I'm sorry I am late jumping in and telling you that everything will be a-ok!!  lol  But.. everyone else has already done that!!  Once Sky is home and your pain meds are balanced out and you see how well she is coping with a pain free life.. you will be amazed how well she will do.

Sometimes the recovery period is a breeze (as in my Franklin's case) and sometimes it can be a little rough.. but day by day it will get better.. and you have found the perfect site to come and chat and ask questions and read many many stories and posts that will educate you... like it did me!!

oh yes.. runners with rubber backs (I bought the washable kind) are a definite must with a Tripawd.. especially since you have hardwood.  We have laminate.. and the first thing I did was buy $200 worth of throw rugs to put down.  I definitely did not want my guy to slip!  I even ended up going out and buying that indoor outdoor carpet for the deck because he had his amp in December 2012.  and with it being winter, I didn't want him slipping on the ice on the deck either!

We also had another dog.. and believe it or not.. it was worse trying to keep them apart!  But you will have to keep an eye on her activity.  You don't want to push it to quick because there are many veins and arteries that have been cut and you want these guys to heal up.. So keeping them confined to one room for a week or two is a good idea.  We lived in he TV room for quite a bit while my Franklin recouped.

Keep us posted!!  Wishing you an easy, speedy recovery!

Christine..... with Franklin in her heart♥

One more thought to throw out there . . . if you haven't already, go over to the gallery and check out some of the post-op photos.  I kind of knew what to expect when I picked-up Boomer but my Mom was quite shocked by the look of his incision for the first several days (he had no bandages or wrapping).  After a day or two, she said "I can't wait for that bruising to heal up, it looks like raw meat."  It was pretty disturbing for her at first.  I think seeing what it will look like before you pick up Sky will help you to be less shocked when you first see her - she will take cues from you so you don't want to be horrified when she comes in the room.  It will still be hard to see your girl like that, it is different from seeing photos of other dogs whom you don't know, but the photos will at least prepare you somewhat.  I can share some post-op photos of Boomer if you would like but I didn't want to just presumptuously post them.

So glad Sky did well. Every dog is a little different as to drainage. Shooter had very little, but did have a little swelling. My vet had be do heat packs for 15 minutes each night (be careful with the staples so they don't get hot!). 

As Karen mentioned, Shooter also had a mast cell tumor and it turned out to be Grade III but no lymph node involvement. He started a protocol with Vinblastine chemo and Prednisone. You will find that Pred is pretty common for Mast Cell as it helps with the swelling. When a tumor appeared on his amp site he was switched to Lomustine. They also often treat Mast Cell with Palladia and one other one that starts with a "k". 

I have three other dogs and when I first brought Shooter in the house (he was the oldest and the alpha), I stayed close and let them sniff away and just protected the amp site from any bumps. They were actually very cautious so we had no problems.

Let us know what the vets find out and give Sky a hug and Kiska too so she doesn't feel left out.

Take Care-

Luanne & Spirit Shooter

They used a sling with Boomer while he was still at the vet hospital.  They were going to send me home with one but I passed on it, figured I could use a bath towel if necessary.  It was kind of funny when we took him out to the car, two techs came with me and were trying to use the sling with him because he didn't really want to walk through the hospital for them, turns out he just didn't like the slick flooring in the hospital - easy for cleaning, terrible for "drunken" recent amputees.  As soon as he was out the door on the concrete sidewalk he was cruising like it was his job - he even tried to pull one of the techs down a grassy hill, she almost fell over before she stopped him and picked him up (he's about 65 lbs).  Once they are home and in a place that is familiar and comfortable things usually get a bit better.  In addition to not walking without support and cajoling in the hospital, he wouldn't eat for them either - and I sent him with his special raw food.  As soon as we got home he made a b-line for the water bowl and if I hadn't stopped him I think he would have downed the entire thing and then some.  He ate alright once he was home too, though I limited him to frequent small meals for the first 24 hours because he would sort of lose steam after a little bit of food.  I opted to spoon feed him so he could lay down to eat because he didn't have a lot of energy to stand for more than a minute or two unless we were out for a potty break.

Welcome (sorry you have to be here...but welcome all the same).

We did not have any issues between our two dogs--although I was concerned there might be, as our younger dog is always the first to take advantage of a weakness  to try to move up in the pack. But, in fact, there was zero problems whatsoever (except for her wanting to play with him/trying to get him to run around when he shouldn't be).

Sam did not have a drain, just an incision. It was red and poufy and kinda gurgly for a few days, but eventually was fine. Very, very minor leaking/oozing at the incision site. I've had more from my own surgeries (and none of those was an amputation ).

Can't help you on the fentanayl patch--lots of people seem to have them, and I know they are uber toxic, but that's about all I have for you. We just were on a low-dose tramadol regimine.

We had a sling for Sam, and I TRIED valiantly to use it... but he really wanted none of my crazy talk. It was March when he came home, and we had about a foot and a half of snow on the ground...which was great when it was soft and squishy, b/c it gave him some support, actually. When it was crusty, and he'd fall through...well, THEN I'd use the sling to extricate him. But for the most part, he was "LEAVE ME ALONE I WILL DO THIS MYSELF."

We had Murphy in a small exercise cage that we could leave up in the living room.  It was difficult for him to negotiate his regular kennel.  It goes camping with us now, and is great to put the dogs in while we are setting up.  We also bought several rug runners at WalMart (although I've seen them in numerous other places now), and we spread them around where we had slick floors. Those are also portable enough that we can take them with us when we travel. We also bought a queen size eggcrate foam pad, doubled it over, and put it inside a soft fabric case.  It had enough padding that he was comfortable, but wasn't squishy enough for him to have difficulty balancing on it.  Once he was out of the pen, the pad went into the back seat of the pickup.

Good luck, and as Sally says, BREATHE!!!

Kathi and Murphy