Yes - we are NOT on gaba right now - and in fact I see the prescribed amount of tramodol is LESS from our ortho surgeon than the original vet... so we'll have to see if she starts showing pain signs - I will ask our Ortho for Gaba / options...

First night she was SUPER whiny - but this is exactly how she was pre-op and on tramodol. Perhaps by taking her down from 4 pills every 6 hrs (50mg) to 3 every 8-10 like my ortho suggested, the side effects will be less... she is sitting on the wound and ok getting around with just the chest part of her help me up harness... hasn't pooped yet but lots of peeing. Great hunger, super into food. Very much "herself" if not a little needy - want pets, all the time!

Spent some time on the patio this morning 🙂

Happy Sunday! 🙂

Athla is doing great!! She's learned that with our help + chest harness she can do her business and she is sooooo relieved to have her nightly poo, lemme tell ya.

Her spirits are great, from the time she left post opt to now. We had our first blip of phantom limb pain yessterday, but it was quick and I laid some warm dry towels on the op site and she was better. If it happens again in frequency I will contact our vet about getting some gabapentin.

I've dropped her dose of Tramodol from 4 pills 3x a day to 3 pills 2 or 3x a day - and she is SO much happier, and still a 0 or 1 on the tripawds pain scale. That much of it just makes her twitchy, anxious and she can't sleep - but with the lower dose she seems still to be comforted by the pain suppressant without feeling ill from it.

I've started her on artmenesinin today - it's about two weeks before we'd start chemo, and it can't hurt. I did read (via tripawds) it's best to dispense 3-4 hrs before her high protein meals, soooo.... now we know, and today's dose might not be super effective because I'll have a hungry puppy in about an hour 🙂

Another tip - I didn't go near the incision itself but she had SO much deep red bruising from the clamping... (not infection, just bruise) and man I put a little arnica gel on the clamp bruising before bed last night and I woke up and it was all gone!! Like magic! A little red near the staples because I didn't dab there but even those seem better, as if the area around it was like HEY! Let's heal up!

We've spent the whole weekend with her - sitting on the porch right outside our healing room, building legos together, etc. She is STRONG - I let go of her harness for five seconds to let her get by me through the door and she just took off into the kitchen like lightning - already so capable.

She's very much happy for her nightly budwig cancer fighting treat of the cottage cheese and flax stuff - hope it's helping. I have her on one cup of Fromme's grain free and one cup of budwig-y stew I made for her per meal - high proteins, bone marrow, shitake mushrooms, garlic, broccoli.

Anyway, all seems to be going as well as it can be. Thank you for thinking of her!! xoxo

She has actually been so stupid good about not investigating her stitches! She has not licked any of the arnica off, and 90% of her bruising is now gone from the incision area. We still put the cone on her at night, just in case but during the day I just let her be herself, and she hasn't licked the wound at all.

Arnica is totally safe to ingest - in fact, there are tablet forms you can give both dogies and humans. The dosing is kind of weird - you start with a bigger dose, then continue smaller ones every few hours until the bruising is gone. I haven't had any success with it helping any pain, but when I broke my hand it healed WAY faster than expected because I was ingesting those tablets. I was also giving them to Athla - until we found out it wasn't a sprain, it was the cancer, and sadly it won't help that.

And important note about the artemesinin - the oncologist suggests you don't start it until your first 10 days after your first chemo treatment - that way if your pup gets sick, they know it's the chemo and not anything else. Then, feel free to start supplementing!

We've been debating so much - we planned this vacation two years ago and of course it's coming up - we would leave this friday and be gone a WEEK. I've been thinking of just - not going, losing our deposits, sending my husband without me, maybe buying another ticket and coming later...

The oncologist was like - look. I really, kind of really really, want you to go. Athla has passed all of the dangers of surgery, and your pet sitter can just drop her off for half an hour while we take out the stitches, it is really. no big. deal. Go on your trip. She will be fine. And when you get back we'll start her chemo.

It felt good to hear she's doing really well, and would be safe without us for a little bit. I mean - not five minutes ago she just got up - walked the 3 steps to the patio, took a wiz in her potty box (without my help!) Came back in and laid down. My kiddo :*)

Updates - Athla is doing VERY well. We are confident she'll spend this next week getting cuddles and having a blast with her Aunty Val while we escape for a bit. Val is taking her to get her sutures out on Wednesday, and we will start her first round of chemo the week we get back. Here's a quick shot of Athla trying on my beach hat. She looks better than I do in it, for sure.