Hi all - so sweet to get your messages. We have been thinking of you all too!

Today is a little past 2 weeks from amputation, and 12 days from bladder surgery. For the most part she has been lethargic around the house, lying around, recovering (she is still on Gabapentin but nothing else). But she is very engaged and excited on walks, which have ranged from 1-6 blocks. She does stop a lot on the walks, so we often use treats to get her moving back home, but we are already committed to giving her the best life for as long as possible (read: lots of treats), so we can live with this new bad habit.

In just the past 24 hours she has started to show more signs of life around the house - today she went and picked up a ball and also just now went on her own to the kitchen to do her vacuum cleaner routine. Both of those were very normal pre-surgery but we haven’t seen at all since the surgery, so we are super encouraged. This also seems totally in line with lots of other posts we’ve read saying they usually start to get their sparkle back 2-3 weeks post-surgery.

On Tuesday we head to the vet to get the incisions checked out and we expect the staples will come out then too. We are hoping to get the go-ahead to let her do what she wants/be more active. We haven’t let her get on couch or bed, and definitely haven’t done any ball throwing,  but we look forward to doing all of the above and hopefully more once the surgery sites are healed.

I think that’s it for now - sending you all love from San Francisco! Oh, also, bladder biopsy came back clean!! So, still a mystery there, but we are letting it go for now given that her peeing has been completely normal since bladder surgery.

Any thoughts on when we might allow those activities mentioned above? We will of course defer to the vet, but curious as to your experiences. Did you ever let your tripawds jump in and out of car once healed, or did you try to stay away from that to keep the solo leg in better shape?

Thanks for these resources and continued support! Brooklynn got her staples out today, and the surgeon said her healing is going well. Once her scabs are healed we should be in great shape! We are now waiting for our oncology appointment - we are planning on giving chemo a try, possibly starting today but unclear. Any wise words of what we should be aware of on that front?

Also, planning on giving Dr. Strubel a call later today - thank you so much!!!

Haha, funny you mention that - I made cheeseburgers last night and of course one for Brooklynn. Made the mistake of feeding her hers before we ate. Let’s say it wasn’t the most relaxing of meals. But seeing her getting back to her old begging ways made it all good. 😂😊

Hello my friends! Hope you're all well. Have I mentioned how awesome you all are. 🙂

Circling back with pawsitive updates about Brooklynn, as well as another question. Since we luckily seem to be past the original topic of this thread (not being able to pee!), please let me know if I should start a new one.

We are now four weeks out from amputation. Brooklynn is doing great. Main things we are just so happy about are that she is playing fetch with her ball (favorite thing to do prior to amputation besides eating), and she is playing with her toys (not as much as before, but we are doing tug of war and toy throwing/retrieving on a daily basis). This seems obvious now, but she is more surefooted when doing these activities than when she is walking/hopping slowly. I guess moving quickly is easier when you have three legs instead of four! In any event, we're thrilled. She is definitely less lethargic around the house, although still spends a solid amount of time just lounging in her various spots. She does get tired relatively quickly on walks, seems like she is definitely still building up strength and energy.

We reached out to Dr. Stiefel about a rehab appointment and unfortunately their first appointments are not until June! Any other recs for anywhere in the Bay Area? Should we just make an appointment for June?

She had her first chemo 10 days ago, and we have not noticed any side effects. Yay. We go back for blood tests on April 6th (14 days after), and if all is well we will go back for second round of chemo on April 14th.

Lastly, my question, and I hope this isn't too much of a downer, but its been on my mind so I figure you all can share what you know. I understand that normally osteosarcoma re-rears its head through metastasis to lungs. Does it ever reappear in the form of tumors/bone lesions/etc. in one of the remaining three limbs?

Much love to you all. Would love to share some pictures and videos, what's the best way to do that?