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I'm so sorry about Roxy. I can't imagine.

 

Diamond's amp was postponed to wait for the results of a CT scan. Because Gabe had two primary tumors and because we think Diamond's Osteo has gone undiagnosed for a while (not spotted by two vets and a head surgeon on two sets of X-rays and no signs of pain, just a very slight limp that worked itself out as she walked) we wanted to make sure it hasn't spread anywhere else. The original plan was to take her straight from the CT to surgery, but the radiologist couldn't look at them until this morning.

 

He sees NO signs of cancer anywhere else - in fact, he doesn't even see the normal signs of aging he'd expect in a ten and a half year-old. He said he had to look at her paperwork again to confirm her age. According to all of her scans and her bloodwork, she's a REALLY healthy hound except for this stupid tumor. So we have high hopes that she'll do well after her amp.

 

They plan to operate sometime this late afternoon/early evening. All white light, prayers, good thoughts, etc... are really appreciated.

 

Attaching a photo of her, because it's been way too long since I posted one on GT. Someone in the vet's office called her a supermodel, and, of course, we 1000% agree:

 

photo2_zps87c64906.jpg

Edited by vjgrey

Valerie w/ Cash (CashforClunkers) & Lucy (Racing School Dropout)
Missing our gorgeous Miss
Diamond (Shorty's Diamond), sweet boy Gabe (Zared) and Holly (ByGollyItsHolly), who never made it home.

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Guest grey_dreams

I'm sorry for the sudden loss of Roxy :brokenheart

 

Sending good thoughts for beautiful Diamond :hope

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Oh no, I am so sorry.

 

Good thoughts for Diamond, I hope all goes well.

Edited by Charlies_Dad

Kyle with Stewie ('Super C Ledoux, Super C Sampson x Sing It Blondie) and forever missing my three angels, Jack ('Roy Jack', Greys Flambeau x Miss Cobblepot) and Charlie ('CTR Midas Touch', Leo's Midas x Hallo Argentina) and Shelby ('Shari's Hooty', Flying Viper x Shari Carusi) running free across the bridge.

Gus an coinnich sinn a'rithist my boys and little girl.

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Diamond's amp went really well. They gave her Amicar and had a blood donor ready just in case, but the surgeon said her bleeding was really minimal. He said the bone was stronger and much more solid than he generally sees with Osteo dogs, so he thinks we caught it very early. We'll go visit her tomorrow, and if all goes well, we should be able to bring her home on Monday.

Valerie w/ Cash (CashforClunkers) & Lucy (Racing School Dropout)
Missing our gorgeous Miss
Diamond (Shorty's Diamond), sweet boy Gabe (Zared) and Holly (ByGollyItsHolly), who never made it home.

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Great to read Diamond's surgery went well. Healing thoughts coming her way.

Kyle with Stewie ('Super C Ledoux, Super C Sampson x Sing It Blondie) and forever missing my three angels, Jack ('Roy Jack', Greys Flambeau x Miss Cobblepot) and Charlie ('CTR Midas Touch', Leo's Midas x Hallo Argentina) and Shelby ('Shari's Hooty', Flying Viper x Shari Carusi) running free across the bridge.

Gus an coinnich sinn a'rithist my boys and little girl.

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Guest cas0673

To Roxy's family ..... Huh?? How did this happen? My Sadie went through the same sort of ordeal with swelling and an edema. It makes me wonder how bad Sadie was. I had massage her legs to get the fluid moving and within a few days the swelling was gone. I know this is a shock for you, but I am shocked too. I hope you get some answers. Poor girl. My thoughts are with you.

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Guest Greytblackdog

Thanks everyone so much for your thoughts and prayers. I need them.

 

Yes. They gave her the vaccine on Friday morning. She was monitored for any reaction with blood samples, urine and blood pressure all day. All normal. That doesn't mean it couldn't have happened later. It's the only reason I agreed to the necropsy. If it was the vaccine they need to know as she would be the first in the study to pass because of it. Our best guess is she threw a blood clot which can happen even with a dental.

 

We were just so ready to fight this monster with all we had. It really isn't fair. We are devastated. I always thought I'd lose my oldest first - who we only had palliative and holistic options for. She's almost 5 months past dx. It makes me second guess myself. But the worst is not having been there with her when she passed.

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Guest cas0673

Heather, I can totally relate with you saying you thought your older dog would be the first to pass. Me too! Marble is a year older than Sadie. And Sadie is such a hyper go getter and full of speed. I NEVER thought something like this would happen, and especially to her. Marble is more of a laid back gentleman who had a health scare about two years ago. Just so sorry for you.

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Heather, my first girl broke her leg in the living room. No cancer showed on the x-ray, so I let the orthopedic surgeon operate to implant a pin.

 

I was expecting him to call to say she was out of surgery and let me know when I could pick her up the next day. I had already set up a "recovery room" for her in my living room--an ex-pen to keep Sam from bothering her, the best bed, dishes, etc. But instead, the surgeon called to say she wasn't coming out of the anesthesia properly--it seemed her lungs weren't getting enough oxygen, even though they had her on O2. Her heart had stopped and they'd brought over a vet from the ER next door to do CPR, but she wasn't coming back. (A word of advice to vets: when you make this kind of phone call to someone, do it in a quiet room with a closed door and no noises in the background. If Oreo's heart had stopped, that wasn't her I heard crying out in the background: my head knows that, my heart doesn't. It's been 8 years, and I still hear those sounds.) We didn't do a necropsy; the surgeon said it showed all the signs of a pulmonary embolism.

 

Oreo was 8 years old, and her death broke my heart. I grieved, and I hated that I never had a chance to say good-bye to her. I got my last glimpse of her from across the room the night I brought her to the ER with the broken leg: she was lying down, and she had neon green vet wrap from toes to shoulder. But they wouldn't let me get close to her that night or the next day before the surgery because they didn't want her agitated. At home, after the surgeon's phone call, I cried and raged and screamed: I want my Oreo! and It's not fair! And it wasn't. (And when Oreo's successor turned out to have separation anxiety, after a poop deluge necessitating the third bath in one week, I sat on the curb next to a sopping wet Jacey and cried, Oreo wouldn't have done this to me!)

(Adding petty insult to heart-breaking injury: the vet's office lost Oreo's collar. She wasn't wearing a martingale when I took her in, but she had on her tag collar--ID tag, SEGA star tag, rabies tag--and they were never able to find it. And part of my brain still insists: Lost my dog. Lost her collar, too. Since then, I've never left tags on a dog I've let out of my hands at the vet.)

 

I've realized a couple of things since then. Oreo's vet called the day after she died to tell me not to second-guess myself about the surgery. The surgery wasn't optional. Oreo, like Roxy, needed the surgery to have any chance at a good future. We both made the right decision. That the surgery wasn't enough to save either of them was/is just plain bad luck.

 

In Oreo's case, I'm sure that embolism spared her a lot of pain. Although cancer didn't show on her x-rays, I'm sure it was there (how else does a dog break a leg standing in the living room?). We'd have tried to nurse her through the recovery period on that pin implant (and Oreo was not a patient with patience), and she wouldn't have gotten well and we'd have had to do more surgery or decide to put her to sleep--and that embolism took all those decisions out of our hands. I'm sorry to have lost any remaining good times with Oreo, but I'm not sorry we were spared the bad days.

And, with both our girls, the embolism could have happened at home, when neither of us could have done anything to stop it. That's something I don't think I could have taken. Two vets and a surgical team in the room with Oreo, and they couldn't save her. And if Roxy had had a whole vet team at her side, they wouldn't have been able to save her either. We didn't get to say goodbye, but we also didn't have to watch helplessly as it happened.

I'm thinking of you and Kevin and Seka. I'm remembering the moments when I'd look past Sam, expecting to see Oreo, then think, No, she's at the vets and then No, she isn't! And all those odd hazards, like referring to "my dogs" in conversation with people or "Sam-and-Oreo" rolling off my tongue as if it was one word. It gets better--except for those little moments when it suddenly gets awful again, when you least expect it. But those moments show up less often. They really do. Regardless of what they find in the necropsy, please don't second guess anything you did--not the surgery and not the vaccine. You gave Roxy her best chance

 

Kisses to Seka.

15060353021_97558ce7da.jpg
Kathy and Q (CRT Qadeer from Fuzzy's Cannon and CRT Bonnie) and
Jane (WW's Aunt Jane from Trent Lee and Aunt M); photos to come.

Missing Silver (5.19.2005-10.27.2016), Tigger (4.5.2007-3.18.2016),
darling Sam (5.10.2000-8.8.2013), Jacey-Kasey (5.19.2003-8.22.2011), and Oreo (1997-3.30.2006)

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Miss Diamond gets to come home today! :clap We went to visit her yesterday, and, at that point (less than 24 hours after surgery), she wasn't really trying to stand or walk on her own. Apparently, she's been standing today and is walking fairly well with sling assistance. She's only eating baby food, no kibble yet, but hopefully we can tempt her with something when she's here and more settled.

 

She has a little swelling and some bruising, but not as bad as I expected - especially since she had a partial pelvectomy. It did surprise me that they're not bandaging the incision, though - they prefer to leave it open for better healing (?)

Valerie w/ Cash (CashforClunkers) & Lucy (Racing School Dropout)
Missing our gorgeous Miss
Diamond (Shorty's Diamond), sweet boy Gabe (Zared) and Holly (ByGollyItsHolly), who never made it home.

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Dude only had a wide steri-strip kind of bandage when he came home after 5 days. It also allows you to monitor the incision better for healing and possible infections.

Chris - Mom to: Felicity (DeLand), and Andi (Braska Pandora)

52592535884_69debcd9b4.jpgsiggy by Chris Harper, on Flickr

Angels: Libby (Everlast), Dorie (Dog Gone Holly), Dude (TNJ VooDoo), Copper (Kid's Copper), Cash (GSI Payncash), Toni (LPH Cry Baby), Whiskey (KT's Phys Ed), Atom, Lilly

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I hope Diamond had a decent night home and you were able to get a bit of sleep!

Kyle with Stewie ('Super C Ledoux, Super C Sampson x Sing It Blondie) and forever missing my three angels, Jack ('Roy Jack', Greys Flambeau x Miss Cobblepot) and Charlie ('CTR Midas Touch', Leo's Midas x Hallo Argentina) and Shelby ('Shari's Hooty', Flying Viper x Shari Carusi) running free across the bridge.

Gus an coinnich sinn a'rithist my boys and little girl.

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Diamond and I got a little sleep - mostly between 5:30 and 8:30am. She didn't seem painful, just restless. She kept trying (with varying levels of success) to reposition herself on her bed, and I woke up every time she moved. She did cough quite a bit - not the hacking, throat-clearning cough but a dry, shallow one. I'll ask the surgical department about it when I check in with them this morning.

 

The hardest part has been her mobility - it's still REALLY limited, and I'm really struggling. She CAN stand on her own and can hop short distances before she gets tired. But, mostly, it seems like she doesn't really want to. When I have to take her outside, I'm mostly having to carry her, which is really hard at 5'0, 110lbs. When I put her down on the grass or at the top of the stairs, she doesn't seem to understand how to get her remaining back foot under her, and a few times, I've had to catch her before she collapsed. DH can help with early morning and evening outs, but I work from home, so it's just us during the day.

 

I really wish the surgical center had kept her until she was more mobile, but when I expressed those concerns, they said they thought we'd be just fine. They also thought we'd do better with just a sling, but I'm wondering whether we might need an assist harness.

Valerie w/ Cash (CashforClunkers) & Lucy (Racing School Dropout)
Missing our gorgeous Miss
Diamond (Shorty's Diamond), sweet boy Gabe (Zared) and Holly (ByGollyItsHolly), who never made it home.

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I have a Ruffwear harness for Jaynie and it's much better for this purpose IMO than an assistance harness because it is sturdier and steadier. You may be able to get one locally if there is a rehab clinic or a retailer near you who carries them. The nice thing about the assistance harness is that you can leave it on, but I found it wasn't as good when a lot of support is needed. They are both useful, but in somewhat different circumstances.

 

Sending good thoughts for both of you. FWIW I think they sent Diamond home kind of early. Jaynie was in the hospital for 5 days, which is, granted, on the long side from what I understand.

 

ETA - the harness is designed so the dog has to step into it on the right side (you can see this if you watch the video). Mine was modified by the folks who gave it to me so this was not required. However, my assistance harness, which I used prior to having the Ruffwear harness, also requires stepping in on the right. I found if I put it on the floor positioned open, I could guide Jaynie to step into the opening and then I just had to pull it up.

Edited by Rickiesmom
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I can add a second thumbs up for the Ruffwear Harness. They can wear it 24/7 without any problems, and you can literally carry your dog like a suitcase if needed. My biggest problem was that Dude was taller than I was tall so carrying him with it was hard for short little me, but DH could carry him fine. It was particularly useful in the house for helping him get up and down, and for him learning the steps again.

 

The first few days are the hardest. And then at about two weeks, things seem to start clicking into place for them.

Chris - Mom to: Felicity (DeLand), and Andi (Braska Pandora)

52592535884_69debcd9b4.jpgsiggy by Chris Harper, on Flickr

Angels: Libby (Everlast), Dorie (Dog Gone Holly), Dude (TNJ VooDoo), Copper (Kid's Copper), Cash (GSI Payncash), Toni (LPH Cry Baby), Whiskey (KT's Phys Ed), Atom, Lilly

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One week after surgery and we have our first post-amp roach!! DH and I cannot stop grinning.

 

We're also practically chasing her around the yard now. She suddenly caught onto the whole walking thing about four days in and only needs sling support when she gets tired.

 

These dogs are just incredible. I knew that before, but now I REALLY do.

Valerie w/ Cash (CashforClunkers) & Lucy (Racing School Dropout)
Missing our gorgeous Miss
Diamond (Shorty's Diamond), sweet boy Gabe (Zared) and Holly (ByGollyItsHolly), who never made it home.

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