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Pete

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Everything posted by Pete

  1. Thank you. We miss her terribly.
  2. Thanks for the support. We’re completely devastated. She was doing so well and then last few days took a turn down. Fluid in chest around the lungs, an abnormality on the breastbone and “unusual” specks in lungs. Just a few weeks ago she had a “clean” x ray. Dr. Cuoto speculates it’s metastic osteo to the thorax. I was looking for coughs or lethargic change or loss of appetite. None of those happened. Chest filled with fluid is what she got, pain from the squeeze. We could have drained it but vet said it’s likely to come back just as fast. I surely thought we’d have more time. We spent so much good time together and I have no regrets about that. Fiona was amazing and still had years of life left. Just heartbreaking to see her leave. Just sitting here now where she usually is, shocked at it all.
  3. We lost Fiona. The fluid buildup around her lungs was substantial. They could drain it but was told it’ll come back soon. It was causing the distress and pain. The abnormal image of sternum was new and included part of one rib. They’d have to do a biopsy / FNA on the spot to know for sure but given that she has OS it’s that. All of this was happening because of the cancer. It wasn’t going to stop. We didn’t want to put her through any more especially with the sternum and rib abnormal image going on. The fast pace of this deterioration has is in shock. I’m completely heartbroken. Questioning myself. Could we have done more? She was feeling pain despite the meds and it was only going to happen again. And again. Would the sternum break? The rib break? Ugh, I wanted it so much to be better. We were at the park today, she was good. And then she got worse later. She was an amazingly beautiful hound with bright brown eyes and a sensitive soul. Fiona was my dog and I loved her very much. Thank you all for listening.
  4. X rays showed concern with Thoraric area and fluid around the lungs. No one knows what to do. Oncologist out til tomorrow. She’s yelping at time but ok otherwise. But it’s unnervin
  5. Fiona update. She’s still doing pretty well. Good energy, eating etc.. but her remaining front leg / shoulder is causing her pain from a lying flat position. She’s ok from sitting lying as she pushes herself straight up. But from lying down she pushes up from side and shoulder more and screams in pain. So got her on gabapentin and rimydl again. That worked and she’s “normal” again. Vet said he feels no swelling or cartilage damage and she doesn’t react in pain to his exam. So he think soft tissue injury (7-10 days to heal). Told us to wait coupe days then X-ray it. They feel it’s likely strain in that leg. I’ve been home all week and we’ve gone to trails at the park everyday so might have over done it. But of course the possibility of metastasis is always hanging over us. She was coughing a bit too but it’s after drinking water or putting the pills down her throat. But a few other times small coughs on its own. Ugh, who knows, damn thing drives you crazy.
  6. Fiona update…. Chemo finished about two weeks ago. She handled it well. X rays on lungs are clean. So go back in three months and hopefully they stay “clean”. Fiona is doing really well. Good energy, appetite, sleep, walks and over-all happy dog that gets around on three just fine. Although I think she strains the legs at time of active play so we’re trying to keep her a bit calmer. It’s been a very long year since she fractured her humerus and then later had her leg amputated last April and we’ve all been through a lot but it’s been pretty good since her amputation (well since sutures came out). I know that she may well have a shorter life than she deserves but while we have Fiona and she has her health we will treasure it. Off to the park! Thanks.
  7. Hi all. An update on Fiona. She’s doing really well. Gets around just fine on three legs. Strong, happy and healthy (other than the OS). She gets chemo every 3-4 weeks. Handles it well. Just had mid course lung scans (which had us very anxious) and they were clear. So far so good. Thanks for all the help and support. We’ll take good care of her for as long as is possible.
  8. Update on Fiona…. Three weeks today she had her front left leg amputated. It was a brutal two weeks. But since her sutures came out she’s been better every day. Gets around real well and is happy again. Many of you rightly gave testimony to this and I thank you for that. It kept us going. She also had her first chemo on Wednesday. In and out in twenty minutes. Nothing noticeable yet on side effects. It’s a shot, not a chemo drip kind of thing. Now every three weeks for five or six sessions. Blood work Wednesday and lung X rays about half way. Hopefully they’ll continue to come up “clean”. We have a must go vacation planned end of June for ten days out of country. Not sure how this is gonna all work out. We have her scheduled to be boarded at a local place. Have to call them and have a talk. Taking nothing for granted and going day by day. But feeling good for first time in a long while.
  9. Sutures out. She looks good. Happy day. Gets around well enough. Been a long two weeks. Biopsy confirmed Osteo. We were hoping Fiona would land in that 5% “something else”. But she’s home with us now. Will have to think about next steps from here. Sucks. But we’ll leave that til next week.
  10. Fiona gets her sutures out tomorrow. She still screams out in pain but it’s less frequent and not nearly as bad. We guess it’s due to the incision healing, the sutures. Perhaps that so called “phantom pain”. But who knows? 🤷‍♂️ Been getting around more everyday. Did a good 20 min walk down the street last two days. She stops at times. Maybe for a rest or maybe the one front leg needs a break. But she sure liked being out again. It’s been a long two weeks. No word yet on pathology on the leg to confirm cancer. Probably find out tomorrow. Wish this amputation was the extent of it all. But it’s likely just the beginning. Not sure how much more we want to do. We’ll see.
  11. Fiona is ok. She’s certainly more lethargic than several days ago. She seems to be in pain, walks slow. Still on rimydl and gabapentin. Her urine cleared up so that’s good. She might be having that ghost pain where missing limp nerve still fires but there’s no limb to respond. Vet thought so, maybe. If so then it takes a while to get use too a missing limb. She’ll scream out and it’s typically something minor like a head turn. But she’ll gets up and down and no scream. Then screams while doing next to nothing. So it’s challenging right now. But the site and sutures look great. Swelling improved lots.
  12. She’s drinking water but less. Eating a bit less too. Sent vet pics of swelling and they called and said it looks good. Vet said dark urine is not normal and to give it a day. She’s more lethargic today, less willing to walk. Could be the transition off the fentanyl patch which we removed yesterday. Maybe feeling it more. Or maybe something else. Tough to assess. May take her in. Not sure.
  13. She’s got real dark urine. I suppose that’s from the swelling making it’s way out of her? IDK. So much to keep track of.
  14. Surgery went well. Lotta bruising. Got her on a fentanyl patch, gabapentin and rimydl and amicar. Her feet are swollen, especially remaining front. She gets up and around, screams in pain when she gets up from flat on amputated side. But that settles down quickly. Hope it goes away soon. She does her business outside, did a poop last night. Moves well. Eats well. Surgery wound and sutures look good. Get ‘em out May 6th hopefully. Now just day by day with our girl here. Just sucks seeing her like this though. She should be enjoying life at her age. But we’ll get through it. Thanks.
  15. Sweep looks great. Happy 12.5 Sweep! Our previous grey got to 14.5. She was in good health to the end. Although her hine legs were weakening. Our Fiona is only 7.5. We are going to pick her up today from animal hospital. They called me last night and said she was doing really well. Not eating for them though. They have the amp site bandaged up so I assume that’ll need changing daily or maybe leave it in unbandaged. I’ve dealt with greys and sutures before so I won’t be so alarmed this time around. But just gotta keep it clean and protected and let healing process take hold. Hope to avoid infection. Not sure how much activity is ok but we’ll ask. Btw, they x rayed her chest prior to amp surgery (front left leg) and said it was clear and thus they proceeded. They’ll biopsy the amp leg and results will take a week.
  16. That’s good feedback on your FNA. Think we need a scan. They could probably do it this week. How is Sweep today? I feel like I know him. But then again, if you know one greyhound you know a little of them all. Wonderful beings.
  17. Can I handle it? Yes, not easily but yes. My wife not so much. It’s really causing her a lot of distress. I do think she’d recover quickly from an amputation because she’s not using the leg, it’s quite diminished from atrophy anyway and she’s been using only 3 legs for a while now with no problems. We could keep her in hospital for first five or six days when it’s more challenging (as we experienced w her fracture in October). That would help a lot. They could then biopsy the limb. If it’s cancer we could say goodbye. But then why not do CT scan instead? See if it’s cancer and then say goodbye. Well but she’s doing great right now so there’s that. At every corner there’s a switchback.
  18. Thanks for this feedback. Her pet insurance may or may not cover a CT scan. The oncologist said it would also give them a good look at any spreading. But I can afford it. Are they seeing progression? Yes, but it’s small. Dr Cuoto said it’s still not an easy call as to weather it’s OSA. The “evidence” is the math… irregularity on an X ray, greyhound, almost 8yo, upper humerus.
  19. Agonizing over this. 14 months is terrific. But I’ve read so many that got only 3-6 months and many more that got other broken bones and pain. They want to do a CT scan for a better look because there is a chance it’s an infection mostly because she had a bad infection on the site last December. Also because OSA is very aggressive, goes from nothing to problems in 3 months but they see the same irregularity on an x ray from last October, six months ago. IDK. Not optimistic at all.
  20. I feel like there is a wrong choice. I know I’ve been told over and over otherwise. I’m inclined to let her go vs surgery and chemo because she won’t survive anyway. Agonizing over this.
  21. Did you simply provide pain meds and they lived that long or did you treat your hounds with amputation and chemo? And what does going “downhill” look like?
  22. Hi, so we have been waiting a week for oncologist to come back tomorrow. They said her lungs and other x rays were clean. I want them to do a needle aspirate on the cite per Dr Cuoto recommendation. Fiona is in good spirits, energy and enthusiasm and no issues with pain (rimydl and 200mg gabapentin every 12 hours) at all. She’s eating and drinking well. Has diarrhea though. Did a 40 minute walk this morning. She was great. It’s unreal to look at this beautiful greyhound and think she has Osteosarcoma. It’s so depressing. Many on GT have gone the amputation and chemo route and it help get them anywhere from 6-12 months. I’m not sure we are going to choose that if it’s certain she has bone cancer. I’d do anything if I knew she would be alive but in five months we would all be dying inside again with worry. This is just awful.
  23. The oncologist believes is OS. Still it’s a challenging diagnosis because it could be an infection related to the bad infection she had last December while the fracture was healing.
  24. We’re dying here contemplating losing one and you had two. So sorry. Realizing from reading up how the industry caused all this cancer from breading so narrowly. Non race bread greyhounds have little of this cancer. Or so I read. Dr Couto has been very responsive, seems like a good guy. His consult fee is reasonable. He’s still gathering info but he’s suggesting it’s cancer. Her latest radiographs have abnormalities consistent with either a bone tumor or with an infection (osteomyelitis) but that it’s uncommon for a greyhound to fracture their humerus and it’s common for cancer, OSA, to develop there (humerus). But he also said that OSA fractures do not cause this type of fracture Fiona has (comminuted, or small pieces). He also said a “chronically infected bone” (she had a nasty infection in December) doesn’t look much different than OSA on radiographs. He said he’s still going thru everything but that I might want to get an FNA.
  25. Hopefully we can get enough information to make decisions this week. We are inclined to put her to sleep vs putting her through all this only to see her vulnerable and then shortly gone anyway. She relatively young at 7.5 and so beautiful and fun. It’s tough stuff to even contemplating such options. My wife wants to try antibiotics and see if it’s an infection first considering she had a bad infection few months ago about six weeks post op. Their concern then was the infection might be on the gear and they’d have to take it out. It cleared up. Don’t know, grabbing at any glimmers of light we can.
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