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


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Hi everyone,

 

Sorry for the delay in updating! Mondays and Wednesdays are my LONG days, with work, followed by lecture (Exam tonight), followed by 3.5 hours of lab. Out the door at 7:30am, back in at 10:30pm.

 

I did speak with Dr. Couto briefly today (and we got disconnected just when we got started!) I never did get him back (he had a CT scan of a greyhound he was working on when I first caught him, followed by an emergency of some sort, followed by a meeting). He eventually suggested via the operator that I talk with Dr. Marin.

 

They continue to feel that the front leg is a benign hemangioma, and the rear leg is an inflammatory process of some sort - maybe auto-immune. He was starting to say that they also found similar inflammatory characteristics in the front paw as well when we got disconnected, and Dr. Marin couldn't speak to that.

 

She wasn't sure what to suggest for treatment, so I really do need to talk with Dr. Couto again.

 

In the meanwhile, at the homefront - I sent DH with Drake to the surgeon's office for bandage changes and wound checks. DH doesn't do blood, so he wasn't going to be able to look at anything himself, but as usual they took Drake in back for the work anyway.

 

They found that the back leg's bandage was starting to rub his leg, so they opted to leave it off a bit earlier than they had hoped.

 

The front paw is healing better now, and it appears that no more skin is dying off. I'm not sure how big an area died, but they say it's starting to heal now.

 

DH got Drake back out to the van and then noticed that his rear leg was bleeding (doh) - and had to get them to look at him again. They wound up re-wrapping his back leg as well - so he's sporting bandages on both legs again. The surgeon didn't want to wait until next Monday to look at them again, so even though he doesn't normally see patients on Fridays - he's having us come in Friday morning for another check, and hopefully to remove the back bandages at the very least.

 

The surgeon here asked that we provide the histological report from OSU, but Dr. Marin/Couto explained that because Drake is not a formal patient, they cannot generate an official report. The staff reviewed the slides as a "favor" to Dr. Couto (who also looked at them, because he's a former histological guy). The surgeon's idea here was to send the report from OSU to Colorado University and ask them to cut new slides and see if they agree upon further review. I think that's still a workable idea, except I've got an informal email rather than a formal report. We'll see if I can talk them into it.

 

Hoping to catch Dr. Couto by email tomorrow when I've gotten some sleep and can type clearly (sorry for any muddled thoughts above) - I don't want to keep trying to get him on the phone when I know his volunteer hours are limited. I'd like to give him the opportunity to reply at his convenience, since it doesn't appear to be a life or death issue vs. a few days.

 

Thank you to everyone for asking, and for keeping us in your thoughts.

 

Hugs to all,

 

FL

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Update this morning:

 

Drake alerted us to a problem by falling off the couch. As you know, sleeping on the sofa is one of the primary skills of a greyhound - so we immediately figured something was wrong.

 

The bandages that had been put back on the rear leg were cutting off some blood flow and the leg above was bulging out about 3/4 of an inch or so. He stopped putting weight on that leg (and he really doesn't want to use the front paw - so I knew it was hurting).

 

I called the surgeon and he explained that he had made the mistake of trying to put bandages back on that leg a bit lighter because the thin greyhound skin was having trouble healing under the bandages - and by going lightly it was more likely that he wrapped it unevenly which can cause the venus blood to be impinged.

 

I took the bandages off the rear leg, and Drake obviously felt much better...

 

Then he felt very distracted because he wants to LICK LICK LICK it. We didn't want to use the muzzle at first because we were afraid he'd bash it with the muzzle and pop it open again. We tried the e-collar, but the little devil is able to use a combination of his long legs and his long needle nose to still get at it (and dig the edge of the e-collar in at the same time!!) so we switched to a muzzle with a stool cup.

 

I've got photos that I'll upload when I've got time.. perhaps tonight. If DH is comfortable I'll go ahead and leave them and head back to school now.

 

Hugs to all.

 

FL

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FL, you are surprisingly coherent in your updates! Very clear and linear. I'm so impressed! Not only that, but you're keeping a sense of humor! :bow2

 

Poor Drake. He's really going through it, huh? I hope you can get some quality email exchange going with Dr. Couto, so you can figure out what to do next. Drake is so lucky to have you caring for him. Intelligent, caring and capable. Lucky pup!

 

Hang in there!

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My Inspirations: Grey Pogo, borzoi Katie, Meep the cat, AND MY BELOVED DH!!!
Missing Rowdy, Coco, Brilly, Happy and Wabi.

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Ha! DH is not comfortable (he doesn't do blood - so I'm not surprised) - so I skipped the open lab session and stayed home to do homework, care for Drake, and get some photos updated ;-) Speaking of photos - one of them is bloody a bit - so don't read further if you get urp like hubby does! LOL

 

After I unwrapped the rear leg this morning it looked pretty good.

 

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It only looked good for about 2 minutes, because after we put the e-cone on him to prevent him from licking it.. he dug the edge of the e-collar in to lick at the bottom of the incision. ::sigh:: Then he followed that by bashing it with his muzzle as he tried to lick it when we switched to that option. This is the poor wound about 2 minutes after the first photo. Doh!

 

3611509656_98dfe8882d_b.jpg

 

I'll post a new thread about the uses of sanitary napkins, so you'll see these photos there too.. but DH suggested padding the end of the muzzle - and it was the first thing I thought of using! Padded, clean, and absorbent!!

 

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It's a good thing I used it - because (not downloaded from camera yet) - he's already been blotting his wound for us, LOL.

 

I'm going to look into the disposable pads to put under him so he has a cleaner than our dirty dog beds surface to lay around on.. but the vet did say that the wound was so granulated that he could probably poop on his leg and not get it infected at this point. Not sure about that - but at least it's a bit reassuring!! LOL

 

Xan - thanks for the compliment about my posts. I feel like I'm just jumping around in circles, so it's good to know it sounds somewhat coherent!

 

FL

 

 

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Updated the wrapping holding the sanitary napkin on, after some comments (wise ones) about the possibility of having issues if he vomited for any reason. I've tweaked it so the only area covered is that already covered by his stool guard.

 

It should be a bit safer, and still give the padding we were looking for.

 

3610972461_6d9825dcfa_b.jpg

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FL, I was finally able to catch up on your thread on Drake. As others have said, you are doing an amazing job of juggling his care, school and all the others things that have been happening. It is such positive word from Dr. Couto. Drake is just gorgeous and seems to be adjusting to his treatment nicely.

 

Tasha had a wound on her leg a few years ago in that same spot that had trouble healing. Our vet used BioDres (Biosynthetic Absorbent Wound Dressing) on it and finally it healed. It was a dressing that was changed every 48 hours (which I could do at home with their supplies). I don't know if it would be useful or if it wouldn't work in this case but thought I'd mention it.

 

All my good wishes for you and Drake that everything with go well for you both.

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Hobbes - April 2, 1994 to April 9, 2008-----Tasha - May 23, 2000 to March 31, 2013

Fiona - Aug 29, 2001 to May 5, 2014-----Bailey - March 22, 2001 to Jan 20, 2015

Zeke - June 1, 2004 - Jan 26, 2016----Callie - July 14, 2006 to July 27, 2019

Forever in my heart: Chooch, Molly, Dylan & Lucy

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Clever use of what was handy, there, FL! :lol My first thought was, "But, how can he breathe?", so I'm glad you modified it. :) The wound does look pretty good, and hopefully it won't open any more. That stuff Fiona3 suggests sounds interesting! Like something from Star Trek! :lol

 

Too bad hubby has to see both blood and sanitary napkins, but good thing for Drake his primary caretaker is a woman! :lol

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My Inspirations: Grey Pogo, borzoi Katie, Meep the cat, AND MY BELOVED DH!!!
Missing Rowdy, Coco, Brilly, Happy and Wabi.

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Update: We had a rough morning. Drake did fine until he got up for breakfast. After he ate, and went outside to potty he started crying softly in the living room. He just laid on his bed and whined softly and cried quietly.

 

I don't like how swollen his rear leg is (noticed it right out of the wraps) and that leg is significantly warmer to touch than the other three legs. I asked DH to confirm that he thought so too and while he was pressing gently on the leg to feel how firm or not the swelling was while he was there - a whole bunch of liquid welled up out of the wound. I think this must be why a lot of wounds are given drains - except he doesn't have one because they expected it to be a quickly healing incision from surgery.

 

I dug out some extra Tramadol and gave a dose this morning (he was prescribed 2, twice a day after surgery - so that's what I gave him this morning). Then I sat up with him and kept swapping out a warm moist cloth every few minutes (to keep it warm) to try and draw out any extra fluid that was ready to come out.

 

I'll call the vet shortly here..

 

My concern is more the heat in his leg, and his obvious pain (when he chooses to walk on the front paw and keep the rear leg raised instead - that's a significant change) - I wonder if he's getting an infection?

 

Suggestions welcome - and thank you!

 

FL

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Sounds like consult with your vet is in order. Could be an infection starting, or could be just seroma (fluid buildup), which can be painful in a place like a leg where there isn't a lot of room for the skin to stretch. Your warm compresses are best treatment for seroma altho vet can also draw off some fluid if it gets too bad.

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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Got an appointment for Drake for tomorrow morning. We'll keep going with warm compresses and pain meds in the meanwhile.

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Yikes, FL. Time consuming for you, and uncomfortable for poor Drake. Hopefully the compresses are soothing. I bet they are, and your presence (and the tramadol!) Let us know what the vet says.

:grouphug :grouphug

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My Inspirations: Grey Pogo, borzoi Katie, Meep the cat, AND MY BELOVED DH!!!
Missing Rowdy, Coco, Brilly, Happy and Wabi.

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Hi everyone! Sorry for not being able to get to the computer at all yesterday. We were working on getting the basement set for the waterproofing that is starting today (and with everything going on, hadn't done a darn thing until yesterday - it was an all day affair - got the last thing moved out of the required 4' from every perimeter wall at 5am this morning).

 

Drake's vet appointment was well timed yesterday morning. He was running a fever of 103.7, the leg was far more swollen than the surgeon had expected and he said that the character of the discharge had changed from what he had seen when he unwrapped it on Monday. He figured that "something" was going on in there, and he was going to start with assuming infection. (took a swab for culture).

 

It's now wrapped again, and Drake is on two antibiotics (Cipro, plus a new one I don't recall the name of off hand - a Sulfa drug of some sort), and I got him to give me a new round of Tramadol as well.

 

Poor Drake was feeling so very poor yesterday when I took him in that he actually wound up (after they bandaged the leg) lying down on the hard floor in the office (which he NEVER does), and stayed down, even when ladies came into the room!! (vet techs). He normally never stays down if a lady comes in to see him - he's a gentleman. He was listless, and not at all like our normal dog.

 

We started the antibiotics and even just two doses later we could already tell the difference. Fever is down, and Drake was his old self again (whew!).

 

Also - the front paw has had some more skin die on it, so the area of open wound is even larger.

 

I feel awful for Drake - he's had a really rough go of it, and here were are more than 3 weeks later and he's still all bandaged up (Purple bandages this time), and limping all over the place. For a while there he was only using the right legs - it's hard to limp on more than one leg at a time - but he was finding a way!!

 

Dr. Couto and I haven't been able to hook up since the disconnected phone call of a few days ago. Dr. P (who is working with me here, and who did Drake's surgery) has been trying to reach Dr. P for several days as well, but not having any luck, and Dr. Couto is about to head out of town for a couple of weeks.

 

In the meanwhile, Dr. P spoke with the person who diagnosed Drake with the double cancers, and she is very sure of her diagnoses - especially on the front leg (Hemangiosarcoma). She offered (and of course I accepted) to have more slides cut, and to send them to another person at OSU and give them to a colleague of hers at the University of Colorado to get us a 3rd and 4th opinion. Hopefully we'll hear something back from them early next week. The temptation is of course to just take Dr. Couto's diagnoses - but with two experts disagreeing, I'd really like to get more eyes on the issue to make sure we proceed with whatever treatment is needed.

 

Drake's next appointment is Monday morning.

 

Sorry I don't have any photos right now.. next light day will probably be Tuesday, and I"ll post some then.

 

Cheers!

 

FL

 

 

 

 

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Aw, FL, what a rough go you all are having! How do you manage to remain chirpy enough for a "Cheers!" sign-off?? You're something else!

 

Poor Drake. I hope the antibiotics knock the stuffing right out of the goo, and he feels well enough to use all four legs, or even three, soon!

 

:bighug

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My Inspirations: Grey Pogo, borzoi Katie, Meep the cat, AND MY BELOVED DH!!!
Missing Rowdy, Coco, Brilly, Happy and Wabi.

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Poor bug, and poor worried momma! Sending prayers the abx do the trick and he is comfy and bandage-free soon!

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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Looks like Dr. Couto was able to talk with Dr. Prostredny before Dr. Couto left town (he is gone for a couple of weeks, I believe). Drake has an appointment with Dr. P in the morning (Monday) and I'll get the details then.

 

Sounds like we'll be doing a 3 week course of expensive antibiotic that they don't even carry at the animal hospital (something with a Z sound I think - he said it's about $10 a day for the meds - but of course that's a drop in the bucket at this point). We'll also be doing a 6 week course of Doxy.

 

Also up next week should be the 3rd and 4th opinions regarding the biopsies. Hoping that 3 and 4 both agree with Dr. Couto and OSU's assessment!

 

I broke out the dremel today because both Drake and Kaylee's nails had gotten out of control. I couldn't trim Drake's nails on the left feet because the bandages go too low on both sides - but we trimmed the right a bit. Kaylee hates having her nails trimmed (but the dremel is far better than actual nail clippers) but she did very well today. Lots of treats! (We call it the "OH BOY!" game - every few moments I give a happy excited "OH BOY" and then give out treats - lamb jerkey today).

 

Tomorrow is my LONG day - vet appointment at 8:45am actually lets me sleep in until 7:30 (normally I'm at work at 8am), then work until 4 or 4:30pm, Microbiology lecture 5:30pm to 6:45pm, and Microbiology Lab from 7pm to 9:40pm. Home by around 10:30pm or so. Oh, and my second summer class starts tomorrow as well - but it's online, so I can work around my other obligations.

 

We've had a good restful weekend though - I got at least 10 hours of sleep both nights. Drake felt well enough to climb into bed with us both nights, too! (He generally declines to come to bed with us if he's feeling too far off - would rather not be crowded with us plus Kaylee in the king sized bed I guess).

 

Cheers to all!

 

FL

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Update:

 

Dr. Couto and Dr. Prostredny spoke on Friday before Dr. Couto left the office (whew!) - and Dr. Couto suggested that it's possible that Drake has Barronella (spelling?) although he wasn't at all sure. Just in case he does, we are going to put Drake on a 3 week course of Azithromycin, and a 6 week course of Doxy. We are also running the titer test for Barronella - except that a negative doesn't clear the possibility of him having one of the strains that they just can't test for. I guess we hope for a positive result on that test then, so we can pin down a cause of the inflammation that was part of both masses that were removed. We can start the Azithromycin while we continue the Cipro and the ----sulfa antibiotics - but have been told to wait on the Doxy until we are almost done with the Cipro and ---- sulfa (Sorry I can't remember the name of that second antibiotic off hand - the bottle is at home).

 

Wound Healing update:

 

Dr. P thinks that the front paw has finally stopped dying off and that he's got a section of missing skin that is about the size of a half-dollar, along with a couple of smaller dime sized holes. He's getting a lot of drainage off the front paw at this point, so much so that Drake has been leaving little brown splotches all over the house as the drainage soaked the bandages and padding within about 36 hours of having it put on him last time. Dr. P says that drainage is good at this point, and not to be surprised if that happens again.

 

The rear leg looks a lot better, but is still doing some draining of it's own - and there is still quite a bit of swelling.

 

Drake is all re-wrapped in teal bandages this time.. and we go back in for a bandage change on Thursday. Because of the amount of drainage - we don't want to wait too long to change 'em out. They were willing to go until Friday, but I work on Fridays and not on Thursdays (and boy is my boss DONE with all these extra mornings off).

 

Speaking of - gonna get back to work. Just wanted to give the update real quick.

 

Cheers to all,

 

FL

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Guest Energy11

WOW!! YOU HAVE been through a lot!

 

Sounds like you are on the right track, getting this infection under control, and going from there. Hang in there, ... I am sure things will continue to improve for you and Drake.

 

Lots of good thoughts and prayers from us! Dee

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Whew!

Hope these antibiotics turn the tide (ew! Considering the drainage issues, that's a gross image! :P )

 

Something's better, since he was feeling well enough to get on the bed with you all.

:bighug :bighug

GT-siggy-spring12.jpg

My Inspirations: Grey Pogo, borzoi Katie, Meep the cat, AND MY BELOVED DH!!!
Missing Rowdy, Coco, Brilly, Happy and Wabi.

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Dr. Couto and Dr. Prostredny spoke on Friday before Dr. Couto left the office (whew!) - and Dr. Couto suggested that it's possible that Drake has Barronella (spelling?) although he wasn't at all sure.

Probably Bartonella. Bartonella linky.Wonderful that you connected with Dr. Couto.

 

A little food for thought on the 3rd & 4th opinions - greytmonty here on GT went through something similiar & Dr. Couto was right & Monty did not have the lymphoma the lab insisted he had. I hope that Drake has the same success.

 

Good luck with the boss - I had one boss explain to me that he was getting off easy since I didn't have kids. I've used that as my guideline ever since. :)

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Deirdre with Conor (Daring Pocobueno), Keeva (Kiowa Mimi Mona), & kittehs Gemma & robthomas.

Our beloved angels Faolin & Liath, & kittehs Mona & Caesar. Remembering Bobby, Doc McCoy, & Chip McGrath.

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