Zeke is doing better this morning, he kept me up till 3 am at least. He wouldn't sit still unless I was petting him. Even now he isn't happy unless I am close to him. (but I understand that if I had surgery I would want him by me too). I set up a cozy nest in my room. He has his water bowls and food dish (on buckets so they are raised) and some orthopedic beds and my sleeping pads. He has a kind of elastic sling to keep his bandage on so I slip the ice pack in there. As for help, I still live at home I am only 23. And my parents love him as much as I do, so we are coordinating days off to take care of him. I have the first few days of course and will take over once I get home from work (wish I could stay with him 24/7 but I still need to make money to pay for his surgery). I will be on a lot lately I am sure.

   The vet called to check up on him this morning and asked how he was doing, I found out the only meds he was on last night was rimadyl they sent home for tramadol but I had figured he had had an injection of it (like his last surgery, this is his third in 2 months, he had a noncancerous tumor in his jaw too) and they didn't tell me when to start me on it. I am a bit disappointed in them for that because normally they are really great about that stuff. So now that he is on pain meds he hasn't been crying almost at all and seems a lot more comfortable.

   No I don't have a sling or anything for him I just kind of hold my hand next to his surgery side to steady him. Rember he has been hopping on three legs for probably three weeks now and limping heavily on four for a few weeks before that. His elbow caused him so much pain that he didn't use it unless he absolutely had to (like if he were falling) so he is pretty good at walking around, just a bit unsteady.

  And its not so much I was looking for judgment on cremating his leg more like I was wondering if anyone else had done something like that or had heard of it. My vet was very confused but helped me with it.

  I am sure as you can tell we are in much better spirts then last night and the day and night before. I think we are just happy to be together and now that we have a routine with the icepacks and such its easier.

  I bought the e books to give me something to do all day while watching the pooch and to learn all I can, but I like hardcopies and it would cost a ton to print it out. And I could read it on my I pod but I don't think I could put it on there. You see I like to underline and mark pages so I can reference but I don't think I can do that with the pdf file can I?

   One thing I am wondering about though is that he is drinking a lot a  lot of water. I must have refilled his bowl three times this morning and we go out to poddy a lot. Is this normal?

(and because everyone was asking these are the meds he's on.)

Codeine (he wasn't actually prescribed this for this surgery but its a more powerful pain killer then tramadol, so we are going to finnish this up then use the tramadol. My mom used to be a vet tec and recommended it because he seemed so uncomfortable last night)

Gabapentin (which was also prescribed my a different vet, supposed to help with phantom pain )

Rimadyl  (antinflametory)

Cephalexin (antibiotic)

After three weeks I finally got the results for Zekes biopsy. Of course its osteosarcoma. I just don't get it he acts so healthy not like he is sick at all. I am going to a cancer specialist today for a consult to talk about options and cemo. I have no idea what to expect with any of this. I was so hoping it wasn't cancer. i don't know what to do, or how much more it will cost. not that I wouldn't gladly spend it. ant comments or advice would be appreciated.

  Zeke had his first round of chemo today and so far so good. I drove an hour there spent three hours at the vet and drove and hour back so we are both pretty tired. As for the spending extra hours to pay for his surgery, I am willing to do it especially sense he  goes to work with me everyday. But I will figure out some way to pay for it. The good or I should say hopeful news is though that the specialist doesn't think its osteosarcoma. She said in her twenty years of working she has never seen osteosarcoma in the joint (which is where it was in his elbow). So we started him on chemo and sent his test slides to MSU to get a special die or something to try and determine for sure what it is. (I am getting real sick of the good news bad news jerking back and forth but I am hopeful) she said it may even be a much less aggressive cancer then osteosarcoma so I am really raying and keeping my fingers crossed.