Ooops, and I forgot to say her tumor was low-grade and the lymph nodes were good so they all feel good about taking the leg and not messing with the tumor.  We were so flipped out by the decision and I'm serious, if I hadn't read all these stories I'm not sure if we would have made the right choice.

Lily's story was in the newspaper this weekend.  Rene posted the link under Shout Outs. "Zen and the art of the three legged dog".  I can't post it myself because I have a wobbly (cerebellar hypoplasia) cat in my lap hassling me.  I know, I should listen more carefully when people explain the link-instruction to me!

Hi everyone,

Today is Day 13 and we are all pretty excited to be almost done.  We were able to get 2/3 of her staples out on Day 10 which was a little early but she was seeming uncomfortable and depressed.  It helped with the itching too.  She is so low-key when she's just lying around and it scares us that she's changed and hates us, etc., but Holy Snout, when something good is going on she is back!!  We've extended her walks to the end of the block and she says she's ready for a ten mile run.  Her favorite thing in the world, the running hose, turned her into an acrobatic circus dog.  So when all the staples are out, 2 days from now, we think she'll be back to normal.  It will be hard to explain to her that she's still not ready to run with my husband but soon she can walk with me and the 2 other slow dogs (old and small).  Her muscles are still sore from the readjustment and she tires easily.  This has been pretty trouble-free.  My cat's recovery from his urinary operation was much harder.  And now, when we come home, she brings us a stuffed animal or a bone, or some kind of gift, like she used to, and we worry she'll hurt her back from that insane pitbull wiggle.  What a beautiful sight! 

Yahoo!  We are done!

It's almost 3 weeks, all the staples are out, and wow, you were all right- she seems completely normal!  The weird thing is our bad night was on day 13, when she had (the rest of) her staples taken out.  All of a sudden she would scream like she had just stepped on a tack, terrifying everyone.  She had some big, thick scabs, which hid some remaining staples.  We took her back 2 days later and they removed all the scabs and staples and scrubbed it clean and presto! 

It really is such a miracle to go through all this and have it turn out OK.  

Bed update (for those with under-the-covers hogs):  Lily sleeps under my covers, along with our smaller dog.  And yes, I also have 2 cats on my head and one who insists on being on my face.  (If you're not going to call social services, we have even more than these.)  So it's been harder with Lily under the covers because it takes her longer now to settle in which means I'm holding up the covers with my legs forever several times a night.  I had finally had it yesterday and we moved a spare twin bed into our room, next to our bed so Lily has her own bed, next to me, and we can still share the covers.  I think she realized it actually is better to not have my legs on her all night.  My face-cat even slept on the new bed.  What a beautiful new day it is, with me having hope for better sleep!  

Thank you again everyone, 

Jody

Jody,

So glad to hear things are still really good. Sounds like Lily has quite the life.  Wishing you many many more great days ahead.

Cotton was very taken with Lily!!!