Thank you Jerry!! I'm really confident in my team - I'm in Denver so it's the Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital (Dr Phillips is the surgeon) and then the integrative vet I'm seeing is Dr Gibson in Castle Pines. The medication they prescribed for the Phantom pain is Pregabolin (same derivative of Gaba pectin but stronger). 

I did ask about the Accupuncture but there was a view that it may be too early post op - what's your experience with the Accupuncture/Dry Needling less than a week post operation? 

I'm so exhausted and just hoping i'm doing the right thing. Yes, my little girl has always been clingy/loved being held, snuggled and near me always, has always followed me around the house, etc. however, this is just MORE of that. I did say last week after her diagnosis that there's a blessing that oreo has elbow cancer because she has always wanted to be carried and held and now she really needs to be 😉 (she's only 11 lbs)

I'm trying to find the bright side in all of this - this dog has taught me SO much and I will fight for her hard so long as her soul desires. it's just really hard right now so hoping we see some bright lights. i just want to be sure that i've done the right thing. 

Yes!! Her eating is sensational - this is the most food motivated dog ever and so even at 3:30am she bites my hand off for a pill with some burger LOL. If her eating were to ever waver then i'd be most concerned but she just is rarely sleeping and will whine a lot. But then like just now, i had to make lunch and she's hopping all over the ktichen following me and begging for food. So that was so lovely and normal. Then she'll scream in pain. Today is definitely (so far!) better than yesterday so i'm hoping for continued progress. As long as I know all of this is normal and most don't get any sleep or respite and it's up and down, then i'll carry on and feel confident i've made the right choice. 

Hi Jerry - 

Thank you so much - this forum is giving me life. 

Firstly, last night for nearly 5 hours, Oreo slept and didn't whine for me to hold her or whine at all. Momma got ZERO sleep because I kept thinking she wasn't alive, worried something was wrong that she was so quiet. In fact, when i had to give her medication at 3:30pm stuffed inside a piece of hamburger she didn't bite my hand off per usual and just let the burger sit in her mouth until I moved her a bit. That freaked me out. But then I meditated in the middle of the night and realized (after touching her 900 times to make sure she was breathing) that maybe she was just finally getting some benefit from the pain meds and resting properly. I think i was right. 

This morning, for about an hour, I saw SLIGHT signs of improvement. Little things. Like when i put her down to go to the bathroom, she first looked at the bed and went back on her hind feet to jump up. She realized that was a bit ambitious so just hopped her way to the bathroom to be near me. 

Then during feeding, she and my other dog always wait in their bed - she hasn't wanted to go into the bed and instead just whines and/or follows me in the kitchen not wanting to be alone while i make the food. But today i told her to go into her bed and she hopped into in a way that she hasnt post op - it was clumsy and unstable but she didn't scream in pain or anythign and steadied herself. then when yum yum was ready she bolted a little too fast for the food (she has always acted like eating was the Hunger Games) and face planted it - i held my breath for screaming and the little brave girl got back up wiht a slight squeal and made it to her food. She squaled a little again but it was so slight and she dove into eating. 

Then the best thing is that she started whining after i laid her down again after eating and i thought "Oh  no, here we go poor baby" and so i lifted her up to hold her. Surprisingly, she moved to crawl off my lap and bumbled down to go sit with her sister which she hasn't done AT ALL. she bumbled over near her sister and plopped herself down on the couch which was remarkable to me. 

Then i think she petered out because shortly after she whined and wanted me to hold her and has been resting in my arms since. I'll take it!!!! 

regarding the spasms - the way i soothe her is totally serene: I just take my had and place it gently over the spasms and lightly rub her. nothing is said. If her eyes are open i just look at her while I rub my hand lightly over her.  

Hi Again! So we had some amazing progress with Oreo - she hops SO fast when she wants to and she tackled a few stairs and likes to get out of her bed in the night and come and snuggle and isn't afraid to move - MOST of the time. However, there seems to be periods of progress and then regress and it's really really hard to know what's going on. The Vet said to let the Carprofun run out (so then she was only on Pregaboline and Amantadine) and it seemed within 24 hours she was toast. Flinching in pain (but not even when you touch near the site), she screached when she got her stiches out (The Vet told me no dog does that and she things Oreo is essentially, in a sweet way, a bit of a baby girl/highly sensitive). 

However, my head is spinning because i don't know what is amputation recovery (she's now 2.5 weeks post op), what is drugs and what is Cancer still in her body. 

A big blow this week was the Oncologist, who I agreed to meet with and hear what they say about treatment (not convinced we would do it), essentially said they were wrong about the type of cancer and that it's not osteo sarcoma and instead is regular carcinoma. So they have no idea if the chemo drug they are recommending would work because the elbow tumor was just a metastisized part of the cancer and the main source is somewhere else in her body: BUT they don't know where because they can't detect anything in her anals, throat or from feeling and her abdominal scans and lung scans came back sound (she has one node in her lungs they think but can't be sure because of all the scans only a small node was found in one scan). So they are stumped. 

Because insurance seems to be ok to pay, we're going to go ahead with a CT Scan - which the oncologist has warned may not show anythign and the holistic vet said "Great, if it shows no masses, it's still information and we can believe that it's very early stages elsewhere in her body." I think I HAVE been afraid of the CT Scan because it could come back with her body full of masses and that will crush me. but information is power and having the truth and the way forward will be valuable because right now every breath, sound, movement she makes i'm in question of her being in pain - coupled iwth the amputation and the drugs, i literally am guessing her every movement/action. 

My baby girl is so brave - and she HAS made a lot of forward movement but i feel we went 10 steps forward and 5 steps backwards. is that normal with just the amputation surgery alone?