Osteo Thread

[BauersMom]

We waited until the staples were out before we started chemo - 14 days. I think they want the incision site to heal up before hitting the immune system with chemo.

[joejoesmom]

I had amputation and chemo done at OSU. They wait 14 days after the amputation to start the chemo. They are usually able to take the staples out the day of the first chemo.

 

Jane

[greysmom]

They will want the healing process to be well along at the amp site before starting chemo as it can slow down the healing process. Dude had to wait an extra week or so because he had a post-op infection, but after that everything went well.

 

I hope FedEx gets to his one year anniversary in January. We were hoping Dude was going to make it there too..........

 

Hug your hounds, everyone.

[GreytHurleyDawg]

I haven't posted in awhile since we have been busy actually having appointments (as opposed to waiting for the vet to come back from conference)!

 

YAY PINKY is what I think needs to be said, first and foremost!!!!!!!!!

 

So, we have Hurley's amputation scheduled for next Wednesday! Everything is still all clear, we are not repeating xrays per the oncologist, blood work is good and orthopedic surgeon checked him out today. Amicar Rx is already called in. I have off Friday through Sunday after the surgery. Jim or I can take off Thursday, perhaps, if he comes home then. I now have a 4 legged Hurley Dawg for a few more days. I'll be taking pics, cleaning the house and working so I can pay the bills. In fact, beginning Saturday, I am scheduled to work 6 days in a row. But then I will be all there for my pupper. The surgery could have been done today (Friday) but I would have had to call in sick to work on a weekend and I'm on call, etc, etc! Plus the time to get ready would have been really short.

 

I have to get to bed. I have a busy day off tomorrow and tons of stuff to do!

[krissn333]

I hear you-my mom and I spent a weekend cleaning and rearranging my house to get ready for Pinky.

 

One thing I will say is that if you have other greyhound savvy friends in the area, enlist their help. I have to go back to work next week, so my mom will be staying with Pinky. Then the following week I only work Mon and Tues. But, it has been nice to have help-someone to watch her so I can take a shower, cook something in the kitchen, clean up a little bit around the house, and exercise my iggies, who, thank goodness, have been SO good through all of this.

 

I know you've got your DH, so you can trade off. Just make sure to make some time for your own self to relax a little. Tuesday evening my mom came so I could shower, etc. I couldn't believe how much tension I was carrying! I was able to get some other things done and take some quiet time to lay down on my bed for about half an hour and relax.

[Charlies_Dad]

We've made an appointment for tomorrow with an orthopedic surgeon to get a second opinion on amputation. If they think his hind end will be unable to handle the weight, we won't do it, but we want to make sure before we totally rule it out.

 

I think I've moved on from yesterday's depression/denial to anger/advocate mode.

 

Just my two cents. You got to be angry to fight this disease. It takes no prisoners nor should you. Anger is good, it can funnel many things. Embrace it and use it for good things.

 

 

 

Pinky's bandage change this morning was great, everything looks fine

 

That is excellent!

 

 

Glad to hear everyone is doing so well, amp and non-amp alike!

I try not to count the months as I feel like I am cursing our good luck here with FedX, but each month I am more gratefull to still have him here. We have set a new 'goal' of 1yr post diagnosis at the beginning of january

 

We will all be pulling for FedX!!!!

 

 

I haven't posted in awhile since we have been busy actually having appointments (as opposed to waiting for the vet to come back from conference)!

 

YAY PINKY is what I think needs to be said, first and foremost!!!!!!!!!

 

So, we have Hurley's amputation scheduled for next Wednesday! Everything is still all clear, we are not repeating xrays per the oncologist, blood work is good and orthopedic surgeon checked him out today. Amicar Rx is already called in. I have off Friday through Sunday after the surgery. Jim or I can take off Thursday, perhaps, if he comes home then. I now have a 4 legged Hurley Dawg for a few more days. I'll be taking pics, cleaning the house and working so I can pay the bills. In fact, beginning Saturday, I am scheduled to work 6 days in a row. But then I will be all there for my pupper. The surgery could have been done today (Friday) but I would have had to call in sick to work on a weekend and I'm on call, etc, etc! Plus the time to get ready would have been really short.

 

I have to get to bed. I have a busy day off tomorrow and tons of stuff to do!

 

We will all be pulling for Hurley to do well. Sounds like you have a good plan in place and if you have questions, please feel free to ask as many have been down this road before.

[krissn333]

I've decided I'm just going to have to relax and let Pinky do what she wants and just sit by ready to help her if she needs it.

 

She doesn't want water brought to her, she wants to get up and go over to the big dispenser that everyone else uses. She walked to the back door today on her own and waited for me to catch up with her towel. I am still going to follow her with the towel outside for now, but I just have to let her get around the house on her own. She wants the freedom!

[krissn333]

Pinky just had a potty break all by herself-no help from me. She got up and got to the door before I could help her, so I just stood by with her towel in case it was needed...it wasn't.

 

You're right, it's scary when they call the shots! But wow, she did great!

[greysmom]

They adapt so easily! Much quicker than we do. Sounds like she's doing great! Go Pinky!

[vjgrey]

We had a long consultation with an Oncologist yesterday and decided that the vet's initial impression was right - Gabe is not a good candidate for amputation. His hind end is too weak to support more weight, and he is TERRIFIED of vet visits. He shakes, tries to climb into my lap, and tries to hide.

 

That said, he LOVED the Oncology center. It was very clean but didn't look or smell "clinical" at all. They had lots of dog beds and blankets available, and Gabe actually curled up and fell asleep - totally unheard of with my vet-phobic boy.

 

They took a FNA just to 100% confirm that it's cancer (currently about 99% sure, but he said he has seen bone infections mimic cancer on x-rays). We'll get the results back on Monday or Tuesday and will start chemotherapy, radiation, and pamidronate, along with home pain meds (tramadol. rimadyl and gabapentin).

 

Gabe stayed at the center for a few hours yesterday for blood tests and the FNA. When we picked him up, two vet techs came out separately to tell us that everyone was completely in love with him. The receptionist said they were plotting to keep him. That's my sweet boy - a total charmer.

[greysmom]

 

Gabe!

 

So now you have a plan of attack and a way forward. It's always better that way. Hugs to you and your family!

[krissn333]

I'm so glad that you've got a plan for Gabe's treatment...for me, I felt much better in both cases once I had a plan of attack.

 

Mom helped me look at Pinky's suture line today. Shes had some seepage come through and i was concerned we had another bleeding issue. Pinky has a small area just below her suture line that has been irritated by her bandage and has caused the seeping that came through. Suture line looks AWESOME! So I cleaned the irritated area and added some gauze pads with ointment to provide some protection to that area.

 

She's due for another bandage change Monday night

[krissn333]

She's also started cleaning herself again-she's been licking at her chest today, and her (still slightly swollen) leg. Can't wait for that swelling to go away!

 

My dad was blown away watching her in the yard this morning...and he commented that now she moves like a cute little kangaroo I am trying to wait a while after she eats to let her out...I remember someone here (was it Dude?) was getting a little bit urpy from the bouncing motion that is inevitable with a tripod.

[BauersMom]

Berkeley had that - but he's a front amp. It would be "eat BOUNCE BOUNCE blurp" after every meal. He eats in the crate now and so it gives the food a chance to settle before he starts hopping around.

[krissn333]

We are at the stage where Pinky wants to lick at her incision. I'm sure it's itchy, poor kid. Any tips for keeping her away from it?

[Batmom]

Muzzle with tape on that side and maybe @ half the front depending on how limber she is.

[greysmom]

We did end up putting a cone on Dude for three or four days. It stays on better if you can attach it to a harness rather than just try to have it stay on their neck/collar. You can get it on tighter and it's less floppy. There's also a "bite-not" type collar, but Dude was so limber he could still bend around to get at his stump.

[krissn333]

Johanna, how are your preparations going? We've been thinking of you and hope everything is going well.

 

Mom and I changed Pinky's bandage today - overnight while I was sleeping she was licking and licking and licking at it and it was wet. Good news is that everything looks AWESOME underneath there (really, it is possible for an orthopedic surgeon to be an artist!). Got her rebandaged with my dad helping her stand and lean against him so we could work.

 

So I'm going to have to dig out our taped up muzzle (I keep one with tape on it in a drawer all the time so I don't have to prepare one every time we need it) for bedtime.

[GreytHurleyDawg]

Hey, Kristin (and everyone!)!

We are fine. The emotional weight is bearing down on us because any surgery is a risk and I don't want to be all geared up for this and then he doesn't make it through that part of it. That's why we are all crossing our fingers, paws and toes though, right?? Other than that, we are pretty prepared! I won't be able to say my house is clean and ready just yet because I am still working on it but each day brings us closer.

Today we took him to the very nice coffee shop/ dog wash and groom place to get his nails trimmed. His bad leg just started shaking!! Poor guy...even with the pain meds, it is still a source of some consternation. Needless to say, we did not get those nails trimmed. I held his back end while she did the good rear leg.

He does seem to be panting a lot and sleeping less. He whines in the morning when he can't come up the steps to sleep upstairs in our bed. So, there are behavioral changes going on that we think are from the meds. The swelling we saw on his leg is all gone so he must have chewed at it, got meds and then the swelling receded.

I work every day now until the night after his surgery. I wish I had the freedom to be around!!

 

Ok, the real question I need to ask is:

Does OSU allow us to pick the chemotherapy drug or do they send what is currently their top choice? How do we decide if we make the choice? I searched online last night during slow time at work and wasn't coming up with a comparison other than price. I was just wondering. I have to email OSU soon but I figured with it being the weekend, I would wait.

 

I saw the greyt pics of Charlie on the Cute & Funny!!!! He looks GREYT!!!! I showed them to my husband because he had been asking if the surgeon would take the whole leg including the hip or if he would leave the femur(?) part and when I saw that Charlie had his surgery done a little lower, I had to share! Our surgeon DID say that he prefers to take as little as possible to provide a little protection to the underbelly and it will depend on the dog. So, we will see but if it's not dangerous, I hope he retains a little of the muscle and bone there. I don't know if it helps with balance but that was the feeling we got.

 

Kisses to all the dogs out there whose owners are in here reading this!!

[krissn333]

Actually, your question about the chemo drugs is a question that I have too. Dr. Marin mentioned "Doxorubicin or Carboplatin" in her email when we were talking.

 

I know that Pinky's bone has been sent for pathology - and the results of that could tell us which chemo would be the best choice.

[BauersMom]

Be aware that there are chemo drug shortages for humans - you may not have a choice, and may have to go with whatever they can get. Obviously, humans get first dibs. We are lucky there are any available for our dogs, from what I've heard about the shortages. (others may know more about the "why")

 

We had carboplatin, fyi.

[krissn333]

Johanna, anytime you need to send an email to OSU, do it as soon as you can. They get so many messages that it's best to get yours into the "queue" so to speak. They also answer emails at really odd times, so, it's very possible they could write back over the weekend.

 

I sent something to Dr. Marin Friday, just need information on our next steps regarding getting the chemo, etc. I haven't heard back yet but wouldn't be surprised if I got an email later today.

[winnie]

I just returned from Greyhounds Rock Fredericksburg. Dr. Couto spoke on Saturday. He did say that they use two types of chemo, but they had a shortage of one of them. I'm sorry, but I can't remember which one. So, you're likely to get whatever they have available. He did say that both worked about the same. So, try not to worry too much. I'm so glad to hear that Pinky is doing well too.

 

Greyhounds Rock Fredericksburg was our first family trip with Faye Oops. She did GREYT! She has never once pottied on lead in the 1.5 years we've had her. That was the main reason we never took her anywhere overnight. I'm happy to report that she peed and pooped on lead. I guess when you gotta go - you gotta go! She was very restless last night, but I tend to think that was more because she hasn't been overnight in a hotel room before. She was walking and doing stairs pretty well. She has been passed out cold ever since we got home.

 

Snuggle time with Faye Oops and Darcy in the hotel...

[joejoesmom]

I believe that it is doxorubicin (aka Adriamycin) that is in short supply. At least this was the case several months ago. I also remember hearing that one of them is a bit tougher on the heart, the other is a bit tougher on the kidneys. However, unless your dog has existing heart or kidney issues it really doesn't matter which one you use. I believe the doxorubicin is a bit harder on the heart and the carboplatin is harder on the kidneys but it could be the other way around. In any case, all of the above is only to the best of my recollection, so I would definitely check with your doctors if you have any concerns. My recollection is nowhere near as good as it once was .

 

Jane

 

Oh and to directly answer your question, it seems that OSU often has just one of the drugs in stock so you get what they have. Of course, if they have ample supply of both, I bet they let you choose.

[greysmom]

Jane is correct. Doxyrubicin is harder on the heart and has some trickiness involved with the administration. Carboplatin is harder on the kidneys and it's important they keep well-hydrated during chemo to help flush it through.

 

It is the doxyrubicin that is in short supply - both people and canine. Many important drugs are right now. Some are coming off of patent and companies aren't producing them since they can't make as much money. Some are just in short supply. I think I heard on the news that someone is being appointed to look into why.

 

Both drugs work about the same and I don't think there is much statistical difference in length of survivorship following chemo between them. OSU will send the drugs by overnight courier to whoever is going to administer them, as the dosages need to be made up for your specific dog's weight. They do require some things for participation in the free chemo program, which are escaping me at the moment.