Holly

Hi all!

Thanks so much for the well wishes for Holly!  I’m sure they’re helping – she’s continuing to improve every day, and I think it’s been helped by having so many doggie prayers and well wishes sent her way by friends new and old!

Today she is still quivering at the site, and a few times throughout her body.  But she doesn’t appear to be in pain – she still seems pretty relaxed even when the quivers start.  I am finding that if I ice the site when the quivering starts it sometimes stops or settles down a bit.  She also seems to like it when I ice the site.  Our vet called today and said it could be the body’s way of resolving the missing limb.  She’s on deramaxx and tramadol, plus an antibiotic (clavamox this time – she didn’t do well on baytril after her first surgery).  We’ve been outside a few times today – I thought she would be cold because having been partly shaved for the operation, but she loves it out there!  She wanted to take a walk, so we walked down the street and back.  She wished I would let her go further, but I gently but firmly told her that was enough for now – hopefully we’ll have plenty of time for long walks once she’s recovered.  I’m just so glad to see her excited about being outside!

I will try to figure out how to post some pictures.  I added a picture as my avatar, but am not sure when you see that.  It’s of Holly by the Christmas tree.  She’s a Christmas puppy (born 12/20/01), hence her name.  I think I was able to add two pics – one of her crazy sleeping position (which we’re hoping to see again once she recovers), and one after her first surgery.  I need to upload the more recent pics from this week and will post those as soon as I can figure it out!

Thanks again for all the well wishes – it helps so much to have the support of all of you!

Holly’s been home 3 days now, and is still doing well.  I am thankful for the forums here – it helped explain some of her skittishness, which I am now thinking could be phantom pain.  She’s better today than yesterday – she seemed “spooked” several times yesterday.  She would jump up and run to another room.  I’ve noticed the incision site quivering at times, too.  Our vet told us to ice the site for 10 minutes 3 times a day, and that seems to help her.  She is also enjoying going outside – it’s 19 degrees in Chicago today and I think the cold air must feel good to her – she hasn’t wanted to go outside so often for a long time.  Her spirits remain good, and she is really enjoying all the family time with everyone home from school and work.  Thanks for all who have wished her well.  We’re hoping she continues to steadily improve.  And I’ll continue to peruse the forums here – it really helps to read what others have experienced!

I think I was able to add 2 more pics of her post-op.

Our 8 year old Wheaten Terrier, Holly, came home on Wednesday, 12/30, from her surgery.  She was diagnosed with bone cancer in her right hind leg, and that leg was amputated on Tuesday.  She’s doing fine so far – she has some experience with being 3 legged since she had surgery on that leg about 8 weeks ago to remove part of her femur so we could figure out what was going on with her leg.  So, she’s been more or less using only 3 legs since that earlier surgery, which we think may be helping her with getting around now.  So far she’s in good spirits, and is eating and drinking well.  We’re happy to have her home!  She wants to get back to her old routine – we’re trying to keep her quiet for now.

We brought Holly into our vet because she was out of sorts – we thought she had pulled a muscle in her neck on a walk.  After examining her, he thought the same thing and gave her some muscle relaxants and pain meds.  He wanted us to bring her in if the pain didn’t subside so he could take x-rays.  2 days later she was back to being out of sorts, so we took her in.  Her right hind leg femur looked distorted in the x-ray, so our vet sent it to a specialist to review – they decided it would be best to remove the part of the femur that was bad so she had surgery in early November to remove the top portion of her femur.  When the pathology report came back she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, and surgery was recommended to amputate the leg.  Additional x-rays give us some hope that it has not spread, and her blood work looks good.  Our vet went back through old x-rays he had from when she was spayed and when she had been in another time and needed x-rays, and could see the very beginnings of the disease from an x-ray taken about 21 months ago.  She did well after the first surgery, and spent much of the last 7 weeks using only her 3 good legs so we are hopeful she will do well after the amputation.