Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Woah what a crazy ride you and Zoe have been on! I just had a chance to catch up. Really glad that she got to see the specialist and they put your mind at ease. Wait and see is so difficult but sometimes it has to happen that way for the body to fight and heal.
You did get rid of the pain from the tumor, and that is sooo important. Get her strong and then decide what to do next, stay present with her, and remember that her healing also depends on your emotions. If you are stressed and too worried about the future, she will pick up on that. Animals reflect our emotions like nothing else. So the more pawsitive, calm, and hopeful you are the more she will feel it and her body will respond accordingly.
This just keeps getting worse. Went into regular vet yesterday and he tells me that he has spoken to some of his mentors and has been told that he shouldn't have done the surgery on his own. Tells me there may be another issue too in that he found out that he was supposed to leave pockets in relation to the lymph nodes he removed and he didn't do that. And EVEN WORSE, this morning it looks like 2 of the 3 new stitches he put in the other day have come open and the area is badly infected looking again. I've booked back into the specialist for tomorrow afternoon. Still in discussions with current vet about the fact they have charged me for the second surgery.....and now I find out that one is botched too. Leaving aside the money aspect of this, Zoe is suffering at a time when she should be getting better. Much needed chemo is being delayed and the amputation will have been for nothing if we can't get the chemo started soon. I am so upset and angry.
Holy crap!!! Unflippin' believable!
Of course you are upset and angry and every right to be. We feel the same way for you and your sweet Zoe
Equally unbelievable is the fact that the vet did at least own up to his mistakes and to the fact he should never have done the surgery on his own. IMO someone needs to be held responsible and you certainly should not be paying this bill for the botched surgeries!!
I know it doesn't help Zoe as far as acknowledging what was done wrong. At least you do know what was done incorrectly and, hopefully, with new information your specialist will be able to make things better for Zoe.
Much needed chemo is being delayed and the amputation will have been for nothing if we can't get the chemo started soon
As you know, there are no guarantees with Chemo one way or another. Try not to worry about the delay with chemo as we see that happen fairly often sometimes for a variety of reasons. Sometimes there can be an infection from surgery and it needs to be delayed, or maybe the pet hasn't really regained good Mobility or eating habits, or maybe there is a low blood count that delays the chemo for another week or so. You are still within a reasonable time frame for getting started. You are exactly right though, this situation needs to be cleared up first so Zoe can be at a better place recovery wise before doing the chemo.
For now all you can do is move forward with the new information you have. And is rotten as it is for all this to have happened, at least you do have some answers and better solutions and treatment should be forthcoming.
Please stay connected and update as you can. We are all cheering for Zoe to finally get past all of these hurdles, get past recovery and start being able to be Zoe again.
((((((((Hugs))))))
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
I have an appointment with the regular vet in an hour.....don't really have a choice as she needs her 2 x daily antibiotic injections....I will get the injections done tomorrow at the specialist. Going to be really hard to be in the same room with him now that this second surgery also appears to be botched. I think they should be paying for the specialist treatment she now requires due to their negligence. I'm so shaken up by the fact Zoe and I have been going through this for 10 days now and am not thinking straight, but my current thoughts are that I have to change regular vets after tomorrow's specialist appointment? Would appreciate other's thoughts.
As for the further info he gave me re not leaving pockets around the lymph nodes, I can't help but think he's likely messed up in other ways too that I don't yet know about. Yesterday he seemed to be saying that he may have spread the cancer by how he removed the lymph nodes? I brought her to two different oncologists for 2 opinions ffs....I would have had a surgeon do the surgery if he hadn't told me he was able to do it. Mad at myself for not waiting and having a surgeon do it and mad at him for telling me he could do it when he really wasn't qualified to do it.
I'm so sorry about this situation Naomi. Not sure I really understand everything that has happened, but I can't blame you for being so upset about the confusing way everything has been handled.
How did your other vet appointment go? Also, what part of the world are you located in? Just curious.
A quicky summary update:
Unfortunately Zoe's infection didn't clear for weeks and they were unable to start her chemo and melanoma vaccines until it was healed. She had her first chemo & vaccine almost 4 weeks ago. Around that time I had noticed a small bump on her back which I assumed was a reaction to a needle going into her. 2 weeks later it was much larger and a biopsy last week revealed it was melanoma. Also, sadly Zoe began breathing very quickly late last week and had chest xrays done on Monday to find out the cause. Sadly, the cancer has made it's way into her lungs.
I had known from the time the infection started that it was a disaster. I had received 2 specialist oncologist opinions prior to surgery and both had her prognosis as days/weeks without amputation and chemo. They were right.....she couldn't afford the weeks long delay in the treatment starting. The whole experience has been a disaster due to my decision to have my local vet do the amputation.
I am back to the oncologist this morning and I am not sure she will be coming back home. My heart is absolutely broken. I did everything I could to give her every chance and though I knew that the chemo might only buy her some time, the botched surgery meant she really no longer had any chance.
Please cross your fingers for a miracle for Zoe.
For now, rather than address some of the "issues" as to how all this unfolded, I'm going to spend all my energy at the moment hoping for the best outcome for your sweet Zoe.
I understand how gutted you are right now about how seemingly, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Sometimes this piece of crap jas already forged out a path that, no matter what we as humans do, cannot stop it from the devastation of this brutal disease.
We'll all be here for you and waiting for an update as soon as you can. We are sending you our love and wish we could all be with you to hig you rather than just through cyberland
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
I'm so sorry Naomi, this is really really tragic, shocking, and so surprising. I do hope that the oncologist can help Zoe have some good quality time with you so that you can focus on her and not this disease or the awful way everything happened.
Try to stay strong and know that Zoe doesn't understand any of this, but she does know that your heart hurts. There will be time in the future to mourn but for now, do your best to be present and love her up every second she is with you.
We are here for you and Zoe, you are not alone.
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