Hi Everyone!

I'm Christine, Malachi's mom. Wow! What a great group of people and so much information and experience. I'm sorry I didn't update about Mali sooner. Ever since Mali's dx on 12/10/09 and the amp surgery on 12/18 .. I've been swamped trying to learn all I can about OS, supplements, treatments, etc.

I hope this response gets posted to the topic ...

Mali had an uneventful evening and night. He seems to be doing better today. I spoke to his oncologist this morning and she said that yes, nauseousness and listlessness can happen right after the treatment. She said continue to give him the cerenia at the prescribed dose once a day, even if he feels or appears to feel fine. She said that usually the dogs do tank on day 5 when the treatment affects their bone marrow / immune system. If I need more cerenia .. just call and she'll give me more (this stuff must be like gold based on how cautiously its given out). She also said if he doesn't want food or just picks, that's fine as long as he's drinking water and urinating. She said if he vomits more than once,esp. when on the cerenia, call her or if after hours, bring him in to the ER, same with diarrhea. Okay. But she said unfortunately, what I'm seeing with Mali is not unusual at all. 🙁 So I guess on day 5(ish) Mali will be very lethargic/listless when the chemo hits the bone marrow .. ugh ..

I canceled his rehab session today .. don't want him to deal with it if he not feeling well or it won't be enjoyable for him to get massaged, etc. It can wait till he feels better sometime next week .. after day 5 effects, etc.

Tomorrow he goes back to the surgeon to recheck his incision site. That is looking good. Very little fluid now, and I think there should be no issues and maybe just one more recheck after this or they might discharge him.

I guess that is about it .. oh, Mali had his goat milk vanilla yogurt this morning with his probotics added and he enjoyed that. Now he is sitting in the yard, half in the sun and shade. Its cool but sunny out .. and if you are sitting in the sun, you'll get warm quick. But he drank his water from the water bucket and I thought he was coming in but he hopped past me and went back out into the yard. Gabby and Moe are outside with him, and Mali alerts and barks every now and then when he thinks he should. But he is sitting up and interested in what is going on around him. So much better than how he was last evening.

And tonight's update:

Even though it has been just over 2 weeks since his left front leg was amputated, Mali is definitely interested in getting out of the house and to go check out 'his' territory - meaning his street and how ever far he can see .. that is how Anatolians are - they like to patrol their area. Tonight we went to sit out in the yard and Oz was with us and Mali got up after a few minutes and started to head to the neighbors house across the street. So Oz and I went with him. Then at the 3rd house down, they put their xmas tree out for brush pick up and he just went to investigate that and pee on it .. he loves to mark the brush pick up piles. Then he was tired and laid down in the swale. Don came out to give me a jacket as he thought I was still sitting in the yard and then he saw us 3 houses away .. I called him and told him Mali seems too tired to walk back and to come get us in the minivan. Then Mali wanted to walk with the van moving beside him further down his street. I said no and told him to hup into the van and he did. Then we drove around the block and home. Mali came in the house all happy, smiling and eyes lit up as he had a good time. Oz was happy too .. a walk and a ride .. Wooo Hooo! Mali loves his walks and rides, so I think he misses that and he will pout when he is just 'stuck' in his yard or can only stay in the front yard.

Mali sleeps all day and all night too, so its not like he doesn't rest and sleep. He does. Plus he doesn't run around the yard to play with the others. He is just interested in his walk arounds and he does rest when he gets tired with hopping. If Don didn't come outside tonight, I would of just waited until he was ready to head home .. maybe in short segments, but that would of been okay too. Believe me, if it was summer time, I'd be lucky to get him to go out to potty. He hates it outside when its hot out and will not be outside unless very early morning or late at night when there is some relief from the heat.

I will ask the oncologist to give him a shot of cerenia before his next chemo treatment on 1/26 and I will ask for the other anti-nausea medication as well. Thank you for that information. I did ask the oncologist if she gave him too much carboplatin and she said she gave him a bit less then what his weight required as she gives the dosage based on lean body weight and she felt Mali is about 7 lbs overweight! Good grief!! Mali lost 10 - 12 lbs since his surgery and I would say he is at his ideal weight .. has a waist, can see / feel his ribs .. he is muscular, but maybe she thinks he should weight less since he is now an amputee? I guess he could lose a few more lbs, but then he'd be on the very lean side of the scale.

I wish there was a way I could get an email to check back for posts regarding Mali ... I'll have to do something so I get an automated email telling me to check the forums.

Thank you all again so much for the information and caring about Mali!!!

Christine

Hi Mary,

Some folks on the bone cancer dog list group said I needed to keep Mali resting and that I'm letting him do to much. They don't have Anatolians so they don't understand how important it is to the dog to be able to check things out. Believe me, Mali sleeps and rests probably 20 + hours a day. But he also wants to make his rounds and knows his limitations.

Tomorrow he has an appt for a progress check with his surgeon. Mali's incision site looks great. Just a little bit of fluid under the skin, but everything looks good. The surgeon might take an xray tomorrow .. don't know for sure though.

I'll update after the visit, but I think he'll say Mali is okay from the surgery. I don't know how long he'll want to keep checking him after amputation surgery. For Gabby's TPLO .. he only needed two follow ups for each one .. plus I can always bring her in if I think there is a problem or she's limping on the hind legs.

Christine

Hi,

Today Mali saw his surgeon for his second follow-up visit. The surgeon was extremely happy with Malachi's progress and said he didn't need a 3rd visit.. Just to keep doing what I have been doing as he's doing well and looks good.

I must say that Mali's surgeon is very good, one of the best actually. After his surgery and they took the body wrap bandage off on Monday morning - 3rd day post op - there was only one long incision right where Mali's armpit used to be. No bruising that I could see .. the incision was dry and nicely stitched. I remember looking at some of the photo's of the dog's just a few days after their surgeries, and some had awful bruising and big X type incisions, etc. So when I saw how well Mali looked when the bandage came of, I was delighted. I had prepared myself that his surgical site would look something like the photo's I saw and when it didn't I was so happy that I hugged the dr. 🙂

On Mali's first follow up visit, there was some fluid around the site and I joked he's on his way to an A cup implant, but it was drained and then a sterile gauze bandage applied with compression wrap, but the fluid was clear and no sign of infection. The surgeon's assistant vet said that it was just fluid from muscle use and nothing to worry about and that I could take the wrap off Sunday or Monday. (It came off Sunday as it was pretty loose and no longer functioned as a compression wrap. Plus the gauze was dry.)

I called Mali's oncologist today and wanted more Cerenia for Mali. He is fine today. He had his dr. appt this morning. He had some yogart for breakfast and his cerenia meds afterwards, then he slept soundly until 4:30 at which time he went out to potty and sat outside for about 1 hr. He had 2 raw chicken legs while sitting outside. (I gave him 3, but he only ate 2.) He drank some water, pee'd and came back in. He went into the guest bedroom, which has a 72" x 54" dog bed on the floor, 8" mem foam and a plush shepra cover, to rest on. Later, he'll get some baked chicken and kibble for his dinner .. around 8 - 9 pm. No signs of being sick .. so I hope he doesn't get sick, but today is day 3 after his chemo treatment .. I want the cerenia on hand in case he needs it. Tomorrow is his last dose from the package the oncologist gave me and I don't want to be out of it over the weekend if he needs. (His surgeon said if I need meds for him and can't get it from his oncologist immediately, to just call him and he'll have it available asap - even on the weekend. Plus, he wants me to let him know how he does with his rehab and chemo .. basically to stay in touch with him on Mali's progress. He did say he usually doesn't get attached to his patients, but thinks Mali is just a great dog. He did three surgeries on my other ASD - Gabby and didn't ask to be updated on her after she was discharged.)

I hope Mali stays well and doesn't tank on day 5 .. I still feel like I'm waiting for the shoe to drop on when he'll feel the effects of the chemo reaching the bone marrow. Ugh. I keep checking on him, taking his temp. twice a day (I'm sure Mali has had enough of that), checking his respiration rate & pulse and marking it all down.

I ordered him supplements - artemisine, myCommunity from Fungi Perfect - just like K9 Immunity and 4life's transfer factor plus, fish oil/DHA and Co-Q10. When can I start to give him the supplements? I didn't want to give him anything pre chemo or immediately post chemo as I wanted to see how he'd do from the chemo and not wonder if its the supplements making him ill. Should I wait till day 8 post chemo?

Thanks.

Christine

PS. Mali is not taking his tramadol or gabapentin now. He does not appear to have pain and seems pretty comfortable without them, so I stopped giving them to him.