Month: February 2016

I am so amazed with her progress!  This past week, 3rd week after surgery, she has had many more firsts.

I knew she was doing really well when we were at PetSmart and we were heading out and I was fidgeting with the bag and receipt etc.  I looked up when a woman stopped and declared “why I think you are slowing her down”.  I realized she was right, she was pulling on the leash trying to get me to move faster. I beamed with pride, I am so incredibly proud of how well she is doing.

1. She is now going up and down the stairs without issue.  I have a video attached because for some reason this really bothered me before her surgery.  To the point that I was planning to sell my house and buy a ranch.  I couldn’t really find any videos showing tripawds on stairs.  I knew the going up would not be an issue but wasn’t sure how she would fare going down.  spoiler alert: no problem for my little girl  🙂   https://youtu.be/lcnIuYC5hn8
2. She consistently jumps into the car, it is still to high for her to jump down.  But she gets in with great ease.   https://youtu.be/9agkTlxDeYY
3. She consistently brings her toy to me to let me know she wants to go out and play fetch
4. Back to the park and she was in the river for the first time.  It was really warm today and there were a few dogs going in and of course my girl went right in and had a smile on her face.  https://youtu.be/vlGZi884yYw

Abbey’s first day back at the park was a huge success.

She was so excited to go.  I bent over to pick her up to put her in the car and she wasn’t having any of that.  She jumped straight into the back without any help.  I think I heard her say “I got this Mom” 🙂    Once at the park we didn’t go far, as I didn’t want her to over do it on the first visit.  So we went for a very short walk and then back to the car.  She visited with a few other dogs as they were arriving for their morning walks.  She was fine around the other dogs, it was the usual butt sniffing and then on to the next butt to sniff.    Her stitches come out on Monday.  She is progressing quite well, I am sooooo pleased.

Weekend before Surgery

This was a weekend full of tears, guilt, second guesses and hours and hours of internet searches.  More importantly it was a lot of fun filled trips to the park and A LOT of hugs and cuddles.

Tuesday, Feb. 9th – The surgery

Woke up this morning and we cuddled on the couch.  My fitbit read 111 steps, these are my angel numbers.  Coincidence?  I don’t think so.   The time approached to head in for surgery, one last trip to the park before I dropped her off.  I cried all morning but tried to distract myself with work.   Finally, the call from the doctor.  She is out of surgery and all went well.  Huge sigh of relief!

Wednesday, Feb. 10th – The day after

I got the call from Dr. Adam, she is doing amazingly well.  She was standing up and even snuck out of her crate.  I don’t think they expected her to do as well as she was doing.  She walked out to go potty and is wagging her tail and looking for loving from everyone.  Did I mention that she is an amazing athlete?  She isn’t a food motivated poochie at all.  She is play motivated.  I think her strong will to play and love has contributed to her fast recovery. I can come and pick her up tonight.  Needless to say I have a huge smile on my face.  My baby is coming home.  🙂                                       

<The Biopsy<                                                                      >Post Op>

Saturday, January 30th – The biopsy

The biopsy went well and we are all bandaged up she gets to come home the same day.  yay!  She is still coming out of the anesthesia so she is whimpering as she recovers.  We cuddle for the rest of the weekend.  She is doing well, her bandaged paw is not slowing her down.  I had to go to work Monday, but I knew she would be fine.

Monday, February 1st – The biopsy report

Histologic changes indicate  poorly differentiated sarcoma.  The pattern of proliferation suggests possible synovial origin.  (bunch more medical jargon).  There are some regions that warranted consideration of epithelioid hemangiosarcoma.

The abridged version… they can not determine with certainty which sarcoma it is but they know it is aggressive.   It is a high-grade lesion and aggressive surgical intervention will be needed.  It is more likely to be synovial than hemangio.

Tuesday, February 2nd

I get home from work, my heart drops once I realize what is all over the floor… it’s what is left of Abbey’s bandage.  Abbey ripped off the bandage and ripped out all 5 of her stitches.  I don’t skip a beat, I pick her up and off to the vet we go, I call them on the way to let them know I will be there in 5 minutes.  Made it there just before they closed, the put in 5 staples and rewrap it and send her home with the cone of shame. 🙂

Wednesday, February 3rd

I get home and discover that she has managed to get the cone off and dr. abbey seems to think not only can she remove stitches but she can remove staples.  Yikes, she removed 4 of the 5.  I am starting to think she is crushing on Dr. Adam.

>Surgery>

Saturday, January 23rd – The lump

Abbey, Drake and I went to the off-leash park(forest preserve) to run and play.  This is a weekend ritual.  We had a fabulous day, lots of running and playing.  We were home and resting when I discovered a lump on Abbey’s paw.  Wasn’t quite sure if she had done something at the park or if this was something else, something worse.  Either way, I knew I needed to act fast.  The vet had just closed so we had to wait until Sunday.  Took her in the next day and they aspirated the lump but they were unable to make a determination.  So they sent it off to the pathologist.  I made an appointment with her regular doctor for the following Wednesday evening.  Hoping by then that the results would be back from the pathologist

Wednesday, January 27th  – The Results

The results were in, it is a malignant sarcoma.  My heart dropped, but I had to try and keep it together.  There was so much I needed to know and understand.  What’s next?  They could not determine what type it was with the aspiration, they need a biopsy.

>The Biopsy>