Our Tripawd Experiences

So, last time I updated, I mentioned Sebastian had developed a concerning hacking-gurgling-throat-clearing-kind-of-cough.  We saw our primary care vet who said his lungs and heart sound great, which is obviously outstanding news.  She gave him a prescription for Temaril-P in hopes that it would alleviate the crazy coughing symptoms and solve whatever problem was causing it.  We gave him two pills for the first five days and have been down to 1.5 pills for the last couple of days and had planned to step him down to 1 pill for the final five days. Initially, it seemed it may have been a solution as the retching sounds quieted down as did the frequency; however, as of the last couple of days, the cough has become more frequent and with a louder gurgle sound as if he’s trying to cough something up, but so far, it has not become a productive cough.  Our primary care vet is the person who did the initial biopsy and diagnosed his leg mass as soft tissue sarcoma.  She referred us to a surgeon about 25-minutes from home to do the actual amputation given the experience of the surgeon and him offering lower costs versus the hospital where she works.  As you may recall, the surgery took place at the end of June and he’s been bright eyed and getting around pretty well for short distances and around the house without difficulty pretty much ever since.   Given that his x-rays at the time of surgery looked clear and without any signs of metastasis, we all thought it to be unlikely that he suddenly had cancer in his lungs bad enough to be causing this coughing, but we all also know it is in fact a possibility.  The fact that his lungs and heart sounded good led us to believe he isn’t likely suffering from heart or lung disease.  All good, until this morning…

Shortly after the surgery, we noticed what we thought was scar tissue just under the incision site where his leg used to be.  It made sense that there’d be some hard areas under the scar given the amputation and the fact that his leg wasn’t there anymore, nor was his hair.  It didn’t cause us any concern until this morning when I noticed the mass that we thought was simply scar tissue had grown significantly in what seems like overnight.  At this point, I’d say it’s the size of an average doorknob and can be moved around – meaning it doesn’t seem to be attached to his skin or to anything under the skin.  If pushed on, even gently, he sort of gasps for breath, flinches and kind of whines.  My guess at this point is that whatever this mass is may be pushing against his lung on that side of his body leading to the cough and the hacking sounds, but seeing as I am far from a veterinarian professional (despite this being the 3rd battle we’ve fought related to dogs with cancer – 3 dogs, 3 different types of cancer), I decided it’s best to take him in for an x-ray and / or a biopsy to confirm what’s going on now that’s led to this large bulge under his incision site.

Here’s a link to a video so you can see what I’m talking about with the cough: http://youtu.be/hU3SuFJ7SRM

So, friends, I must ask you if any of you have had any similar experiences with your Tripawds?  We do have an appointment at 6:40 pm (Mountain Time) tonight with the surgeon who did the amputation.  I’m nervous as you can imagine and quite anxious to get some answers.  Fingers crossed.