Hey Susan,

Yoda too was surprisingly active when he first came home and then after two or three days he crashed and acted more like how one would expect a dog who had had major surgery to act and building his endurance was very gradual.  That had me scared at first too, but it seems Yoda's initial restlessness was from the pain meds and then as those effects faded he was able to get the rest he needed, and yeah he stayed down pretty much all the time unless it was time to eat or go potty outside. 

I'm trying to remember how Yoda's activity level was by the end of two weeks, when he started chemo… I believe by then Yoda had decided he was sick of short walks and so would start off our walks at top hopping speed (at the time) for as far as possible, and then, by the time I could get him to turn back towards home, we'd have to stop like five times to rest.  Stubborn mule   Anyway, the point I was intending on making was that, for Yoda, there was a lot of progress between the first and second week, and he was in good shape for the chemo.

Hi Susan:

We always assumed that Tika was in pain because we took her off the major pain meds and only kept her on Deramaxx.  There was one evening when our other dog in her excitement hip checked Tika and Tika just screamed, and I never heard her do that.

I handled it well, I LOST IT.  And that's when I learned, I am largely responsible for my pups outlook, the read from me, so if I don't worry, they won't worry. If I freak out, they are going to freak out and be really, really, sad.

Somewhere in the first month, Tika who had been sleeping like crazy, just came alive and marched upstairs as if to say, what's up with you guys. Wake up, it's time to do something. We've been doing great ever since.  Right now, 7 months later, 5 years old, she's downstairs picking fights with her 'sister' and chewing my husband and I out. (We had car problems and were late, HOW DARE WE)

When she started chemo, and I can't remember the dosage. It was every two weeks though, she would crash for about 48 hours and then rebound.  She's on the metronomic protocol now and doing well with it after the initial balancing act of the meds.  

I was talking to somebody at the dog park last weekend that had a TriPawd and we were comparing stories, she said her little terrier took about a month before it truly became comfortable with the missing leg. However, that poor pup had its leg removed by another dog and then fixed up by a surgeon, unlike Tika who had hers nicely removed by a wonderful surgeon. 

So to end with a funny story.  Tika is a girl dog, but one of those leg lifting girl dogs. To this day, she STILL will try to left her leg. And by golly, if she hasn't learned to transfer her weight to that big barrel chest of hers and pull it off. Sometimes, she tips over, my mom said it looks like the guy on the tricycle from Benny Hill if you remember that.  Every time she does it, the sloppiest malamute face you see beams up on you like "wasn't that neat?"

I have full faith that you'll get to that point.  Get through that first part and the chemo and enjoy your moments.  You will have plenty!

--Kim and Tika 

Hi again Susan,

I was very worried that Yoda's remaining front leg was in pain during the first week or so because he licked his "wrist" A LOT.  I started to fear there was another tumor there because the night before they found his original tumor he was licking where the tumor was a lot.  I couldn't talk myself out of that worry so I asked about getting it x-rayed and one of the vets at the vet school explained that it would be very unlikely (not that reassuring), and he was probably just licking there because it was near an injection site.  Then Yoda also had these brief spells (probably 30 second or less) where he'd stop mid-way between getting up or laying down and cry like he was in pain and stuck.  But, he was getting around fine otherwise, when he wanted to, to go out and such, so I'm thinking it may have been phantom limb pain.  In any case, I haven't witnessed that since... probably his third week post-amp.  And, as I recall, there was some tail curling under.  Not all the time.  I interpereted it as Yoda was just nervous about getting going, and then he'd relax and his tail would uncurl.

I hope that input helps.  Amazing times are ahead of Tazzie!  Yoda and I just had a fantastic trip to MN to visit an old friend and former roommate of his and they wrestled at the house and went nuts together at their dog park up there!  I'll be posting about our trip soon, but may not get to it today.