately barked but did not get up .

I am going to try to reach the vet tomorrow to see when it is appropriate to let him walk without the sling and if his heavy panting when he gets up is normal.

I am still not sure how we are going to sleep in the future.  Right now my daughter and I are sleeping on a blow up mattress next to him.  His whole life he has slept next to me every night on the bed – I am just not sure how to break him in that he can’t do that anymore.  Any suggestions?

I haven’t been through the entire tripawds website but am trying to figure out a bed for him.  I have a fairly firm orthopedic bed which seems to work, however I am not sure if it is the best for him when getting up.  Any thoughts?

2
April
2012

Day Four – 3/31/120

Bailey’s spirit is amazing.  He inspires me.  He is, of course, still a little off balance but he has figured out how to urinate already; #2 is posing to be a lot harder.  He is still trying to figure that out but has gone twice already.  I think we are getting the same thrill when he goes as when our daughter first went on the potty.  Little steps are miracles to me. I still can’t believe he is on the road to recovery.  He still needs help getting up, although he has done it himself.   Once he starts walking his breathing becomes heavy very fast.  We are keeping his walking to a minimum as best we can.  He usually gets up to go outside and then might walk around parts of the house.  We had him eat at his bowl with our other dog – he saw his dinner getting made and went over to the bowl.  I, of course, am right by him with his sling just in case he needs a little help.

2
April
2012

Day Three – 3/30/120

Bailey woke me up around 6:30 AM to go outside for his morning relief.  The hospital had sent home a sling they made for us to use to support Bailey.  It seemed like it was pushing to hard on his belly so I took it apart and made a new one with an old housecoat.  This seemed to work better for him, however he was hard to keep up with – my 17 year old guy was moving rather quickly.  I set up a pillow outside for him to sit in the sun (we live in Florida).  He rested for a while and then popped up and started walking back in the house on his own. I had to run to catch up to him.  He now decided to take a walk through the house – I guess to assess that nothing had changed while he was gone.  We are starting to try to get his routine as back to normal as possible, but there are still a lot of limitations and restrictions.

2
April
2012

Day Two – 3/29/124

I talked to the Doctor in the morning and he confirmed the pain meds might be causing some of the whimpering but he didn’t want to take him off the pain meds to make sure he was not uncomfortable.   The whimpering did not stop and we had another day of him not getting up to go to the bathroom and whimpering.  The whimpering just got worse and more consistent.  The Doctor could even hear him on the phone.  He reduced the frequency of his tramadol.  By that night we agreed the pain patch needed to come off.  My regular vet was able to take the patch off around 11 AM and within hours Bailey was slowly coming back.  The whole house rejoiced at 12:30 pm when he urinated outside – and boy did he go.  He was holding for a long time.  We finally slept through the night.  A light at the end of the tunnel starting shining.

7
March
2012

Hello Tripawds!1

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Bailey – 17 year old amputee, now 19 – A Best Friend's Tale is brought to you by Tripawds.
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