Argh.... photos didn't work. Take 2.

Here's the link... old style 🙂

http://s1240.ph.....kes%20Leg/

Thanks for the thoughts and good wishes. My dog has more spirit and spunk than I can believe. He is in a "life on two legs" phase right now, but hopefully he can pull through and get back to "life on 3 legs". He continues to hang on by his nails (which are luckily long right now! :).

The reason he has tanked so hard Shari is that the chemo, a strong poison basically, was injected into the cells/muscle/etc. rather than into the vein, and it is killing the tissue. If his chemo had been Doxorubicin he would definitely have to be put down because it can destroy muscle, tendons, ligaments, everything right down to the bone. Sometimes with dogs that are 4-legged they will do an amp.

We are already a tripawd so we don't have "3 legs and a spare " anymore. That said, it is amazing to see my dog run on his two right legs - but he needs the third to balance to eat and potty. Duke had carboplatin rather than doxorubicin (thank goodness!) and carboplatin is not supposed to destroy tissue, etc. but clearly it can. And unfortunately he didn't just have a drop leak, he appears to have gotten most of it outside of the vein. Why they can handle it in the veins and not in the muscle, skin, wherever it was incorrectly injected I don't really understand. Veins must be made of amazingly strong stuff! And it is diluted with the blood so I suppose that helps. ? I'll let a vet speak to all that.

I'm probably going to start a new thread off the "Ask a Vet" forum just, as "Jerry" said, so others can learn and see how devastating a missed injection can be, can know what to look for, and understand treatment - which is basically just supportive right now in Duke's case. He may, however, have the leg debrided this afternoon. If they do that they can see how deep the damage is, and I am aware I may have to let him go on the operating table if the damage is too extensive. But, as the OSU doc said sometimes it is self-limiting and does not require surgical intervention. I'll let my oncologist and ortho surgeon determine that this afternoon.

And, in amongst all this crappy news is the fact that he didn't end up getting any chemo so he got the total lose-lose thing happen.

From a financial perspective, I have dropped loads of money into this in the past 10 days and I hope the hospital that made the administration error will pick up the expenses. And if he doesn't make it, the expense of the amp also. This is due to human error. Sucks big time.

Just got back from a trip to the oncologist, and ortho surgeon, and another surgeon, and I forget who else looked at him.

The bad news: The hospital administrator just called, who is also a part owner, and they will give me things "at cost". Just since my first visit *after* the problem started occurring. Not even for the bad administration. Then he said he would discount things 50% for me since this happened. So, which is it? At cost or a 50% discount? Or are they the same? In which case that means there is a 50% upcharge. Wow. One thing for sure, the guy was an a**. Of that there is no doubt. If you are in So Cal, let me tell you where NOT to go - except that the doctors are fabulous. And I still say that despite the error.

Unfortunately, I also spent $1600 at an emergency clinic other than theirs, and they aren't touching that one, so they aren't really helping much. At all. Wish I'd gone to theirs that time. Oh well, went to a closer one.

The owner is blaming it on the drug, not the administration of the drug. Argh... I think I can fight him on that because tons of other dogs should be having this problem if it was a manufacturing problem, not an administration problem.

But, I need to stay focused on getting Duke well for now. I can sue him at some later date (and I've never sued anyone, ever). Did I mention he was a jerk?

Which leads me to the good news - Duke should pull through. YAY!! (Hopefully I can afford to see him through.) They want to see him 2x's week at least for the foreseeable future. They are not going to debride the wound yet because they think more tissue is going to die/damage is going to occur. If they debride, they will want to do that after all the skin has finished dying. My poor handsome baby boy. What a huge setback. As if osteo wasn't enough. Have I mentioned he was born on a Friday the 13th? Seriously. He was. I didn't used to be superstitious. I may need to rethink that.

So, he is on a boatload of meds (more than post amp!) - and a big dog so, of course, they are pricey:

For potential stomach issues due to all the meds - Prilosec and Pepcid (Famotadine)

Two mega doses of antibiotics to ward off infection - Baytril and Amoxicillin

Three pain meds (because it hurts!) - Metacam, Tramadol, and Gabapentin

Phenoxybenzamine - urinary issues

Pentoxifylline - to help speed healing.

They are going to use the K-laser on the area to help stimulate blood flow to the area. I had thought of that because I have had that used on my old lab-chow mix for her arthritis and it seems to help. I know it is used for wound healing too.

That's the update from this corner. I'll keep posting pics as things progress. Sadly, someone else will likely go through this some day so maybe they will be helpful. Unfortunately things are likely to get worse before better, but at least there *is* a better and a future. I love my big handsome boy.