One month post surgery update:

Hello all - the holidays were hectic and I wasn't able to update like I wanted.

Mobility - I have truly been astonished at how well Sky has adjusted to life as a tripawd. As you may recall, I was very concerned with amputation given her mobility issues in her hind legs (arthritis, previous injuries). We have increased our walks every day and she seems to be doing very well. The biggest issue I've had so far is the arctic weather here in Colorado makes going on walks miserable!

Chemo - Sky had her first round of chemo right before Christmas and handled it quite well. We were away from our main oncologist for the two week CBCs so had them done at a local vet near family. They noticed that she had a fever and some of her levels were off...so they had me panicking. Fortunately, I sent the results to CSU and the oncologists got in touch to let me know they were actually quite happy with the CBCs...relief! Sky had her second round of chemo today and all was going well until this evening. She was acting like she couldn't get comfortable and was walking around trying to find a spot to lay down...when she did I attempted to give her her dinner, which she always wants...she smelled it and immediately vomited...a lot. I forced some anti nausea medicine down her and carefully cleaned up the mess. She is now laying down and I am a nervous wreck. I tried to give her water...she attempted to drink it, but almost looked sick when her tongue touched the water. Other than the nausea she has gone outside for a couple of potty breaks and seems to be alert. Her nose is cold and wet...but I know she doesn't feel great. My hope is that this is just a one time thing.

Emotional side - I want to share what this has been like for the family in case anyone else is going through this or is about to. I don't think I have ever cried more than I did during the initial phase of this process. It was such a roller coaster, but I slowly began to accept things and tried to focus on just being positive for Sky. As I watched her get better and better mobility wise I would find myself forgetting that there is most likely still cancer growing inside of her and that I most likely will not have my little girl for more than a year...tonight brought me back down to reality and I broke down again. This disease is literal hell. I suspect I won't get much sleep tonight worrying at every deep breath and movement I hear from her...but this is the reality of our situation.

I have also struggled as I feel like I see so many posts on here where people lose their babies during or just after chemo. I am sure there are lots of positive results, but I somehow only see these tragic posts. I am hoping to be one of the longer ones, but gosh it's hard to stay positive somethings.