Things went very well at the follow up visit to the surgeon.  Fallon didn’t seem nervous as we went in, and that was a very good omen.  She historically gets super shaky at the vet.  She was cool with it today.

Fallon went off to get her stitches removed, while her Dad and I went into the exam room to talk to the people.  She is virtually off all meds at this point—nothing for pain once we finish her Previcox, but we do have vetprofen and tramadol should she be uncomfortable. They gave us props for the care we provided because her incision site looks outstanding.  Really, it was all Fallon 🙂 We can increase her activity, and even the amount she walks.  Right now, she’s going about half a block out and back.  The doctor said we could build that up to whatever she could tolerate.  So we’ll see what she will tolerate, she’s good about letting us know 🙂  I also asked about the rehab consult, and the doctor gave us the referral to a doctor there, the schedulers will call us to get it set up.  We’ll get some direction toward strengthening her more and helping her walk as comfortably as possible.  Bone biopsy is STILL NOT BACK.  No one’s fault, I understand.  The bone apparently must be soaked to remove the calcium, so a thin slice can be examined.  Fallon’s still needs to be soaked.  The doctor said he would check in later in the week with us, or call immediately when the results came in.  My biggest concern was having that report for the next stage, the oncologist appointment for chemotherapy.  Our first appointment is the day before Halloween, next Monday.   We’ll figure it out.

We left feeling really good.  Fallon is doing awesome, the doctor was pleased with her progress, and we’re moving away from restricting her and medicating her.

It was a greyt day!!

We left the office in a torrential rainstorm, but I didn’t care, I wanted to get her home.  The first thing she did was run straight upstairs.  I knew that’s exactly what she would do.  I love her so much.

Things seem to be going OK, sometimes seem better, and sometimes seem worse.  Fallon is getting around more easily, and she’s laying down pretty expediently, compared to the time she spent trying to lay down the first few days after she came home.  We’ve been walking down the street, probably about half a block and back, or we walk around the whole perimeter of the yard.

There are a couple of things that concern us, but we see her doc tomorrow—the stitches come out finally!  One bothersome thing is that she far prefers to lay on the hard floor, rather than any of the many mats we have spread around.  Her second choice is a doubled up fleece.  She doesn’t ever choose a fluffy bed.  I guess “bothersome” is strong, but it is a huge change from before.  Another concerning thing—on the odd occasion, she shivers.  It’s not cold here, it’s pretty warm for fall.  It’s temporary, lasts a couple of minutes.  We’ll ask the doc tomorrow about that.  I think we’ll also take a look through the Tripawds site to see if any of this has been mentioned.  We still have not gotten the results of the biopsy, but the doc was all over it last week, was going to call today if they were not in hand.  Hope they are there tomorrow.

Fallon is laying between 2 soft mats on thin fleece blankets

We’ve been trying to pay Maggie extra attention, and I have been trying to go on a date or two with her every day—maybe to the store to pick out something fun and meet people, maybe to the bike trail to walk and smell things, maybe just a longer walk around our neighborhood.  Maggie gets frequent walks with Fallon, but they’re short.  We want to make sure she gets enough exercise and attention.

A good friend gave Fallon a lavender scented squeaky toy to help her relax. But Maggie loves it too.

If all’s good tomorrow with the doctor visit, stitch removal, and whatever else, we’ll be done with the practice we got the surgery at.  Wait, maybe not—we are interested in getting Fallon a rehab consult, and they have that there—and the Tripawds Foundation may be able to chip in!!  First, though, is The Veterinary Cancer Center a week from today.  Things are moving fast, a month ago I’d never have believed we’d be doing all the things we’ve done in the past month.  Nor would I want to repeat it.

Fallon came home from the hospital 4 days ago.  She finally pooped yesterday !  I had been waiting eagerly for this!

She’s walking around pretty confidently.  Yesterday she did knock over a table and lamp, so we moved it, she takes the path it was by a lot.  Outside, we’ve started walking the perimeter of the house, out to the mailbox, nothing too far, but more than the few yards to the corner of the house we were doing.  Maggie comes too, and it’s not enough for her.  We still have not let Fallon upstairs, and if we do, we’ll carry her.  Right now, everything she needs is downstairs, except her—I mean our–nice soft bed.  She stands and stares at the base of the stairs like she’s contemplating going up.  She’s made her way onto the furniture a time or two, other times she looks like she wants to get up there, but can’t—she makes adorable little hoppity jumps, but it’s not enough.  Her activity is still supposed to be limited anyway, but I’m happy she is showing interest and initiative. She is getting a lot better at laying down—still takes some time, but not as much.  She looks more comfortable when she does lie down.  Her front leg is still swollen, we massage it, elevate it, and apply heat.  It might look a little better, but still doesn’t look right.  She is supposed to wear something to protect her incision, but she tenses up her front leg so it’s difficult to get that on.  She seems to know that leg is an important one.

1 week ampuversary smiles

I went out last night to play hockey and left Fallon home alone with Dad and Maggie for the first time since the surgery. I was decidedly distracted.  I had fun, but couldn’t stop worrying about how Fallon was doing, could Dad get her meds in her, how things were going, etc, etc, etc.  I have to work on that.

Maggie still needs more attention.  We need to walk her separately, farther.  I can manage about one walk a day with her, timewise, but she would love more.  Soon, little girl.

Maggie and halloween pal

More to come…

Fallon’s still doing pretty OK.  She did not pee last night before bed, plus it was raining hard.  We tolerated the wet as long as both of us could, then came in.  She stood up last night at around 1:30AM so I took her out—peed, awesome.  Plus her walking looked as good as I had seen it.  I have slept on an air mattress downstairs with her, and last night after our 1:30AM walk, she joined me there.  She hopped up with no problem and lay down and screamed.  She laid with her incision side on the bottom, and I’m assuming that is why.  Could just be some greyhound drama also, but I think the former is more likely.  Nonetheless, once she was settled she stayed there, and I anticipated a hard time in the morning, and fretted much of the night on how I was going to get her up without hurting her.  I got up before her to use the bathroom, and when I came out she was up and standing on the floor—no problems.  I have to trust her more 🙂

I finally set up the oncologist—Dr. Sue Ettinger.  I am thrilled to have a doc with such a great reputation, There are a couple of other greyhounds from our adoption group who have had great success with her.  Fallon’s stitches come out on 10/24.  Her oncology appointment is 10/30.  It will be about 2 hours 45 minute drive to get there–not optimal, but not horrible.  Worth every minute for the confidence I have in this choice.

Right now, she’s sleeping on the loveseat—jumped up there herself.  We also walked a bit farther today together, almost to the back of our yard.  She seems more steady.  She’s dying to walk upstairs, I think she could do it, but we were supposed to limit her activity until the stitches are removed.  The doctor who did her amputation will call to check in, I’ll ask about specifics then.

She jumped up all by herself. Reppin’ the Rivs today 🙂

More to come…

Things aren’t going too badly.  It’s almost uneventful (almost…not 100%), given I have been prepared for a very difficult couple of weeks.  Fingers crossed it stays this way.  Fallon mostly seems comfortable, sometimes seems to have some amount of panting and restlessness, spends all kinds of time spinning to lay down, but not laying down (we’ve learned that after a few minutes, we call it and help her down).  The incision looks really good, actually, it’s been dry and we’ve been changing her giant gauzes, but finding nothing on them.  Our paperwork says to continue this for 2 weeks, but I’ll ask the doc about this when he calls next week.  Maybe it can start leaking again and we’re being prepared.  She was wearing a red gauze stretchy shirt which was getting tons of holes—and also seemed to be cutting off her circulation in her only front leg, so we exchanged it for a t shirt.

Walking is not going badly.  We only go as far as the back corner of the house, she hops along pretty well, and I know this will get better over time.  She has not pooped yet, but we were told this could be delayed.

Nighttime wasn’t bad at all, we slept probably half of it, she awoke frequently and whined, but if I touched her or pet her she seemed quiet and satisfied.  Easy fix.  We got out of bed long before I wanted, 5:15AM, but I wanted to make sure she didn’t have to pee.  She did, so time well spent.

Maggie is still pretty attentive, we’re trying to give her separate walks as she’s capable of miles of distance instead of yards.

Not just love for Fallon…there are 2 uneaten treats there.

Fallon spent a little time negotiating the territory on the different set of wheels, she did really well.

Exploring on 3

More to come…