GreytHurleyDawg

Kathy, you have a TON to deal with!! You deserve a BREAK! I have one sick dog out of three and I feel that is my limit. I hope for a nice bronchitis too!!! And some good karma for you and your family!

Oh Nubers!!! What a rotten vacation for you!! Come back soon to the cold, north lands where we don't have those stinging buggers or those thorny seeds!!! Safe travels! I agree that getting the swelling down is ideal. Stop often and get heat or cold onto it, whichever helps the swelling.

Petra knows all about not having poop and eating it too but I never told her she couldn't have any treats! Poor Passion!! She looks every bit the innocent victim in this!! I know nothing about pancreatitis but I hope she doesn't have it!!!! Rest up, dear Passion, you have lab results coming!!

I guess I might email our oncologist prior to Hurley's 2nd chemo next week because I don't think she is doing blood tests before chemo and I don't really know what nausea in a dog is like (I know what vomiting is.....I assume that is what nausea does) but his appt will be at 10am, Jim leaves for work at 4pm and I will return after 10pm, so he might be uncomfortable in those hours. Jim doesn't want me bothering her all the time but I'd like answers prior to the day. We took Hurley and the dogs on a pretty long walk today.....Hurley pulled me the whole time, anxious as ever to be in the lead!!!! And the other night, he ran outside alogside Woodie and kept up with him very well, then he came up the back steps by himself! Usually, he has me help him with the bottom 2 (of 3) steps. He is coming along (and a few new rugs have been purchased) so I am very happy. Not to mention, I am home for 4 days and I get to decorate the house, do more organizing and spend some time here. Yay for me and Hurley Dawgie! As usual, he is ensconced on the couch, all three legs reaching for the ceiling! Keep up the good work, Pinky!!! I'm glad everything worked out as it should! Kathy, big, gentle hugs!!!!!!!! I really don't believe there could be any way that your flooring could be related to their health. Don't question your decisions. Things seem really bad and wondering why is sometimes not an effective way to deal with that stress. Aren't there 12 or so steps to the grieving process...I am pretty sure questioning why is one of them. Even if there was some asbestos in the old floor, you could not have known...and you could ask if the symptoms are characteristic of it. I thought all floor workers are able to recognize asbestos and warn you upon finding it because it would be in other areas of your home too. I would rule out asbestos for everyone's safety, of course, but that is the only thing I can think that would be happening here.

I'm just popping in for a minute, I have not been around lately and I have a few days off coming up butI have to shower and leave for work after this posting and I wanted to catch up! Hurley is doing greyt, we bought another rug and there are rugs within reach all around. He is a bit lethargic but all 3 greys are right now: we haven't taken any walks or gone anywhere but the vet's lately. Boo. Anyone is welcome to use the "I always win the 3 legged race" and i certainly hope you weren't waiting for apporval! Ha ha...I don't know if we'll ever mass market or even locally market anything, it was just a thought! Thank you for all the continuing conversations palladia and other post-chemo or during-chemo drugs. We were not made aware of anything he might need during chemo, so that's interesting. I don't want to sound paranoid though and I think i sort of bring that out sometimes. Fortunately, we are all very reasonable here on gt. As for the vets that do not xray limps, I think part of it is that they don't want to scare people away by xraying everyone that walks in the door and then leaves with a clear diagnosis. Money is ever the issue and some people would rather not shell anything out unnecessarily. We have had many limps that were just sprains and took home some rimadyl and waited with good results. I certainly don't want to always pay $100 or more each visit I make with 3 greyhounds. But, on the other hand, we decided at the very last minute to skip our regular vet and go directly to the er vet where we knew they give us quality care. They xrayed immediately...Hurley did express pain when she tugged at the bone the right way. As soon as she said xrays, the thought of osteo came into my brain for the first time and it never left. I know she saw the moment of recognition in my eyes. Camcer is Always the enemy and knowing more about it is well and good but we ALL want there to be less of it. The worrying about it is very stressful and if I could take that away, i would. I don't want to stir up any flames but vets are what they are: people YOU pay to evaluate your pets. It is up to you to make them work for it if they are all too willing to write it off as an unknown diagnosis. It's when you trust them fully that you run into a problem........I shudder to think what would have happened if we took Hurley to the regular vet and they could have sent him home undiagnosed!!!!!!! SO sorry and unexpected to hear about Faye Oops......big, giant hugs and a wish for Faye Oops to find contentment and no pain across the bridge.

Prayers for Sam....he needs better answers than what you have so far! Good to hear he isn't too disturbed to zoom about! Kristin, hugs to you and Ace.....I suppose there could not be a worse time for this to happen but at least they are going through this 'together' in a way. Pinky's path report sounds good to me (I work in a lab but I stay away from the pathology part)...our comment said the same 11.5% but specified for amp only. Then it said the 12-14 months for amp + chemo. It seems like a sentence or two fell off yours. Have FUN at the party if you go....my husband suggested a shirt that says: I ALWAYS WIN THE THREE-LEGGED RACE! He still wants to market shirts for this cause. Clark's foster mom: I am sorry it sounds quite bleak right now and hope it will still turn around. Joe-joe's mom, thanks for the info about suramin + doxo. I noticed Charlie takes Palladia after Chemo ended...I will be looking into all that as soon as I can. There is a semi-holistic vet very closeby to us and I wonder if they can provide some of the supplements and natural herbs, etc that I will need. I also wonder if insurance will deem these to be worthwhile. Does anyone have a good timeline to follow in terms of followup treatment with artemenisin, etc? Is it all for after chemo is finished or is it best to get started now? So, chemo does get rougher as it goes along? We had pickiness with food and maybe some lethargy from the first one. How will that get worse? I am having trouble figuring out how chemo works...does it build up or does it treat immediately and then it treats more next time? Should we worry very much about cleaning his poop? Petra eats poop and Jim left one of Hurley's piles outside even though I told him to bag them up. Sheesh. Husbands. As you can see, I could go on and on. Time to take him out for last turnout.....good night!! Stitches can come out in about 2 days! Yay...he can run then! (P.s. he has been off leash a few times in the yard and has trotted a bit!)

Thanks, Wendy for letting me know how the chemo goes over time. Thanks also for the smooches....Hurley LUVS smooches! I forgot (in all my long-windedness) to say good luck to you Teresa and THALION!!! I meant to add that in my post and to recommend that you check out the OSTEO thread going on....anyone is welcome and it is Greytalk's version of a support group. I have been told of local support groups as well but I prefer this 24 hour, in my pajamas version over showing up and at a local place whenever they can schedule it. There are many official support groups for dog cancer like Circle of grey, yahoo groups, etc. Please inquire on the osteo thread if this isn't very helpful. All I know is it helps tremendously to have people there who care, have gone through it or are Going through it!! Hurley is very honored to be an inspiration!

Kristin, We felt that carboplatin was the safest choice if he is on the road to possibly developing heart problems anyway. Contrary to the recent posts here, either carboplatin or doxorubicin was available, according to Dr. Marin. I faxed the path report late Wed night from work, emailed Dr. Marin on Friday (with the choice, his weight and the vet address) and have not heard back yet. We took our vet up on her offer to provide the first dose from their stock and then the rest would be from OSU and they would replenish their stock with one of ours. I am not sure if I will get a response email or if they will just ship it out though so I am no help! We set up our oncology consult appt for this past Wed. and then I emailed our onco vet and asked if we could do the chemo at that time, which she was fine with. I never even saw the vet, her tech took him back and they administered it while we waited out front. The onco report arrived via postal mail today. There were several other pets there getting their infusions too so as long as she's seen us initially, I guess that was all there was to it. Anyway, I am sure they always overnight express chemo drugs because all medical items are high priority and you wouldn't want them to get mistreated. What chemo will you be using? I read a promising study somewhere on doxorubicin + sumarium together so I emailed Dr. Marin about it (and something else about rapamycin, an immunosuppressant commonly used to prevent organ rejection in transplant patients which could also be used to treat osteo) but she said that although testing has been promising, she was not able to share any research. So, Hurley could not try that combo unless we thought his heart could take it. But if it's still in the research phase then it could do more harm than good and I will trust the tried and true research of the Greyhound program at OSU.

Oh geez, I didn't notice anyone had written here lately since it dropped off page 1...we have lots of H&M threads as always! Hurley is doing well!!! His carboplatin chemotherapy was on Wednesday, before Thanksgiving and we noticed some decreased appetite but canned food was offered and he ate that up. Today, I noticed some redness near his incision that I am keeping clean and moisturized in case he licked at it. It could be residual bruising. He still has trips and slides but rugs have solved the problem! He can be hesitant going up steps but it is usually dependent on his desire to go up. We installed a pet gate which has "locking" door in it and a pretty big bar on the floor. Hurley and Petra are both wary of it. Woodie is the only one who is comfortable with it. A rug on the side that just had floor has helped tremendously. But one day he slid while going through it and his sole back leg struck the door so it snapped shut behind him. I just stood there with my mouth open. Poor boy....he has been okay going through it while leashed if he doesn't come through it when called. Such drama for our tripod! He is resting very comfortably now, using all of the couch and waiting for me to take him out after eating. He has been panting less...we were concerned that the Tramadol could be doing that so when we are home, we give 1 only per 12 hours (versus 2 when we are at work). I think that is helping. Next chemo is on December 14th. The path report confirmed Osteo. It was in the bone and there was something going on in the tissue around it but the language was difficult to read. I wonder if my pathologists at work can decipher it for me? The lymph node was clear So far, so good!! I think he appreciates that I am home today!!

Yay, Zuri! Yay Pinky! Jess, I didn't know that Lucy was a member of this group but I am happy to hear of her good, no GREYT update!! She is adorable! Tight Hugs to Faye Oops and Gabe....my thoughts are with you but at least they are happy thoughts! Clark looks good! I am surprised to hear that with a diagnosis of chondrosarcoma, he has a poor prognosis. I would get a second opinion (hopefully OSU can help) or ask for chemotherapy + amputation prognosis. Usually it is good when they do not have osteo...is this also considered a very aggressive cancer? Hurley got his chemotherapy on Wednesday!! His pathology report DID confirm osteo. It sounds like it could have spread to the surrounding tissue (or at least some reaction was noticed from that soft tissue) and the submitted lymph node was clean. He has had some decreased appetite after the chemo but nothing else notable. I have noticed a reddening next to his incision however. I'm hoping it is minor or just residual bruising. He still has his ups and downs (literally) on his 3 legs. Mostly due to the 3 back steps or to the pet gate we recently installed. It has a bar on the bottom and has scared Petra too. Only Woodie sails through it. Hurley is wary of it and has cowered near it. Then he rushes through it and his single back leg slides down and out, once he hit the door (of the gate) and it snapped shut after him. Needless to say, adding a mat to the floored side has tremendously helped! But, oh the drama!! Here is a photo from Friday, before I noticed the redness as an issue: and today (Sat) after I cleaned it and applied some wound moisturizing salve: Any thoughts? ETA: It doesn't really look different but I just NOTICED it today since my work days are so crazy busy(?).

Hi Jen, I am sad that you and your family moved away! Jim noticed that your house was probably up for sale before I did so we figured it out . I hope the warm weather you are enjoying will make your winters much nicer!! My sister just moved to Jacksonville, FL so I get to hear about her conditions when I can stand it. Poor Peanut!! (Literally! It seems like all my coworkers use the term peanut for any small being!) I was going to suggests a tick too. is it possible she picked up something there? Our Petra is a carrier for Babesia so we are always on the lookout for lethargy, but with her, it is difficult to tell! I hope you get it figured out soon! I have seen behavior like this though and wonder if she is sad at not having her own yard to roam around. Is she more energetic in a fenced-in park? Does she have access to a place like that? hurley is on leash-walk-only right now and he is very upset that he can't be free. But it is better for him to heal than to damage himself . Hugs to Peanut and Tipsy!

Kyle, Hurley is one of the most excitable greyhounds out there and he likes to jump up, jump around and move quickly from one place to another. Also, there is a lot of exposed hardwood floor right in front of his folded-up futon so I just put a rug there with anti-slip pad underneath to help with that part of the room. He is still getting used to it, I guess, as are we. Outside, he sometimes crumples over when we are on a slope but he has been getting much more sure-footed out there lately! Hugs and kisses to Faye Oops and Gabe!!

I read about this on GPA-WI's forum and was glad to hear that Gobi got amputated so quickly. It is not an inexpensive procedure so I am very sorry to hear Melanie lost her job. I do not think that they only have a few months left together: I think with Chemotherapy, the cancer can be slowed down so that it doesn't metasticize into the lungs or anywhere else. We chose amputation + chemotherapy for Hurley and we are hoping for up to 2 years of life. Since Hurley is 8 and a half, he would be over 10 by then, not an age to die but at least an older age with us knowing that we are fighting and taking as much pain-free time with him as we can. I really think it takes a positive attitude. We haven't heard Melanie's side but I am sure she doesn't need you to feel sad for her, just strong for her. Not that I don't think she could use some extra company or the help of a support group (we are a pretty good support group right here but there are canine bone cancer groups that meet in person too and all over the internet!!) but it doesn't necessarily mean that all is lost for Gobi. I hope she finds a more meaningful job that supports her family life! I hope she seeks and finds all the resources available to her and Gobi! You can certainly mention that I am going through the exact same thing (minus the job loss part, my job is not in jeopardy but I did call in sick 2 days because of this: on the day of diagnosis and the day he came home from the surgical hospital) and I am looking to get Hurley's chemo started this week or next. You can get my phone number if she is interested in talking! There are two other osteo dogs nearby right now too so we aren't alone and she should NOT feel alone either! I have heard people in the Osteo thread say this is a cruel disease and that it has to be treated aggressively or you just control the pain until it has spread too much. It takes a proactive reaction and from what you have written here, she is doing exactly that! I hope she is being encouraged!! I also have read that racing greyhounds are getting hit the hardest by this cancer over other breeds. It strikes large breed dogs, rottweilers who have been neutered/spayed getting a large share, but the greyhounds'long limb bones and probably their heavy use of those bones can contribute PLUS we have many shared ancestors among our breed so the genes for this cancer have been passed on. The sperm got donated before the sire came down with osteo. It doesn't mean we have to be scared for our healthy hounds but greyhounds are often stoic and it is hard to know when their pain is real. You learn to read your dog's messages but sometimes they hide it for as long as possible, as Gobi did. Hurley waits longer too but his pain threshold seems to be lower than some.

Thinking and sending good thoughts for all who have posted recently and everyone else dealing with difficult, possibly cancerous, issues!! Thank you, Kyle, for your wonderful list! I will look into several of those supplements in the future! Good luck to Pinky in the morning or the 'morrow! Hurley is in a holding pattern now....we are progressing with healing but he still has falls and slips to deal with (he better not injure his good back leg!) and we are scheduled to have an oncology appt this Wed but I have not been in contact with her for awhile so we will see what we can do on that day. I may not have a path report by then or have the chemo lined up by then. But Jim wants Hurley to be checked somewhere this week so we will start with the onco and work from there! I had to email her so we could discuss what could be done before we show up and she sends us out the door after 5 minutes. This is all per her instructions before the amputation so we aren't pushing her, she is the one ready to get this started. I hope we all have plenty to be thankful for this week!!!!

Lori, Thank you for the kind words!! Did we meet you the day we dropped him off? I was feeling guilty for not staying around for the entire surgery like a coworker of mine had done but I just had to get some sleep and we don't ever like to feel like we are pressuring the professionals to do things better. We had faith that he would come through! And we don't need to be there every step of the way as long as phones are still working! Thank you again for taking good care of my sweetheart, who is our first greyhound and the reason we have 3 greys now!! I hope he was good in his situation. His photograph on our take-home booklet makes him look perturbed but he always reacts strangely to the camera. So I hope he stole a few hearts!! He continues to heal and make progress. I made a tentative appt with our oncologist for this Wed. Then I emailed her about it so we'll see what comes about. We don't want to delay his chemo because we aren't paying attention or the holiday weekend gets in the way. I think Hurley is having an easier time because his incision does seem smaller than most. Tomorrow I go back to work. He has had some backslides like losing footing with his back leg and not being able to recover alone and panting so much that his sleep is affected (we carried him upstairs last night so he could sleep with us but he seemed to be quite restless). Then he makes up for the lost sleep during the day!

Kristin, Woodie is not a roacher either. I would love to be a roacher if I was a dog. But Woodie has many stress-relieving methods such as hanging his head off the couch! I know how you feel, I am already anxious to get this phase overwith. Our oncologist would be ready to start next week if Hurley keeps improving but we will see. It just has to be Thanksgiving-time! Our path report will come back to us in 5-7 days, I think, and then we will have to forward it to OSU ourselves because they will already be sent to 3 places so I didn't want to add a 4th. Our onco said she didn't mind if we start him using their stock of chemo meds so we could start on time (and then our first dose of OSU drug would go into their stock) but I have a feeling OSU will have special mixtures or something different. And I still have to contact our onco. I wish we would have set something up already. I'm going to email her now so I don't waste any more time. Staples are not bad to remove!! I almost think they could be easier than stitches! Good luck to Pinky this Monday!!!!

Woodie had a middle toe (that had previously been dislocated and then suddenly was broken, probably from running around in the yard too much) that broke in a FEW places! The vet wrapped him all the way to the knee and Woodie walked around like a peg-legged pirate for 2 weeks, clunking all the way. The first 12 days or so were fine and we went in early for the 2 week bandage change. At that point, things changed RAPIDLY! He began chewing at it and then it became an obsession. He was eating food and stopping to chew at it.....we tried to tell ourselves he was just itchy. It turns out he had a huge ulcer under his dewclaw!!!!!! We got antibiotics and then they wrapped it up the same way again. The tech did say we could cut it open if it seemed to swell or itch above the paw. We finally couldn't stand it when he started to itch again. this was on a Saturday afternoon. We waited until Monday morning and got to our regular vet. He had another ulcer on top of his paw so he only obsessed when it truly was unhealthy. We literally walked in and said they HAD to remove the bandage because we were worried he would lose the leg over this one toe. Fortunately, xrays revealed a healing callous on his bone and they sent him home unwrapped. He still has no fur on those two ulcers from the end of September. I agree to be careful!! Our initial goal was to keep it splinted for a month. He made it about 3 weeks.

Thanks for writing, Wendy! (I also added many more pics to my other thread on H&M) I always use exclamation points so I wouldn't notice if you were overusing them! I like to add them to uplift my sentence even if it is just neutral. I think the thing with the small suture line is that Hurley (anyway) got to keep his hip so the muscles leading to the bottom of the leg were folded around the base of his stump. It must be less traumatic that way. In the front leg, it would be like keeping the shoulder. He still wants to lick at it all the same so maybe the taped muzzle would work better. I just think he would use the muzzle to club himself if it was itchy. I guess that's not true! I'll try it anyway and monitor it or just try one night to see. Thanks for the suggestion!! We do have a stool cup muzzle for the poop-eating Petra but she likes poop so much, the outside sometimes smells like poop so I wouldn't feel safe to use that unless I boiled it forever!!!!! Such a horrible habit for an otherwise lovely girl. I was totally surprised to find no staples on him. For his gastropexy, he had 50 or so staples since he bled so much without the Aminocaproic acid. We LOVE having him at home!!

Thank you for all your words and thoughts!! Hurley has been home over 24 hours now and I wanted to share some pics from last weekend, when he was still a 4 legger. And then the post op photos, of course! Don't make me go to the hospital, please! Hurley, I wish you didn't have to! But you will be healthier this way! Confidently standing with the aid of pain meds: Maybe showing the slightest hesitation with the cancerous left hind leg: Ready to go if that critter makes an appearance: Definitely ON the move: Getting a ride to get his nails trimmed and to make sure he doesn't think ALL car rides end in vet visits! FINALLY, some after amputation pictures: This was taken yesterday, the day he came home. Home is the best medicine! (as you can see, it's good that I'm home for a few days so I can clean....we'll see if I can muster the motivation! ) Doing that sit that I've read about on the osteo thread. You wouldn't even know a leg was missing when they sit on that side! Another pic with no obvious leg missing but i'm posting it because while he was roaching, I could not get his whole body into one shot! #fail Lastly, today his bruising is quite widespread but not unusual: Thanks again for everyone's kindness. It is hard to believe this is just a stop gap until chemo starts and then we have to hope it kills as much as possible while we try to enhance his immune system to fight off the cancer cells. We are doing the fish oil pills and are giving the non-grain food a shot, even if it isn't proven. Right now, I'm perfectly content to spend every minute with him!!! His bandage change was hard on him but it was saturated and we wanted to take a look and clean it too before we changed it. He kept trying to bite us!! And we jumped everytime!! The e collar is problematic but better than letting him lick it open and cause an infection. He is still wobbly but getting the hang of it. The towel as a sling is also handy so he doesn't strain too badly. he POOPED yesterday and today!! Woodie is sharing the couch with him at the moment, he and Petra get "guest passes" to see him and be near him. Although, they didn't seem to wonder where he was during his absence. They did sniff me entirely after we returned from visiting him at least. They have sniffed him at home a little but not harshly. In my opinion, he is doing wonderfully!!

Hugs to Gabe and Faye Oops!! I know it must be difficult right now! I thought I'd share a few quick pics of Hurley now that he is recuperating at home. This is from yesterday, his first day home: and he roached today! The bruising is obviously spreading now and changing the bandage was frightful because he kept trying to bite us as we removed the sticky part!!! Poor little dawgie! On the bright side, his incision is only oozing a little bit.: So far, we are doing fine here, other than the few steps he has to do and e-collar time at night. I am using a towel as a sling on the steps so he doesn't pop a suture. Nighttimes will be rough. Apparently, Jim woke up half hour after we went to bed because he made noise. He had gotten stuck in the hallway trying to get a drink of water and couldn't see how to turn around. I don't even think our e-collar allows him to reach the water bowl so we'll have to figure something out.

What's the latest pupdate, Pinky?? The progress so far sounded marvelous! I love your pictures, dear Pinky!!

Hurley was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in his rear left leg (tibia) on November 2nd. He had been limping a few days and then he was on the bed with us and could not remain in one position for more than 5 minutes or maybe 10. He kept standing up, turning around and trying a new position, only to get tired of it again. Xrays showed a moth eaten area of his bone and we saw the oncologist later that morning. She explained our options and mentioned she would be at a conference until the following Tuesday but was available via email. I emailed OSU and sent the 5 xrays, they confirmed that it is most likely osteo. Once our doctor was back in town, we had our ducks in a row and had an appointment for a surgical consult lined up the day after we saw her again (we saw her Wed). She green lighted us for the amputation and we met the surgeon, liked the surgeon and were very relieved that both doctors acknowledged that OSU could provide the best resource in this case. They both called them, consulted with them and never made me feel like I was putting OSU first, above them. The amputation was scheduled for Wednesday, November 16. It went well!!!!! They called me about an hour before I had to leave for work and said he was already waking up and looking around. The surgeon called me later, as I requested. He told me there was one issue only: Hurley had an arrythmia or slower heart beats at one point and he thought that would mean doxorubicin would not be ideal for his heart. Other than that, we were still on track for having him come home Thursday. He mentioned that I could visit him after my work shift if I wished. I left work just 1/2 hour early after calling them for details on Hurley's progress and their preferences with late night visits. The vet tech was very nice and said Hurley had already been up and about with the help of the sling. I asked about food and whether he needed to eat. He had been refusing so far so I was given the go ahead to bring some tuna treats I had made at home. I was able to reach Jim after he got off work and we met up so we could drive together. We were shown into the comfort room and Hurley was brought to us, walking on his own!!!! He was shaven all the way to the hip, in case they were going to take all of it, so it looked naked. I was amazed that right now they just have a gauze on the bottom of the stump, at the incision. It had been bleeding but not badly. The doctor had told me his clotting was doing fine (we gave the Aminocaproic acid as instructed by OSU for all greyhound amputations and as Hurley requires because he does bleed EXCESSIVELY without it) so I was very relieved to hear that! Right now, the 'stump' is quite swollen. Hurley ate all the treats I brought and all the canned food they provided once I held the bowl for him. He was not overly welcoming towards us because he had other issues going on and he was slightly wobbly. But I know it was the right thing for us to have done (versus waiting until the morning to possibly even bring him home on our first meeting with him post-surgery). He tried to sit (which the tech said would be alright) but he caused pain by angling the wrong way and then getting agitated. We helped him sit onto his good side with the aid of the sling. He sat for quite awhile and was already starting to show interest in the wound, which the vet tech said was new behavior. I hope this is all making sense. I wanted to get it down now because if he comes home tomorrow, I'm not sure how much time like this I will have! I have scheduled time off from work Fri, Sat and Sun. By Monday, he will hopefully be okay to be alone for a few hours or more. We have a long road ahead. But I believe he will adapt quickly to having one less leg. Long live my sweet Hurley Dawg!! We aren't out of the woods yet but we hope to start chemo very soon, around Thanksgiving. Tripods rock!! I've seen them run faster than my 4 legged dogs!

Ok, I am here now, posting on the amputation!!! So far, so good!! We just got back from seeing him for the first time. He may be able to come home tomorrow. I started a new thread just so I could put all the details down and not have to flood this thread! It was a busy, busy, exhausting day (both Jim and I worked) so I apologize for not making it here sooner, I know what it is like to wait and wait!! The surgery went well (with one acceptable exception: arrythmia which means doxorubicin would be bad for him) and the surgeon did keep the top part of the leg above the knee. He was all shaven to the tail so it looks naked and strange. Plus it is very swollen but he is healing nicely. We didn't take any pics yet. It is quite dramatic right now. But he ate for us and was in a general good mood, not anxious or worried but still panting from the meds and sedatives. Hurley clotted well, thanks to the aminocaproic acid! I also see Clark was amputated today....I guess this family grows a little all the time! I'm glad we have a partner for Hurley!! I'm glad it has been pointed out that people are posting bad news and still heartened by the good. We can't feel sad about posting good news!! And sad news should not be avoided in a place like this. We are here for each other! I understand that I will be posting bad news one day I hope it's still a long ways off. We have to be like our greyhounds and live in the moment!

I'm so sorry to hear about Hailey......may she run free forever!! Yes, Hurley has just a couple of hours left, I hope to be able to sleep a bit tonight. He slept in our bed with us last night and I thought I was awake the whole night....my body was sort of sleeping but my mind felt awake. I might not be able to sleep until I know he's alright!! He definitley knows Something is up...he got a bath tonight! Thank you for your good thoughts: we will need ALL of them!! I will post when I feel ready, probably in a new thread!

This sounds like good progress!!! Yay Pinky!!!! Again!!! She sounds like she isn't letting the loss of a leg get her down, that's for sure! Continuing to send good thoughts to Pinky and that her bandaged suture remains healthy. Enjoy your Sunday with your beautiful pup!! It will be my turn next weekend! Lol. I could not get the video to play, I'll try again later, my computer is about to do an update. Johanna