77 Hours After Surgery…
So we are now about 77 Hours past the end of surgery and Sebastian is doing remarkably well. He’s navigating our house and yard pretty much on his own and finally pooped this evening… Yay! Twice earlier he lifted his back leg, in true Sebastian style, to pee on the spot where his doggie brother, Nico, had just peed. His stability isn’t perfect yet by any means, but he didn’t fall over, so I’m sure he’s getting close to having steady footing. We’ve bought about $200 worth of rugs and runners in the last couple of days so he would have a carpeted path to all of the rooms in the house since we have all wood / tile floors. The rugs helped a LOT in letting him get around as before we put them down he’d be hopping right along until his back legs found some slick flooring and then they’d slip right out from under him. He does a great job at following the path of runners we made through the hallways.
I feel comfortable saying that he’s exceeding my expectations entirely and has adapted faster than I ever thought he would.
8 comments so far
10:48 pm - 6-16-2014
Your story makes me feel better. This is 48 hour for our chocolate lab Jake. He is a right hind amp, due to re-occurrence of a mast cell tumor. Jake is 7& 1/2 years old. He was diagnosed 4 years ago and underwent debulking of the tumor and 3 weeks of radiation. He has done fine until about 3 weeks ago. We just brought him home, and although I am a nurse I still have concerns. BTW Sebastian is beautiful!
Nice to know we are not alone!
Laurie (Jake’s Mom)
5:52 pm - 6-17-2014
Laurie – I’m sorry to hear about the mast cell. Cancer stinks. :-/
A few years ago, we had an American Staffordshire Terrier, Nan, that battled mast cell on her hing leg. It wasn’t diagnosed for quite some time as our “regular” vet initially thought it was “nothing to worry about.” Once it was properly diagnosed, we tried to excise the mast cell tumor from her leg and treated her with a couple of different types of chemo. Unfortunately the cancer eventually metastasized into her blood and we had to say goodbye to her a few months after we thought we were “in the clear.” I can assure you that if we were to deal with mast cell again, amputation would be the way we’d go. Hang in there and keep us all posted!
11:55 pm - 6-16-2014
Great update. Very glad to hear how well he is doing. And cute pic. Handsome guy.
5:55 pm - 6-17-2014
Thanks, Karma. I think he’s pretty handsome too, but I suppose I might be a bit partial. 😉
We all appreciate your kind words!
3:40 am - 6-17-2014
Ok that smile says it ALL! Look at how hoppy he is!
I’m so glad you made the investment in runners, too many people think it’s not important but imo it’s critical for building confidence and moving on with the new normal. You are as pawesome as Sebastian!!!!
Yay for the poopy dance, yay for it all, you guys are making great progress.
5:17 pm - 6-17-2014
Thanks, Jerry, for your kind words. The runners were SOO necessary and helped HUGELY. I would, without a doubt, advise anyone who has slippery floors to invest in rugs and runners to help their tripawds get around. It’s also been very cool to see how quickly he learned with “path” was best and keeps himself right on those runners. He’s amazing. 🙂
2:22 pm - 6-17-2014
Sebastian is looking awesome!! We are on day 15 since Leland’s amputation and he’s doing well. I think I’m more nervous letting him do for himself than he is trying things on his own. I’m letting him hop short distances in the yard and he’s already figured out how to get off the mattress and hop around the room on his own. My husband and I have been sleeping on our mattress on the floor since this whole thing started back on May 20 (failed TPLO and then amp). Hopefully this weekend we can move out of our office (makeshift bedroom to avoid stairs) and back to sleeping in the actual bed. We too invested in runners and rugs (with the rubber backing) all through the house to give Leland the confidence that he won’t fall because of slick surfaces.
Keep up the great work…I know it’s tiring but it’s so worth it to still have them with us and not in pain.
5:15 pm - 6-17-2014
As I mentioned in another comment, I ultimately realized I may have been more of a hindrance to Sebastian than a help with navigating around our home and yard. I do stick close by, to be sure he doesn’t need help, but honestly, other than biffing his chin on the bottom (of two) steps on the way to our patio door from the yard, he’s done remarkably! I found the runners / rugs helped TREMENDOUSLY! The hardwoods are so slick and given him some extra confidence obviously helped. Good luck and keep us posted on Leland’s progress!