Sirocco_Nikki

Happy Birthday Loca! I wonder how many of us on GT would love to face life the way you did: strong, confident, vibrant, and unafraid to dance on the tables. You are so missed by so many.

Hugs and prayers for you and Larry. I hope Ollie gave the chair the ol-what-for for hurting her brother and scaring you.

Checking in for updates. Sirocco's leg swelled up similar to that due to infection. He apparently stepped on something and got a tiny puncture wound on his paw. Tiny wound became infected and the leg swelled up overnight. It two weeks of Rimadyl, Clavamox and another antibiotic to clear it. Lots of prayers and good thoughts for your boy.

It will be 2 months next Wednesday that Sirocco lost his fight with os. I have thought about him a lot during that time. What has given me the most comfort is that he was happy until the very end. (His cancer was very aggressive and we treated him with pain meds and strawberry shortcakes.) There are a lot of "IFs" and "MAYBEs" fighting this evil demon cancer. Definites are very hard to find. However, decisions on care all boil down to what will promote the best quality of life for my dog and family. Listen to your heart and gut-feelings about that and you won't make the wrong decision.

gotta love you for that! Bing will have been gone for a week today - time passes somehow. Everyone hang in there and have a nice relaxed weekend! Thanks. Through it all, I always do my best to maintain my sense of humor. Funny...I'll be fine for a while and then something just "pops" and I'm bawling my eyes out. At least I'm not crying all the time now. I don't think our hounds would want that for us. I just hope our next hound finds us soon because life is definitely too quiet without one. Hugs to everyone. Greyhound people are as one of a kind as their hounds. It's so strange you posted that - I thought I wouldn't be ready for another pup for quite sometime, however, the quiet and having just little Cami, who is so completely different from Bing and she is lonely as I brought her right from the track home with Bing, is frankly boring. I wonder if I should relish the quiet or foster/adopt another nut! Ditto. I have already started working on dh for another. Both Nikki and Yukon are very well behaved. The house just seems so dull without a ornery, food filching, scoundrel in it. I'm thinking a 7-9 y.o. cat zapping brood with tude would fit in nicely.

We went the pain control only route with Sirocco. Since his cancer seemed to be very aggressive, we gave him whatever he wanted to eat. I fixed him a strawberry shortcake almost every evening. When he started leaving part of his dinner or breakfast, I would give him bites of cheese or turkey later. With our vet's blessing, we upped his tramadol whenever he began to have problems moving or resting. At the end, he was getting tramadol 6 x day with rimadyl 2 x day. There was panting after the tramadol sometimes, but we found that a little ice cream fixed that riteawayquick. For us, pain control took precedence over all other symptoms. Hugs to you and Whizzer

I am very sorry to hear about Bing. I hope he is perched on a cloud and basking in the sun with Sirocco, Rivie, Chase,Abby and the rest of our bridge babies. Please know that we are with you in your grief.

Checking for updates. Hoping for good news!

I am very sorry for your loss. I hope Abbie soon sends you a sign that she found Rusty and Beannie and that everyone is ok.

Well, it's obvious you love her. You've kissed all the color right off her face. (I'm working on Nikki's but she still has a couple stubborn spots) Double the hugs to everyone.

Racegirl, xraying the shoulder may not have changed anything at all. Sirocco's bones looked great on his xrays. The vet took numerous views thinking one had to show something. Nope---nothing. We decided to do the biopsy to determine what the lump was. I had myself convinced it had to be a soft tissue cancer that could be resected. Not only was it osteo, but the biopsy caused the tumor to start growing quickly. It doubled in size within 24 hours. If I hadn't had it biopsied, maybe we could have had an extra month or two. But then again, I would have worried constantly that the lump might have been something treatable and I was allowing him to die needlessly. We all do the best we can. Maybe another decision would have bought us some time. But then again, it may have lost us time too. Please don't be too hard on yourself. Many of us in this thread have been where you are now.

Praying to hear a good update tomorrow.

I am so glad to read the good reports on Flash & Charlie. I hope Miss Abby feels better in the morning. I also hope Neyla continues to do well.

Godspeed beautiful Rivie. Please send your mom a sign soon that everything is ok.

We picked up Sirocco's today. It wasn't easy but he needed to be home. Yukon likes to sleep in the family room and Nikki likes to sleep in the great room. Not having a dog in the room with us has bothered dh more than I thought possible. So much that he only said "just not yet" when I brought up someday being adopted by a sweet sassy brood with tude.

Oh no, that sounds like torture!! That post surgery situation is one of my concerns, along with the serious risks of surgery, especially with my girl being an excessive bleeder. Do you recall if your Brittany had single or double flap tieback surgery? Polly had surgery on both sides. I am not trying to dissuade you from the surgery. It's just that 2 vets led me to believe that the surgery was not traumatic and that Polly would have immediate relief. Please be aware, as I wasn't, that the outcome for LP surgery is not always good. Some dogs, even healthy ones like Polly, have major complications from the surgery.

Teri, please know that we are all grieving with you. Lots of hugs and please let us know how you are doing.

My brittany who was in extremely good condition, besides her lp, had surgery for it at age 12. She had nothing but problems afterwards. Before surgery, she would pant a lot when stressed. After surgery, she turned blue and did straight neck wheezing when stressed. I know some dogs do great, but she was never as good after surgery as before. It was almost a relief when she finally passed. Good luck. And lots of scritches to your puppy.

Will be sending positive healing thoughts and hopes for a muscle strain to your boy tomorrow. please update when you can.

Kiki, As the others have said, I would not worry about the tumor pushing through the skin. Sirocco's tumor was the size of a large fist at the end and it never ruptured (even though he had stitches at the biopsy site). Also, pain control is what matters right now. Our vet said to give him tramadol whenever he needed it along with a rimadyl 2x day. We were giving Sirocco 2 tramadols every 4 hours at the end. The vet said we could try morphine or a similar narcotic if the pain could not be controlled; however, it would probably make him groggy and unable to function or walk safely. Some dogs pant a lot with tramadol but we found a bit of vanilla ice cream cured that quickly. Sirocco also had a strawberry shortcake with whippy cream every evening too. Safety is your next priority. Sirocco's leg (right front)swelled tremendously the last week and the leg became useless. I kept a towel close by, especially when he went potty, in case I needed to use it as a sling to help him move. And yet, he scared 3 years off my life a couple times when he tried to run. Also, please don't worry about being rational. There is nothing rational or reasonable about this hideous disease that is stealing our dogs. You need to take care of your pup but you also need to take care of you. In my case, fixing Sirocco strawberry shortcakes every night brought me 15 minutes of peace. I gave him his Interceptor a couple days before he went to the bridge. Rational? No. Did I care? No. Find comfort and peace wherever you can.

It almost sounds like some separation anxiety. She was fine, she missed an outing she loved, then she stressed while you were gone. I think I would have been more concerned if she was not standing when you walked in the door. She is doing great if that is all the pain med she is needing. Big hugs to both of you.

Nikki, I am very sorry for the loss of your Jasmine. I bet that Sirocco and Chase are showing her the ropes at the bridge. Please know that we are with you in your grief.

Sending good thoughts of an easy dental with a quick recovery.

I missed what the 7.5 stands for. In any case, Joe's two favorite things are anything that contains liver and a purple stuffed dinosaur that grunts. Actually I think it is the grunting that attracts him (versus squeaking). Jane and Joe Thanks! The 7.5 stands for the month (mid-July) that our pups were diagnosed. I am going to include the cookies in the basket so I will definitely use the second recipe. Nikki and Yukon have already graciously volunteered to taste-test the cookies in case the recipe needs tweaking. Please keep the suggestions coming. I'm not creative so I need all the help with ideas that I can get.

I am going to make up a basket for the Hope for Hounds auction in honor of the 7.5 dogs. I would like to include favorite things of each of the 7.5 dogs in the basket. Could you please pm me with some of your dogs favorite things? If anyone has a good dog cookie recipe, that would be great also. Let's go kick some cancer butt!