Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat

Hi Everyone!! It's Mattie again. I wanted to update you on my latest progress. I was diagnosed with K9 osteosarcoma on 9/20/2014. I had my amputation surgery on 9/24/2014.

I took an extra week to make sure my amputation surgical wound was healing properly following some drainage in a small area (penny-sized) that failed to maintain vascular health and failed to spawn new blood supply via angiogenesis. That small portion went necrotic but not invasive. The healing resumed and it's good now.

My person, Bob, created a Coppermine gallery about me on his website. There is only one category so far (Mattie Post-Op). Each album includes pictures from different days. The album titles include the date and also what day it is relative to post-op or 1st chemo.

So far, Bob has 17 albums (days) and 156 pictures. The gallery starts at "2014-09-28 (4 days post-op)."

Here is the photo gallery.

I had my first chemo treatment this past Thursday (10/16/2014). Bob dropped me off that morning (after the school mania had died down in that area of Ramsey Street). He left work early and picked me up that afternoon.

When Bob arrived to pick me up, Dr. Dale met with Bob alone first. Dr. Dale said that I did really well. Dr. Dale said that I might be sluggish or nauseated for a couple of days. He gave Bob 4 doses of an antiemetic for nausea but told Bob not to give it to me unless I needed it. Dr. Dale said they planned to do four doses of carboplatin, about 3 weeks apart for each dose. In the interim, he wants me to visit every 10 days or so to do a blood chemistry on me to see how my immune system is performing. The carboplatin tends to reduce white blood cell counts and immune response, sometimes extensively.

After Dr. Dale met with Bob alone, Dr. Dale went into the back area and asked the vet tech bring me to the "Blue" room (the room where Bob was waiting). I hopped toward the closed door. I figured that Bob was behind the door, so, once the tech operated the door handle, I pushed my head through the door to see Bob. I wasn't lethargic at all. I rushed over to see Bob. He said, "Hey, Baby Doll!!!" "Hey, Beautiful!!!" The vet tech went back out through the back door. I jumped up onto the blue padded bench Bob was sitting on. I sat up pretty right next to Bob. Dr. Dale came through the back door. Bob was looking at me and petting me, but I think I heard Dr. Dale chuckle when he saw me sitting up on top of the blue bench with Bob right next to me.

I haven't felt any signs of nausea. We've been eating well for the past few days. We ordered Domino's on Sunday and I really enjoyed that. I had some of a pizza that was cheese, pepperoni and bacon. I also had some of another pizza that had close to everything that Domino's offers as a topping, save for anchovies and jalapenos.

So...a blood chemistry in about 5 days from now, then my other three carboplatin treatments. I'm glad I'm still here. I know that Bob is glad, too.