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

[carronstar]

Picking up the chant...

 

*It's just a bug, which will fall to the drug! Yeah! It's just a bug, which will fall to the drug! Yeah! It's just a bug, which will fall to the drug! Yeah! It's just a bug, which will fall to the drug! Yeah! *

[Guest FLT]

I love the chant!! Many thanks :-) Please do keep it going.. hopefully the buggies (yes, buggies!!!) will listen and go away forever.

 

Our "greyhound camp" is a wonderful thing, and the nice lady who keeps our hounds (with her own pack, and with safe crates) will take very good care of Drake (and Kaylee) and knows right where the vet's office is if anything goes poorly(er).

[Guest boondog]

I'll chant, too! I wish the update was better. I hope he and Kaylee have a good time at camp. Have a fun vacation, FL.

[Guest FLT]

After a wee travel delay due to snow on the east coast, we are home. We still need to dig the van out of 20 inches of snow, and greyhound camp will keep the pups for us until we can get out to get them.. food and meds are holding up. We'll either get out there tomorrow or Wednesday.

 

Drake was on crate rest for our trip, and after about a week the swelling in his front ankle was reported to have gone down. We'll manage to get them tomorrow or Wednesday.

 

Kaylee has had free range of the yard and dog door and has probably been enjoying her feast at the all you can eat dog poop buffet. Nom nom! Will do a fecal test on her in a week or two just in case.

 

Thanks for the chanting..!

 

I hope everyone else is doing well? I'll catch up on posts over the next week or so :-D

 

FL

 

I'll chant, too! I wish the update was better. I hope he and Kaylee have a good time at camp. Have a fun vacation, FL.

[Xan]

Glad you're back, and so far so good. I like to hear the swelling has gone down!

 

Kaylee, ew! I worry about that with my little poop-eating girl, too. But if they won't muzzle, I guess you just deal, right?

 

Stay warm and safe!

[Guest FLT]

We have been in contact with greyhound camp today in response to scheduling pick up.. and I had previously mentioned that the pups love the snow.

 

This is the email

 

"I have enough Baytril to get Drake through Wednesday. The snow Gods must have known! Take your time, dig out and get some rest. They are fine and I have plenty of coats for turn outs. They DO love the snow. I have to put Drake out by himself so he doesn't get too excited. Kaylee romps and runs up and down the unshoveled path with Brenda through the snow like a kid. "

 

 

I love watching my pups romp in the snow - they just love it!! We've got a lovely 20 inch deep turn out area for them when they get home.. but we will have to work to keep Drake from getting too worked up.

[Guest eaglflyt]

It's great to hear such a good report!

[Guest FLT]

Drake had his latest check up yesterday and the front leg looks good at the moment (which we knew), and the back leg is more tender and a bit more swollen - but okay for now. If we knew that the front leg was not an issue going forward, we would explore surgery to stabilize the back knee but since we do not know anything of the sort we are just playing a waiting game.

 

Drake is taking tramadol and metacam for pain control, an acid controller to buffer his belly against the metacam and we still have another 4 weeks or so of Baytril to finish up the 8 week course.

 

After we finish the Baytril we will just wait and see what happens next while we continue to manage the knee pain with medication.

 

We've also started both dogs on Chondroitin, Gglucosamine, and MSM supplements.

 

Happy New Year to everyone!

 

Cheers

 

FL

[Magdalyn58]

I'm sending my prayers that 2010 brings health and healing for Drake.

[Xan]

FL, that's great to hear about the current status of the front leg.

 

When you said about stabilizing the back leg, I remembered being told by some Dane people about these knee braces that Danes often need. I looked them up (because of Wabi), and found lots, aimed at cruciate injuries. Have I already mentioned this?? If I haven't, I'm sorry it took me this long to think of it. If I have, sorry for repeating myself! Search for stifle brace, or dog knee brace, and see if you find something that might help.

[EllenEveBaz]

Sending best wishes for the New Year to Drake and you.

[Guest FLT]

Just giving a very quick update to let you know that no news is.. well, no news. Drake's front paw and ankle have so far (knock on wood) continued to not swell up. We still have about another week or so of Baytril to go before we finish the 8 week course. He has started to lick his front left paw fairly often though, which worries me (what doesn't worry me - right?). His back knee is obviously continuing to be VERY sore, some days are better than others.

 

Xan - will ask about a brace and if it would be helpful when we go back to the vet next, which will be the first week of Feb. Thanks for the info!

 

Drake is still on 4 Tramadol per day (2 at breakfast and 2 at dinner), and a 70 lb dose of Metacam, along with an acid controller an hour before dinner. He (and Kaylee) are both getting their Chondroitin, Glucosamine, and MSM supplements at breakfast as well. Some days if Drake seems really, really exceptionally sore I give him an extra Tramadol before bed or in the afternoon as needed. Mostly he has been okay with his normal dose.

 

I've started RN school and the hours involved with study are um... intense (and it is only the first week!!). Should be fun, but very hard work. Speaking of which - I'm back to the grind.

 

Cheers to all,

 

FL

[Guest FLT]

Updates:

 

Wednesday Drake went back for his check up with Dr. P. He had just finished up the last of the 8 week course of Baytril on Monday.

 

I had detected a very slight lump in the left front paw (just above where the original swelling started all those years ago now) but Dr. P cannot feel it - thinks it is scar tissue. Because I feel Drake's legs daily, I think I've noticed a change - but we'll have to just wait and see if anything grow back or if it stays where it is now.

 

Back leg continues to be very sore - but we wanted to hold off on considering surgery on the ACL for at least a couple of months off the Baytril to make sure that nothing balloons back up in the meanwhile before going forward with opening any more holes up on my poor dog. We may or may not do the surgery, but regardless it will not be this month for certain.

 

This morning hubby and I had doc appointments, but I noticed that Drake's rear RIGHT foot was all kinds of swollen. Those following along at home know that all previous issues have been in the LEFT legs. It was so swollen that liquid was oozing from the outside toe where it meets the nail - and the foot/ankle area was almost twice the size of the left side. We did our doc appointments (mine had to be timely, sadly) and rushed right back to see what we could see.

 

I called Dr. P's office to find that he was not going to be back in until Monday - but I knew that waiting was not an option (especially given the forcast of between 20 and 30 inches will have us stuck in the house and unable to get out for help if it is needed before sometime on Sunday the best, and likely not until sometime Monday). I called our local vet (who treats all the pets, including Drake - except for the specialty stuff he referred us to Dr. P for). He was willing to see us right away, so I took Drake over for a looksie.

 

He was agog at the leg, and amazed at the swelling considering I check Drake's legs twice a day - last time was about 11pm last night, so it was less than 12 hours later. It was obviously a swelling that looked infected, rather than from trauma. As always, osteo is on the mind when a limb swells up so we started with Xrays and CBC blood work. Xrays didn't appear to show anything scary, thankfully.

 

I have Dr. P's cell phone number, so although he was not in today I was able to give that number to our local vet to call him for a consult before proceeding. They both agreed that the way to go was to take a couple of 2mm punch biopsies (which I hate to do, given how long it takes us to get any holes to close on Drake - but that foot was oozing enough that it pretty much was already an open wound anyway). They wound up taking 3 actually - sending 2 for biopsy, and have cut up and are culturing the other. In the meanwhile he is getting started on Clindamycin (which funnily enough is what I'm taking right now too) while waiting for those results.

 

He is pretty loopy now, having been put out for the procedure and given some nice pain meds via injection to keep him comfortable until his next normal doses of Tramadol and Metacam this evening. We have been home an hour, and he has finally mostly stopped panting from the stress of it all.

 

Our mission for the weekend is to continue to massage the swelling in his leg (above the bandage on his foot) upward and away so he doesn't have problems from compression around the bandage. Oh, and keeping the bandage dry despite the 20 to 30 inches of snow that are expected in the next 20 hours. Fun fun!

 

So - the enigma that is Drake's health problems continues.. we are now working with 3 out of 4 limbs. Poor guy!

 

Cheers to all,

 

FL

[Guest MorganKonaAlex]

Poor guy.

[Guest Energy11]

Sending continuing well-wishes to you and Drake, and hoping this all resolves soon! You can send some snow here! ALL WE GET IS RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, AND MORE RAIN! It is ridiculous!!

 

Hoping there are no problems for you over the weekend! Love, hugs, and prayers! Dee and The Five

[Batmom]

Argh.

 

Might be worth talking to your vet(s) about trying the gentamicin/pencillin pulse thing. Seems like there would be not much to loose, and the continued leg lesions sure do suggest something akin to Alabama rot.

 

Sending lots of good wishes for you and your boy!

[Guest FLT]

Is Alabama Rot a surface lesion issue? Other than the oozing around his toe (from the pressure, was the guess), all of these swellings have been internal only. The holes he has trouble healing are all ones that WE put there! (silly humans, mucking around with greyhound skin for biopsies and such).

 

Good suggestion on the pulse though - will read more about it.

 

FL

[EllenEveBaz]

Sending gentle hugs to your boy and you. Sending healing thoughts, too.

[Guest FLT]

So far so good on keeping Drake's bandage clean and dry, despite the over 2 feet of snow. We triple bag him for every potty trip, and have shoveled the potty area.

 

This photo is actually from a few weeks ago - but I don't think I've shared it yet. I promise this was not staged - but it made me laugh and laugh, and I just saw it again when I pulled in our snow photos from the camera.

 

 

Hope those of us who got snow are having fun.. we sure are! Drake was pretty envious when we took Kaylee out and let her run up and down the cleared sidewalk between us. She wasn't inclined to jump into the snow that was as high as her head, so we didn't have any fear of her getting away.

 

 

Now she is snoring away, and isn't pestering us or her brother - so that is all to the good.

 

Cheers to all,

 

FL

[Guest eaglflyt]

Wow! Still praying for Drake and his limb issues. Bless his heart!

 

And yep, that's really deep snow.

[Guest FLT]

Argh - every surgical wound is a saga around here! Got up at 3am to let Drake out (he doesn't waste energy getting up to go unless he's got to go - and he vocalizes so we know when to get up and let him out) and when I went to bag his bandaged foot to keep it dry I discovered it was sopping wet and partially torn into. He was working on unwrapping it.

 

Let him do his business and then got my "clean" working area together. (My house is not at all clean, unfortunately - but I laid out a clean towel area to work in - scrubbed my hands and bandage scissors, laid out my clean bandaging materials, etc..) I snipped his bandaged off and lifted it away (whew, stinky - never a good sign) and soaked all the way down to the skin, so a bandage change WAS necessary.

 

I did the bandage change (but couldn't see the wound, since it was "down") - and I wasn't moving him at the time.. so sleepy! I had hubby support the leg to elevate it off my clean surface just a bit and replicated the bandaging to the best of my ability. I did the covering wraps in "no chew" that has worked very well for us in the past.. the bandages that have the bitter apple built in.

 

Went back to bed at about 4am.

 

Woke up to feed at 8am to find Drake lying in the hallway with no bandages - DOH! He figured that "no chew" was only a suggestion.

 

I can see why though - his toe where the 2 mm punch was taken is now ulcerated, weeping, swollen, red.. totally infected and pustulating. I guess the antibiotics he came home with didn't do much on that front. Errgh.

 

Now I'm waiting for his morning pills to take effect and "maybe" for a vet's office to open to call regarding how to best clean it up before I re-bandage it. If they aren't open, I"ll just wing it regarding cleaning it. We have plenty of Hydrogen Peroxide anyway.

 

We haven't seen a plow yet - and our road has over 2 feet of snow on it. We cannot drive anywhere with him.

 

Thanks for listening - shesh, silly pup!

 

FL

[Guest FLT]

I did speak with the vet (the local vet) - and emailed him a photo. He really wanted us to get some Betadine Solution (to soak the foot/toe in a solution cut with water to look like weak tea). Hubby got his backpack and took a short list of things we need with him to Target, a little under a mile away. As I expected, most streets have seen a plow at least once, and although they are in terrible shape you probably could get a car down them. Our street has as usual not been plowed, still.

 

He came back with the goods, and I got Drake standing up in a container of the weakened Betadine solution for about 5 minutes. After a few minutes he started getting restless and every time he tried to lift that foot out of the container I held his foot and swished it around in the solution a little. We probably swished 4 or 5 times in the last minute or two - so he got a nice rinse on the nasty area.

 

We spread clean towels all over the living room where we were working, including over his dog bed.. and keeping him on the "clean" track got him lying down on his bed to dry that foot well. I blotted with some sterile gauze over the wound, and used a clean towel to dry the rest of the foot and lower leg. Then we let him lay there a few minutes to air dry the rest of the way (and I used a clean towel between his toes a few times to try and dry him up the rest of the way there.

 

Once we had him all dry, (he was lying on his right side, of course) - I had my hubby elevate the leg so I could work around. I put a very very small amount of Neosporin on the wound, then put a non-stick sterile gauze over it. I put pieces of gauze between each toe, and then wrapped the whole foot in rolled sterile gauze. Then I wrapped that whole mess with "no chew" vet wrap (except this time it will be muzzle time when we aren't awake or actively keeping an eye on the little wretch.

 

The Vet wants us to change bandages and do the Betadine soak once a day until we can get in to see him.

 

We have told Drake that he is a real PITA this weekend!

 

Cheers,

 

FL

[Guest FLT]

Came in from shoveling more to find that I didn't do a good enough job with the bandaging.. he hadn't chewed it off (and was still muzzled) but had slipped it off like a sock. Doh!

 

Another round of clean up with the Betadine, and a MUCH longer bandage on his foot and leg now.. going to KEEP that sucker on until tomorrow.

 

Still no plowing action down my road, and another 10 to 20 inches of snow is predicted to start tomorrow afternoon. Not looking good to get Drake to the vet anytime soon. At least we have plenty of Betadine and pain meds.

 

Cheers,

 

FL

[Guest FLT]

Eventually a neighbor from down the road used his snow blower to clear the ENTIRE road enough for a car to pass.. and I was able to load Drake up in the van and take him back to the vet. My bandaging got high marks, and his toe looked a LOT better than 24 hours earlier when I had wrapped it back up last. The Betadine helped, as I guess did the antibiotics eventually.

 

Biopsies are back, and are B-9 (always nice to hear, given our track record!)

 

Cultures are still pending, but are Gram Positive beasties. In the meanwhile we are continuing with the antibiotics as started on Friday.

 

In the meanwhile (and more snow is falling now, so likely it will be several more days before we get back out) I am to leave the foot open for a few hours each evening to help it dry out and form a scab, then soak in Betadine Solution (weak tea colored), dry well and wrap up again until the next evening. Will see how that goes :-)

 

Cheers,

 

FL

[EllenEveBaz]

Bless you, my child. And keep fighting the good fight.