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!!!

My husband just got off the phone with the surgeon and Tank did great in surgery.  His chest x-ray was totally clear so that was a huge blessing.  He said he is really groggy but had been awake and starting to move around some.  After waiting what felt like DAYS it was so good to hear that he was going to be ok.  He is probably going to stay until Wednesday which I think I am ok with. If he was a smaller dog I might feel differently but I am afraid one of us is going to hurt him in our efforts to try to help him get around.  One more night in the surgery center will hopefully allow him a little more adjustment time.  Anyway, just wanted to update you guys and let you know that Tank is indeed a Tripawd 🙂

So today is Tanks last day with 4 legs.  I am trying so hard to be positive… but my heart is breaking.  He is licking his hurt leg a lot so I know he knows something is wrong, but I am struggling with the fact that he can’t possibly imagine what is really about to happen!

I have read on this site that they need us to be strong and that they will feed off our worry but WOW, that is so hard to do.  I am terrified something might happen in surgery, terrified they will find cancer in his lungs when they do the x-ray tomorrow, terrified that he will be unhappy with his new life and blame us.  I know I am preaching to the choir here but he just means so much to my family.  He has really be the absolute best dog ( even though he ate our couch and too many pillows to count) 🙂  and it just isn’t fair for him to have to go through this!!  My husband complains all the time about our kids playing the “fair card” but in this situation it JUST ISN”T FAIR!!!  I just want him to come home, wag his tail, lick my face and show me that we did the right thing!!!  Until then I will continue to smile on the outside and cry on the inside.

Good Morning!  I have finally decided that writing about how I am feeling might be helpful.  Right now I am busy just trying to live in denial that this is happening to my Tank!  Tank is my 5 year old brindle Great Dane, and he is the best thing that has ever happened to my family.  He is the first “ours” that my husband and I have had together ( both have children from previous marriages) and the fact that he is getting ready to go through this is absolutely killing me!  His story starts the same as many of yours:

We noticed a small lump on his front left foot about 6 weeks ago.  We have another dog ( Harley) and we assumed that they had played too hard on the stairs and that he sprained it or something.  Went to Vet and he gave us anti-inflammatory drugs and said lets give it a week or two.  Went back a couple weeks later and did an x-ray.  Didn’t see anything and so we did another round of anti- inflammatory drugs while we were out of town on vacation.  Got home and the lump was significantly bigger so we knew something was really wrong.

Tank saw Dr. Lange about three weeks ago and he recommended a biopsy which was horrible for us.  Tank basically came home in a cast and looked so sad 🙁  It was a much more intense procedure than we had anticipated.  Took a week to get results back and now here we are with the diagnosis of bone cancer and the best option amputation.  I have spent days pouring over this site and it has been really helpful.  We are busy getting the house ready and trying to make sure he is comfortable and happy this weekend.  He is limping but doesn’t seem to be in too much pain yet so that is good.

Basically I have been in “business” mode about this but my heart is breaking.  Why is this happening to my sweet boy??  He is such a puppy at heart and just has so much life in him!  I haven’t been too open with my friends/family because I know that there are probably people out there who think this is wrong.  Tank is a tall dog ( but lean which is good) and the thought of him trying to get around on three legs is terrifying.  But.. he is so young, so happy, and so full of life and I know that he is not anywhere near ready for the other option!  But wow… am I ready for this??  I am so worried.   I am doubting everything about myself right now.  I am not sure I am emotionally strong enough for this and it is scaring me.  I have read tons of blogs, looked at tons of pictures, and I know that many people have been in my shoes but it still is scary me to death.  I don’t want him to wake up wondering why we did this to him!  I don’t want him to not be “Tank” and I know the meds will make him “off”.  I just want my boy to be ok and for this to be the right thing to be doing!  Ugg… this weekend I am going to be a mess.  I just want him to be better already so that I know it was all ok and that he did fine.  The waiting and thinking is so hard!!! This is Tank and Harley earlier this summer

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