o_rooly

YAY!!!!

Glad to hear that she got through surgery safely Best thoughts for your poor girl, and you!

I texted the vet to ask, and she responded saying she's never taken that precaution. So, I guess I can take comfort in her lead in the race to get residual side effects The bottle is secondary, just the translucent green plastic one that the clinic uses to dispense from their supply. No warnings. Aston is stable and happy, aside from his recent bewilderment at the apparent start of fireworks season in our neighborhood. Blargh.

So, in the poopstorm of medical issues that we were treating in Aston three months ago, and high dosing of pred and adding Imuran (given to treat IMPA, likely secondary to an undetected tickborne disease), I didn't equate Imuran with chemo, and didn't realize there were special handling precautions... just saw precautions mentioned in an older GT thread, while researching other things. Have been pre-cutting the 50mg tablets and pre-sorting them into a translucent daily pill holder with his other meds. Didn't realize that it needs to be kept in at least a semi-opaque/tinted container. Didn't realize it requires gloves. I knew it was a more hardcore drug, since we were dealing with a very acutely bad issue, but. Should have read up, I guess. My husband and I have been dosing him for three months now with bare hands, though at least I wash my hands after feeding him anyway (but I touch the refrigerator door handle and our shared bottle of fish oil with chemo-hands). My husband isn't as "obsessive" as I am with handwashing. sigh. Guess all we can do is take up better practices from now on, and clean up the med-prep area in the corner of the med shelf, since it's probably covered in dust from splitting tablets. From now on, I'll pre-sort his other meds, but will keep the pre-split Imuran tablets in their bottle, and shake one out onto Aston's food every other day. We're still tapering him down slowly -- he's still on 25mg every other day for the foreseeable future. Anyone care to reassure me that my husband and I won't curl up and die of lymphoma any time soon? I'm feeling particularly obsessive-compulsive tonight. At least I'm not pregnant...

***Sorry, duplicate thread posting -- not sure how I managed that!***

LOTS of hugs for you, and scritches for your hounds. Aston was put under for two biopsies last Fall, and they came back as two different soft-tissue-sarcoma diagnoses -- nerve sheath tumor, and spindle-cell sarcoma. As the vet recommended that I consult an oncologist, I sent Aston's records to Dr. Couto (coutovetconsultants.com). We went back-and-forth a bit in regard to Aston's backstory, and he eventually offered the opinion that the "spindle-cell sarcoma" was actually just very angry granulation tissue following a localized infection in that foot -- which was verified by the pathologist on a second look at the biopsy slides. The nerve-sheath tumor was indeed that, but the nature of these tumors is very slow-growing, with a very low risk of metastasis. Aston's tumor was located near the front of his right shoulder, and when the vet exposed it, it basically fell out on its own. Not completely clean margins; Dr. Couto advised that we could go back in and cut a wider swath to get things clean, but that due to the very slow growth, we wouldn't have to worry about doing it any time soon if we didn't want to. At that time, since Aston had a lot of other issues going on, I focused on stabilizing him, instead. We still haven't seen any progressive signs of recurrence in his shoulder. I just keep an eye on it. It's been about 6.5 months now. Here is a link to the section of the "medical-adventure" thread wherein I mention this process. http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/302178-aston-update-1017-its-cancer-2x-over-couto-or-osu/page-3?do=findComment&comment=5592405 The particular post that is linked for viewing is JJng's, where she mentions the use of 5FU injections to treat her hound's soft-tissue sarcoma -- local oncologists may not be aware of this treatment, but Dr. Couto can advise. Discussion also follows in that thread. Many, many more hugs. Aston's diagnoses put me through the wringer; I can't imagine two hounds at once. The good news is that, per my understanding, these are very treatable, much less aggressive cancers than the dreaded osteosarcoma. Please keep us posted! There are steps you can take. Do not fear, for any decision you make is out of love. The hounds are most concerned with the now.

Scritchies for Carl!! I loved watching him grow on the puppycam My Aston is also a GreySave hound. When we adopted Aston at age six, he would cry and prance on walks whenever ANY dog was within eye- or ear-shot. Spotting a little dog meant that he'd fixate and affix his laser-eyes on them, stalking them, with nothing I could do to pull his attention away, short of trying to body-block his stare (which still didn't work) -- he has always had a very high prey drive. While it's not the exact same behavior that Carl is exhibiting, Aston's seemed to be a display of sensory overload with his particular triggers -- other dogs are super-exciting, and little dogs are SUPER-enticing. What worked for us was clicker-training... in particular, "Look at That!" training, as it is mentioned here on GreyTalk. Please check out the following thread -- there's lots of good input here about the same type of issue -- learning focus & self-control around triggers: http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/302372-leash-reactivity-bounced-foster-dog/ My post in that thread links to a "Look at That!" thread that contains video demonstrations. As I mention in that thread, I really had to start slow in order to not push Aston past his threshold, because I would lose his attention completely at that point, and he'd go into a cry/prance/stare meltdown... if that happened, I would try to turn him away / around the trigger(s), attempt to finish the walk elsewhere more quietly, and try again on the next walk. At first, I was click/treating about every two seconds to catch Aston before he engaged, but was able to fairly quickly (over a few weeks of doing this on every walk) extend that threshold, and now he rarely kicks up a fuss, even if I'm not treating. Aaand -- if you don't want to monopolize a hand by carrying a clicker on your walks, adopt a particular phrase/word in a special tone that takes the clicker's place, and only use that word/tone in times when you would click. For Aston, I have a really high-pitched, quick, emphatic GOODboy! that I'm sure makes me sound nuts on walks Hope this helps!!

A beautiful tribute for an absolutely priceless, beautiful guy. I am so, so very sorry.

Fingers tightly crossed, and for all of you. Tori is so fortunate to be so very loved. This is so very hard. I have heard great things about steroid shots, and steroids have indeed helped Aston function and feel great (oral prednisone, not injection).

Best thoughts for sweet Tori. I adore that photo of her. Aston has LS, and started having sudden, ~30-second bouts of hind-end weakness so severe that he was basically squatting when he tried to walk. Acupuncture did help him; however, we also started a loading regimen of Adequan a few days later, and that was also the source of major improvement. He now gets Adequan about once every 6 weeks, and stands up much taller and much more steadily following treatment. Please give her scritchies for us.

My understanding is each NSAID will work differently with individual hounds, so if one doesn't work, try another, with that washout period in-between... and make sure to give them with a meal, and watch for gastrointestinal side effects. Aston has tried Deramaxx, Rimadyl, and Metacam as NSAIDs to go with his gabapentin, robaxin (generic is methocarbamol -- has helped him a TON), and tramadol. The only anti-inflammatory that has made a visible difference for him is prednisone, unfortunately. At this point, how he feels (quality of life) is paramount, and he's been very perky, seemingly happy and has retained the ability to go upstairs and hop into the car, and bounce around the backyard; the prednisone has sure been a true double-edged sword, though. I think that in his case it's worth it, but I wish I had been more prepared for possible consequences (just so I could keep them in mind and try to counteract a bit). For what it's worth, acupuncture and Adequan injections have helped Aston tremendously with his hind-end issues (weakness, pain in jumping up or going upstairs). Very appreciable improvement following each treatment of each method. The acupuncturist also does a bit of massage, especially in his hip flexors, which get tight trying to bunch up his hind end; I also follow up at home while watching TV as Aston naps. If scar tissue is an issue, perhaps a local acupuncturist/canine massage therapist could advise in regard to whether it can be loosened to free up movement and prevent that "sticking" pain? though I would imagine that it would be very tender, if not painful, to be worked on in that case. Scritchies for Seamus, he is beautiful.

Yep! In a "surprise! Remember me?" kind of way

I do need to watch the PB -- it's been our main go-to to get the more bitter meds into him (ahem, tramadol ). Mashed banana sounds good! I'll try that next. I thought kidney stones might be the issue, but he's had two ultrasounds and an xray in the last week or so for this issue, and nothing has turned up

Welp, so much for "barely dinging" my middle finger... tried to leave my index finger out of it and use the rest of my fingers to lift a jug of laundry detergent this morning... OWWWW. I gave my middle finger the dirtiest look ever There's bruising all around the pokeholes everywhere. Needles aren't kidding around! but hey, at least it was so sharp that everything was said and done by the time I yelled OW the first time. I feel a little less awful poking through just Aston's skin, not the layers underneath..

Oh, no. Tons of white light headed your way. Please give Larry a kiss for us, and please keep us posted.

I ended up mixing peanut butter and ground bison into a delicious (?) paste, and packing into a tiny plastic storage container for him to lick while the fluids were running. Worked like a charm until it ran out, because he was pretty twitchy (and squishy) by then. I think I'll cook up more bison tomorrow, and add water along with the PB (so that I don't have to use too much), and then freeze it in the wee containers so that it's more popsicle-y. Pam -- my husband tapped on Aston's head each time I had to place a needle (we finished one bag and had to transition to another), and nary a flinch from him! Thanks again!!

Just tried to remove a used needle from the line on a bag of fluids that still has 500ml left in it for Aston's dose tomorrow night, and yep! as I was twisting the capped needle to take it off, hand slipped, just took the cover off instead, and the recoil jabbed the 18ga needle into the side of my gloved finger and back out in a flash. Thought it wasn't bleeding much judging by the little bit of blood that came out of the hole in the glove, until I took the glove off. WOOH! Needle actually went through the side of my finger and barely dinged the next finger over. Squished my finger for awhile under running water, then cleansed it and sprayed it with bactine, waited for that to dry, put antibiotic ointment on it, and bandaged it. I guess I'm glad Aston's current on his rabies.. though we DID treat with doxy in case he had an undetected tick-borne disease in Feb this is why I shouldn't be allowed to have sharp things. On a related note, at least tetanus isn't a concern, since I managed to merit two tetanus boosters in 2011

I'll use that for when I'm poking him with an 18-gauge needle :/

A continual "knock-knock" motion?

Thanks for the ideas!! The needle gauge... not sure, but it's big. :\ I'll check when I get home.. Also, just got word that his culture came back negative. What. He hasn't had any blood in his urine for almost 2 days now. That was the first symptom, which showed up a day after urine was taken using a catheter during his checkup at the vet. The vet thought he likely got poked internally in the process, so said to give it another day or two if he wasn't showing any other symptoms (he hadn't peed in the house at all, which has historically been his hallmark symptom of a UTI). However, he got really uncomfortable overnight that night, and we ended up taking him in to the e-vet (same clinic), where he was checked for masses and then put on clavamox. He was again checked via ultrasound this past Tuesday when urine was collected for culture. Vet is recommending going through the rest of the fluids and then taking him back in for a recheck, provided that his symptoms don't worsen. He hasn't seemed uncomfortable since he was initially put on Clavamox, but his pee still had an on/off tinge until Weds. night.

Long story short, Aston's on 750ml of subcutaneous fluids once per day for about a week total to keep flushing things while we wait for a urine culture to come back and get working treatment underway -- culture results due sometime today; he was put on Clavamox initially, but symptoms have continued; kidney values are fine -- so about 4-5 more days of fluids, or until we run out of the bagged fluid purchased from the vet. It takes about 25 minutes for 750ml to drip, and that's if the bag is hung up high and I'm squishing it . This dog is a SAINT -- he stays very quiet for the process, even when Mom is a dork about needle placement . However, he gets fidgety, which makes it hard to keep the needle in place without fear of jabbing him if he starts wiggling, and I would like to distract from what must be the really odd feeling of fluids seeping around under his skin. Giving him chewy things makes him move around a bunch considering... so just peanut butter, I guess? any other ideas? Hoping I can make tonight's session a little more enjoyable for my buddy.

I can't believe it. Connie, I am so very sorry. He was such a precious, and so very fortunate, boy. Carl, you are very, very loved.

Oh, no, no, no. No words, Connie. None.... As you mentioned when this rollercoaster started -- focus that inner banshee. Carl is a very lucky boy to have you as his advocate, in any regard. Beaming tons of white light to Aston's waiting-room pal. Please, keep us posted.

She looks great, and she's moving so well!! Soaking up the sun, as always. Thank you so much for the update!!!

Up there, it's a big, squishy sea of beds to leap-frog.