Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat

Update: We did a yard bath.  First ever.  R looked pathetic the entire time - I am a monster.  But he didn't have any trouble standing for the bath and I was gentle washing over the incision.  Since it was about 90 degrees I don't think he even minded the cold hose water.  And now he smells clean!  Extra, extra cuddles the next few days.

I'm jealous of Maggie's self-drying skills.  R gets rubbed down with multiple towels but he's get that thick coat and he's wet for hours.  

He's still wet.

I think it was a big day.  We've been napping a few hours now.

We have our appointment for bloodwork tomorrow to see how the chemo might be impacting things.  We didn't get any side effects that we noticed.  And today was a great day.  We walked our favorite 'short loop' around the neighborhood (slightly less than a half mile).  We played soccer in the backyard.  (Read: He loves that I chase him with the ball.  He's super proud of himself for having it, and shaking the hell out of it, while I'm so clearly desperate for this super awesome ball.)  And we played two enthusiastic rounds of tug.  Probably a mix of healing and being pretty much totally off gabapentin today.  For some reason he's off fetch, which used to be his greatest joy in life, but he seems to be enjoying other things, so whatever.  First day since surgery he seemed more like himself.  (Ooo.  And we lie on our incision now, from time to time, so it must be feeling better.)

Update: R's bloodwork this week was fine.  They also did a physical and said he looks good. He has about a pencil eraser sized bare spot rubbed off on the outside of his remaining back foot, so I had them check that out too.  Said looked fine, just keep an eye.  I think it's just from how it must rub there every time he hops up.

We've had a very active weekend.  Probably walked a little over a mile since Friday.  He's usually rarin' to go, but we did have to take a quick lie down break on our way back around the loop this morning.  A very nice lady in the neighborhood came out of her house to ask if we were okay, both of us splayed out on the ground on the sidewalk.  Must have looked a little odd.  Just needed a little break before we made it the rest of the way home.

Discovery: R really likes really, really firm scratches to his ears, cheeks and neck these days. I imagine it's because he can't do it himself with his back paws anymore. Made little grunty noises of satisfaction during our impromptu scratch session this morning and kept leaning his head so firmly into whichever side I was scratching that I almost couldn't keep scratching against all the weight against my hand...

This bonus time together has made me really focused on R and what makes him the very happiest. Wish I would have discovered some of these things sooner, but at least I think he's getting some really good final months...

So apparently this week is the week for chemo side effects...  I'm not sure exactly what's going on yet, but R's in the hospital overnight tonight.  He was coughing and gagging on occasion throughout the day, but no vomit, so I was in watch and wait mode.  But then... he did not want to eat his dinner.  Now, one missed meal might not seem like a huge thing.  But I have NEVER seen R skip a meal in our nearly 10 years together.  So I got him in with his regular vet before they closed tonight.  They said he had a fever so we did bloodwork just to check and his white blood cell count and platelets were way down.  So I called the oncology people (lucky my guy was on call this weekend) and our oncologist thought best plan to be safe was bring R in to emergency and have him on IV fluids and antibiotics overnight/weekend.  It's another $1,500-$2,000, which, does this ever end, guys?  But...  When they called me back after their assessment at OSU they said his fever had actually gone up a little and was at 105 and... I'm a worry wart.  I wouldn't want him home at this point.  He's in the best place he can be.

Just thought we had squeeked by without these side effects and today was very much a reminder about the eventual reality of our situation.  For the first time I was really debating the CPR question.  (Thoughts on this?)  I said 'no' this time.  I want R back but I'm not sure it's fair to risk rib fractures and whatnot to drag him back for a few more months with me, if he's already gone.  Right now it sounds like things aren't dire, just, you know, regular hospital bad (which is still pretty bad) but it was a reminder that our days are dwindling.

Hopefully we have a call in the morning that he's perked right up.  He was still kissing neighbors on his walk this morning...

Hospital called to update.  R's fever is down, but still not down enough, and his white blood cell count is up, but not up enough.  They said the white blood cell count is at about 20% of where they'd like it to be before they let him go home.  So it sounds like he's spending another night.  

I have to admit, purely anecdotal, but this does sound like pretty much exactly what happened with Chance and for a supposedly super rare side effect...  They said his white blood cells just got too low and he got some kind of infection, which, like Chance, they said can just be something that was already in his body and wouldn't have caused a problem if his immune system was up to snuff, but, usually a GI bug or something gets moving and the bacteria or whatever turns into an infection in the blood... I didn't totally get the details, to be honest, but it sounded eerily similar to the tale I'd read on here a few days before...  

Again, doctor reassured me nothing I did at home and I don't need to modify his life when he gets back.  Waiting to hear from the regular oncologist sometime soon re: what we're doing with our next chemo, since that was scheduled for Tuesday.  Seems like we're going to have to discuss dosage, or a different drug, or something and possibly postpone depending on what the situation looks like by the end of the weekend...

On a positive note, anxiety cleaning... my house is spotless.