Osteo Diagnosis

[Guest azlorenz]

I am so sorry to hear about Sirocco.

 

The oncologist is supposed to call tomorrow with the CBC and Platelet count. Pray that it is a minor problem and not a major problem.

[teri_d]

carol - i thought of you all day yesterday you know our hearts are with you today -- i think a 7.5 memorial is an awesome idea - if you find out about this, would you please let me know so i can add some to it? please know we are right there with you - neyla and puck - hope you are more "on" today! shannon - when will you know more info on flash today?

Edited August 7, 2010 by teri_d

[Charlies_Dad]

 

Hi, I'm new to this group. My Gracie was diagnosed with osteosarcoma one week ago. Mmy husband and I have been crying all week. She is being assessed for an amputation. She sometimes wont eat so I put her pill in liverworst, just a tiny bit. I'm so sorry for all of us dealing with this nasty diseas

 

Gracys mom

 

I am very sorry for Gracie's diagnosis. We are here for you like many on GT. If you have any questions at all please post them or feel free to contact me at my personal e-mail, kyle241_2000@yahoo.com. Our Charlie had his amp 2 1/2 weeks ago and his first Chemo treatment and is doing well. If you choose to go the amp path, there are things you should do to prepare when she comes home, it will make it easier on her and you.

 

- Carpet the floors if you have wood/tile

- Prepare food in advance (if you home cook) as you will be too busy/too stressed

- If you have stairs in/out of the house, a ramp for her to walk up would be good however not mandatory

- Prepare a room/location in the house where she can sleep/rest undisturbed and if you can sleep in the same location as her

- Obtain a sling from your vet/hospital or even better purchase a Ruffwear web harness

- Take some time off work as she will need you to help her at times

- They may whine, scream, etc. post amp, don't panic but do stay ahead of the pain. Make sure you be on-time with her pain meds even if it is 2am. Ask you vet what if anything you can increase dosage in case she has pain

- If possible, have Gracie stay in the hospital 4-5 days, it will be easier on you and her unless she is too anxious there. If she is an anxious one, then bring her home.

- Bring her food to the hospital to help her eat and/or cook her something special. Sometimes their appetites go off post amp.

- Expect her to be out on drugs for the first few days and slowly she will come back. Depending on the pup, some take longer than others to be back to themselves. This may take 2 weeks to 4-5 weeks.

 

Again, regardless of what path you choose, amp or pain management, please reach out to us.

 

 

 

Flash is home from his 10 days post-chemo treatment appointment. Bad news is he had several broken capillaries around his amp site when I came home last night. Pin head size around 10 of them. They've dispursed a bit now. Oncologist says it is more than likely low platlets. They are sending all his bloodwork out and she'll call tomorrow. Good news is he seems to be feeling fine. From what I've read about Carboplatin's side effects low platlets count can be one of them. Fooooeeeeeeeeeeey.

 

Shannon, that sucks. I hope it can be addressed easily and quickly and doesn't delay his next Chemo on Wednesday.

 

 

 

Neyla is still a tad off. She looked good when I got home, but then she proceeded to run around with a toy, which is good b/c at least she felt well enough to do it, but bad b/c of course it exacerbated any pain. So I'll just keep giving the extra 25 mg of Tramadol before bed for now and see what happens.

 

Okay Neyla stop that. You're worrying your Mom and all of us. The next post I want to hear you're doing better!

 

 

I hope Neyla and Puck are just off because of the heat.

 

Sirocco joined Chase and the rest of our bridge babies today. We are all doing ok. Nikki has been whining and pacing a bit. Yukon claimed Sirocco's favorite bed in the family room. I miss him so much but I would not want him back in pain. It helped me a lot that Dr Sheff was there.

 

I've been thinking that I would like to come up with a donation in honor of the 7.5 club for the Hope for Hounds auction. I am not creative so if anyone has any ideas, I would really appreciate it.

 

Carol, I am so sorry. I know what you mean by not having them in pain, that is most important and you gave Sirocco the last gift of love for him, not an easy one at all. Your idea of a donation is brilliant as it would be an awesome memorial for Sirocco and all the other brave pups that are part of this 'club'.

 

Kyle

Edited August 7, 2010 by Charlies_Dad

[teri_d]

but kyle - where's the update on charlie? how's he doing and how are YOU doing since you're back out on the road

[Charlies_Dad]

Teri,

 

Charlie is doing well. Funny, I was going to ask the very same of Rivie! His Chemo was Wednesday and so far no ill affects however we'll see how the next several days go as it's only been 3. One funny thing is he has gone off bananas since the Chemo which is really strange as he loved them before. Everything else, he is first in line for including tofu chunks, peaches, nectarines, breakfast, dinner...one can go on and on about his eating habits.

 

Here he is enjoying our bed (we didn't allow this before and he needed to be encouraged to get on):

 

This morning playing with his octopus:

 

 

He ripped the moose stuffie right out of Jack's mouth this morning after running into him first so Charlie is back and letting everyone know it.

 

So how is Rivie today?

Edited August 7, 2010 by Charlies_Dad

[Guest azlorenz]

Way to go Charlie!!! Hey, it looks like you got a way better haircut than Flash did. His looks like a blind man did it. Thankfully it is growing back fast.

[Guest ChasesMum]

Way to go Charlie!!! Hey, it looks like you got a way better haircut than Flash did. His looks like a blind man did it. Thankfully it is growing back fast.

BWWAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHA!

 

Shannon I hope everything is good with his platlet counts. chase's were really low - but from ehrlichia not chemo, she had little hemmorages/bumps all over her. looked like she got attacked by a swarm of "busteetos" as my 2yo calls them.

 

 

for Puck, are you giving any meds like pepcid or anything like that? Maybe that will help take away the nausea a little and get him feeling more like eating? also, nutritional yeast flakes (this is not regular yeast) is packed full of B vitamins and increaes appetite. there is a post in the food forum about it if you go looking back.

 

Jen I hope Neyla is doing better today! silly girl.

 

carol, big giant hugs to you! Sirocco was a brave soul, and he had a wonderful family who loves him so very much. It really really sucks though.

[Guest ChasesMum]

Pardon my silly question, but common sense says diary is good for bones. Have any studies been done on feeding dogs more diary to prevent osteo? Not only do I feed my Bella yogurt as a treat...but I think it may help prevent osteo

 

just thought last night... do you mean osteoPOROSIS? which is loss of bone mass and density? our pups have bone cancer, osteoSARCOMA, a very different case and definitley not preventable with dairy.

[NeylasMom]

Carol, I'm so sorry you had to let Sirocco go.

 

Kyle, love that pic of Charlie in your bed. Question, just out of curiosity - he seems to have more of a stump than I've typically seen. Is that b/c of where his cancer was located or just your vet's technique? Or maybe I havne't seen that many amps after all. I think the nausea usually comes 2-3 days post-chemo so seems like a good sign that Charlie is doing so well (minus the bananas ). He really is a trooper - he is coming through all of this so beautifully. Makes my heart happy.

 

Not sure what to report on Neyla. She was running and playing in the condo with toys this morning, but she is dragging on walks some, but her back leg is also tired right now so hard to tell. I'll keep her on the extra bit of Tramadol until I am more confident the pain is resolved.

 

I did stop her artemisinin last night - finally finally decided to switch to a cycling regimen, which means she will have time on the arte and time off. I know it makes sense in teh long run, but it was really hard to stop a supplement, even for a few days, that I believe is helping her. Even if I need to do it in order for it to remain effective, those days she is off of it are days it can't do its job. When it's time to put her back on, I'm going to try to gradually increase the dosage and also eventually work in cycling with curcumin, which is supposed to enhance its effectiveness greatly. that her stomach issues calm down with this change.

[Guest azlorenz]

Just heard from the oncologist. She said his bloodwork was not scary like she thought it might be. She said his platelets and WBC were low but no lower than she would expect after Carboplatin. She said his bloodwork certainly didn't indicate he should be having broken capillaries so she didn't really know what it was. She said we are still on schedule unless something out of the ordinary happens this week.

 

Here are what the spots (smaller red dots not his nips) look like today. IMO they are a lot less red. He has had the bruise since his amputation and it is reducing slowly.

 

 

 

P.S. I wish I had taken a picture of the blindman's haircut but I didn't and it has grown back enough now the effect is gone.

Edited August 7, 2010 by azlorenz

[NeylasMom]

Great news Shannon!

 

 

Neyla just made some serious attempts to play with her brother so she must be feeling somewhat better. This is their thing - they have never been snuggly or played together but over hte last year or so, Neyla has decided she wants to play with him, but only right after they eat. Zuri totally ignores her until she gives up or I finally step in to be a subpar substitute. I will have to do a better job of keeping the camera handy - I've never gotten video of taht.

[Guest azlorenz]

Glad Neyla is feeling good! That warms ones heart.

[Guest ChasesMum]

aww poor Neyla! Chase used to do something similar with George, she wanted to play tug and sometimes he would grab onto the toy too, but once she growled at him then he backed off. So she then moved onto asking the oldest DD to play after he passed away. She kept ahold of the toy when she growled (always in play - her tail was wagging a mile a minute!) and Chase was in her glory. She would actually take a toy to my oldest DD and bump her with it, asking to play.

Edited August 8, 2010 by ChasesMum

[Guest ktarantino]

Thanks everyone for your responses on my thread about Freddy. I will join this thread so I can keep in touch with all of you about Freddy's status. We are hoping to get an appointment with another vet that at the same practice that is also into holistic medicine. She is hard to get into, but my friend has been taking her dog there for some time and says she is wonderful. We just want to talk to her about all options, specifically pain management. Thank you Neylasmom for the link, I will check that out. How is your pup feeling without amputation and chemo...and to all of you, how did you find out your dogs had this, did they have an injury like Freddy did?

[Guest ktarantino]

Also, would anyone be willing to share how much these various options cost.

Thanks

[joejoesmom]

Also, would anyone be willing to share how much these various options cost.

Thanks

I just made a long post in your thread "osteosarcoma-Just Diagnosed" that includes pricing info on amputation and chemo at OSU.

 

Jane

Edited August 8, 2010 by joejoesmom

[Guest azlorenz]

I think Jane's post in your thread pretty much covers it. Flash's story is he had a pathological (underlying reason other than trama) break in his left rear leg. The collective we (vet, us, surgeon) decided to amputate rather than wait for the biopsy. He had his amputation ($3,900) July 15th. Came home on July 16th - 36 hours after surgery. The first two days were horrible but it got better fast after that. He had his first chemo(Carboplatin)administered by an oncologist on July 27th ($750 @).

Edited August 8, 2010 by azlorenz

[Guest azlorenz]

I am about half way through "The Dog Cancer Survival Guide" by Dr. Demian Dressler, DVM. Thumbs Up so far. Mentions Dr Couto often as well. Another . Love how he talks about the human getting a grip from the get go.

[Charlies_Dad]

 

Kyle, love that pic of Charlie in your bed. Question, just out of curiosity - he seems to have more of a stump than I've typically seen. Is that b/c of where his cancer was located or just your vet's technique? Or maybe I havne't seen that many amps after all. I think the nausea usually comes 2-3 days post-chemo so seems like a good sign that Charlie is doing so well (minus the bananas ). He really is a trooper - he is coming through all of this so beautifully. Makes my heart happy.

 

Not sure what to report on Neyla. She was running and playing in the condo with toys this morning, but she is dragging on walks some, but her back leg is also tired right now so hard to tell. I'll keep her on the extra bit of Tramadol until I am more confident the pain is resolved.

 

I did stop her artemisinin last night - finally finally decided to switch to a cycling regimen, which means she will have time on the arte and time off. I know it makes sense in teh long run, but it was really hard to stop a supplement, even for a few days, that I believe is helping her. Even if I need to do it in order for it to remain effective, those days she is off of it are days it can't do its job. When it's time to put her back on, I'm going to try to gradually increase the dosage and also eventually work in cycling with curcumin, which is supposed to enhance its effectiveness greatly. that her stomach issues calm down with this change.

 

Jen,

 

Charlie's 'stump' I believe is standard as there is no bone remaining, that is muscle. I read the post amp report and it detailed how they removed the leg plus all the other nasty stuff...now I know why I decided against being a doctor . I am glad Neyla seems to be doing better and I know what you mean by stopping the Art regimen. Are you doing the 5 day on, 5 day off or 10 day on 10 days off? I have read several cycling regimens and am a little confused over the best if there is one. Once we are through Chemo, we'll start it up.

 

 

Just heard from the oncologist. She said his bloodwork was not scary like she thought it might be. She said his platelets and WBC were low but no lower than she would expect after Carboplatin. She said his bloodwork certainly didn't indicate he should be having broken capillaries so she didn't really know what it was. She said we are still on schedule unless something out of the ordinary happens this week.

 

Here are what the spots (smaller red dots not his nips) look like today. IMO they are a lot less red. He has had the bruise since his amputation and it is reducing slowly.

 

 

 

P.S. I wish I had taken a picture of the blindman's haircut but I didn't and it has grown back enough now the effect is gone.

 

Shannon, greyt news! The spots don't look to bad to me. Hopefully they go away soon. I have read excerpts of Dr. Dressler's book, so it's that good, eh? Perhaps I should pick it up this week as I know what I have read on his website makes a lot of sense.

 

 

aww poor Neyla! Chase used to do something similar with George, she wanted to play tug and sometimes he would grab onto the toy too, but once she growled at him then he backed off. So she then moved onto asking the oldest DD to play after he passed away. She kept ahold of the toy when she growled (always in play - her tail was wagging a mile a minute!) and Chase was in her glory. She would actually take a toy to my oldest DD and bump her with it, asking to play.

 

It sounds like Chase was one in a million . That is very cute she would try to entice your DD to play with her.

 

 

 

Also, would anyone be willing to share how much these various options cost.

Thanks

 

We went the amp route at a hospital that I knew charge more than many places but they also have some of the best specialists around. We paid $5,100 that included 4.5 days in ICU and Charlie came out of it very well (I posted a video of him playing with our senior Grey). I figure the extra couple days in ICU easily added $1000 but it was worth it we had what I consider an easy time of it and no GSOD's, no whining, nothing serious at all and he was able to go out for potty the day he came home.

[Sirocco_Nikki]

I am going to make up a basket for the Hope for Hounds auction in honor of the 7.5 dogs. I would like to include favorite things of each of the 7.5 dogs in the basket. Could you please pm me with some of your dogs favorite things? If anyone has a good dog cookie recipe, that would be great also.

 

Let's go kick some cancer butt!

[Charlies_Dad]

I am going to make up a basket for the Hope for Hounds auction in honor of the 7.5 dogs. I would like to include favorite things of each of the 7.5 dogs in the basket. Could you please pm me with some of your dogs favorite things? If anyone has a good dog cookie recipe, that would be great also.

 

Let's go kick some cancer butt!

 

 

That is a greyt idea! Hmmmm.....Charlie's favourite thing, could it be food??? I'll ask DW to see what we can come up with.

 

I thought I would add this link to Charlie running if any of you have not seen it already. That's my boy being bossy.

 

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/259496-super-shelby-charlie-the-boss/

Edited August 8, 2010 by Charlies_Dad

[Guest azlorenz]

I am going to make up a basket for the Hope for Hounds auction in honor of the 7.5 dogs. I would like to include favorite things of each of the 7.5 dogs in the basket. Could you please pm me with some of your dogs favorite things? If anyone has a good dog cookie recipe, that would be great also.

 

Let's go kick some cancer butt!

 

What a wonderful idea. Flash loves him a Loofa Dog any day of the week.

[joejoesmom]

I am going to make up a basket for the Hope for Hounds auction in honor of the 7.5 dogs. I would like to include favorite things of each of the 7.5 dogs in the basket. Could you please pm me with some of your dogs favorite things? If anyone has a good dog cookie recipe, that would be great also.

 

Let's go kick some cancer butt!

I missed what the 7.5 stands for. In any case, Joe's two favorite things are anything that contains liver and a purple stuffed dinosaur that grunts. Actually I think it is the grunting that attracts him (versus squeaking).

 

Here are his two favorite treat recipes:

 

LIVER LEATHER:

 

1 pound liver, raw -- remove anything that will cause it not to blend smooth like skin, blood vessels, etc.

1 cup flour (use tapioca flour if your dog is allergic to wheat)

 

Blend the raw liver in a food processor until it is smooth. Add flour. Line a large "lipped" cookie sheet with foil and grease well. Pour liver mixture into sheet and spread to about 1/8 to 1/4 inch, trying to make it as even as possible. Bake in a 300 degree farenheit oven for about 20 to 30 minutes. You want it to be cooked through so it is firm to the touch but not crunchy. Cut into 1/2 inch by 1 1/2 inch strips. MUST BE REFRIGERATED. Use within 3 days. I make this up and put a few days worth into a small plastic bag, then freeze the bags. I had a rather stubborn foster hound once who refused to learn obedience commands with store bought treats. When I first gave her these treats, her face was priceless. She was so excited. These treats helped her learn to become a good pet.

 

If you are going to make treats instead of providing the recipe, I suggest this recipe as it doesn't need to be refrigerated. I'm afraid I don't have measurements for the ingredients.

 

LIVER SNAPS:

 

liver

water

whole wheat flour (or any other flour that your dog can eat)

cornmeal (optional)

pretty much anything else you would like to throw in

 

place liver in just enough water to cover in a large microwave safe bowl. Microwave until liver is fully cooked. You could also do this on a stovetop. Place cooked liver and water into a food processor. Blend until smooth. Put it back into the bowl. Knead in enough flour and cornmeal (about 3 to 4 parts flour to 1 part cornmeal) to make a very stiff dough. The goal is to get it as dry as possible but still have it hold together so you can roll it out. Roll it out to 1/4 inch thickness. Using a cookie cutter, cut out shapes. Reroll scraps (add a little water if necessary for it to hold together.

 

Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet (if the cookies are a little bit moist, you might want to dust the bottoms of the cookies with flour so they don't stick). Put into a 200 to 250 degree oven for an hour or so (you don't want them to brown, just dry out). Reduce the oven temperature to 150 degrees or as low as your oven will go. Leave the cookies in the oven for 12 to 36 hours to become completely dry and hard. It is essential that these treats be 100 percent dry or they will spoil. Place in a plastic bag. When I make these, I usually put the plastic bag of treats in the freezer to be absolutely safe.

 

Hope this helps you raise money.

 

Jane and Joe

Edited August 8, 2010 by joejoesmom

[Sirocco_Nikki]

I am going to make up a basket for the Hope for Hounds auction in honor of the 7.5 dogs. I would like to include favorite things of each of the 7.5 dogs in the basket. Could you please pm me with some of your dogs favorite things? If anyone has a good dog cookie recipe, that would be great also.

 

Let's go kick some cancer butt!

I missed what the 7.5 stands for. In any case, Joe's two favorite things are anything that contains liver and a purple stuffed dinosaur that grunts. Actually I think it is the grunting that attracts him (versus squeaking).

 

 

Jane and Joe

 

Thanks! The 7.5 stands for the month (mid-July) that our pups were diagnosed.

 

I am going to include the cookies in the basket so I will definitely use the second recipe. Nikki and Yukon have already graciously volunteered to taste-test the cookies in case the recipe needs tweaking.

 

Please keep the suggestions coming. I'm not creative so I need all the help with ideas that I can get.

[Guest greyt_learner]

So, since Puck will not eat kibble, I took everyone's advice and cooked. I made ground beef and turkey, a little molasses, some carrot and spinach and noodles. He loved it and licked his bowl clean - I added about a quarter cup of kibble which he also ate. Question is - how much of this type of food should I give him. He usually gets 2 cups of kibble, but I've no idea how much to feed him with home cooking.