Sterling Has Osteosarcoma

[robinw]

[Bevd]

I'm glad he's had his surgery and is now on the way to recovery

 

I've never known a dog go home within a few hours of this surgery before. I hope you both managed to get some rest

[HopeForHounds]

Just checking in to let you know I'll be thinking of you today.

[Guest vahoundlover]

[Guest EmbersDad]

ember stayed overnight after her surgery. we were fortunate that she didnt have any bleeding. the blood did pool at the bottom of her chest, but was reabsorbed fairly quickly. she had lost a lot of weight, but it slowly came back. i know its shocking to see. ember had the fentanyl patch already applied when i picked her up, and to my surprise, was even able to jump in the car! stay strong for sterling. he needs you right now. he needs the positive energy of his pack and their leader. it will and does get better. i had good luck with vanilla ensure. maybe sterling would lap that up? it is lactose free.

[Guest FullMetalFrank]

I hope you guys made it thru the night OK and got some sleep, at least. How is he this morning? Sending prayers.

[Guest RynnAndLyra]

Good Morning Everyone.

 

Whew. We both got maybe and hour and 1/2 sleep. The crying was non stop. I tried being on the floor with him - stroking his head. Nothing stopped it. It was like he needed to cry. He was still heavily sedated - and I think that was the biggest thing. He had a pee accident on his bed. Was able to move him a bit (with screaming) to put a towel under him.

 

5:00 am. We knew we had to get him up and outside. Oh the screams he made - but we had to. Used a towel as a sling and walked him out the slider to the backyard. Still walking like he was sedated. EmbersDad - I don't know how you did this by yourself! He didn't want - or couldn't pee. Brought him back in and got on his bed - he is confused about how to lay down.

 

I went upstairs to get coffee (even forgot to turn on my coffee) and he was up. Came down and repeated - no luck. Back in. No sooner had he gotten settled - he got himself up and WALKED to the slider! I opened the door and that dog had it figured out. He was going at a pretty good pace - hop hop - and needed to go all the way in the backyard - and peed!!! He was then pretty weak - so we used the sling and helped him back in.

 

He ate a jar of baby food and some cottage cheese and drank some water. Not much - but will keep offering food. I will pick up some vanilla ensure - good idea EmbersDad.

 

Dr. Bill will come over this afternoon to remove the iv and check him out. He called me twice last night to check on him. As it is was late - we were both talking about what we were watching on late night tv!

 

So far the cats are leaving him alone. I was on the couch and ended up with all five. Didn't matter - wasn't sleeping anyway - just watching the clock and listening to him cry. Supposed to be 80 degrees here today. Thank goodness the den stays cool - and I do have air conditioning.

 

Thank you all so much for your replies. I don't feel alone in this - and that helps greatly!

 

 

[Guest trevdog]

Hang in there.....

[Neighsayer]

Hugs! It will get better.

[Xan]

Wow!! He got up and walked and peed on his own, and he's eating some!! Merann, that's all great!

 

I know you must be exhausted. You're getting there, though! Every hour gets you closer to normalcy.

 

We're with you! Hang on!

 

:bighug

[Guest BooMooandDoo]

Go Sterling!

 

Merann, when Mazie had her back surgery (nothing like an amputation) the sedatives made her more anxious and hard to settle. If you can, talk to Dr Bill about which meds he needs and which he doesn't. When we took her off of the sedatives and reduced the pain meds she was in more pain, but actually settled down and would sleep. Good luck!

[Guest FLT]

Hang in there.. I cannot even imagine what you are going through (although I may find out all too soon with Drake). I've got very positive thoughts coming Sterling's way.. I hope he's going to start feeling better today!

 

Hugs,

 

FL

[Guest RynnAndLyra]

Please does anyone know how much the wound site should be bleeding? He is on the anti bleeding medication that OSU suggested. It is still oozing.

 

He did go out by himself and did a pretty good poo (followed later by a runny one). And he has peed again.

 

He has been crying off and on. I hope now he is taking a nap. He is right behind me. I was working on washing the dried blood off his hind leg.

 

Dr. Bill is supposed to come over later - I just wondered if any of you had experience with the bleeding.

 

Thanks much.

[Guest MorganKonaAlex]

I believe the oozing lasted a few days for my 2 tripods. Do you have a shirt on him? You can use a sanitary pad stuck on the inside of a snug shirt to catch the ooze.

[Xan]

Or jammy pants, or sweat pants, or shorts, since it's a rear leg? Would that work?

 

Just got back in, and this is the first thing I needed to do: check on Sterls! Hope you're all getting some rest. Tell us what Dr. Bill has to say.

 

Hugs!

 

[Guest greydogluvr]

I believe that oozing (dark red in color) is pretty typical. When my Willie had his amputation, December 31, 08, he was not oozing very much at all when he came home, but he also stayed at the hospital overnight. I believe the first night while in the hospital he had oozing. The surgeon explained that this was due to the body trying to fill the void left by the amputation. As long as it is decreasing and not getting worse or excessive this sounds typical.

 

Is the site bandaged or covered by a pressure bandage? This helped Willie have almost zero bruising. I would ask your vet about a pressure bandage. They are net like sweaters they wear over the amputation site. I will look for a picture of Willie with his on so you have a reference.

 

I have been following your journey from the beginning and have benn sending peaceful healing thoughts to your boy. He is just beautiful. When these first few days are behind you, believe me Sterling will thank you. Even though I only got a few additional months with Willie, they were the best days of his life. There were times that I second guessed my decision but just knowing that the surgery pain would heal was so much better than knowing the pain form the cancer would continue to worsen. Hugs to you both.

[Guest Vinnie]

We had oozing for the first few days and extra fluid until it all got absorbed. And the first night was whimpering until he learned how to settle down on his own. Of course, once he started doing that, I winced every time he would lay down - he would plop down on the side of his amputation and to me it looked very painful. But it didn't seem to bother him after the first few times. Just make sure to keep ahead of the pain. And grab sleep whenever you can. Sending prayers and healing white light for sweet Sterling and you.

[Guest BooMooandDoo]

Just checking in to see how you guys are doing this morning.

[Guest RynnAndLyra]

Good morning Everyone,

 

Another rough rough night. But - I think we figured it out - he is getting too much Tramadol - because he already has the patch! What we saw last night was a drug response - not a response to pain. He was up all night with it. So this morning he has had his antibiotic and thyroid pill but not his etogesic and tramadol. We are going to wait a bit and then give 1/2 dose of the Tramadol.

 

I got to go to bed last night and Lisa took over. She said he did not sleep all night. I got up at 5:00 when Lisa had to go to work and he was actually sleeping. He slept for four hours!!! He is now making little whining noises - but not so bad. I'm so glad he finally slept some.

 

The oozing seems to have stopped. Wish Dr. Bill had suggested a pressure bandage or sanitary pad like you all did. Dr. Bill did come by yesterday afternoon and removed the iv. Sterls was not happy that Dr. Bill was in "His House"!!!

 

I too hate it when he lays down. He hasn't quite figured out how to do it and takes a few minutes to do it.

 

There is a lot of extra fluid in the groin area that needs to get reabsorbed - but Dr. Bill thinks it looks fine.

 

Xan - now I have to make him pj pants!!! I am soooo not good at this.

 

Lori - thanks for checking in. I'm hoping each day will get better for him. The challenege today is getting him to eat. We have tried vanilla Ensure. Nope. Hot dogs. Nope. His regular wet food. One bite. Steak. Nope. Baby food - 2 whole jars - yup. Chicken. Nope. Cottage cheese - a little bit. We will keep trying different things.

 

Will check with Dr. Bill on him. He now has runny poos and that could be as a result of the anti bleeding medication.

 

Thank you everyone - so much.

[Bevd]

You may already be doing this but when you attempt to feed him, are you offering him the food on a spoon? For some reason, this often works, when they won't eat out of a bowl or from a hand

[Guest FLT]

When all else fails, my guys will often eat something like Hawaiian bread - I"m not sure why, but they love it! (especially the inner part away from the crust).

[Guest Beth]

Wow! I just found this thread. Our girl Anna broke her leg badly and had reconstructive surgery Thursday. We've been going through much the same thing as you. She has a Fentanyl patch as the main source of pain mitigation, too, plus Tramadol and Rimadyl. She had a very restless night last night, fussing and whining, until DH took her to the e-vet and they gave her a sedative, acepromazin. Turns out the e-vet on duty last night performs spay and neutering for one of the greyhound groups in state, so she was very familiar with greys. She said the narcotic could be contributing to her anxiety. The patch comes off tomorrow, and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. We're getting her to take her meds orally, so hopefully she'll continue to do that. How much Tramadol are you giving? Anna is getting 75 mg every 8-12 hours.

 

We have used 2 other things that I haven't seen mentioned here for getting meds down - cooked hot dog (cooled slightly) and sliced deli roast beef. The later wraps around pills quite nicely, and our guys scarf it up.

 

I'll be thinking of you and Sterling. Hang in there!

[Guest greydogluvr]

We had a bit of pooling under Willie's stomach, too. It looks bad but like your vet said, it will be reabsorbed. I am so glad to hear that Sterling is on the raod to recovery. Hang in there. Soon you will be amazed at how well he gets around.

[Xan]

And nutritional yeast!

[Guest greydogluvr]

How is your boy this morning? Hoping that you all got some rest.