I never thought I’d be so happy to say that my dog is having his leg amputated tomorrow! After we read about the diagnosis and prognosis, we knew and were okay with him needing an amputation in order to provide the best quality and quantity of life. The problem being, we really felt like a partial limb amputation with the future use of a prosthetic was the way to go, and spent 2.5 weeks of trying to find someone, anyone, who is familiar with doing that surgery, AND had availability any time in the next 1 month. But after weeks of waiting and many phone calls, we finally are scheduled for surgery TOMORROW! Hooray! Koda was limping considerably this morning, but after a hearty home cooked breakfast, he is in better spirits and jumping around on that leg, causing me to chase him around to try and calm him. Less than 24hrs to go, can’t have a pathological fracture now!!
The surgery cost is more expensive than anticipated, though I believe some of this is that the vet wants to get a CT of the leg to better outline where the tumor ends, so that he can be more confident about getting good margins. Since good margins = adequate cancer removal, and more leg left behind = more tissue available for a prosthetic, we think this is money in= better result all around so we are agreeable to it. But boy this is adding up. $1500 in for the initial vet trip, blood work, x-rays, antibiotics (initially thought it might be osteomyelitis), rimadyl, then oncology visit + more xrays and needle biopsy + pathology. And I admit I’ve gone a little crazy on buying supplements that may or may not be of benefit, but they make ME feel better, like I’m actually doing something to help him while we’ve been awaiting surgery.
Anyone with tips for post-op day 1? He’ll be coming home Friday. I’ve read about the grocery bag sling, I’ll be making one later tonight. We have rugs in the house for our wooden floors. Only a half step to get outside for business.
Oh wow awesome that you found the surgeon you wanted. By planning his amputation ahead of time you are upping the odds for prosthetic success!
Hmm my best advice is to hop over to our Discussion Forums for more help from the community! We are here for you!
Also remember that recovery is only temporary, he will get his mojo back but you need to be patient and not compare his recovery to others ok?
I’ve got more advice but need to run as our own dog is at the vet now!
Just wanted to send you positive thoughts for tomorrow. It sounds like you are well prepared. All I can say is when you pick up Koda, don’t even pay attention to the incision site. Just look into his eyes and let him know how much you love and missed him. Just curious, how old is Koda? Which leg is being amputated?
Please let us know how it goes, and more pictures!
Thank you for the positive thoughts! We are of course very nervous. We took a short 10 minute walk around the block tonight, as his last walk as a 4 legged dog. He got to sniff the flowers and mailboxes to his content. He did so well, my husband turned to me and said, Are you sure we have to amputate the leg?? YES!! Though we are both scared to do so. I’ve really appreciated reading everyone’s stories that give me encouragement that he will be okay and that this is the right thing to do. It’s the front left leg. We think he’s probably 7-8yrs old, so he has some time left in him if we can get him through this!
Best wishes for a speedy recovery! You will find a whole series of posts about What to Expect in the Tripawds News blog.