My Life As A Dog Owner Part 1
I have no children but I got my first taste of fear today!
Sitting in the car waiting for my other half to come out so we can do this dreadful car ride home. In my head I did not care as I was happy my baby girl was healthy!! Paul comes into the car and I asked him what had taken so long? He said that while he was paying for the bill, the doctor had come out to talk to him and asked him to come into one of the examining rooms. He told Paul that when he first checked the biopsy results he had quickly looked at them and that he had his colleague to continue to watch the results. Well he said that the lump turned out to be what is called a "Mass Cell Tumor" which for those of you that do not know, Cancer! Well I felt my heart drop right into my throat as I tried to take in this information he was giving me. The doctor stated that they needed to remove the tumor so Paul scheduled her in..
Well now it's the waiting game, waiting to get her in surgery, waiting for her to get out of surgery, waiting for the results from the lab! ahh!! My life had drastically changed in less than an hour! I started researching this tumor and what other people's experiences were and I did not like what I found...
Friday finally came and we got Nahla ready to go to the vet and surgery. Her appointment was for 7:30 AM so the car ride was not a fun task. I hate that feeling knowing you are taking them somewhere that you know they are going to be scared and you can't be there with them telling them everything is going to be OK...
The waiting game again....we finally got a call from the vet, he said that everything went great, but because of where the lump was....on the knee area, they had to put a splint on her leg and a cast and it had to stay on for her 2 weeks!! Ya I know fun!! The vet explained the different stages that it could possibly be...Stage 1, 2 and 3.....confirming my research the days before on Mass Cell Tumors. The doctor stated it may take up to a week to get the test results back, so the now the waiting begins again......
Every since I was a kid I have been trying to save animals! I use to bring strays home and drive my mother insane! So my thoughts were completely, "Ok if it is Cancer we will just get the chemotherapy, we will.....or should we?" Research was telling me it was possible but others were saying they would never do it. The worry was driving me crazy. If it was just Stage 1 we were good, if it was one of the other 2, not so good.
The morning came and Paul had called me from work. He spoke in a quiet voice and said, " I heard from the vet today". My heart sank in my throat.. He said..." The vet said that they did get everything, that she is in the clear and that there is only a 10% chance it could come back!" Whoo hoo!! I was ecstatic!! I was so thankful that my baby girl was going to be OK. Now it's just rest, antibiotics and just some good old fashion TLC.
Over the 2 week period we had to go to the vet a couple times to get her cast replaced, so here is a couple shots of Nahla's casts through the venture!! The ladies there like to dress up her cast!!
AND This is the third one she got!
Poor girl she had been to the vet so many times in a few weeks!! Now she really dislikes going to the vet AND it will definitely be a task training her out of her yelping when in the car!!
The last time I had taken Nahla to get her cast replaced, the technician stated that she may be able to get the cast off in 10 days instead of 14, but we would have to wait and see. Well if you own a chocolate lab or a lab you know that keeping them relaxed is not an easy task! By this time though Paul told the doctor we needed a sedative to keep her mellow, so we do not have to keep bringing her back. Not to mention the stress on her having to do that. Well the pills worked the first day, after that nothing!! lol! She is 6 and you would think she would have mellowed out by now, NOT!!
I have to say our vet is the best. I would email him pictures of Nahla's progress and ask him questions and he would call me or email me back. How many vets do you know that will do that!
So on this particular day Nahla's cast was slipping off so I had emailed the vet to ask if we should bring her in for a cast change and he said yes.This was the 10th day so we were going to see if she could get her stitches taken out as well....instead of a new cast. As Paul is taking Nahla out to the car, her cast fell completely off!! Ahh!! So her stitches are completely exposed and she is loosing her marbles and we have a 30 to 40 minute drive ahead of us. Geesh!!
We finally arrive at the vet and the place is packed! Nahla is freaking out! She is trying to get the heck out of there! Well as she is doing her escape, she tears a piece of her pad off, the pad that was in the cast and it starts to bleed!! I was freaking out and wanted to get her in the examining room ASAP!!
The finally get her in, I stayed in the waiting room. The doctor took out her stitches and said that we could just put polysporin on her pad and that we only needed to keep "the cone" on her for 1 more night! So off we went. That was the first time I had seen her so happy!! Happy to have that dreadful cast and splint off. Poor girl....
So the next day I was doing the normal routine of putting polysporin on her pad and then I would just put a sock on it. The area was not very big so it should heal up quickly. As the days went on I noticed that the area that had broken off was a bit bigger than I remembered. So I asked Paul if it was that big at the beginning and he said yes, so I thought nothing of it.
Well we were talking in the kitchen that afternoon and I came into the living room to check on Nahla.......Well she had chewed off part of one side of her paw and was working on the other side....right down to the tissue!!! What was this? I had never seen anything like it. Paul immediately grabbed the first aid kit and wrapped it up and I of course emailed the vet for some advice... Total miscommunication on our part. He went into the examining room and I was the one taking care of the wound...lol! The vet said just to keep it clean and change the bandage regularly and he prescribed some antibiotics. She had 2 rounds of antibiotics... not sure if this is what it's like for all those moms out there but man!!
Here is a video on how to wrap a dog's wound if it happens at home.
So through the gauze, sterile bandages, hospital gauze and the sport bandage we would wrap in all up in....Nahla is finally on the road to recovery.
Thanks for reading!!
Oh here is a funny shot of her cone - I always said she looks like a flower!
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