Well ..so we are on day 6 after the surgery and last night was the third night at home.  We are grateful for any little improvement we see as it is a sign of recovery, a sign of going in the right direction and of hope.  The first two nights home were pretty rough, but it is getting better.    Last night we finally got some sleep.   Bearpup got up once to go potty and the second time I woke him up for his pain meds.  Of course, sleeping on an air mattress instead of floor helped too. 

 I smiled this morning when I woke up and saw my boy on his side with his hind legs extended out to the side instead of being tucked under his belly.  He looked so relaxed and at peace.

 His appetite is coming back slowly.  He has no issues woofing down raw green tripe, but still turns his nose on other foods.  Well… at least he is eating something.  The bad news is that we are still waiting for some poop to come out of his fuzzy butt and he is still going to pee only once per day.

 What truly amazes me is how quickly he learned how to get up.  I was afraid he would not be able to get himself up, considering his hips and all, but he does not seem to have any issues….at least not at this time.

Our other boy, Aslan is going for his second chemo treatment tomorrow and Bearpup is due at the hospital on Wednesday or Thursday for bandage change.  

I told my husband the other day that I would not have survived all this without you guys here to give me support and encouragement.

 Hugs to all of you and nose kisses to your furry angels.

Bearpup and his human.

It has been a few days now since my last update. Sometimes I don’t even know what day or time it is anymore.

We had some rough days and nights since my update last Monday.

Bearpup had his worst night yet last Monday night. He was anxious, uncomfortable, restless, up and down moving from place to place every 20 or so minutes. By 6:00 Am he finally fell asleep. I am sure it was from pure exhaustion more than anything else.

While my husband took our other boy, Aslan, for his second chemo, I spent my time on the phone with our vet discussing possible causes for such discomfort. Not going to poop for days was definitely one of the issues, GI issues from Metacam and all other meds, and the bandages which have rolled down and started to create pressure and swelling on the incision side.

We took away Metacam, I cut off the bandages, iced the amputation site, and with the help of Milk of Magnesia we finally emptied Bearpup’s intestines.

Tuesday night wasn’t too bad. Aslan seemed to be holding up okay after his second chemo and Bear moved from pillow to pillow a few times and went out to poop a couple of times. The next morning, we took Bearpup to see our vet just so he can take a quick peek at the incision. The vet declared that all looked good and decided not to put fresh bandages over the incision.

The rest of Wednesday was pretty uneventful. The boys slept all through the day until late evening hours when Aslan started vomiting. The pills I gave him for nausea gave a couple of hours of relief, but then more vomiting through the nigh. By morning, the poor creature looked completely wiped out. On the phone with the vet again… we got him somewhat stable with different meds and subQ fluids. But then, by the evening hours on Thursday Aslan started vomiting again and Bearpup started having really bad diarrhea filled with blood.

Somehow we got through the night and this AM back on the phone with our vet. Aslan looked horrible and Bearpup was dripping blood from his rectum. My husband took Aslan to the hospital where he will be staying until this evening. We stopped all of Bearpup’s oral meds and replaced them with Metro and meds for diarrhea and intestinal bleeding. For now, Bearpuppy is resting comfortably and we were told that Aslan is stable as well.

On the positive side…. We are getting poops and today, for the first time, my husband let Bearpup out to potty on his own and he did just fine.

Now I pray for peaceful night and, as soon as I get some sleep and regenerate my brain cells, I need to wrap my head around how to proceed with the pup…. Chemo or no chemo… if chemo, which protocol, etc…

Hugs to all of you and your babies…

E.

Thank you for sending pawsitive thoughts and energy our way.  It is a little rough now … and I knew it would be…. But it will be all okay at the end… especially with all of your support and encouragement.

Yes, Aslan’s GI issues are definitely from chemo.  We had to modify the COP Chemotherapy plan due to his kidneys being compromised from leptospirosis contracted at his previous home.  Because of his reaction to the second treatment, we have modified the plan again.  Surprisingly though … we re-ran his renal and cbc blood panel last night and all values were excellent.  His BUN was at the lowest since the lepto episode.  Weird…

Anyway, Aslan came home last evening almost back to his normal self.  He woke me up once to let him out to potty, but other than that, he slept like a baby.  This AM he only nibbled on food, but woofed down the raw green tripe for dinner like there is no tomorrow.  

Bearpuppy, on the other hand, had another restless night and I with him.  The vet directed to stop all oral meds including his tramadol, so I am sure the discomfort was due to pain.  He looked pretty miserable so I gave him 75 mg instead of the 100 mg of tramadol that he was getting.  He finally fell asleep by 5:00 AM. 

The good news is that he didn’t have the runs over night and I did not see any blood in his semi-formed stools this AM.

The vet believes that the intestinal bleeding was caused by the many medications (antibiotics, pain meds) that Bear was given, Metacam in particular.  He said that some dogs can tolerate Metacam with other meds, but then in other pups Metacam can cause havoc in the  digestive system.   

Overall, Bearpuppy had a very good day.  He spent a lot of time with his buddy, Aslan, lounging on the porch.  Later on, for the first time since surgery, we took him outside with us.  He took a nap in the grass while we slaved over the endless piles of walnuts in the grass.  

The bandages… I 100% agree that they cause a lot of issues.  While I do think that bandages are good for about the first 3 days after the surgery, the rest of animal’s healing should be allowed without them.   We have not been through amputation before, but we have been through other drastic surgeries and bandages cased issues as well.

By the way… Rene… we did get the AST harness very promptly.  Again, thank you for your help. It is exceptionally well made.  We are going to try it on Bearpup tomorrow.

Again, we wish for a peaceful night for us and all of you.

Bearpup and Eve and Aslan too.

Well …my update today will have more positive tone… I promise.

Aslan is back to his normal want to eat everything, crazy dog self.   We did start the 4 days protocol of oral Cytoxan today, so we will see what happens with this, but so far all is good.

Bearpup had his sutures removed yesterday and all of those nasty tummy issues seem to have cleared up.  He looks happy again, his energy is up and, for sure, he sleeps better at night and so do I. 

I have been researching and debating chemotherapy for the Pup.  What I come to conclude is that I really need to listen to my gut and not double guess myself.  Many of you know what happens when I start agonizing over “to do or not to do”.   What I had decided right after we learned about the OSA, is that we should amputate, no chemo, and put our faith in homeopathic treatment with Dr. Charles Loops, which we started before the surgery.  And this is exactly what we are going to do.

Hugs to everyone,

The fuzz-balls and their human