RobinM

I am so sorry.

I know you could have loved him longer, but you certainly couldn't have loved him more. i am so sorry.

Sorry about the tees. Ember knows what she likes. Polli likes the girlie thing and is used to her jackets etc so it was a non issue! Do you have stairs in your house?

Denise- Bev turned me on to www.tripawds.com it is a web site of ONLY tripods. They sell the ruff harness which is for tripods. It gives them the support while they learn how to naviate on their own. I bought it while Polli was in the hospital and it;s scheuduled for arrival on Tuesday. I can't wait for it as I really thing it will make a big difference. (once she gets over the fact she has to wear it!!!) it looks like a vest. http://www.tripawds.com/2008/04/29/new-ruf...s-now-available Rear leg is easier on them as they bear most of their weight on their front.

yes, Polli was brought home in a danskin tight sort of sweater with non stick gauze pads too. After day 3, I cut it to lossen it as it was very binding and then I cut it off of her and put her sweet pink tee shirt on. She did not ooze or bleed on the gauze so we stopped the gauze by day 5 or so. We keep the tee shirt on so that she is not tempted to lick. She has disolable stictches, does Ember? no, im scheduled to return in 2 weeks for stitches to be removed., so here is a question, how did you get the tee shirt on polli? did you do it while she was lying down? i guess that is the only way it can be done now. how about bathing? ember will probably need a bath after she is all healed up. some of her fur feels a bit funky on her back legs. Like I said, our stitches are desolvable so no issue there. The tee shirt. Make sure it goes over the leg First while lying down and then stretch it over the head as you can't do one leg and then the other! Careful not to rub the incsion area. Once it's on, it's on. Bathing is a non issue here as well. She is really clean all over. If there was an issue, i would just "spot clean" her. I bought tees at old navy. They have tees for dogs. The large fits good. They are $5.00 each.

yes, Polli was brought home in a danskin tight sort of sweater with non stick gauze pads too. After day 3, I cut it to lossen it as it was very binding and then I cut it off of her and put her sweet pink tee shirt on. She did not ooze or bleed on the gauze so we stopped the gauze by day 5 or so. We keep the tee shirt on so that she is not tempted to lick. She has disolable stictches, does Ember?

Oh Denise, I am so sorry. Be strong for Brooke. We are all here for you. hugs, Robin

I am so sorry for your loss,

I am so sorry.

Here we go again!!!! PM me, my mind is very fresh, if you have any 1st week questions!!! So happy she is home, but not as happy as she is to be there with you. We keep a tee shirt on Polli. I fyou want one for Ember, Check out old navy -- go to dog supplies and the large tees fit the hounds.

Beau, Chloe and I had an outside meet and greet today. I never leave one dog so Teddy, DH and Polli stayed home. When I got home, she RAN to the door, tail wagging AND................................................. ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO'D for a cookie!!! All is wonderful in my world right now! THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!!

Polli did well last night. She didn't eat great but she ate. Prob 1/2 cup kibble 1/4 cup of wet and A LOT of boiled chicken breast. So I can not complain. I was told that a cancer patient needs to eat. Not to worry about what as long as there is a decent amount. She seemed more comfortable last night and dare I say that when I was acting like my normal wack a doo self with Polli, I saw the beginning of a tail wag? Not completely, almost like testing to see if it worked. My heart soared. DH say, see I told you. This morning when took her out back to pee and poop, her speed was noticably better and she did a tiny bit of explorating rather than pee/poop come right back in. She even tried to do one step, did it and then didn't want to. I offered her the steps again. She didn't want to. I said "OK, no problem" I picked her up, she came in and got her cookie -which she promptly dropped - and that is normal here too. Day 9 looks like it's going to be a GREYT day!

me either.

What is wrong with me? I mean really, what is wrong with me? I just reread the beginning of this thread and i was wondering why Polli was depressed and didn't want to walk? What am I on drugs??? Let's see, why is Polli depressed and why might Polli not want to walk??? Could it have anything to do with the fact that she had a LIMP removed 8, yes EIGHT days ago? Could it be that she is just a bit uncomfortable and walking doesn't feel good? Could the fire in her eyes be just a bit clouded due to masses doses of pain killers? Could it be all of the above??? again, I repeat, what is wrong with me? How I did not get flamed, is beyond me. Flame away! I mean really. I started reading other tripods story on a site Bev turned me on to, it's nothing but tripods. I started browsing through the threads and found ones exact to what is going on and when I read theirs, the light bulb went off in my head. No, I am not on drugs. Maybe a bit lacking in the sleep department, but I have regrouped. Polli is going to be fine, when she is ready to be. On Polli's schedule, not Robin's.

As difficult as it was to come to that decision, there must be a bit of relief knowing that a decsion was made. Not knowing what to do is very stressful. Now, just enjoy, enjoy, enjoy both your beautiful boys. Hugs to you all

Good advice, Everyone. the one thing that I am constanly doing is my usual wack a doo stuff with her. Singing the Polli-walli-do da songs... mommacita songs and burying my face in hers and just eating her up. Always have, always will. Today when i took Polli out back to pee/poop, when we came back up the deck ( I carry her) she wanted to lay in the sun. I let her for about 30 minutes but I was afraid she would burn ( her hair is shaven) so she had to come in. It was nice to know she wanted to do something that made her feel good.

Tom- how wonderful. I am so happy she is ok.

We have started to wean her off the tramadol. She was 2 pill 50mg every 6 hours. Now we are 1 every 4-6 hours. Last night till this morming was more like 10 hours. She is still on 50 mg deramaxx first thing in the morning and Baytril 2x a day until we finish which will be Tuesday. Vet is back in the office tomorrow so I have a list of questions - one being when should I stop the deramaxx. I'm wondering if going off the tramadol is affecting her wanting to walk. She has to pounce/ bounce when she walks (front leg amp) so there is pounding. That can not feel good on the incision. She is on less pain meds. The incision has been dry since the beginning. She had very, very slight oozing day 1 and 2. No bandages have been on for days. just her pretty pink tee.

Sigh. We are right there with you. The first 4 days after Polli's amputation were pretty rough. She spend virtually every night awake, standing and heavily panting moving from bed to bed. Now that we are passed that phase, all she does is sleep. I think she is depressed. All I can say is since the surgery was yesterday, give it more time. You know your dog better than anyone and what it takes to calm her. This too shall pass.

I emailed Couto about the herbals. They are familar with Artemisinin. This is the email I got last night when I inquired if it should start it in conjiunction with chemo or after. "As general rule we do not use together standard chemotherapy plus Artemisinin. In some exceptional cases we could add the Artemisinin to a non standard chemo protocol, but those are patients with different stage of the disease, prognosis etc... Artemisinin only should be (if) considered at the end of the standard treatment Sincerely Paulo Paulo Vilar Saavedra DVM, Ms Greyhound Health and Wellness Program http://www.vet.osu.edu/1872.htm The Ohio State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital

I would like to quote everyone because I know I know I know. Batmom hit on something that I was just thinking this morning. "Pretend she's brand new to the house" That is how I decided to go about it. And once again, it's only 8 days. 8 days. I guess where there was a roach, and what looked like enjoying the bully stick, I had hoped a smile/waggy tail wasn't far behind. But that was MY schedule, NOT Polli's schedule. I guess my worry is something I just don't want to put in print. So try and read between the lines. I had read on another site that someone's dog had a successfu amp and chemo. What their version of successful translated to was.. amp/ chemo 4 times but the dog was violently ill from the chemo so they to stop it. The dog was hospitalized a week becasue of the chemo, he was so sick and he was gone in 5 months from amp to the end. THAT was her success story. I almost puked. I don't like to judge anyone. And I know I don't know all the facts. But it's upsetting all the same.

I know she has roached. I know she has chewed seemingly happily on a bully stick, I know I know I know..... BUT..... She did OK with the eating last evening. We ate later in the evening which is how she normally ate most of the time. She broke her one meal up into 2 seperate meals so she wound up eating close to a full cup of kibble with 3/4 can of wet and a bunch of shredded chicken. Here are my concerns. Let me preface this with I KNOW we are ONLy on day 8 of MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR surgery and her whole world has been turned upside down. Everything is different. Even our house, her "crate" her safety zone is gone. Yes, we are still all together but here are the concerns.... Polli was the happiest dog I had ever met. Even in pain all this time prior to the discovery of the cancer, she was happy, play bowing and her tail never stopped wagging. She also had THE BIGGEST mouth I could even imagine. So much so that there were times I thought to myself... SHHHHH up already. It was a non stop ROO ROO ROO ROO ROO ROO... screaming and demadning to me to get this, get that, hurry it up... etc. Now, the fire that made my firecracker seems to have disappreared from her eyes. She doesn't even want to walk. She will walk to go out and pee/poop but we want to start getting her to go to one or 2 houses and then turn around. She won't move and we can't press it. She will just stand there with a blank pathetic look at her face that rips my heart out. She will get up to go to the door when we make our announcement "WHO WANTS TO GO FOR A WALKIE". But that is as far as it goes. Her tail which never stopped wagging, hasn't wagged once. She is depressed. I speak to her in loving, tones as I always did. Nothing has changed with any of that. I know I can't speed up her recovery time and I know it's ONLY 8 days but all of a sudden I am very concerned that the Polli we know and love won't be back. It's scary but more than anything, it's so sad.

When Polli first came to us from the farm at 8.5, the inside of her mouth looked like a sewer and worse than that, it smelled like one. At her 1st dental she lost 17 teeth. She has had 3 dentals in 14 months because of the ongoing issues. The last dental she had was last week with her amputation becasue starting chemo with bad teeth/gums is dangerous. So, we may not have done the 3rd dental right now, but since she was under a general, we had to. We also brush her teeth EVERY single night with CET tarter control toothpaste. For your foster, it sounds like a mega dental is required.

I started a day 8 thread.