I am so glad that Wyatt is doing better! It's so crazy how much dogs can affect our lives. I really don't think of Valentina as a dog. I feel the same about her as I do any other family member. Some people have made some comments to me (not on here) about this situation that made me very angry. They said things like "Why didn't you just put her to sleep instead of putting her through an amputation?" . And this was even before I knew that she had any complications. And some of the people were ones that even have Dogs themselves!!! I thought to myself  "Well let's see what happens when you are faced with a decision like this about your dog!!!". Some of the people are not Dog owners so I could see how they may not understand but I definitely know that unless you yourself are in the situation you cannot begin to understand what it is like. We had a pretty good day today! Valentina was so energetic. The most since she had the surgery!! She wanted to follow me around the house and she hasn't done that since before the surgery. She escaped from her confined area. I was trying to do some things in the kitchen and I noticed that she kept watching me. She was standing up and really looked like she wanted out. I had to make a make shift "corral" out of things I had around the house to make a big square in the living room for her and all of a sudden she jumped over the baracade like a horse and came running to me very excited. I let her explore the house for a few minutes and then it was time to go to the vet. The vet said that he is seeing progress so I am keeping my fingers crossed that this is healing up. This time he doesn't need to see her back until Friday. He has been irrigating it every other day. I do think that the drainage had slowed down today by the time it was time to go to the vet. But after the irrigation it drains a little more for a while. When we got back she wanted to explore the yard some and then we came back in the house and since she had the temporary bandage on to catch the drainage I let her sniff around the house as much as she wanted. I was in the kitchen cleaning up and after she tuckered herself out she laid down right in the middle of the kitchen floor right under my feet. She would normally always do this before her surgery. She just wanted to be near me. I would strategically step over her to move about the kitchen loving the fact that she loved me so much that she just had to be in there with me. When she lays down and stretches out in the kitchen it takes up the whole floor lol!!! She was somewhat in the way but I loved it! She is now slumbering away on her bed after a busy day of a vet visit and exploring. This is the most that I have seen her back to her old self since this journey began. I was delighted! Valentina just loves going to the vet. She thinks it's just an opportunity to visit people. My Doberman Emalee absolutely hates going to the vet. She cowers and hangs her head really low like she is being punished and she trembles the whole time. It's a good thing that Val likes it or it could be a real problem for such a large dog. While Valentina was napping today I cleaned up the living room and changed all the bedding and all the blankets and such I had laid out on the floor. I can't wait to be able to clean the whole house again.I have been so focused on this that I have neglected many things in my house. I did talk to the vet about the financial part of this and he told me that he was going to adjust the bill so it was reduced to help us out. They still haven't told me what I owe yet. She is still on alot of meds and she has to take alot because of her weight so they cost alot and I have to buy them often. At this point I really don't think that we will do the chemo. For one I don't think that we can afford it and two most of all I just don't want to put Valentina through anything else that will cause her to not feel good. I have changed my mind back and forth on this so I could change my mind again but for now I am just trying to focus on her healing that is before us.

   Another very good day today!! I am happy to report that the drainage has definitely slowed way down!!! Can you believe it finally? It is still draining a little but is manageable. The vet said that he will still do the irrigations until the fluid turns clear. Today I took Valentina out on the back deck for the first time since the surgery so she could have a change of scenery. What I didn't expect was that she would jump off of the highest part of the deck into the grass with no problem at all! I did have to help her get back up onto the deck though because she had gone so far out into the yard exploring that by the time she almost got back to the deck she was tired and she didn't have a running start to jump up there. I also let her go wherever she wanted around the house today and I know that she loved the freedom to escape her "corral". I just tied a towel around her in a certain way that would catch any drainage if there was some. All along I have been using a towel draped around her neck and secured behind her head with a ponytail holder. It drapes in such a way that while lying down it covered the amp site so she could not lick at it and it soaked up the drainage pretty well. T shirts were too thin for this job. When the drainage was heavy the towel didn't do much good while she was standing but now I figured out a way to tie the towel in 2 spots so that it goes under her chest and catches the drainage. As long as it's not too much it works pretty good. Most of the towels in my house were not even long enough to go around her body so I have had to keep washing the same ones over and over. Hopefully not for much longer though. One thing that is worrying me a little though is that her front right paw opposite the amp is very swollen today. It was really swollen the first 2 weeks which I had expected and read was normal. After her week in the hospital it was totally back to normal. Since coming back home the swelling has been on and off but today it is really swollen again. Anyone else had an experience with this? The vet told me yesterday that it may be swollen if she is laying on that side alot ,which she is. Or he said that it is just because she still has extra fluid in her body. But he also said that it could be a problem with her lymph glands but he didn't elaborate on that. It has seemed to get more swollen after he does the irrigation. I am trying not to worry too much about that because it went away before so maybe it will again. In about 2 weeks it will be 16 weeks since Valentina was diagnosed with OS. I read somewhere that the average life expectancy after diagnosis is about 16 weeks if the dog has no chemo. That is scaring me a little. I know every dog is different though and that we cannot predict that so easily. I sure have enjoyed Valentina being back to her old self the last couple of days and that makes me really happy!! 

  Yeah. I don't believe those statistics because every dog is different with different circumstances so how could you possibly lump all of them together? I don't think I will pay any attention to those silly statistics. That is really awesome that Jerry lived so long after diagnosis.