tank

Just wanted to update you guys and let you know that Tank is now running free with so many of his former tripawd buddies on all four legs. I know I am not fully comprehending what has happened yet, but I also know that this site saved me this summer, and I know that nobody loves our dogs more than the people on this site. Tank took three doese of Pilladia and then deteriorated rapidly. He took his last does on Sunday, and never ate another bite. We were forcing him to drink out of our hands, but only one/two sips per day. At first we were thinking it was all drug related, but as the days past our vet helped us realize that it was no longer medication, simply Tanks poor body losing its fight against this stupid cancer. He began coughing up flem everytime he stood up, his breathing was labored and what we found to be painful for him, he no longer stood up unless we forced him to, and he just had that look in his eyes that let us know he was really for us to give him a better life. I have never had to make that decision, and it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. We envisioned months… not days. But I have also never seen something happen so fast.
I couldn’t have asked for a better dog, and it will be a long time before anything seems normal again. I will continue to come here to read about all our heros on three legs… God knows he was and is still my hero. Love your fur-babies, and for those who have lost thier battle… please let them know to be on the lookout for Tank and be sure to play with him at the bridge 🙂 They will love getting to play with him!
Sadly,
Lisa, Mark and Harley

Well, we took Tank to the oncologist yesterday ( a month earlier than scheduled) because we felt like he was “off”. Obviously our instincts were correct which is heartbreaking. He has three pretty significant size tumors in his lungs. You know when you have that feeling that you have beat this nasty monster?? That is how we felt the last few months. We really felt like he was going to be the exception, not the rule. But that isn’t going to be the case.
The Dr. was great and explained to us his best guess as to what to expect. He said he feels like with no treament Tank is looking at a few weeks. We could just elimiate as much pain as possible and try to enjoy our time with him. Or, we could try Palladia. He reommended trying it for one month and then xray again to see if the tumors either get bigger, get smaller, or stay the same. Then we choose again.
For now we are doing the Palladia and started it yesterday. He is doing it every other day rather than M_W_F due to his size. I felt like yesterday he did ok.. but the more I read on this site last night the more nervous I got about it. We are asking some more questions today and hopefully we will feel a little better.
My heart is breaking ( as I know you guys understand). Tank will be 6 on Monday. It is just not fair!!! I am sick to my stomach thinking that it is going to be up to us to decide when he is in too much pain. I have never had to let a dog go and I have no idea how/when it will be the right time. I keep hearing/reading that I will know.. that he will tell me… but will I see it?? He is really struggling to stand up/lay down right now and that alone is breaking my heart. He just kind of collapes, and at his size it is a big fall.
Damn it, I wanted to beat this. I will share more later, I just wanted to let you guys know so that we could be added to prayer list and happy thoughts lists!!

Wow… just realized how long it has been since I have updated Tanks blog! Time really goes by fast doesn’t it!! I really just need a place to put my feelings because my brain and my heart are not really in synch right now. Ever have that feeling that something is just “off” with your tripawd? That has been me the past few weeks. I can’t pin point what it is, but Tank is different. He has slowed down quite a bit, he isn’t eating quite as much, and he just seems really tired. We have taken him to the vet and done bloodwork. The vet says his numbers are perfect…but we know him better than the vet and I am just worried. He wasn’t due to have his xrays unitl March 20th but we went ahead and got his appointment bumped to Wednesday of this week. I will admit it… I am terrified. I think it is back, and I am not sure he can fight it again.
I loved seeing the blog on facebook last week about Tripawds getting sick.. it was exactly what I needed to read. He might be fine, and I know that, but I am just worried about my boy 🙁 I am going to be so pissed off ( sorry!) if it is back. It is such an evil disease, and it picked the wrong dog. I know we all feel this way so this is the best place for me to vent. He is the BEST dog in the world, and he doesn’t deserve to go though any of this. He has been licking his paw lately and that scares me. If he gets a tumor in another leg that will be the absolute cruelest thing in the world. I know cancer returns, but I am not ready, and he is not ready. I will update this after we see the doctor on Wednesday but I just needed a place to think on paper. He is my hero, he is my boy, and I need more time with him. Please, don’t let this be bad news. Please just let him be getting older and slowing down. Please…

This fall has been a whirlwind, and I know I should update Tanks blog more often.. but I guess better late than never 🙂 In the last month he has finished him chemo ( YAY!!!!), had another perfect blood test, and pretty much just been a great dog. I am so glad that he is doing so well. He amazes me day after day!
We go back to the oncologist on the 17th for lung xrays, and then we will go every three months. WOW… at one point I wasn’t sure he would have three months, now we are booking appointments that far in advance 🙂 Hooray for Tank!!!
I wanted to share with you guys that for Thanksgiving I found ( on this site of course) the perfect wine for our year…. we celebrated with Three Legged Red and it absolutely made our holiday perfect. We are thinking we might have a bottle on every ampuversary. Just seemed so fitting!!
We have a question, and I guess this is a good place for people to share information. What is “normal” for activity for a tripawd? We have noticed that some days Tank will just look “little”… like he is not standing up all the way on his front leg. I guess we don’t know if we should be working him up to being more active, or letting him take things at his pace??? We will take he and his sister to a field and let them play for 20 or so min, but then later in the day notice that he seems to be paying the price. But the next morning he is fine?? Seems to me he just needs to build stamina back up, but we are so cautious about letting him do anything that might hurt him. Thoughts????
Anyway, just an update from Texas to say that our boy is awesome, feeling great, happy to be alive, and certainly adding much joy to our holiday season. Its a good world right now:)

Just a quick update on my super stud Tank 🙂 Tuesday is his 3 month ampuversary and he is doing great!!! He has done 4 of the 5 rounds of chemo, and at the 3rd round x-ray everything looked perfect. All his blood work is coming back exactly in the ranges it is supposed to, and he seems to be feeling great. I know I have said it before, but it is amazing that at one point 3 months ago I was afraid that my dog would never be the same. Actually, I was right… he is not the same, he is BETTER!!! A couple of days ago my husband and I took Tank and Harley to this cool new outside park/dog park. We were an absolute spectacle. The only thing that gets more attention than a huge great dane is a huge great dane with 3 legs!!
One neat thing… several people stopped us and asked us questions about his surgery, and we were even able to guide some of them to this site. We would have been TOTALLY lost had my husband not found tripawds. And in our chaos I am sure that Tank would not have had anywhere near the recovery that he had. Not only were we physically prepared, but we were emotionally prepared and 100% supported by a group of people who knew exactly how we were feeling. This site is such a blessing, and we were thrilled to be able to point others in this direction to get the same comfort that we got 🙂

Tank had his second round of chemo done today. As usual he did it like a true champion. He is home resting, but has been up running around, he ate his dinner, and he is behaving 100% normal. I had a rough day at work today and it really made me think about Tank. I am so proud of him and the strength he has shown through all of this. He seems to be doing so well, yet when I get down about things it just crushes me that I know he has a limited time left with us. I know he doesn’t have an expiration date, but darn it why is he having to go through any of this anyway!!! He brings me so much happiness and I can’t even imagine what life will be like without him. I know.. it won’t ( HOPEFULLY) be for awhile down the road but I am just having a pity party tonight. I love my dog and he is the best dog around. Lucky us huh… we all have the best dog around! I just think when you have lived through something like this you get to have an extra serving of love towards your dog. Isn’t that right??? I guess I can’t have a smile on my face all the time. Tonight I just want to cry with him and for him that he has gotten this raw deal in life. This is a dog who should be living like a king…. not one going in for chemo every three weeks. It just really sucks 🙁
Ugg… thanks for letting me vent.

Wow… what a month this has been. Let me rephrase that…what an AMAZING month this has been! It is so hard for me to look at Tank and think that four and a half weeks ago I was staying up crying at night thinking about the change that was going to occur in my dog. Maybe I was selfish?? Maybe I just was afraid that I would not be strong enough to handle what was coming my way?? Regardless of why I worried I can say now that I worried for nothing! Sure, I wish Tank could have avoided all of this stupid cancer stuff, but in no way do I feel like his life has changed for the worse. He has been so amazing this month, and I can’t even imagine that I was so worried that things would all change!
Tank now goes for daily ( short) walks, he goes for quick runs in the park with his sister, he goes up and down stairs like it is nothing, he jumps up and down off the bed like it is on the floor, he runs outside and chases things when he hears weird noises.. he does it ALL. And all on three legs 🙂 We were so worried about his size, and that he would not be able to be steady on three legs! We were so wrong! We worried that he would have a nasty scar and look like 1/2 a dog. Again, wrong, wrong, wrong!
I realize that this nasty cancer is not going to go away, but I also realize that I have the worlds best dog and that he can do anything he wants to do. We will LIVE every day with him and we will make sure that we don’t hold him back in anyway.

I don’t think we realized the pain he was in before his surgery. Things happened so fast, and I think we thought we acted before he really started to hurt. Now I know that everything we read here was right. He WAS in tons of pain… he just didn’t want us to worry. He has that sparkle back in his eyes, that spring in his step. He feels good, and I don’t doubt that for a second.

My husband and I were talking about this site this morning. I can’t imagine what we would have done without the information we found here. I think that is part of what made it such a smooth transition for us. We were about 99% prepared for what to expect, and that was all because of this site. Wow, what an amazing resource!! So to Tripawds.. thank you so much from our entire family!!!

2nd round of chemo is a week away. Hopefully he will breeze right through it like he did round one. I don’t expect him to be a superhero, and if he struggles then we are fully prepared to help in anyway we can. But, knowing he is Tank I am pretty sure he will make it look as easy as he has everything else.

Just wanted to write an update and say again that WOW.. what a great month it has been! He is strong, happy, and hopefully here for the long haul 🙂

Lisa and Tank

Today is a BIG day for us! My husband and I have been watching all kinds of milestones come and go since Tank had his surgery. We waited for him to wag his tail.. we waited for him to finish his dinner… we waited for him to be able to navigate the stairs on his own.. all thing that made him “more like Tank” to us. I am sure we are not the only ones who worried ( for no reason!) that our tripawd would not be the same dog we had before. Well today we hit the big one. My daughter called me at work and said “How long has Tank been sleeping on your bed??” Ok, don’t judge, but we have one of those dysfunctional bed routines where my husband and I often find ourselves contorted in the night making sure the dogs have enough room 🙂 You know, waking up with a sore back because you slept weird..all because you didn’t want to bother the dog. Yep, that would be us!!! Anyway, long story short we didn’t think Tank would ever get on our bed again. Not only is it upstairs, but it is a TALL bed. I kind of wanted to panic when she called, but I just couldn’t stop smiling. Yep… that’s my Tank!!! Loving life every single day, and back almost 100% to everything he could do before. And it has only been 3 short weeks!! I want to be a dog in my next life. They are amazing!!!!

Lisa and Tank

What a busy week Tank has had this week!! We started off Monday taking him to have his stitches removed. He did great 🙂 All the patients/parents and the office staff were amazed that he was only 2 weeks post-op. He really is getting around with ease. They said his incision looked great and he was good to go. We still like him in the t-shirt look, but it fits our family! Happy and healed!!!
Next we went next door to have a consult with the oncologist about chemo. We talked with the doctor who asked if we needed time to think about our choices. He had explained that lifespan without chemo would probably be 4-5 months and with chemo probably closer to a year. well, with tears streaming down our faces we knew that chemo was a must. A year seems so unfair after all Tank has been through,….. and I am just going to cross my fingers that he is wonder dog and is the exception to the rule! We are both teachers and we talked about how this summer has been 100% focused on Tank and is diagnosis/surgery. I can’t stand the thought of him not being around next summer 🙁 If you have a good story of success share it please! I could use it 🙂 Anyway, they went ahead and administered the first round of chemo on Monday. He did great! No side effects that we can tell. They did the IV Carboplatin ( spelling?) and the doctor said they would do 5 rounds total.. one every three weeks. Hopefully they are all this easy!!!

I just keep thinking that I have a super stud dog! He has gone through this entire experience like a champ, and never even hinted that he couldn’t or wouldn’t keep up with his routine. Maybe, just maybe his determination will beat this damn cancer and I will get to enjoy many more years with my Tank.

Oh, and he is getting the hang of the stairs!! Actually.. he goes upstairs ( our bedroom) every time somebody turns their back on him! He has always slept up there and once we let him go up once it was all over. Luckily he is scared to go down so I know once he is up there he is staying put. He comes down with my help but you can tell he is nervous about it… and I am ok with that 🙂

Just wanted to give an update! I know I like to read about other dogs and how great they are doing so I am sharing Tanks story as well.!

Lisa and Tank

What a great few days we have had! He has done great for the beginning but the last few days I feel like he has become himself again! He is up more…meeting us at the door if we have to leave for a second… eating all his food from the kitchen ( no more breakfast in bed! , wagging his tail more, searching for the kids in thier rooms.. licking his stuffed toys the way he has always done… little things that make him our dog 🙂 He has gone on a couple of short car rides which he LOVES. He has always liked to go “cruising” but we were worried about his balance and how well he would do because he just almost refuses to ever sit down in the car. Stands up with his head out as long as we will let him. He is starting to go to the front door again when he hears car keys in hopes that he might be going somewhere. It really amazes me that he has done so well through all of this!!! I NEVER would have imagined this would go the way it did. He is really my hero and I couldn’t love him anymore!!!!
We also let him go upstairs on Friday night!!!! I had slept on the floor for 9 days and enough was enough 🙂 He went up like a champ and then was very cautious coming down the next morning but did great. I figure going up/down once a day will be ok. We will probably keep the stairs gated for months if not forever just to keep the dogs from playing on the stairs like they have done in the past. Just to be safe!!! My husband and I are both teachers so we are winding down on being able to be home all day with the dogs and we will have to make sure things are safe for his new body!!
We go tomorrow to take out his stitches and to meet with the oncologist about his chemo. I am not sure when we will actually start that process but after watching Tank sail through the amputation I feel a lot better about subjecting him to Chemo. He is obviously a fighter and in my mind certainly strong enough to do this. I will let you guys know what they say!
Finally… a picture 🙂 I threw one of my sons tshirs on him once he got his bandages off because I can’t stand seeing him in the cone of shame. He has been wearing it a couple of days now and doesn’t mind it at all. Yesterday I let him go out front to use the bathroom and snapped this shot. Look how happy he looks!!! My huband is a coach and sent this to our new Varsity coach and the coach put it on his twitter. Tank is like a celebrity today! GO TANK!!!!