Month: August 2013

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!!!!

Well Tank has now been home with us a full week!!! I feel like I should knock on wood but so far he is doing fabulous!!!! He has not shown any signs of pain, he isn’t really acting odd, and he is not seeming to be upset at all. Yes, he is sleeping most of the day, but it keeps him from over-doing it which was a huge concern of mine.
He got his bandages off yesterday and even that ended up better than I thought. Yes, it is a LONG scar.. but it is clean and neat and once his hair grows back it won’t be bad at all!! When we were at the office it was funny because everybody in the waiting room was enjoying him. He had been in the house for 6 days and was ready to be out and about!! He jumped right in the car ( which was a blessing because my husband and I had a heck of a time getting him in and out of the car when he came home last week!!) and enjoyed the ride to the vet 🙂
Today he went from taking two types of pain pills to just one. I was a little worried we would see signs of pain today but so far so good. He is still sleepy ( and I refuse to think that is a sign of depression..just good healing) but when he does get up he is having more and more spring in his step!
The only thing he is doing/not doing that bothers me is that he seems totally uninterested in food. I work hard at it and eventually he does eat, but nothing like he did before. I just want him to keep his strength and weight up incase he struggles with chemo. I guess we are babying him a little much by allowing him to eat in bed but oh well… he has been a total stud thorugh all of this and he deserves some special treatment
Anyway, just wanted to give an update on Tank. I swear he is my hero!!!

Ok, I know I am his mom so I am a little biased but Tank is a ROCK STAR!!!!!  I am absolutely amazed at how well he is doing!!  He pretty much slept off and on all day which was great.  He would get up and go potty, and get up to eat but other than that it was a big old nap day!!!  He was panting a little before we went to bed so I was a little afraid that we were going to have a tough night…. but his guy didn’t move from 10:00 pm to 7:30 am.  Guess he knows his mom needs some sleep 🙂   Then  to add to his heroic sleep he got up this morning and ate breakfast…. then hopped to the back door.  I opened it and he went right out, circled about 10 times and then went poop!  YAY 🙂   My husband was still asleep and I had my ipad out taking pics so I videoed the big event.  Sick huh 🙂   It wasn’t that I was worried about him not going, but it was so nice to see that he figured out how to make all his poop circles on three legs!!  Go Tank!! I am trying really hard to not baby him too much.  Yes, we are sleeping slumber party style in our tv room since our bedroom is upstairs, but other than that I am using the sling with him but trying not to help too much.  I am just basically keeping him from going to fast, or turning to head for the stairs.   He is really wanting to go up but has strict orders not to for the first two weeks.  The one thing I am babying him about is water.  It was 104 yesterday so if he would like to drink laying down then by gosh I am going to let him do it !!!  Can’t a boy who just had surgery be pampered just a little! If you read this and are doubting surgery DO IT.  I was terrified but already know it was by far the best thing we could have done for Tank.  It is still a little scary b/c he is so high off the ground to be on three legs, but he is doing amazing!!!!

Thank goodness…Tank is HOME 🙂  We picked him up this afternoon and made it home safe and sound.  I was such a mess when we got to the drs office, but my husband helped me “get it together” and we were ready to see our boy!!  We got to meet with the dr and ask a lot of questions so that was a good thing.  Then they went to get Tank.  I have been saying for days that I just wanted him to look like Tank.  I know that sounds stupid, but it was a mental thing.  Well they opened the door and there he was… TANK!!!  He tried to jump on my husband and could not lick us enough.  He was so happy to see us and he was acting totally normal.  I was worried about the drug induced “haze” but at the time he was great.  I assume maybe they have to be somewhat alert to get them home!!!  We had some trouble getting him in the car due to his size and the gigantic cone of shame, but we did it.   He looked out the window all the way home and seemed to be doing great.  Again, a little struggle getting him out of the car but we managed to make it in safe and sound.  He ate some ( yay) and he let us know he needed to go outside.  We are trying to help him get around and I hope we can sense when he doesn’t need us as much.  For now, better safe than sorry!!!  He is gassy as all get out but we can handle that 🙂

I know we have a long road ahead, but we are thrilled to have him back with us!!  His sister Harley went to “camp” today so that we could get him settled without her.  She is going to be so excited to see him… I think she has been grieving the past two days!!  She missed him as much as we did.

He is bandaged up pretty good… the kids think he looks like a race horse…. If he makes it more than a couple of days without somebody drawing a big number on the side of his bandage it will be a miracle.    I will update more later, just wanted to share that he is home!!!