Just for the sake of information, Calamity took tramadol for almost a year with no ill effects.

The only time I noticed any weird behavior was the next day after her initial break when she was on morphene injections & the fentenal patch and was not herself. That was almost a year before her amputation. When she had her amputation, that combination is what kept her from pain & worked well. I imagine she developed some ability to tolerate the opiates during the year of issues she had.

Janie & Calamity

Just thought i would chime in too having just finished the two weeks.  I was prepared for worse than what occurred and i would prefer it that way, i guess.  carter's first couple of nights were restless but we found a cold compress on the amp area helped calm him down (just a pack of frozen peas wrapped in a pillow case).  Just laying with him there petting him while the compress was on was nice for both of us.  we have wood floors and did not like the runner option so we were lucky to find the spongy interlocking squares - like they use in a pre-school - on clearance at Lowes.  we converted the dining room into his room with these squares and blocked him into there and the den (full size rug there) during the day and just the dining room overnight.  one of us slept in the adjoining den for the first few nights to be close just in case.  carter had adverse reactions to the rimadyl so the vet pulled that and prescribed pepcid ac to calm the stomach.  He did great on the tramadol and the fentanyl patch.  the only other med was an antibiotic for potential infection.  He did try to get at the sutures and the e-collar didnt work so we got a soft collar from a family member.  Carter didnt cry out and rarely whimpered (he never did when his tumor was intact either even though we know he was in pain).  Once he was back home we tried to keep everything as routine as possible with his eating schedule and potty times.  As someone else suggested a spreadsheet listing the meds and when they were due was very helpful (especially when there are two of us caretakers).   The sling that they sold us at the vet was not a help at all as it was too long.  A bath towel was all that we needed to help him up and down the two steps to go outside.  Best of luck heading into these next few weeks.  stay positive and comforting.  we did all we could to keep all positive energy in the house not allowing ourselves to argue or anything.  we even kept some calming new age music playing for him at most all times (that in fact may have helped me more that it actually helped him...smile).  sure - it may be tough but each dog is different (as all here have said before) and when the two weeks are done it will just be a wink in time.