Nothing But Love in Her Heart

…since the surgery.  Fallon has been a Tripawd for 50 whole days.  It’s been 65 days since the x-ray confirmed the bone tumor and this whole thing started.

We’ve come a long way in a little time.  It feels a lot longer than it really has been.  Now that we’re where we are, I can look back and say the worst part was the two weeks between the x-ray and the surgery.  The decision making was horrible, and then once the decision was made, the waiting for surgery was terrible.

We thought things would be awful after the surgery, but thankfully we had an easier time than many.  Not flawless, mind you…but we were prepared for much worse.  During that time, I was doing much worse than Fallon, just way too stressed out, withdrawing from everything except her and her needs—this wasn’t necessary.

A friend gave us this coat. It’s the best we’ve found to accommodate the missing front leg without twisting. Thanks Joanne!!

We’re starting to settle into a new normal.  We try to trust Fallon more and more, and allow her as much independence as she wants, rather than hovering over her and trying to help her with everything.  She lets us know when she needs something, and we try to respect that.  It’s not easy; it feels more natural to hover over her.  I’m getting out more, somewhat distractedly, but I trust my confidence and desire to do things out of the house will come back.  Fallon can stay alone, Maggie is great company, they are both very trustworthy.  But I have turned into a huge worrier.  I’m trying to fix that.

AAHhhhhhhhhhh

Our vacation is still on!!  Unless something happens or chemo does not go as well as it has, we’re going to Niagara Falls, ON in the middle of December.  I made the hotel reservations, so now it feels more real.  There is a big Festival of Lights there for the holidays.  Fallon loves meeting people (other than doctors in veterinarian offices—although she is getting more confident with that), so I am sure she’ll have an outstanding time—and Maggie just always has a good time, everywhere.

Next chemo is in about a week and a half, and rehab visit will be sometime in the next 2 weeks, when Fallon’s new brace arrives—for instructions on how to use it, probably not treadmill so soon following chemo.

We got sad news today.  A Tripawd greyhound we knew from our greyhound group died today.  Harper Leigh was one who blew the bell curve—her amputation was something like 5 years ago.  Harper’s mom, June spent so much time with me on the phone, messaging and Facebook helping me sort things out and giving me her perspective based on experience when we realized amputation might be the best choice.  My heart hurts for Harper’s family.

Harper Leigh
May, 2006-November 30, 2017

More to come…