Good news and bad news today. Good news is that we have our first rehab appointment today, and I'm looking forward to that.

Bad news is that over the last day or so Mosby has developed an infected spot on his incision site. Staples were removed last week. The spot is really hard to see ... I took him to his local vet to check it yesterday, but because it was a drop off appointment I wasn't able to point it out to the vet. He said there were no issues and things looked good and no signs of infection, but when I looked last night, not only was it still there, but it now has yellow pus / drainage. I took a picture and sent it to the vet and he said he had NOT seen that and apologized profusely. Since we're going to a different vet today for rehab, I'm going to have her look at it and hopefully we can figure out a plan. We flushed it last night with saline solution and dried it with gauze, but the drainage resumed overnight. It's not a huge site - hard to spot unless you know it's there (my husband hadn't seen it either ... only a mom notices these things) - but we have no idea how far down it goes, so hopefully we'll find out at this appointment. He'd had no prior issues from his incision, so I'm pretty down about this. He's already on amoxicillin as a precaution because of his chemo. It does not seem to be bothering him (and he didn't mind us messing with it last night - he slept through that), and he is not running a temperature, but obviously any infection is not good. I really really hope to get this resolved today - figure out cause and depth and come up with a treatment plan. It is difficult to concentrate on my work until then. 

Rehab vet is actually a full-service vet clinic w/ medicine and surgery, the vets are just also certified in rehabilitation therapy. It's connected with a nice doggie daycare in town, and lots of folks go there as their regular vet. So, hopefully they will be able to make a determination on it (and local vet is on board with them checking) - if not, I'll take him to local vet again. 

Thanks for the encouragement! I hope it is a blip, too! I have heard of the healing properties of honey, it's a pretty amazing substance. 

The culture on the wound came back consistent with staph, which is scary. So we're changing antibiotics again. I'm glad they cultured it. Also, the prior antibiotic they had switched him to really upset his stomach, and the new one is supposed to be easier on the stomach, so fingers crossed there. The wound is looking a little better (or at least not as bad) and we have been keeping it clean. I'm really, really hoping that this antibiotic works. The fact that it is staph scares me. Since his white blood cell count was good when he got his CBC yesterday, I'm also hoping that helps fight it. I can't say enough how much I just want to clear this up so we can focus on all of the other things going on. While Mosby didn't have any GI issues with the chemo, it really made him tired, and he hasn't played with any of his toys since his chemo treatment (1.5 weeks ago). He's always been a very serious dog, but he's always liked to play, and he just has no interest lately (he did play in the time period between surgery and first chemo). I want so desperately for him to feel good and be happy. That is, after all, supposed to be the goal of all of this. Anyway, just feeling down about this and hoping that Mosby starts feeling better soon.

We also had a scary episode last night. He's figured out that we put his meds in marshmallows, so now he refuses to eat them (even plain), and we have to give him his meds straight. He hasn't really been on the tramadol lately, but he seemed a little sore yesterday, so I gave him some last night. As I was trying to give it to him in a way that he wouldn't taste it, he jerked his head and started chewing the pill. That resulted in an instant reaction where he was basically hacking, gagging, and foaming profusely at the mouth. I just about had a heart attack. I was so scared but managed to google tramadol and foaming at the mouth, and sure enough it can make a dog do that if they taste it. I gave him some turkey and rice because I felt so bad, just trying to help him get the taste out of his mouth. This poor dog. First we take his leg, then we pump chemicals into him, then we give him a medicine that makes his stomach upset, and now I give him a medicine that makes him gag and foam at the mouth. Ugh. I hope we see the light at the end of the tunnel at some point.

Edited to add: In addition to the above I'm having serious guilt about having to leave him at home during the day. We have a dog sitter come for an hour in the middle of the day to take him out twice and hang out with him, but I still feel guilty. With our oncologist's approval, and if he is feeling ok, he'll be able to go to daycare M-W of next week, before his next chemo treatment on Thursday. I know he will enjoy that. For now ... stress and guilt.

Sorry for all the complaints.