tlahaye said
Hi Liz, sorry to meet you here, but I'm glad you found us.

By now, we're all waiting to hear that the surgery went well and that Sam traded that awful osteo pain for a new pain that's going to get better.

FWIW, we brought Casey home the evening of his surgery (left arm), and he did great.  He came home as a 54 pound Golden and had no noticeable pain issues.  He took 200mg Gabapentin and 200 mg Tramadol three times daily plus 50 mg Rimadyl twice daily with meals.  He was able to roll in the snow, stand up on his own, and trot to his mom when she called him 36 hours after surgery.  We tapered the Gabapentin down between a week and ten days after surgery, and the Tramadol a week later.  He still takes the Rimadyl as it can suppress new tumors.

We bought several harnesses for Casey and then didn't use any.  We used a pillowcase as a strap to help him stand that first day, and possibly to help him on the stairs for a few more days, but after that, he just wore a T-shirt with a hair tie on the top to create a top knot.  We simply grabbed that top knot to help him on stairs until he had them mastered.

One thing to look for . . . did they test Sam's ALP (alkaline phosphatase)?  Low ALP levels indicate a better prognosis.  

I will ask them about ALPS when we go to pick him up! Fingers crossed. They're also doing a biopsy on his leg, which we should get the results of in about a week.

Sammy is home!!! He is doing incredibly well. He walks like a champ, he's peeing on two legs (a little wobbly, but I'm impressed!) and he seems to have zero pain. He is bright-eyed, and he honestly looks better than he did when he came home from getting his teeth done a month ago! He's eating like a horse, and was so excited by his ice pack (a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a microfiber cloth) that we had to wrap second cloth around a toy for him (see pic!) in order for him to allow us to put the ice pack on! He is conked out on his new bed right now. He's in a great mood! We actually had to calm him down and keep him from jumping around and playing with us when we got home. I'm so relieved I can't even express it. I think we made the right choice. Thank you all for encouraging me to go through with what I now know was the best thing for him. I can't wait to update you all as he gets stronger and heals.

THANK YOU!

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