MP_the4pack

I'm so sorry. This terrible disease took my Brindle. It's horrid and there's not a darn thing we can do about it. God Speed Hobbes.

He was a handsome boy.

How did it go yesterday? While I was on the floor with Diamond getting her third chemo, we thought about you at 10 AM. (we started late. We were supposed to start at 9:30, but it was more like 9:50.) I was talking to my vet as he was administering the chemo that somewhere else another greyhound named Whitey was starting his first with drugs from OSU. My vet asked how I knew and I said there is a strong greyhound support board called Greytalk. He was impressed and asked about OSU and how I found out about it. So...........just wanted to let you know you were in our thoughts. Mary Pat and Diamond.

Many times what people perceive as pain is just a reaction to the tramadol. Talk to your vet about something else first.

I'm sorry you didn't have more time.

Did Polli not eat for 5 days after for each chemo or just the last one or two rounds?

I saw the locked Bailey threads and feared the worst. But didn't see anything other than you decided to bring her home yesterday. I was even going to post a new thread asking, but thought that if you did lose her, it would hurt too much. I'm glad you have these few precious moments left with her. (even though I'm devastated at the news). And I'm totally with you regarding work. When I lost Topaz 10 yrs ago, I had a new job and no sick time yet. I still went home sick. Thank God I had a very understanding new boss.

Tomorrow at 9:30 is Diamond's chemo. (this is her third). And I've been on the phone and email all week looking for Diamond's chemo from OSU. I finally got Ashley on the phone yesterday and the chemo will be here today. Phew! Just in time. We're already a month behind due to an infection at the surgery site. What I noticed is that Sunday morning breakfasts are not that good after Friday chemos. And she's a food hound. But she still ate her liver and eggs brunch. So don't be surprised if he's off his food. So far, it's just been Sunday mornings. Good luck Whitey, we'll be thinking of you while we're getting done ourselves. Mary Pat and Diamond. Good luck. Diamond did terrific. Didn't know anything happened (other than the sunday breakfast).

Aw crap

Fingers and paws crossed here.

Ten years ago today I received the shock of my life. I lost a 5 yr old goofy white and black girl named Topaz. I adopted her 1 year after getting Brindle, my first greyhound. Oh, she was trouble. After a marathon work day of 20 hours, I came home to find that she had shredded 20 lbs of wood pellets (my home heat source). The plastic bag they were in were in pieces no bigger than a 1/2 dollar coin. And the wood pellets are no bigger than rabbit food. It was scattered throughout the den. Obviously I couldn't use the pellets because they were mixed with plastic. I had to throw away half a bag. But she survived my yelling at her for that. My favorite memory of her doesn't even include her. On another day I came home from work and was not greeted by Brindle and Topaz as I usually was. I rounded the corner to find out why. Topaz had pulled her teddy bear (stolen from a human weeks before) thru the dog door, but didn't make it. The teddy bear was stuck in the dog door, with Brindle and Topaz 'locked' outside. When she was in the wheat field, she would leap high above the waist high wheat in search of critters. When she realized she made me laugh, she would start to do it just to entertain me. She was such a clown.....walking down the hallway from my bedroom to the den took about 10 minutes because she would take one step and bow. I, of course, had to scritch that butt sticking up in front of me. She got a kick out of that and made it a game. So she'd take another step and bow. I scritched. She took another step and bowed. I scritched......see why it took so long? We visited my sister down in Virginia. We decided to go shopping and we left my two girls downstairs with my sister's lab, where we thought it was 'safe'. When we got back, my sister's lab was all upset and "talking" to her family. Then we saw what seemed to be a dead rat in the middle of the playroom. All slobbery wet, but not torn up. Upon closer examination, we realized Topaz got to one of the nieces' gerbils.....oops. If I stuck my tongue out and gave Topaz the raspberry, she would roooo. When I asked her to speak, her mouth moved but nothing came out. On several occasions when we went to the local petstore (small family owned, not a big box store), Topaz would steal a toy and run around the store. (when we visited, since we were friends, the girls were allowed off leash inside) I bought a lot of toys for her that way. Remember that teddy bear? Well, being a human toy, not a dog toy, the stuffing is not like giant wads of cotton. She and Brindle started on a great game of tug-o-war with that toy. Both thought they had won and started to shake their piece. They had decapitated it and the small foam pieces were flying all around the backyard (windy day of course).......it looked like it was snowing. One unfortunate bunny made it's nest in the middle of Topaz's backyard. Well for months/years afterwards, Topaz would go to the hole and start digging (it ended up a couple feet deep eventually). After a couple good swipes with her feet, she take a sniff then jump up into a puppy upper and run around like her tail was on fire. She would rest her head on the back of the sofa to watch me work in the kitchen. sigh.....next monday you would have been 16. Still a reachable age had you even made it to 6. Momma still loves you and misses you very much my little clown. My Punkin Pie.

You can buy the BP monitor at any medical store, but make sure you get the infant cuff. Not child or toddlers. It has to be the smallest. Place it on the base of the tail or front leg while dog is laying down. Pump it up and slowly let the air out. Watch the needle. When it starts to bounce in rhythm to the heartbeat that's the number you want. It does not bounce a lot, you have to watch it carefully. It may take a little practice to see it. This is NOT very precise, but it may give you an idea if the BP is soaring or near normal. Most vets don't do a BP, you need to go to a Univerity hospital or cardiologist....some specialty clinic. Pearl's cardiologist does it every 6 weeks but her BP is not under control. We were checking it every 6 months to start until she had her stroke.

Aw gees.......if it weren't for your bad luck, you won't have any. I'm sorry to hear the news, but I'm glad she came out of surgery okay. Try to keep your chin up......things have got to get better. They just have to!

Did they xray the neck and back? The problem could be there. Also, have you tried a chiropractor?

Go see a vet, preferable a cardiologist or neurologist. If the stroke is caused by high blood pressure, she needs to be put on meds immediately. They handle these meds well and it lowers the BP. My Pearl has hypertension (and a mini stroke in Jan, she was ALREADY on aspirin at that time).

The problem with this disease is that the body doesn't recognize that it's bleeding. So adding anticoagulants doesn't work. There's a whole string of chemical reactions that occur when there is an injury. A burst hemangio tumor doesn't start that reaction. That's the problem. Pretty much, hemangio victims bleed to death. He may be lethargic because his blood count is so low now. I'm so sorry. (I lost my first baby Brindle to this horrid disease).

Fingers, toes and paws crossed here. And with 4 girls, that's a lot of paws crossed.

I'm so sorry to hear about T. I too lost one suddenly. But it wasn't DIC.

I'm glad everyone has a good outcome. Boy is Marti GORGEOUS! She would fit into my pack so well (I have two blacks, two white/blacks, and she would be the white)

I would not put Onyx (age 14) or Pearl (age 12 with severe heart disease and hypertension ) under anesthesia. So Non anesthetic dentals are my only option. And they actually did a very good job. Onyx had an infection under the gum. They were able to clean that out. And it's looking a lot better now....2 months later, that it did before. So they do get under the gum.

I just can't stop crying. I'm sorry Xan.

that disease blindsided me. I didn't know my Brindle had it until that day. She showed no symptoms. She had emergency surgery at 1 AM.....but it was too late. She was 8. I hope it's not that.

I'm so sorry. His grandpa, Trouper Zeke, was my Topaz's dad. She was my silly goofy white and black girl who I lost at age 5. TZ just doesn't have longevity in his lineage. Godspeed Kees.

Hi and welcome I just went thru this in Oct. My almost 12 girl started limping, there was a shadow on the xrays. I'm 10 hrs from OSU. So I went out there. She had an appt on THursday for the doctors to check her over and give me their opinion whether they thought she could handle being a tripod and if they think there was a chance it was not OS. She had an appt set up on Fri for surgery if the doctors thought she was a good candidate. Dr. Couto and his oncology team, Dr Ben-Amot, the surgeon and osteopath. All doctors agreed she was healthy enough to be a tripod. They all agreed that it was most probably OS and unless I really needed to verify it, we won't go further with test. I figured that whatever it was in her shoulder was VERY painful, so amputation most probably was the best bet. I was told that she would probably have a longer recovery because of her age and arthritis. We had the surgery Friday, and she surprised them all and she was discharged on Monday, we headed home on Tuesday. OSU sends my local vets the chemo with a painfully detailed protocol. No doubt in my vets mind what to do. So we see our local vets for the staple removal and chemo. I took a total of 3 days off for her surgery. I was lucky to work from home the rest of the week. The first two weeks were rough, she panted and paced a lot, but once we were off pain meds, she settled very fast and now 2 months post op, she's motoring around. She was running in the back yard yesterday after her 5 yr old sister the other day. She turned 12 two weeks after her surgery. And I can see she is pain free and happy. Also if money is tight, there are WONDERFUL people around OSU that will put you up in their homes. Dr. Couto may also give a discount as well as give the chemo drug for free. We had a setback where Diamond had an infection that took a month to clear up. But she has started her chemo and has her 2nd round this friday. You can do the OSU route if need be. It's doable. And don't let age factor in either. Look at her health. This was probably the most stressful decision I've ever had to make (and I'm in my 50's). But looking at her now, there is no doubt in my mind, I made the right decision. But remember...............no decision is wrong. Whatever decision you make it's because you love your dog and you are doing your best to do the right thing. if you need to talk you can email me at mpwith2 at yahoo.com (use proper email addy)