jaym1

tempo seems to have his up days and his down days. but it seems like his down days are a lot more frequent. he has become very, very passive, and very, very tired. aside from a day or two last week, he just doesn't have the spark in his eyes, and doesnt resemble the dog i had come to know. he staying in his bed pretty much all day and all night. he doesnt bat an eye when i walk out the door anymore. i am really worried that this is because of his cancer draining his energy, and not a prolonged recovery from the amputation. in other words, i'm worried that amputation and chemo have so far not started him toward remission. i've tried to stay as positive as i can about the whole thing, but im feeling pretty negative about it right now, i have to say.

My vet said the same thing. It's a bit of a balancing act. During the first 6 to 8 months that I had Tempo (which wasn't all that long ago -- I got him in Nov. '11) he had tons of digestive problems, and was very, very thin. I tried every food imaginable, including the protein rich ones. I finally settled on Iams green bag, and he has been stable ever since. So the question is, do I risk messing with his food now for the possible benefits of a low carb diet, or do I just stay with where we're at now? The other factor is that, since his digestion has stabilized on Iams, he seems able to tolerate other foods much more easily. His oncologist didn't really have a strong recommendation either way, but said she would lean toward keeping him with his current food. It's also tough because I understand, from a logical standpoint, that this diagnosis is all but a death sentence. But until I get evidence that it's aggressively spreading, I can't help but take the emotionally risky stance that my dog will be one of these very few miracle dogs who lives happily for years, even though I know that, in a way, I'm setting myself up for shattering disappointment.

As of today, I really have to start gathering more information about the benefits of low carb diets for dogs with cancer. I'm waiting on a call back form the oncologist about that, as the info I find online seems like mostly conjecture. On a side note, I love watching my dog sleep upside down while I'm at work. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/rustytempo

Claudia - That reaction to sedation is fairly normal -- I think they're just foggy and confused, not in pain. Rocko had to get a few stitches in his paw last summer. They put him under for a few minutes with an injected sedative, and he was OUT of it for many hours afterwards (pooped in the 5-minute car ride home, pacing, panting, whining, etc.) It's not pretty to look at or wait through, but I don't think it's too much to worry about. I wouldn't want to be doing it frequently, though, just because I feel like it might get to be too difficult, psychologically, for dogs to go through all the time.

you gave him the only fighting chance he could have gotten, and made the end easier on him than it would have been any other way. he is so lucky to have found you after all the hardship he had been through. still, its terrible to have to go through what you both did, and i'm sorry it turned out this way.

annnnnd back to normal . . .

Intrepidly staring off into the distance New peeing stance Eating some of the onion grass from the gardens next door. Waiting for their first turkey necks in a while (his WBC count is fine, and he's still on antibiotics, so I figured this would be OK) All not too bad, considering he looked like this exactly two weeks ago.

i'm very happy with how he's doing under the circumstances. each day he becomes a little more like himself: he's leaning/flinging all his weight into peoples knees at the dog park for attention, he wags his tail and whines/barks when im coming in the door after work, he sits and begs for treats with the same, smoldering food lust as before, and he almost -- almost -- decided to take a quick run while rocko was flying around in circles at the dog park. in the end, he wasn't ready for that, but just the fact that he's considering it bodes well. he's also much better at walking on the leash. the dog park we go to is right around the corner, about 200 yards from my front door. its the size of a normal single family house/yard, except without the house. once he's off the leash there, he does a speedy tripod hobble/gallop to his favorite places to poop, then trots around the perimeter searching for flowers and shoots of grass to eat through the chain link fence. it's very important to me that he be able to derive pleasure and enjoyment out of his days, whether he has weeks, months, or years left. watching him waffling in slow motion for the past three weeks has been extremely trying, because i wasnt really able to see any signs that he was deriving anything more than exhaustion and pain from his daily life. but now that that is turning around so quickly, there is real cause for optimism -- or whatever passes for optimism, guarded though it may be, after getting this diagnosis. i'll try to post some photos of him tomorrow.you almost cant see his scar anymore.

one thing i have noticed, as someone mentioned earlier, is that he seems to have much less trouble walking faster, as opposed to slower, which seems counterintuitive. maybe its because he doesnt have to hop as many times between point a and point b? in any event, until yesterday, i had been taking it very, very slowly, and stopping often. after watching how he moves at the dog park (which is to say, swiftly), i decided to walk at almost a normal pace, with a few breaks thrown in, and he seem to do much better that way. i did find a small little bumb behind his front wrist -- in in his skin, not on the bone. most likely its a pimple or a standard sebaceous cyst. but under the circumstances, anything is cause for worry at this point. also had his blood test this morning now that hes a week out from his first chemo, and everything was fine. wbc slightly low, but thats it. im watching their webcam right now and he looks happily collapsed in the corner.

like others, i've been following this thread closely. i really admire your dedication, but also your ability to stay engaged with so many minute details of neko's healthcare. it goes without saying that im relieved that he seems to be feeling a little more like himself tonight. im sure everyone else feels the same. he is a beautiful dog, and i hope this is a good sign.

Here's his paw with some of that Mushers secret all-season protection balm. It looks like some sort of inflamed area going on there.

he is doing much better. he can get around, seems much happier, and is generally a lot more mobile. i am still concerned that he is still having difficulty with his stamina on very short walks, and that he does a lot of panting in general, even when home. i looked at the paw on his front foot and noticed a small, totally flat circular discoloration on one of the pads. it just looks like a little brown dot, and i wonder if he's in pain from putting too much pressure on it. right now, every little yelp or yip from him, no matter how small, fills me with complete dread. the night before his diagnosis (the same night his limp started) he was laying in bed with me with his head resting on my legs to take the weight off his bad shoulder. every time he would shift off of it, he would make a long, relieved groan. it was a sound he had never really made before (unless his ears were being scratched). whenever he makes that sound now, which he does occasionally, it makes me wonder if he might not have a tumor in his other leg. i also noted that he's not ready to be left unsupervised with his scar exposed, as he will lick it raw. im wondering when that will cease to be a concern.

unfortunately i now know exactly what this is like, and there's really no way out of the worry, especially when you've already had to go through having your worst fears confirmed on the first diagnosis. still, there are so many other things it really could reasonably be. i am hoping for the best. try to stay calm.

this is painful to read. i really hope one of the consulting vets can figure this out. i can only imagine how stressful this is for you right now.

Thanks. This is good to hear. Hopefully he'll be a little more energetic tomorrow. He started ferociously growling and running in his sleep just after I made that last post. I hope he's having a good time, wherever he thinks he is.

Tonight is Tempo's first night after chemo treatment, which he had this morning. I have to say, I was expecting basically zero side effects, but I am very sad to see that he is decidedly not himself. Though it's hard to say what acting like "himself" even means right now, just two weeks after his amputation, he had definitely been getting back to speed in recent days: becoming more inquisitive, more outgoing, and more active overall. But right now, and ever since his carboplatin infusion, he has been a shell of himself. His appetite is good, and he enthusiastically ate his whole dinner as usual, but he's moving in super, super slow motion. He just got up from his bed a little while ago, walked over to me (slowly) and just stood there with his head hanging all the way down. I got him to come over and lay next to me on the carpet, where I am typing this from. Does this type of reaction sound like the "sometimes they get a little tired" reaction I have occasionally read about? I haven't really sensed that spark in Tempo that he normally has ever since his surgery, and it's starting to make me feel pretty heavy-hearted. I was about to leave the house, and go out and about for the first time in a couple of weeks, but I can't really bear to leave him like this.

tempo was an amazingly athletic dog -- i wouldn't expect him ever to get back to that. but i do hope he will return to his earlier energy level, to some extent. he loved to have fun, and that's all i hope he can get back to. excitingly, rocko decided to poop and pee in the apartment while alone (he is basically never alone). this could be an issue.

We are at the vet right now. Tempo is getting his first chemo treatment as I type this. He has been improving rapidly in terms of his movement and mood, though he is still a bit cloudy at times, and is still definitely a lot more held back/tired in general. His wound site looks 100 times better, as does his bruising, which had been unusually severe. In speaking with his oncologist just now, she mentioned that the pathology report showed a fairly low number of dividing cells in the tumor (3 out of something or other), and that cell differentiation was also fairly low, both of which I hope to be good signs.

what does that mean -- for humans?

I wonder how long one can reasonably expect the surgery site to be sore or painful for. Last night, very briefly, and again this morning, he had another pain episode. it seems that this only happens when he's laying down. i tried to gently palpate the area to see where it was coming from. at night it wasnt possible, because he stayed laying down. but this morning when he stood up, it seemed that it was the area near the bottom of his incision, sort of in the middle of his chest that was painful to the touch -- a area with a lot of muscle and soft tissue. most of his swelling is gone, and his bruising is receding and clearing up very quickly. there is no evidence of infection -- at least externally. speaking generally, to me it wouldnt seem unreasonable for a limb amputation site to still be sore after less than two weeks, but the surgeon seemed fairly surprised by it.

i am jealous of the low cost of veterinary medicine some of you have where you live. here the vet fee alone is about $120 for non-emergency visits, and $140 for emergency. thats just to get in the door.

my sister's partner's dog -- not a greyhound -- is going through a similar thing, but without the bruising and bleeding. it first manifested in lethargy. the vets have checked everything: tick borne disease, cancer, hepatitis, parasites, etc., etc., all to no avail. in the mean time, his platelet count is way off, even though he hasnt been displaying physical or behavioral symptoms for a months or so. they also believe it to be some sort of unidentified autoimmune diseases, but have no clue what it actually might be. they also thought that perhaps he might have gotten into something toxic at some point, but there are no results in any of his tests to prove or disprove it. diagnostics and medication for the dog (no insured) are also up to about $4-5k at this point. its so frustrating.

healthy paws will cover everything on the invoice from your vet EXCEPT the generic "exam fee," which is usually just the basic fee to be seen by a vet or vet tech. so in your case, they would cover the prescriptions and the shampoo (maybe -- not sure about that), but not whatever the vets flat fee was. this sounds bad, but when you consider how expensive fairly basic bloodwork can be, for instance, or how expensive certain antibiotics are, etc., etc., its not a bad deal at all. the more catastrophic and expensive the event, or course, means the greater the value of insurance.

Now that it's a day later, it would seem unlikely to me that it's already spread to another limb, though of course, I'm not a veterinarian. But the pathology indicates that the tumor in his amputated leg was contained, it wasn't in his lymph nodes, and so far, there have been no signs of it in his lungs. I do wonder why a full body scan was not done before the surgery, though. Perhaps I can request one on Friday.

amazingly, he has had no outbursts of noticeable pain since coming home. he was in the hospital for saturday and most of the day sunday after surgery on friday. he would whine and yelp quite loudly while i would visit him there, but the instant he came home, that all stopped, until the two episodes i just described. i was also thinking about nerve pain. he is only on tramadol right now -- no gabapentin. but i may give hime another dose of gabapentin if this happens again.