Whitey's Amputation Is Friday

[Guest bigorangedog]

I did get a tripawd t-shirt from Cara Lea which was a great help. But I don't think the three weeks of bandages is typical.

 

Ooh, can you tell me how to get one of those? Thanks!!

[Tracey]

I did get a tripawd t-shirt from Cara Lea which was a great help. But I don't think the three weeks of bandages is typical.

 

Ooh, can you tell me how to get one of those? Thanks!!

 

Here's a link to the page on Cara's website: Critter Cozies

That's my sweet angel Cosmo modeling hers. Once she started feeling more like herself it was difficult to keep her from licking the incision and it was important that it still breathe. The t-shirt was a nice breathable buffer between Cosmo's incision site and her tongue. It also helped as a nice barrier when she got jostled by the other dogs and it helped keep her clean when she was out in the yard as well. Cara-Lea's in Canada, so I gave her my FEDEX account number to get it here quicker since it was really helpful to have the shirt for about the first one-four weeks after amputation (I think she would have felt too painful to put it on her before that). I also found it was less alarming to others to walk Cosmo in her t-shirt while her fur was growing back in. Seeing her in a pink tee made her a lot less scary to little kids, etc.

[Guest ChasesMum]

DANG I wish I had one (or 6) or those for George. We donated some old undershirts of DH's to his cause, they were washed as regularly as his blankets and quilts (at least daily LOL)

 

Hope Whitey does well!

 

George was bandaged for... 3 days? 4 days? but he needed seepage intervention a lot...

[Guest argolola]

Prayers for precious Whitey. God bless you all.

[sdisto]

I'm so glad to hear that Whitey came through surgery well. When Jesse had his amputation 2 years ago (also his right front leg), they originally told me he would be able to come home the next day but ended up keeping him for an extra day. They said that it was due to the level of pain that he had the first night and I was happy that he would be under their constant care for an extra day. (He was in the ICU the entire time.)

 

I was worried about Jesse getting around after surgery too, but he totally surprised me. He was younger than Whitey (only 6 years old) but by the time I picked him up 2 days after his surgery he was getting along fine. In fact, when I took him out to the van and was wondering how I was going to get him in without hurting him, he hopped right in! I guess he was pretty excited to be going home. Jesse did not have a bandage either and no seepage. I have always been told by various vets that it is better to leave a wound open to breath if at all possible. (Lots of fosters, lots of vet trips - spays, neuters, happy tail, track injuries, etc.)

 

I hope Whitey's recovery goes as well as Jesse's. I agree with others that the first two weeks were very hard - and I questioned my decision constantly. But all of a sudden at the end of the 2 weeks things turned around and he was a changed dog. Just hang in there for a bit and it will all be worth it.

Edited November 14, 2009 by sdisto

[Guest bigorangedog]

Here's the Saturday update on Whitey... We just went to visit him. They are keeping him another night because he is not walking on his own yet. He is still too shaky and weak. Judging from the stoned look in his eyes, some of that at least is from the pain meds. He has a Fentanyl patch on, and I'm not sure what else they've given him. He can stand up on his own but that's it. The wheeled him into the visiting room on a gurney, so we did not see him try to get up or walk. He was panting when we saw him, but they said that he has mostly been sleeping and not panting, so it was probably from being moved. They also said he had only eaten a few bites, but we brought him some chicken nuggets from Arby's and he ate all 8 of them. They were impressed, and had us go get some more after the visit and drop them off, so they will try to feed them to him later if he still refuses his regular food.

 

I didn't get to see the surgery site because he was all wrapped up in a bandage. But he otherwise looked fine, if totally out of it. I am hoping as some of the drugs get through his system he will perk up. They said he has whined a little, but that he's on such good pain meds that the whining should not be from pain. But they did say that he is mostly resting, so that is good.

 

They want him to be a little more mobile before he goes home, so they are keeping him another night. I understand it, but wish I could have him home. I never trust anyone to take care of him as well as myself. We'll call tonight before bed for another progress report, and then hopefully get him in the late morning or lunchtime tomorrow.

 

Oh, and Sunny (our daughter) went with us to see him, and seemed not to even notice that he was missing a leg. She pointed out the bandage (maybe she thought the leg was wrapped under that?) and was concerned that we be very careful with him because he has an owie, but that's it.

 

Missing my boy.

 

Jen

[brandimom]

Thanks for the update. Glad you decided to take Sunny with you. Glad he liked the chicken nuggets, good sign. Continued prayers!

[Guest Energy11]

Chicken nuggets were a very good idea! Hopefully, he can come home soon. Pain meds stink, but they are necessary! Good luck and lots of love to you!

[MandysMom]

I'm glad you got to see Whitey and that he would eat a bit. Sending good thoughts that he'll be home tomorrow.

[Guest eaglflyt]

Side note: I am having a heck of a time getting in touch with anyone at OSU. Our materials arrived there on Monday morning. We left 2 phone messages and 2 emails to different email addys, but only Thursday late afternoon got an email saying they couldn't open the xray files on the CD. So I rushed to have the clinic resend them via email. Got another short email back from Dr Marin saying basically, "Yep, looks like osteo to us too." But we have 10,000 questions and I can't get them to call me back. In particular, we want to see whether they will send chemo for him. Anyone have suggestions on how to get through?

 

My friend is having the same problem with OSU and her possible osteo hound, too! Can't get any calls, only short emails from Dr. Marin with no answers to her questions. Very disappointing. : (

 

The local vets think it's probably osteo, but not sure. She hoped someone from OSU would talk with her vet about doing FNA, rather than a bone biopsy. The x-rays of her dog are somewhere between here and OSU's vets hands and not sure where. She can't get anyone to call her either.

 

I'm really sorry both of you are having the same trouble.

 

Prayers for your hound, you and your family.

 

 

[queenwinniesmom]

Thanks for the update! Sounds like everyone has a pretty good handle on things. I know you feel like you want him home, but it's probably best that he stays at the vets tonight---and you can get some rest. He should at least be walking. so hopefully, tomorrow he will be feeling stronger. Good idea about the chicken nuggets!

I'm wondering about the bandage too. I remember that Winnie didn't have a bandage. I would think that you'd have to be able to tell if there is any fluid build-up at the incision site. If there is, it's a breeding ground for bacteria, and you really don't want an infection there. Is there another vet who's opinion you could ask about this?

So how did you feel when you saw him? I bet you were just thinking about getting him home and starting the recovery process, weren't you? You are a LOT stronger than you think! Great that it was more of a non-issue for Sunny.

I'm sending him lots of "get well, be strong" thoughts.

 

[Guest bigorangedog]

The local vets think it's probably osteo, but not sure. She hoped someone from OSU would talk with her vet about doing FNA, rather than a bone biopsy. The x-rays of her dog are somewhere between here and OSU's vets hands and not sure where. She can't get anyone to call her either.

 

Please tell your friend to not let them do a bone biopsy. It's painful and can increase the chance of a fracture. I did get OSU to look at my xrays (on Thursday night) but I do still have a bunch of Qs they haven't answered. But at least they did confirm for me that it is osteo. So hopefully your friend can at least get that. If it is, there's no point in doing a biopsy. At most, a FNA. I assume Dr Marin sent her a bunch of articles on bone cancer in greyhounds? If not, email me and I will send them to give to her vet.

 

If the local vet is not sure, maybe they can refer her to a local oncologist/surgeon to review the xrays. My surgeon took a higher-resolution xray than my vet was able to, and from that could tell that it was osteo. They also should do a lung xray before doing anything else, because if it is in the lungs already than amputation is probably off the table.

 

Best of luck to your friend. If she wants to talk, I'm happy to email with her.

 

Jen

 

[Guest bigorangedog]

So how did you feel when you saw him? I bet you were just thinking about getting him home and starting the recovery process, weren't you?

 

How did I feel? Like I wanted to scoop him up, put him in the car and get the hell out of there. I would be a lot happier if he were snuggled up in bed right now, with me waiting on him hand and foot.

 

I was mostly worried about leaving him again, or that he would have a terrified look on his face. But the look on his face was of total 'zone-out'....pink elephants and rainbows. I think he knew that it was me, and he was certainly happy to get the nuggets, but I suspect he forgot me as soon as I was out of sight. Which honestly is good. If he was too happy to see me, it would've killed me to leave him there tonight.

 

I'm wondering if part of his problem walking is the gigantic bandage they've got him in. You know how some of these guys are, when they even have a bandage around a torn dewclaw they act like they are crippled for life. (Also, obviously, he's totally stoned.) And yes, I already emailed my "good" vet to ask her about the bandage. But at this point, I am inclined to unbandage him once he's home and just keep a clean t-shirt on him.

 

 

 

[GreyPoopon]

It sounds like he's doing pretty well, even if he's not where you want him to be. I hope he is walking well enough to come home tomorrow, and that his pain is still under control.

[Guest bigorangedog]

Heard from my "good" vet about the bandaging....

 

She said that it is for compression to minimize subcutaneous fluid buildup, and that she thinks it is a good idea for 5-7 days (not 3 weeks). What do y'all think of that? She said the only reason to remove earlier would be if it is hindering his movement too much so that he doesn't want to try walking (which may be the case, too early to tell).

 

We got our nighttime update just now, and they had just heated up and fed him the chicken strips that we brought this afternoon. They said he loves his chicken. (We are vegetarian, so it is not something he usually gets!) So I am glad that he is eating. She was going to take him out to the carpeted lobby tonight when everyone else was gone to try him walking on carpet. We'll see what she says in the morning. I like this tech.

[Guest Rogersmom]

Oh Jen, I am sorry that Whitney has an oowie. We hope he has a complete and speedy recovery. Reading threads about amputations makes me worry about the future with my puppy boy. It seems like all greyhounds end up with osteo. Where is OSU? All of this is new to me. I feel for you all. You are far more courageous than I am.

[GreytHurleyDawg]

Oh, Whitey, I feel for you!! I hope he comes home today!! We had Hurley in ICU for preventative gastropexy last weekend and we needed him to stay until Monday after his surgery Saturday because we were both working Sunday night. It worked out well be cause he needed to be there anyway: he wasn't eating and they wouldn't discharge him until he ate (which he did on his own Monday morning b4 we got there). Hurley had bad post-op bleeding and the closing was difficult so I now know about the aminoacyl anesthetic thing.

 

Many hugs and good thought being sent your way!! I am so touched by your story of Whitey and Sunny and everything else. It is so good to hear that people really do adopt older children. If we ever decide to adopt, we have agreed that that's what we'd do.

 

I'm sure the exact bandaging and hospital stay time is individual so i know you will do what is right!!

 

Best of luck getting your boy home for good!!

[Bevd]

Re bandaging. I can only tell you of our experience with Darcy as (thankfully) that's all the experience we have. She came home the day after surgery and she had no bandage at all. We found that she lay on her 'bad' side and it used to make me feel green just thinking about her doing it but I checked with the vet and he said that it was natures way of keeping the area compressed so as much as it made me feel peculiar () we just let her get on with it.

[joejoesmom]

Oh Jen, I am sorry that Whitney has an oowie. We hope he has a complete and speedy recovery. Reading threads about amputations makes me worry about the future with my puppy boy. It seems like all greyhounds end up with osteo. Where is OSU? All of this is new to me. I feel for you all. You are far more courageous than I am.

OSU is Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio.

No, not all greyhounds end up with osteo. Cancer is common in all dogs. If a greyhound gets cancer, it is more likely to be osteo. I am not sure of these statistics (maybe someone can confirm or correct): About 25 percent of greyhounds get cancer, about 50 percent of these cancer dogs get osteo. Interestingly, Galgos (spanish greyhounds) do not have this much of an issue with osteo. The question is, do american greyhounds get it because of genetics (most greyhounds are related in some way), is it all the medications they get at the track, or (least likely in my opinion) because of the racing itself. These are some of the questions the docs are trying to figure out in hopes of preventing it.

 

Jane

[Guest bigorangedog]

Small White Dog is home, but not doing terribly well. He allows Lloyd (DH) to carry him around, but does not really make any attempt to move on his own. When we got home and opened the van door, he got himself from lying down flat on his side to propped up on his elbow, and that caused him to yelp. Lloyd got him out, and set him down on the driveway. He really makes no effort to support his own weight. Lloyd carried him in and set him down on the bed, and he is lying there now.

 

The vet tech said that he was getting around relatively well last night, but this morning did not want to walk. Don't know whether it is pain, balance, the drugs, the bandage, the swelling, the general feeling-crappy, or being scared. So therefore, not sure how to help him.

 

He's got a big bandage on, like I said, but the bruising/swelling comes down below the bandage, and a little bit down his good front leg. I guess I did expect that, although I'm not sure how much of it to expect. I wish that I could see the surgical site, but they don't want this bandage off for a week (my regular vet said 5 days, and I'll be listening to her instead). We'll see at that point whether my regular vet wants to rebandage, although the surgeon said 3 weeks of bandage.

 

I'm inclined to let him rest for another day before trying to encourage him to get up and about more. His Fentanyl patch will come off tomorrow, and maybe that will help him feel less dopey? Otherwise he is just on Deramaxx (75mg) and Tramadol (50mg twice a day), plus the aminocaproic acid.

 

He'll reliably eat chicken, but haven't been able to get him to eat much else yet.

 

Jen

[Batmom]

Others will chime in but the drugs are likely having a huge impact on his interest in moving around. Even just Tramadol does weird things to Joseph, and Small White Sweetheart has Fentanyl, Tramadol, and likely still some remnants of the surgical drugs in his system. Sending gentle hugs and hopes each day is a little better.

[Guest Energy11]

I have never dealt with an amputee dog, but I am sure it is a little of everything ... pain, trauma from the surgery, and of course, the pain. I will bet, once you can wean him of the pain meds, you will see a difference, but, by no means, withhold pain meds.

 

Wishing you the best of luck with this!

[Guest bigorangedog]

 

[Guest Energy11]

Even all bandaged up, what a sweet, handsome boy you have! GOD LOVE HIM!

 

We wish you ONLY the best! Sending lots of healing love and many prayers! Dee and The Five

[Guest VaGreymom]

Sweetie hope your feeling better soon. Gentle hugs and