Thanks for the harness advice.  I will check this out.  Abner is pushing to go farther on his outings each day.  He is taking fewer rest stops.  We are at the point where a total walk from the house out and back is about 800 feet with one or at most two rest stops, and I think part of what he is doing is pure delaying technique so he can hang out outdoors more.  He is nothing if not smart.

Today is day 12 and I continue to be encouraged by Abner's remarkable recovery from his amputation.  He is so insistent on going farther on our walks, yesterday I took him to one of our most frequent hiking locations and walked a total of 1/2 mile, almost completely unassisted, with two rest stops along the way.  This morning we did about .4 mile in the neighborhood and I didn't have to help him with the sling at all.  He seems to be getting both the rhythm of walking with only a single hind leg as well as the strength in the leg and in his back.

Bowel and bladder activity seems to have returned to normal as well although he is trying to figure out how to mark with only his left leg.  I am thinking eventually he will simply maneuver himself so he is always on the left side of the object. 

We are scheduled now to have his staples removed on Monday and to start chemo therapy on Tuesday.  I will be curious to see how he tolerates the chemo.  I have heard from the oncologist who has been consulting on Abner's case that the particular protocol he wants to follow is generally tolerated quite well by the dogs on whom he has used it.  I guess we will see soon. 

This has been a remarkable experience from the blow of the initial tentative diagnosis of a disease I have seen take the Pyrs of three friends to the amputation which was probably more traumatic for me than for Abner, and now to the encouraging progress he is making toward living a normal happy life.  From time to time I may continue to post progress reports in case they might help others.

Well as encouraging as the first two weeks were that seemed to be the end of the easy part.  On day 15 Abner had his first chemotherapy session with Carboplatin and it did not go well.  I had been told to look for nausea or diarrhea around 48 hours out from the procedure and was equipped with meds to deal with either.  Unfortunately Abner's reaction was complete exhaustion after about 6 hours had passed.  For the next 4 days he could barely move.

He seemed to start to improve by day 5 but unfortunately has never really recovered his ability to walk unassisted for more than very short distances.  He got at least two and possibly three bacterial infections about two weeks out.  He almost definitely had a urinary tract infection, probably an inner ear infection and possibly Discospondylitis which is an infection of the space between discs and vertebrae.  He has been on Cephalexin for almost three weeks and still needs Deramaxx.  It is not clear whether the weakness in his hind end is due to pain in the remaining let, pain in his back, or disc pressure on nerves causing weakness.  It has been almost 8 weeks since his surgery and it is very frustrating and demoralizing to have him continue in this compromised condition.  We have suspended chemo indefinitely because he clearly is not strong enough yet to deal with another blow, and if we do start again we will probably try something other than Carboplatin and probably in a reduced dose of whatever we do try.  A week from tomorrow he is scheduled for a recheck with his surgeon just to get an opinion on what is going on and if there are signs of improvement.

I am pretty worn down by this whole process.  I had shoulder surgery on my right side not long ago so when we walk I have to support Abner with my left arm.  This is doubly awkward because he lost his right leg so I am always walking on the side where it is easiest for him to pee.  Some days are better than others and on his good days I am encouraged but often a strong day is followed by one where he has slipped back. 

I guess the only answer is to continue to use the nylon sling for as long as he needs it and hope that eventually he will regain more mobility.  At this point I am left to wonder if he would have been better off has I elected to just treat the cancer palliatively and helping him be comfortable for as long as he had.  There is no turning back at this point.  Nonetheless, I can't help but recognize that the quality of life I thought this procedure and chemo would allow him has yet to appear.