Bevd

She must be reasonably comfortable laying on 'it' because she's gone to sleep

She's laying on her 'bad' side Is she mad??

Thinking good thoughts here

The garden visit didn't happen because she refuses to move and she was getting stressed, so we've just left it for now. If she wees in her bed it doesn't matter. I just don't want her to be upset by doing it there.

Darcy has been settled all evening and has had a few big drinks and she finished off her dinner and then had a sausage I was going to give her some scrambled eggs but then thought she may well have had enough for tonight (even though it wasn't a massive amount) so she can have the eggs for breakfast. Chicken breasts are defrosting for tomorrow night. Marc will be sleeping down here tonight. I can't get her outside on my own if she needs to go Talking of which, she's going to be taken on a garden visit in a few minutes so I'll report back afterwards. I just hope its more successful than the first one we attempted

We've all had a little sleep and then it was time for The First Garden Trip. Marc did the Darcy bit and I did the 'entertaining the other 10 dogs with one small packet of treats' at the far end of the room. (Jeez). Marc & Darcy made rather woonky progress from her bed, through the dining area and into the conservatory, where the outing was nearly aborted by the fact that Darcy jumped up ontp the settee that she was passing in there : She lay down on it and wasn't for moving Eventually, they got out to the garden, whereupon much standing around took place and nothing else, so they slowly made their way back but Darcy was exhausted so she lay down on the nearest dog bed for a pit stop. There, she had some water and a small amount of food (tinned, recovery diet for tonight). Then she was persuaded back to her bed. She's obviously very tired and very sore. But, she has requested some tummy tickles so thats good. I'll offer her some more food later. Just before we try the garden malarky again PS I'm not sure what else is going to happen because (and I can't beleive I did this) I forgot to ask the vet I was in such a flap, it just never happened. But I am going to phone him tomorrow with my list of questions. I do know Darcy is seeing him on Tuesday of next week for a checkup but obviously, I need to engage brain and speak to him well before then!

Pictures are below so skip past if you don't want to see because she's not got any bandage on.

Well. Darcy is home. She walked out of the vets (in a rather ungainly manner but she did walk) and she squeaked a bit as she walked along. Marc has lifted her in and out of the car (obviously). She's now in her bed area and she's not looking too pleased with herself. I'll take a couple of pics in a minute and add them for you to see if you want to but they are not pretty pics. The vet showed us the x-rays and the break was just above the joint - and it was a break which went all the way across. He pointed out the areas of tumour and it was scary really. He said it could have been growing for a while or it could have been there for a few weeks only - we'll never know. A sample has been sent to the lab and when that comes back we may have a better idea of what sort of tumour it was. But it can take up to 2 weeks for those results to come back. If we want to, we can have another chest x-ray done in a couple of months (so we will probably do that just after Christmas rather than just before ) and all we can do now is hope that it was caught before it had time to go elsewhere.

The bed is ready

Thinking of you

I'm very sorry to hear your news We are thinking of you and Carrier Darcy, I'm sure, sends extra special kisses to Carrier.

Been out and got a small animal pen thingy to barrier off an area of the living room. Then got new quilts and quilt covers (in living room colours). And a new stuffed toy dog. (Vital). The vets rang just as we got home to say that Darcy got up pretty sharpish when she was encouraged to do so but it then really tired her to get up the stairs (the hospital area is in the basement) and she had to have a rest part way up. She also did a wee on the stairs and she was upset about that. So rather than putting her back in her kennel (and therefore having to do the stairs again - and then again when we collect her), she's been moved to one of the consulting rooms, like where she was yesterday when we left her. We're going in at 3pm to see the vet and go through her x-rays etc etc and then bring her home. Eeek.

I've spoken to the vet nurse just now and Darcy was apparently 'chuffed to get her breakfast'. She's been wagging her tail and she's moved herself around a bit. She's also been trying to sit up a bit (eek). There's about 2" of humerus left apparently but we'll not see it once her fuzz has grown back. I asked if she had a bandage on (pink preferably) and she said "no - what's to bandage?" I explained that Darcy may like a bandage for effect. (Joke). So the vet will give me a call later when they've assessed her properly and then we'll arrange to collect her some time this afternoon.

I've been chatting on the phone to the vet nurse (not on the emergency number of course!) for the past 40 minutes. She went to check on Darcy earlier and found her tail doing it's wagging-at-the-tip thing She offered Darcy a teaspoon of food....but Darcy decided that she didn't want that and instead wanted what was in the tin itself So the nurse gave her various small amounts of food on a plate and in the end she had about three quarters of a tin (Darcy would have eaten more but of course she wasn't allowed to!). Apparently, Darcy wanted some tummy tickles ( ) and at one point, was making as if to try to sit upright She's not required any morphine (she has had other pain killers obviously but no morphine required ). And, off the record, it seems that Darcy may come home tomorrow So. My face was generally like this for the whole 40 minutes I'm going to phone the vets at about 10am tomorrow and arrange the plan for the rest of the day. Thanks again for all your good wishes. So far, they seem to be doing the trick.

No further news from the 7pm call. She's still comfy etc etc and of course we'll be happy if the news stays like that. Will be phoning the vet nurse at 10.45pm so will update after that. We're busy making plans for changing furniture round in the living room to make space for a 'recovery bay' for her royal fuzziness when she comes home. (OMG - when she comes home What's that going to be like...)

Op is done and she has done extremely well. She's not even whimpered (yet). I can phone before they close at 7pm and then the vet nurse who is on call tonight has given me her direct line so that I can call her about 10.45pm for a further update. Thank you for all your good thoughts

I really don't want to write this post. Darcy hurt her leg this morning and screamed a lot. Took her to the vet and left her for x rays. We thought it may be broken. It's broken because she has bone cancer. She was on the op table when the vet called me and there were only 2 options. PTS or amputation and we went for amputation which is being done as I type this. It's her front right leg. Please send her your thoughts. I will write more once the vet has phoned me after the surgery is complete.

You're a kind soul I'm not But I'm only going to give someone a few palpitations because I've sent in 2 tickets - one for 5 and one for 6 dawgs (But I did the same last year and nobody fainted) Edited for typo

Here we gooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Thank you Trudy & Jeff I'm going to eat my dinner and then come back to fill in my thingies

Eek. Concerned.

Actually, I do think Stan has lost some weight and some muscle tone on these meds but for him at least, this is OK because he was quite a 'chunky' boy (not fat but heavily built).

Stanley has been on oral steriods for about 6 weeks now. He's having Medrone V, alongside his Metacam, for spinal arthritis. The Metacam alone was no longer doing the job. My vet did say that they don't often like to add in something like Medrone but when a dog is struggling like Stanley was, it's worth considering. For the first few days, he drank a lot more than normal and urinated a lot more too but this wore off after about 3 days. Since then, he's been fabulous on these meds. They've given him a new lease of life. I know these meds are not ideal long term, but for Stan, they are the only option to keep him mobile.

Can't believe it. I am so, so sorry Jennifer. My heart aches for you Scooterman - you will be missed by all of us, but never forgotten

Feel better quick little one