Thank you for your support Karen! It came at a much needed time and you "talked me down form the ledge" so to speak. Lack of sleep makes me freak out about everything. He is doing MUCH better today. Pottied at 1230 am, again at 6am and twice more today. Hallelujah! I might have his meds organized now and the surgeon called to give me his biopsy results (osteo of course) and suggested I also give less gabapentin. I'll try that today and see how he manages. He will go for chemo next week so I am hoping he's able to get around a little better. Going potty still tires him. At one point, his legs just gave out slow motion and he laid down on his pee spot. Poor baby, but he got right back up to poo. 

What a difference 6 days makes! I know y'all told me to be patient, but I seriously thought Fionn would never stop napping! He can still go a long time between potty breaks, but not as bad as before than goodness. I did get one full night's sleep on Sat, but sadly NOT last night and I had to go back to work today :(. He got up at 2:45 and got out the dog door before I had a chance to catch up! He did wait for me to help him down the stairs. He had a pee and then....just stood there. Usually he poops right after. I got tired of waiting so I made him go back inside Going up stairs he does really well! He had slept through dinner so I gave him some kibble and went back to bed. For a whopping 30 minutes! He got up again, but I had locked the dog door. It rained all weekend and the concrete was wet. He has a tendency to want to sleep on the concrete.  I made him go out the front into the yard. He pooped and then pooped out on the deck (the deck was dry- good choice mom!) where he stayed for the rest of the night. I couldn't get him up in the morning so I left him water and hoped for the best. He was going to have to figure out the stairs or go potty on the deck! A friend checked on him twice today and he never got up for her either, but he did poop in the yard and drink water so we knew he was ok. 

He was REALLY excited when I got home and starving. After he ate, I took him for a walk that became a flat out RUN to his fave grassy area next to my neighbor's house (I don't have grass in my yard yet). It was all I could do to keep up. He's shown glimpses of this ability, but today was amazing! After some pooping he had a wonderful roll in the grass. Last time he tried, it hurt him :(. Today- success! Here's a video ! And a cute picture. I'm just glad to see a bit of my old Fionn showing up occasionally. 

He goes for his first chemo treatment n Wed. Wish us luck!

First chemo session went well. We got there early and he had some time to check out the fenced dog area next to the clinic. It has a bunch of agility obstacles in it that we can play with when he gets stronger. He was able to wear his ruffwear harness for the first time, but did not need it to get in the truck. Just jumped right in, no big deal! I did use it to help him get out. After his visit and potty trip to the dog area, he had to sniff every bush on the way into the clinic. Poor guy has missed checking his "emails"! I checked him in and put on his rubber booties since the floors are slippery. He was pooped so he laid down right in front of the counter and that's where we waited. No chair for you mom! When they came to take us in the back he got up a full head of steam and we nearly bowled down some folks on the way back. Shot right past the scale and had to go back. He only lost 1.5 lbs since surgery! Now, I now his leg weighed more than that!

The oncologist sat on the floor and he plopped down in her lap and they had a bit of a love fest going. Very sweet of her since he weighs 85 lbs! She warned me that the technicians who would be taking care of him in the back "aggressively give out treats" and was that ok? I told her to ask Fionn- pretty sure he'd say YES. His blood work was good and he got his first dose of Carboplatin. They do not pre treat for symptoms, but I have meds for nausea and diarrhea if he has any trouble. They also gave me (at my request) a lower dose of gabapentin so I can start lowering that, but still give it twice a day. They gave me 100mg capsules and he was on 400mg 2x day. I'm dropping it to 200mg and see how he does. He's on 50mg tramadol 2x day now. They said his incision is healed and we have the go ahead to take him to the dog park and the barn. I did question whether the dog park was a good idea since his immune system will likely be affected by the chemo and the oncologist said "we are doing this to improve his quality of life. If he enjoys it, well....". He only goes once in a while so I'm ok with it as long as he doesn't have diarrhea. I have to make sure his poops are completely picked up since the chemo is excreted in his poop and urine. The barn has no dogs and she wasn't worried about his eating horse poop ( Fionn feels that the horse manure is a buffet made just for dogs) or rolling it in for that matter. It's his favorite place to be so we'll go there this weekend.

He was there for about 3.5 hrs and was really ready to leave. He did need to potty and I brought water so he had a drink at the truck. I loaded him in the truck and went back to get his meds. I was going to get him an ice cream cone right away, but he fell asleep. Since we had an hour drive, I decided to wait until we got home and stopped at Burger King. Picture! He ate a good dinner and slept for the rest of the evening. He is doing so much better at navigating the dog door and the stairs, he now has free roaming in the house and yard without supervision. He still wants to sleep outside either on the concrete or the rocks. Weirdo. 

Today, I took him to the dog park after work for a short (10 min) visit. I out him with the few small dogs that were there and he joyfully sniffed, tried, unsuccessfully,  to pee with his leg up and was so happy. A lab came and chased his ball next door in the large dog side and Fionn whined that he wanted over there so I let him. He doesn't retrieve anything (he's a total retriever failure) so I wasn't worried he would try and chase the ball, he just wanted to sniff the dog's butt. He had his meds and dinner before we left so he's been sleeping since we got home! 

Everyone was right when they said 2 weeks after surgery is when they really make progress. It's 2 weeks today and I'm a believer!