Drake's Healing Progress - After Mass Removal From Both Left Legs

[Guest FLT]

This thread will have photos and updates about Drake's healing progress after having a mass removed from each left leg. The left front mass was removed from his paw, and the left rear leg mass was removed from the "knee" area.

 

The original thread is here: Drake's Background and Surgery

 

 

To recap - Drake had surgery on Thursday, May 21st. The experienced surgeon got in there and said "wow - I don't think I've seen this before!" (yikes). Masses were removed and sent for biopsy and culturing.

 

Drake stayed overnight at the Animal Hospital and came home the evening of Friday, May 22nd. His legs are pressure bandaged, and we aren't to mess with them. The first time I"ll get to see the actual surgical wounds will be on Tuesday 5/26, when we go in for a wound check and bandage change.

 

 

 

Good thing the vet's office and surgeon warned me about bruising!! This pic is from Friday as well - close up of rear leg bruising

 

 

Close up of front shoulder bruising Friday

 

 

 

Drake started working on elevating his legs while trying to stay inactive and calm - Saturday 5/23

 

 

Close up of rear leg bruising on Saturday 5/23

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3350/355957..._22e2870d8f.jpg

 

 

Drake complained that it's hard to know which leg to limp on! He is still able to manage to eat though. Saturday 5/23

[Guest FLT]

Sunday, May 24th 2009

 

Drake is feeling a bit more restless today - which I hope means he's starting to feel better. As is always the case, I think bruises get much worse before they get better.

 

Here is Drake's front shoulder bruising on Sunday, 5/24

 

This is an outside leg view of Drake's rear leg bruising on Sunday

 

Here is a view of the inside of Drake's rear leg showing the bruising on Sunday (pardon his immodesty)

 

 

Drake continues to work on resting, and elevating his legs - except when he gets restless and starts looking for a bigger, fluffier bed option.

 

 

Kaylee (Drake's littermate) gets annoyed when he gets all the attention - so here is a photo of her too.. sleeping on the sofa in Daddy's blankets (DH spent the night on the sofa last night to keep an eye on Drake to make sure he didn't try to chew on his bandages in the night - I spent the night there the night before).

[Guest Energy11]

POOR DRAKE~ but, honestly, the bruising isn't too bad, and everything does look good!

 

No problems eating and roaching! :-))

 

Good Luck with everything, and hug the big boy for us! Dee and The Five

[Batmom]

He looks GREAT for having gone through all that!

[HopeForHounds]

Arnica gel or Traumeel will really help with the bruising. I'm keeping my fingers crossed you get no surprises from the lab.

[Guest FLT]

:yay Liverwurst was a big winner for giving drugs tonight! :yay

[tbhounds]

Ahhh-poor boy--actually I don't think the bruising looks too bad--it always gets worse before it gets better. My girl had a mass cell tumor excised last year--yikes you should have seen the bruising!! It took about a week before the bruising subsided. In time the bruising will resolve ---fingers crossed for a benign Path result!!!!!

[Guest Greytnorth]

Good job Drake on keeping those legs elevated!!! Get better quick!!

[Guest mike]

Drake looks good considering. I will be interested to see what the results show. I had to laugh at the elevating the legs pics. Only a greyhound does this.

[Guest FLT]

Drake hasn't been working on elevating his legs today.. but he seems to be bouncing back nicely. The bruising is appreciably less today, too!

 

Drake is probably getting a little tired of the camera though..

 

"Stop with the flashy thing, mom!"

 

Here is the rear leg - the one that has had the most bruising. I haven't had a good shot of the inner thigh - but you can see most of the discoloration from the rear here, and it's MUCH better!

 

I am going to take my camera with me to the Vet's office tomorrow - hoping they'll let me snap a quick pic of the wounds before they re-wrap them so we can see what is actually under those red bandages! (also, why red? How scary is that to glance down and see RED everywhere on your dog's leg! Wouldn't you think they'd use something like blue, or something calming and non blood-like?)

 

Cheers,

 

FL

 

 

[Guest kydie]

white light to your best friend from Pa.

Edited May 25, 2009 by kydie

[duncan41]

He sure looks good for what he has been through! Keeping all appendages crossed for a good lab report.

[Guest FullMetalFrank]

He is looking good! Sending more prayers for good lab reports...

[Guest FLT]

Well we had our first trip back to the surgeon today for a wound check and bandage change. The vet tech came out to the waiting room and told me that they would take him in back for all of that, and then Dr. P would come out and talk with me.

 

I asked that they let me come back and see the wounds before they re-wrapped and she said she would ask if it was okay (they do this stuff in their treatment area, and try to avoid extra bodies coming in).

 

I guess she forgot to ask because the next thing you know a different tech came up with Drake, all wrapped up in his new bandages! Doh! (Sorry, no wound pictures yet).

 

Dr. P met with me and told me that he was very impressed at how quickly Drake was healing, and that it was faster than he had expected. He thinks everything looks great with the surgical wounds. There is a problem with his rear leg in that one of his nails is scraping the skin on the toe next to it - but that he added extra padding this time and he hopes it shouldn't continue to be an issue.

 

Here is Drake, resplendent in his clean teal bandages (much better than Red - Who wraps in red after surgery?? Talk about scary every time you glance at your dog and see RED everywhere!)

 

Drake opted to sleep with us in the memory foam bed last night, and I think he was able to get some really great rest and healing going on - because look at how much reduction in bruising we had just from yesterday!

 

Close up of front shoulder

 

Close up of rear leg

 

Dr. P says that the labs might be back late this week, but he still isn't entirely sure that they will be. He reiterated that it would be unusual for it to be cancerous with it appearing in two locations looking so very similar - but that he cannot rule it out. Fingers continued to be crossed!!

 

Thanks to all,

 

FL

[Batmom]

He looks good -- and wonderful in teal :lol . Fingers still crossed here, too, for the biopsy.

[Guest trevdog]

He does look like he's healing quickly!

[Texasgreys]

(DH spent the night on the sofa last night to keep an eye on Drake to make sure he didn't try to chew on his bandages in the night - I spent the night there the night before).

 

I've been pretty successful in fending off chewing if I use a muzzle with a stool guard in it - with a muzzle my girls could chew through it, but adding the stool guard was just the right thing to do!

 

Good luck with Drake, he's doing so well!

[RaineysMom]

ah, your poor boy!!!!!! :(

 

he does look like he's healing well! :yay Nube is a big black boy too, and MAN does he bruise like crazy! Your Drake and my Nubers could be twins!!!!!

 

sending healing hugs to Drake! :hope

[Guest jerrybird]

Well bless his heart! He is beautiful, bruises and all.

[Guest FLT]

That's an excellent suggestion, and silly me - we already have stool guards on all the muzzles here (just in case.. Drake only occasionally wants poopsnacks - but since we put one on Kaylee we do for him too just to be fair about it all).

 

Thanks for pointing out the obvious!

 

Drake says thanks for all the kind compliments about his handsomeness - he's enjoying the teal (and the ladies seem to like it too).

 

(DH spent the night on the sofa last night to keep an eye on Drake to make sure he didn't try to chew on his bandages in the night - I spent the night there the night before).

 

I've been pretty successful in fending off chewing if I use a muzzle with a stool guard in it - with a muzzle my girls could chew through it, but adding the stool guard was just the right thing to do!

 

Good luck with Drake, he's doing so well!

 

[Trihounds]

There is a problem with his rear leg in that one of his nails is scraping the skin on the toe next to it - but that he added extra padding this time and he hopes it shouldn't continue to be an issue.

 

So glad to read / see Drake is on the mend. Good luck and keep up the great work!

 

I was going to comment on the wrap job and to look out for the toe rubbing issue. Our Bruce had a foot injury that required the wrap and the subsequent rubbing of the toenail on his neighboring toe was not pretty. I wished I had known to check for this before because we then had 2 issues to deal with: 3 staples closing a small tear and a new wound resulting from the vet wrap and lack of padding between the two toes.

 

Best wishes for continued speedy healing

[Guest FLT]

Just a quick (sorry no photos right now) update that Drake is continuing to both heal very quickly (based on the rapidly disappearing remnants of his bruising) and be very good about not messing with his bandages. We have not yet (knock on wood) had to muzzle or cone him to avoid him messing with his leg wraps. Good Drake!

 

I just started a summer Microbiology class (i.e. super compressed) and any photo will have to wait until the weekends I think! LOL

 

Still haven't heard back about labs - but I've got my fingers crossed that I'll get a call today or tomorrow about them. I really don't want to wait until the weekend!!

 

Cheers,

 

FL

[Xan]

Just seeing this, and wanting to send healing good thoughts, and benign imperatives to the path reports. They Will Be Benign!!! :

 

The toe-rubbing can be an issue of its own. We had that kind of problem with a broken toe situation, too. Make sure you keep the bandages scrupulously dry!!!!! Especially as they're not being changed frequently. Is you guy on antibiotics?

 

Skritchies to your brave pup!

[Guest FLT]

Biopsy Results are in - and are not good. The masses removed from each leg is a different type of cancer!!

 

The rear leg contains a Nerve Sheath Tumor - which is a type of cancer that rarely spreads beyond the local area, but can be very aggressive in the area it has appeared. The recommended surgical treatment for this would be "wide area cutting" - except that because the tumor is wrapped all around and through his tendons, it would cripple the leg and is therefor not recommended. Amputation is an option - but not a good one (see below, for other cancer). The radiologist feels that radiology treatments have a fairly good chance of curing this cancer entirely, however.

 

The front leg contains Grade 1 Hemangiosarcoma. Hemangiosarcoma (a cancer of the blood vessels, essentially) is what killed our Chester 2 months ago - and in his case we didn't know it was there until his internal organs started seeping blood from the tumors. This cancer when seen internally (as opposed to dermal - on the skin) is normally highly aggressive, and is easily spread throughout the body because of it's ready blood supply passing cancer cells around fairly freely. It typically presents on the blood rich organs, such as the spleen, the heart, and the liver.

 

The surgeon suggested that some opinions say that a Grade 1 in Hemangiosarcoma is less likely to metastasize to other organs - however he also said that some opinions disagree and feel that it is just as likely to spread to other areas of the body.

 

Our first move is to get Drake in for Chest X-rays, and Ultrasound examination of the organs in the abdomen, and of his heart. Ideally all of these tests will show no signs of the spread of tumors. If tumors appear on these days we will simply provide palliative care and love Drake until he shows signs of being to uncomfortable to go on. We have Drake going in tomorrow for these tests.

 

Regardless of if signs are seen in his other organs, the surgeon feels that the front paw tumor will come "roaring" back - as it is impossible that the surgeon got all of it out given how wrapped around all the structures of the paw it was.

 

If those tests are clear we need to decide how to proceed. The most aggressive treatment would be to amputate his front leg as soon as possible (the reason we can't amputate the rear leg), and also do chemotherapy for the Hemangiosarcoma. The Nerve Sheath Tumor in the rear leg is not likely to be helped with chemo, and to be aggressive with that we would also need to do radiation therapy on the rear leg.

 

Other options are to proceed with Chemo and Radiation without Amputation, or Amputation without Chemo or Radiation, or Amputation without Chemo, but with Radiation on the rear, or just Chemo without amputation.

 

Keep your fingers crossed that all the tests tomorrow are clean.

[Guest trevdog]

Yikes! Sending lots of prayers that all the tests are good tomorrow.....wow

So hoping these were just some wierd growths.....sending some hugs too

Edited May 28, 2009 by trevdog