ramonaghan

One month post-amp

She had surgery August 1, came home August 2, and was walking mostly unassisted for potty breaks on August 3. There was a huge improvement at 1 week. At 2 weeks, when she got the stitches out and started chemo, she was basically herself again. Most people say 2 weeks is the magic number. Sweep's recovery was harder than Willa's because she wouldn't eat for a few days afterward and she was a senior, but the 2 week rule still held. And not that it's necessarily relevant, but Willa's tumor was also in the right front leg by her ankle.

What tests are they doing—ruling out osteomyelitis and getting a radiology consult? When you get more info, you might also consider a consult with Dr. Couto. He's wonderful. When Sweep broke her leg there was no sign of osteo; they repaired the break because the bone was still so sound. When the break didn't heal as expected after a few months, they took new scans and saw the osteo. So a break is probably already a real risk, and you want to be very careful with her. That's not meant to be alarmist, it's just the awful reality of this disease. And I'm not steering you one way or another, but I do want to offer that even if we lost Willa tomorrow on her sixth-month ampuversary, I'd still have no regrets about doing it. She had no side effects from chemo and none from the vaccine we did. After the first two weeks, she was back to herself and she's had an incredible few months—running on the beach and in the snow for the first time, playing with her brother, and being loved and snuggled every single day. It super sucks that Amelia and Willa are both so young, but the age serves them well in recovery. I'm also aware that we are fortunate in that we have had insurance for both Sweep and Willa, so we didn't have to worry about that aspect of the treatment. We said yes to everything available.

Oh Monica, I am so sorry. I know it's a lot to process. Please ask any questions here and we will help you through this no matter how you decide to proceed. Many of us are unwilling experts at this point.

Thanks, Ducky; I meant every word. And I like your thinking re: her crown. I won't have to call the city to remove that...

Yep, we're doing this again—it worked out well last time! Fortunately, in this case she did not have to dress up as a piñata. Willa's in a contest to be "America's Favorite Pet" (sadly, I could not enter more than one pet). With your help, she could be the cover dog, which would be so great not only for greyhounds but for tripods. Linky here. You'll have to verify your identity through FB (sorry). It's free for one vote, and then there are different tiers for votes with a donation to Paws.org (which I am not soliciting, just to be clear). We'd love your vote if you are so inclined. With this one, you can vote once per day. Thank you, friends.

Thanks, that's a good point I hadn't considered. I don't think he's that kind of hound, but I decided against the chicken wire anyway. I decided I'd rather any future rabbits have that escape route. Very nice.

Gotta admit, I was waiting to hear from Milo. And the humans here don't eat much meat at all, but this might have pushed me officially over the line to vegetarianism. The stray cats and the crows have been enjoying "lunch"...I really thought something would have dragged it away by now. I did knot have to put it out of its misery, which I cannot even fathom. I just sat and petted it for a couple of minutes as it passed. I really think Doo was on his way back inside to play with his new toy. OMG.

Punkin.

Doolin caught a squirrel in the yard when he was very new and that was his exact reaction. He dropped it and it ran up a tree.

I forgot to give star pupil Willa credit for her "leave it." And as tough as it was, I am so glad we were out there because who knows how much fun those two would have had with their new toy otherwise.

First time in three hounds. It was in our fenced backyard despite our efforts to keep out small critters (will be getting chicken wire tomorrow for the gap under the fence). I know it's instinct, I know he didn't do anything wrong, etc etc. But it still sucked. Poor bunny didn't die immediately. Doo is quite proud of himself, of course, and he was a very good boy to let me pry his jaws open and remove his prize. We'll be working on "drop it" more. Sigh.

Yep, I see sidebars for both Topics (did they used to be bold there if they were unread? I already can't remember ) and Upcoming Events now.

Thanks for mentioning that, Annette, and thanks for looking into it, Jeff. I really like that feature and have been missing it.

She makes it look easy, but I have to add the caveat that she's only 5. My first osteo girl, Sweep, was a senior (11 when diagnosed) and she was a happy girl and got around just fine as a tripod, but she didn't attempt Willa's gymnastics. She's always been a nut!

So sorry your Charm has joined this club. "Backandforfing" means pacing while we await updates about hounds who are having procedures or recheck appointments. It's our attempt to share some of the anxiety and express sympathy for the people and hounds going through scary things. Hope Charm is doing well—if she's two weeks out, you're through the worst of it. I've been through this twice in three years, so it's all very fresh for me. Feel free to ask any questions here and I'll do my best to answer.

All clear on the recheck!

Sweep too! She loved bouncing around in the snow.

She's incredible to watch. And so clever. We got about 7–8" total—hard for a four-legger to navigate, much less a tripod. After an afternoon potty break, she came running toward the back door and found herself in a deep drift. She stopped, thought a second, leapt over to another section of yard that was a bit more trampled down, and then waltzed inside like "Wot? Where's my treat?" Recheck Wednesday morning (once we dig the car out). I'm going to show her oncologist this video.

I am so sorry. Heartbreaking that he had to go so quickly, and so young. Rest well, Mac.

Yes, yes she is. Her brother is completely unfazed by it.

First snow for these two (at least in Nashville). Please excuse Willa's language.

Try this link. To send a PM, just click the envelope icon in the upper-right corner: Choose Compose New and enter my username (ramonaghan) in the To field. If it's easier, you can email me at ramonaghan11 [at] gmail.com.

I have the harness linked above and would be happy to mail it to you if you don't mind some embedded fur from numerous hounds. It originally came from Lucy @LBass who used it with her boy Spirit and then her tripod MoMo, and Lucy graciously sent it to me for my tripod Sweep. Then it went to tripod Tessie in Colorado and came back to me when my Willa had her amp in August. It's been a tremendous help to many of us, and hopefully will work well for your boy too. It's very lightweight and has no itchy seams or rough bits. PM me if you'd like it!

How about a ramp? I even found the OhCanada link for you! https://a.co/d/14pum48 Full disclosure: We bought this for Sweep in her last months and she wanted no part of it, so we ended up returning it. It seemed well constructed, however, and wasn't too heavy.