LadyBailey

***UPDATE AUGUST 12**** we got the pathology report back today..... and..... I WANT TO SCREAM WITH JOY!!!!! :confetti :yay N-O C-A-N-C-E-R Her spleen was completely clean of any tumors. Basically it was just packed with Red Blood Cells - the vet called it a "congestion". She is on the mend. Eating and playing and of course still resting. Thank you so much everyone for your kind posts and thoughts for Bailey. They worked.

****Update August 11**** Hi everyone, Bailey is doing well. She had a good sleep on Friday night and Saturday was a quiet day. On Sat evening our friends from Virginia came for a visit. They have 4 greyhounds (that were at home) so they were very aware of the fact that Bailey needed her rest and we happy to just hang out. We had a quiet dinner and just sat around for the night (with some wine ) Bailey decided that she wanted to sleep on the couch that night and quickly went into a roach. She slept like that for the entire night and woke up well rested. On Sunday she even played with her pink piggy and was acting like her ol' self. However, last night she seemed off and this morning as well, so her vet came by to see her and he said that everything was fine... so more than likely she over did it yesterday. Of course after the vet left, she was fine and slept most of the day. She is sleeping so soundly that she is going into REM - so she is healing well too. She is eating really well - cooked chicken, with some pumpkin or squash and tonight even had an egg with dinner. Her back foot that was swollen is looking much better too. The pathology report hasn't come in yet - but the vet is pretty sure that it's not a cancer, since her spleen did look pretty normal, aside from it's massive size... but he knows and we know that there is still a chance. Will let you know when we get the report - hopefully tomorrow

I am so sorry. I hate that I know what you are feeling right now when you get the news that you are dealing with osteo. We lost our dear Carrier on March 30. But please don't be discouraged... I know it hard not to be when you are dealing with this and know that there isn't a cure out there... but there are many dogs here and on Circle of Grey (a yahoo group that you should join) that have done amazing. There are options and whatever you choose will be right for Caesar and you. We drove from Canada to Ohio State to see Dr Couto. OSU is amazing and they will help you without even going there. I documented Carrier's journey thoroughly here on Greytalk. You can read all of the posts here. Carrier's Diagnosis http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php?showto...&hl=Carrier Carrier's Progress http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php?showto...&hl=Carrier Sending you and Caesar gentle hugs

****UPDATE from this afternoon**** I put a t-shirt on Bailey and it helped to keep her from licking her tummy. She slept most of the afternoon. at dinner time she came when I asked her if she was ready for dinner. She ate her entire dinner of cooked ground beef and sweet potatoes made special for her. She went out and did a jaunt around the yard and finally had a bowel movement. She was outside just as Tim was coming home and she trotted to the gate to welcome him. She was wagging her tail and even did a helicopter tail!!!!! ... then trotted back inside. At the moment, she is sleeping soundly on a double decker dog bed - she loves those. thanks again for your well wishes. She a lucky girl to have so many good people thinking of her. Good night.

I am so saddened to read this. Run free Izzy. Hugs to you. You did the right thing.

I'll try the t-shirt, but the incision is fairly long, so I don't know how far it will reach. Thanks for the tips. I'll let you know if she successfully licks it off

Bailey is starting to feel better, hence the licking of her entire body. She is oozing a little at her stitches and is licking them. Any tips on how to cover that area with a t-shirt or something? She will lick through any sort of cream or spray, so that's not even an option. I have order some EMT spray, but it won't be in until next Tuesday.

I am so sorry. Run free Rosie. You fought hard. Rest now and watch down on your family.

I don't know anything really about thyroid... we haven't hit that medical problem yet - thank god. But I just wanted to let you know that we are thinking about you and your girl. I know how tough it is when you are trying everything possible but you don't get any answers. Patience and love will get you though it... and probably some medical help to

Another update from this morning.... Her vet just came by to check on her. She had just come in from a pee and was standing in the living room when he walked in. She actually trotted wagging her tail to him to say hello. And then quickly realized that he was "the" vet - so she ran to sit down... too funny. He checked out her foot - poked and prodded with no reaction from Bailey. It looks a bit better so we will just watch it now. He checked out her incision and all looks good. Her colour is nice and red in the mouth - so that is wonderful too. And then he gave her a loving rub and some scritches. He's on call all weekend... thank god... I hope we don't need him.

Good work sweet Bodie. You know we are having a celebratory drink for you tonight. sending you lots of love, hugs and kisses. stay strong. Rhonda, you are in my thoughts. Bodie is so lucky to have you.

Hi everyone, First, I got a wonderful explanation from Shelley on CoG on what happened with all the proper medical talk. Here is the proper explanation: Eva-- Let me see if I can help you understand the medical terminology better. The "pyoderm" is actually the pylorus (exit from the stomach into the small intestines.) Sometimes in bloat it will actually twist on itself, cutting off the blood supply to both the stomach and the spleen. The nodules on the spleen are called "siderotic plaques" and they are consistent with older dogs but the pathology will tell for sure. I am so glad that she is doing well after surgery--the first 24 hours afterward are the most important!!! White light streaming out to Bailey!! (and Andy and Ella!!!) Shelley and all the kids And here is the latest update on our sweet Bailey girl. ***UPDATE Friday August 8**** How to recover....Bailey style... She didn't want to be in the house, so I laid out three blankets for her under the tree - this was at 2pm As you can see she was very relaxed Then the sun started encroaching on her, so I made her a make-shift shelter to shield her from getting hot. There was a wonderful breeze yesterday And of course Andy and Ella were not far from her. Andy is actually sitting on her tail in this photo... must be as close as possible And then I don't know if you can see it under the chair, but there is a robin that was bouncing around Bailey this afternoon. The animal communicator told us that every time was saw a robin, that it was Carrier's spirit... so he too was with us enjoying the sun yesterday Bailey stayed like that from 2 - 6 pm. throughout the afternoon she had sips of vanilla ensure and at supper time she ate some cooked chicken. She had another small portion around 8 and again at 11 - she was very hungry. She had a good night, slept most of it, but was a little agitated because she needed to take a poop but refused to move. Tim and pulled out the futon and slept on the floor in the living room with her. At 5 am she woke up and walk straight into bed with us. She laid with her back up against my tummy and nestled her head into my chest. Then she pawed Tim over his arm and slept like this until 7. I gave her some sulcrate and an half hour later some cooked some ground beef. At 7:30 she was ready for breakie and ate 1 1/4 pounds (normally she has 1 1/2 pounds). The vet is coming later this afternoon to check on her. Her back foot is swollen and she has a bump on her bone so he is going to check that out. But she is walking fine, so here's hoping that's nothing. She even got up to see Tim off to work and wagged her tail. She is sleeping soundly now. Thanks everyone for caring so much for our sweet girl. I'll let you know how we make out today.

The vet told me she can stay on her regular diet - which is raw, but for the next few days she should be eating bland foods. I have a call into the lady that make the dog food to see what alterations we can make in the future for Bailey's food. Bother her....your presence is one of the greatest healing gifts you can give her. Best wishes to her for a full recovery. Judy, Mom of Nadir, Beanie, and Bruiser You are right, I think it help her a lot. But sometimes I find that they anxious when you see them in that state and all they want to do is get up and go home... which at that time she wasn't ready. I am glad I was able to stay with her for so long and even drive her with the vet tech to the after hours clinic.

****Update 12:30**** This will be short, I don't want to be away from her for too long. She is home and looks okay. She actually drove home standing with her head out the window. That's what she lives for - car rides. I use Carrier's ramp to help her out of the car - didn't think that I would be pulling that out quite so soon. She walked to the back door and no problem getting up the two stairs on the porch. walked into the kitchen and straight to the water bowl. I allowed her a little bit at a time and then offered her some chicken & broth baby food. She had a bit... and would you know the only way she would eat it was out of hand... just like her brother It I made her a few comfy beds around the house but she was having trouble getting down on her own, so I tucked her bum down and managed to get her to lay down. She has been sleeping since 11:15 with me beside her on the floor. Once i move my hand she paws for me. breaks my heart. I am cooking some rice for her now and will try the cooked meat as well. I have rice, chicken, beef, pumpkin, baby chicken food, ensure and bananas on hand. will let you know how we make out. Her eyes are bright and alert which is a good sign.

****UPDATE**** Off to get Bailey girl. I am nervous. They say she is well enough to come home. She isn't eating for them, so I will pick up some lean ground beef and rice and make that for her. Any tips on what she should or shouldn't eat? She is on a raw diet. I won't be giving her raw meaty bones for a while as I figure her tummy needs easy to digest food, so I thought just the ground meat and veggies would do.

Knowing is half the battle right? So know you know and you can focus on making her feeling better. When Carrier was diagnosed with bone cancer, we knew that we were dealing with something that could not be cured but I'd be damned if I wasn't going to try my hardest for him. And it sounds like you are going to do the same. Don't torture yourself with the internet and statistics. Focus on new advances and look for people that have gone through it. There you will get the best advice. Have you joined Circle of Grey on Yahoo?

here is a copy of one of my messages on Circle of Grey. The people were waiting for their grey to come home after the amputation. It was a list of tips that I learned after Carrier came home. It sounds like you are already doing some of them, so ignore my duplication on those, but I don't have the brain power to edit right now. Hugs to both of you. ---- Copy from original post from CoG: It was really tough at first, especially when you are trying to gage if they are in pain or just needy or even not feeling that great. But you figure it out and before you know, life is back to normal. Don't hold back on the pain meds though. Carrier was at OSU for 5 days and high as a kite for 3 of those days. When he came home, he was on pain meds for another week. Although, Dr Couto told me that the pain from the surgery is gone after 5 days. If they are crying after that, it's probably more muscular/skeletal, since they are using their body different... not to mention only having three legs to walk. I started giving Carrier massage and that really helped him. Also, here is a copy of a post that I wrote when Dempsey, a CoG hound had his amputation. Some of it may not apply as you are already at home with Poppy, but some might help. Good luck Poppy - stay strong and before you know it will be warm and you will be running as fast as you can! eva and carrier. --- Here are some things that I found really helped when Carrier came home: Have his regular food on hand (if he eats it, great because that is one less change in his life for now) but also have alternatives, especially soft food a variety of flavours. Baby food was also something Carrier ate - plain chicken was his favourite. If you have hard wood or ceramic floors, make sure you have runners or area rugs down him. He will slip otherwise. Sleep with him in the same room so you can monitor him and be near if he needs you. We slept with Carrier for two weeks on the living room floor. Sleep with a night light. we do now and it was a while until we started using one, but I think Carrier finds comfort in it. Have water bowls in various rooms that he is in. In the beginning they don't have the strength to walk all over the place, so for example, if you are going to set up camp in the living room, make sure that there is a bowl of water for him there. This will also encourage him to drink and get up and walk for shorter periods. Try to have him do his pee and poo before he eats. Unfortunately, our normal routine was eat and then go out to do the pees and poops. This really upset Carrier because he had a full tummy and then he was bouncing all over the place going to the bathroom... major indigestion. Allow him to eat in the comfort of his bed if he doesn't want to get up. But make sure he doesn't eat too fast because when they choke it's tough for them to get the kibble out while sitting down. I hand fed Carrier for a long time - one because he wasn't eating, but also because when he did eat, he would hover and then choke. He has remembered how to eat properly now... on his own and standing. You can also feed smaller portions throughout the day. Carrier ate half of his food in the early morning and then the rest in the late morning and the same for dinner... but he is back to normal now with his schedule. Sleep when he sleeps. I don't know if you are working or able to be home with him, but it's impossible to stock up on sleep before they get home, so I made sure to take advantage of these times and catch some zzz's while he is. During the first week of recovery Carrier had muscle spams around the amputation area - he was shaking so hard that I thought he was having a seizure or something. I quickly learned from Circle of Grey and also a phone call with Dr Couto that his muscles were adjusting and this was normal. Light massage and comfort with his CoG healing blanket helped him through that. This one is probably the hardest, but don't panic or jump at everything they do or don't do. I was an expert at this - the panic part, not the calm part... but I quickly learned to read Carrier and not jump at every movement he did. They figure it out... sometimes they just need to burp or stretch... now I watch him before I jump to see what he needs/wants.

Good to hear that she is doing well! One of the things I found helpful with Carrier was to have a few water bowls around within close distance to him because I didn't want him to have to walk to where it was normally kept as he was still gaining strength. So by having water bowls closer and in various spots it allowed him to drink easier. He was thirsty because of some of the meds and also the hard work he had to do with three legs. Sending you many healing thoughts

*****UPDATE Thursday Morning***** Sorry for not updating last night, I was so tired. I can't believe that there are 6 pages of good thoughts here! You guys are the best. She is such a special girl. So here is the update: The vet called me and explained everything again. The tissue that was removed was actually scar tissue at the bottom of her stomach and it was blocked the space that leads to the intestine. Her spleen was actually so large that it was adhered to the other end of her abdomen - so given that, she probably would have never gone into torsion because the spleen wouldn't of had the momentum to actually flip on her stomach. I am still not 100% clear of all the medical talk - but I do understand what happened.... I just want to know the exact words to understand it better. Anyway... I went up to see her at 3pm. Before I saw her I asked to see the spleen. OMG!!! It was freakin huge!!!! I actually took photos of it. It was about 2 x 1 feet and really ugly. Since it's so big, they can't actually test the entire thing, so they are taking samples from all corners and sending for path. I am scared as I know there is a chance that we could be dealing with Hemangiosarcoma. We won't get the results until Monday. But the spleen looks normal just very large. So then I went in to see our girl. She was sitting with her head up but really out of it. She tried to get up a little when she saw me and let out some ever so sad cries. I sat down with her and comforted her. She settled after a few minutes. I wasn't planning on staying long, because I didn't want to bother her, but she was ended up taking some nice deep breaths and sighs and sleeping sound soundly, that I stayed with her until we transferred her to the after hours clinic... so I was with her for 4.5 hours. I settled her in at the after hours clinic and went home to see a very confused Andy and Ella. Bailey was lucky because they didn't set her up in a cage - she was on a pillow on the floor beside the nurse, so that made me feel better knowing that she wasn't caged up. I checked in at 10:30 pm and they had just given her some more pain meds, but they drop her blood pressure, so they reversed it and waited to see if she needed any pain meds for the moment. When I spoke with them this morning, they said she had an okay night but around 3 am she was restless and started to shiver a bit, so they gave her another pain med and that seemed to do the trick and she settled afterwards and feel asleep. Her regular vet is picking her up this morning and then calling me with next steps. I hope she is able to come home this morning. I also wish they had the same protocol for pain management as OSU - because Carrier was high as a kite and very happy for the first 5 days after his amputation not feeling a thing. I hope we too can manage her pain over the next few days and have her feeling better quickly. Thanks everyone for the good thoughts. They mean a lot. I will let you know how we make out today.

***UPDATE*** Just spoke to the vet. Bailey is out of surgery and doing well. They removed her spleen. It's weighed 1.5 kg (that's almost 4 pounds!!!!). For the rest of the information, you will have to bare with me, as I not 100% sure with all the medical talk that they told me. Here goes... there was a piece of tissue from her stomach that was blocking the entry to her "pyodorm" or spleen (not sure) and blocked the blood supply. So that is why her tummy was filling up with gas - so it's good that we know why this was happening. Her spleen was massive and also folded over underneath her tummy - pretty much things were not where they should have been. There were some nodules attached to the spleen - called, I think.... cytoric nodules. But they said that these are consistent with older dogs. However, they are sending everything out for a pathology report. Everything looked normal in the sense of appearance, just not size or location. I get to visit her later today and then she is being move to the over night e-vet for observation of blood pressure and pain meds etc., If all goes well, she will be home tomorrow. Thanks for the good thoughts - they mean a lot. I will let you know how she does. I can't believe this happened today - yesterday was a completely normal day. It's scary how things can change so quickly.

are they are going to do a biopsy at all? I thought OSU didn't do those and opted for FNA instead. more good thoughts coming your way.

Update 11:30 She is on the table. The vet just called to let us know that her spleen is 4 times the size it should be... so they are removing it. Good Lord. I hope that all of this will help her and she will be feeling fine again soon. thanks for the good thoughts - you are all wonderful

They don't know why she is bloating. Yesterday was a completely normal day. She was fine all day and was normal when we kissed her good night. There was no running before or after her meal. She eats raw, but dinner was just the ground meat with veggie - which she has been eating for months without problem. The vet did address the "bad stuff" rushing into their system and said that they are aware of this happening. Specifically the spleen - so they are going to check everything thoroughly and remove the spleen if needed. god I hope this works.

Yes, she's just bloated.. no torsion. They were able to tube her without problem, so that is a "good" sign. Our vets have done over 60 "tack" surgeries and only one continued to bloat after about a year or so and had to be put to sleep. So we are optimist that we caught in time and reacted quickly so there was no torsion... and also the fact that the vets are experienced with this. When we walked in both the vets came out to see us and said, "what? life was too boring for you, so you thought to spice it up?" We laughed because they know how crazy we are with the dogs... and they were unbelievable with Carrier's care... right down to when we had to let him go. I just pray that they don't find anything else in there, like a mass or something....

Janet I am sorry. She was so lucky to have you... and we too are lucky to have you... what you have done with Hope For Hounds is amazing. Run free sweet Foxy.