Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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So Da Bears both have major undertakings underway soon. I'll only post under this topic for both to keep it all a bit more streamlined.
CharlieBear: Paws up: Beyond belief happy that EmmaRose is home. Paws down: His other front leg is being compromised and we will need to decide on cracking the chest open surgery to get all spots needing debulking done OR lesser surgery debulking area around his leg. Appointment with surgeons next Monday.
EmmaRoseBear: Paws up: Eating well since home and becoming more and more Emma each day. She literally trotted up to the pasture gate this evening and was completely normal ( other than her compromised nerve damage on one side of her face due to compression of cranial nerve five). She did her high stepping happy dance, her butt wiggle tail wag, and was the most alert that she has been since before her "episode" last Wednesday. And she trotted without stumbling!!! And competed with the Bear for rotisserie chicken!!! Paws almost down: I didn't want to tell you guys this but when I went to pick her up Sunday the neurologist casually mentioned that the ICU vet techs mentioned that Emma has a " heart mass". WHAT?!?!?!?!? I mean....WHAAAAAT?!?!? The neuro said that the cardio folks had NOT mentioned that to her so....WHAT.................waited on pins and needles as cardio said Emma was good to go to treat....WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!?!?!?!...cardio not available Sunday nor Monday so neuro finally able to grill them this morning. YES, EMMA DOES HAVE A HEART MASS. But, in true Emma style it is- according to cardio- a chemodectoma less than a centimeter that has likely been there for years and years. The Vet School only sees 1-2 cases a year. No treatment is needed as slow growing. Just an " incidental finding". So deep breath everyone! EmmaRose continues to tell us all to go to hell:) Appointment for CT scan tomorrow and stereotactic radiation sessions all next week.
Likely CharlieBear and EmmaRose Bear will be at the Vet School most of next week. Da Bear Suite begins!!!
And, yes, OtisandTess, less than a week or so ago, the Vet School dismissed CharlieBear to go out and romp the rest of his days in his pasture...likely, they may learn something NEW from this...ahem...
Love all of you dearly. Thank you for all of your hugs, prayers, paws, and generosity of spirit. I TRULY believe that all of you have saved CharlieBear and EmmaRose Bear. I really do believe in the power of the pack that is TriPawd Nation!!!
THE POWER OF THE PACK is actually even better than "the Force being with you"! We know how to cirlce the wagons with a power that lets nothing get through our energy field of positive healing energy!!
WOW! To just now hear about EmmaRose's heart issue, is quite frustrating...incidental or not!! If anyone here remebers Paul Newman in "Cool Hand Luke", the best line of the movie..."What we have here is a failure to sommunicate".
And yes, I think CharlieBear is going to teach the Vet School a few new lessons"!
I think you should get a huge discount for a lot of reasons, but especially because you have DaBear suite where they can share one water bowl. That's cost savings right there!
Truly sorry you are going through all this extra stress. Try and remember though, EmmaRose and CharlieBear aren't stressed at all!!! They aren't worried about a thing! None of this diagnosis stuff means squat to them!! They do not care!!!
Whatever the outcome of the consultations,and hopefully it won't be a big deal, we are with you 24/7!! TEAM CHARLIEBEAR AND EMMAROSE!! We've got your back! 🙂
Lots of love and hugs!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
PS...Grrrreat ro hear how well that feisty mature gal is doing!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
I am sorry CharlieBear's troublesome mysterious masses are causing more issues - it just has to be that they are impacting the nerves doesn't it? If not a nerve sheath tumor, sort of imitating some of the impacts of one? Fingers crossed they think you can go the less invasive route.
And if EmmaRose is feeling much better, than I think the little heart mass is NBD - no big deal in EmmaRose land. But more information is best.
So sending much love to da Bears in their medical spa stay.
Lisa, Minneapolis
On October 27, 2016, nearly 6 months after amputation, and 18 months since his cancer likely started, we lost Pofi to a recurrence of Soft Tissue Sarcoma in his spine quite suddenly. His canine sister also succumbed to cancer on March 1, 2019 - we lavished her with our love in the interim, but life was never quite the same without her only real canine friend. Cliff kitty had to leave us, too, suddenly, in August 2019. Lucia kitty grieved all these losses, but helped us welcome two new Lurchers into our home and our lives, Shae and Barley.
Glad to hear the Paws up and Emma Rose is home and CharlieBear is happy !
Both Emma Rose and CharlieBear oblivious to what is going on.
Jump into to there shoes. oh, if only we could.😉
So sorry all of this is going on! Cant imagine . Print a sign "Da Bear Suite "and take it in when your visit, we used to joke about the wing we paid for at MSU. USED to , Not so funny after your onto to paying for the next suite or wing or so it seems.
One week your free to roam with CharlieBear to Emma Rose challenges and now both . 🤢Life's roller coasters ugh!
Hang on you guys got this!
We will continue sending the positive energy ,prayers , hugs etc your way!
Holly & Purrkins
Well, we just knew it could not end there. EmmaRose recovered from the CT today with flying colours but the radiation oncologist found a mass near her thyroid on the CT scan. Of COURSE he did. Why they could not find this on the MRI I do not know.
And yet, she is a totally normal dog today.
Options include surgery, surgery and stereotactic radiation or just stereotactic radiation alone which, as a first at UGA, would be done on two sites (brain tumor and thyroid tumor) at the same time. Brain tumor less than 1 cm, thyroid 1 1/2 cm. Because Colorado State does two sites on a fairly regular basis, he is confident that he can treat both after consulting with CSU AND it is not financially- oddly- much more for each session (maybe $50-$75) for treating two sites.
If she has surgery, which can be 100% curative, she would have to wait a few weeks to start radiation (which gives her OTHER dang tumor time to act up). and be reimaged which, again, is "only hundreds" instead of thousands of dollars. In order to have surgery, it would have to be a moveable mass OR one that they cannot get an accurate biopsy reading from.
If I look at her quality of life scale now, she is placing very high on it: completely normal, happy, highly cognizant, bouncing around this morning, no stumbling, eating, drinking, peeing, pooing, and with her BFF the Bear.
Am I crazy to try to give her a chance?
(Prognosis for thyroid with surgery is as close to curative as can be. Prognosis for thyroid with stereotatic radiation alone is 80% survival at 24 months. 60% at 3 years. She has no mets and her bloodwork is pretty unremarkable. Liver, kidneys fine.)
EmmaRose gets to come home tonight and I have to make a decision by Friday. The one option that I cannot do is to treat her symptomatically and allow it to progress. That would not be fair to the EmmaPaws ( or the CharlieBear). Help. Help. Help?
Am I crazy to try to give her a chance?
You are never crazy for loving your furry family and giving them the best chance on this earth!
I think you already know your answer. 😉 Only advice I can most certainly give is listen to your gut! Do not second guess your gut!
What popped into to your head right away and is lingering there listen to that!
No matter what the outcome will be, then you will know you did the best you could for EmmaRose! You will not have any regrets.
Make your decision and run with it! We are behind you no matter what path you take!
If she is healthy otherwise which she is, age is a mere number!
Quality of life is what matters most to EmmaRose which you already know.
Let us know what path you are running with!
We will continue sending the positive energy ,prayers to EmmaRose ,CharlieBear and you!
Hugs!
Holly & Purrkins
Wow. You really get it all, don't you?? I'm sure this is really daunting and I'm wishing you lots and lots of strength!
I second Holly & Purrkins on the listen-to-your-gut issue, however when I had to make the amputate-or-not decision my gut didn't have any answers either.
It sounds like you lean maybe a little towards radiation and not surgery and if that's the case: go for it!! I guess all of us are just wanting to say 'I did all I could with the information and the resources I had' and no matter what, you will be able to do that. Exactly by giving her that chance if her quality of life is still good.
Manni is keeping all remaining paws crossed for you!
All the best
Tina
Guardian of Manni the Wonderdog. -Or was it the other way around?
Osteo and amputation in Dec 2015. Second, inoperable, primary osteosarcoma found in June 2017.
The end of our adventures came Dec 10, 2017. 2 years to the day.
Good job on doing your research!
Does the radiation require sedation and/or overnight? Have they discussed any side effects, if any? How many treatments? Does EmmaRose mind going to the Vet?
Sounds like this could be a good option and it certainly has some good statistics to support it.
You'll make a decision in EmmaRose's best interest and out of love! That's what you've always done!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
You are all ahhhhhmazing! Thank you for holding me up in the midst of this storm!
After speaking with the head of neuro, he says that we do not need to make any decision quickly as both tumors are slow growing. Due to the fact that Emma was anesthasized TWICE yesterday, she really was knocked off her feet. Started the day strong as an ox and ended up quite sedated and fragile. So we get to stay home for a few weeks and EAT and ENJOY LIFE and go from there. Whew!
And CharlieBear is going in on Monday and neuro will look at him then as well.
So, you guys did not have to lift me up while you are all going through it yourselves, but you did. Love you all for that and all of your paws and prayers.
P.s. He did say that BOTH cases were unique and unusual and complicated in that there was no clear path forward in either case. He said that although the Vet School was used to complex cases, in general, there were options and one better path. That made me feel MUCH better about all of this exhausting confusion.
Oh good! Glad you can just take a breather and let EmmaRose get on with being EmmaRose! I know it was unsettling seeing her have such a rough time with TWO (Wow! Being put under twice in the same day!) sedations and trying to shake them off. It would be hard on any dog, much less a 15 yr old mature gal!
I'm glad the Vet offered some clarity and a sense of how to move forward. He clearly feels EmmaRose's situation is not an urgent one, especially for such a...hmm..."mature" gal!
Yep, CharlieBear and EmmaRose are unique alright!! I'm sure the Vets will be putting their heads together to see if they can figure out CharlieBear's "unique" challenge! And I don't think they like being stumped, so they'll come up with a plan to get him over this latest hurdle!
So keep the smorgasbord going and just enjoy "being"........BEING MORE DOG(S) 🙂 🙂 🙂
Love
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
Your at the best place for unique and complicated ! Thats one of the many benefits at being at the university!
They take that challenge and will run with it and figure it!
EmmaRose is free for weeks to enjoy the pasture and just be! thats great! Get in the pasture with them both and do the same just be! 😉
Enjoy the weekend just being, let the exhausting confusion go for a few days!
We can all only do One day at a time!
Will keep pawsitive energy and prayers coming for CharlieBear neuro appt. Monday.
Hugs
Holly & Purrkins
CharlieBear had surgery yesterday to remove a melon sized lipoma ( and three smaller ones) from under and around the elbow of his good front leg.
Went to visit him this afternoon and he looks sooooooo much more comfortable than before. The lipoma must have been pressing on many things unbeknownst to all of us. He has no post op big gun pain meds on board- just his regular meds and dosages.
We do all still wonder about his weakened, neurological leg but they cannot find a source that they can definitely contribute this to...and, so, that remains as an issue but...
CharlieBear is doing very well and walking better and is so, so, so much happier without that dang melon inside of his body:)
DaBears:) DABears! DACHARLIEBEAR!!!
(Emma is at home enjoying the peace and quiet:)
Yay, CB!! Happier is better! Here's to a quick, comfy recovery!
Cheers,
Kat and Astro
YAY!! I know you feel a big sigh of relief! Apparently CharlieBear does roo! That's amazing that DaBear already seems ro feel better, even though he just had surgery!
Coming home tomrrow? EmmaRose, enjoy the peace and wuiet ro ight, cuz DaBear is feeling good...maybe good enough to romp with you!
So glad for the good update!
Hugs!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
And so...
CharlieBear had surgery Tuesday, was only on post op pain killers for 12 hours, then was given his regular meds, had his drain pulled Thursday morning, and was able to go home with me last night at 6. Home for DaBear was the back of the truck cab from 6 last night until noon today! He ate, took his meds, rolled his eyes, and snorkeled himself back to sleep. Every few hours I went out to check on him and he just snorkeled and snorted and snuffled some more...so CharlieBear is home, finally out of the truck, and walking quite well! He is a bit nauseous today but so much happier now that they removed 3 small and one large (8 by 4-5 inch) lipomas from the area of his good leg:):):)
EmmaRose is also doing quite well on her new meds and is gaining back her strength. Unfortunately, she does have two competing slow growing tumors which- after MUCH investigation and exploration by the entirely brilliant minds at the Vet School- they will only treat separately. I was hoping for concurrent stereotactic radiation of both sites. Instead, this Monday, we will be returning and she will undergo 5 days of radiation for her brain stem tumor. If she does well in a few months we will look at surgery for her thyroid tumor...
All of which is to say...what is the best e-collar for Emma, what size should I get ( she is 65 pound Great Pyrenees/Australian Cattle Dog mix) and where can I order one that will arrive by Monday or Tuesday? Help! I know I read about e-collars on this site but my brain has been reduced to ...what...was I writing about...mmmnnnnn. You know how it goes:)
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