Today, 12/29/2010, Hunter had her right hind leg amputated. The mammary mass appears to have been a benign cyst but it is being biopsied. As far as the amp goes, the surgeon had to remove a bit more muscle tissue than she normally does to establish the 3 cm margins around the tumor but it was still reasonable. Hunter woke up from the anesthesia very quickly and was up on her feet pawing at the door of the run. They opened the door to let her out for a potty break and she ran out! She dragged them around outside but didn’t need to urinate. They brought her back and the entire cycle repeated. Wanting her to rest they tried some hydromorphone. That did nothing. They tried Fentanyl which finally conked her out a bit. We got there to see her right as they were administering the Fentanyl and could see how spunky she was. She tried to push the cage door open and was eyeing a cat up on an exam table nearby.
When we checked in on her later that evening they said she had wolfed down her dinner and was back to trying to escape. Another dose of Fentanyl was administered. Assuming she does as well tomorrow, they plan to let her go home tomorrow evening.
Love that crazy girl! So many emotions are running through our heads. We’re so relieved that she is doing so well. We’re nervous about when the cancer might rear its ugly head again. We’re not sure whether we should proceed with chemo or no chemo. Or whether we should go for the trial. And the financial impact of all of this is extremely frightening. But, most of all, we are so excited to have more quality time with her and to be able to love her for as long as possible.
Thank you for sharing Hunter’s story. She is beautiful, and quite the guardian … amazing how she attacked that mugger!
Regarding the chemo, you may find this forum topic discussing chemotherapy decisions helpful.
Please keep us posted. You might consider replying to your forum topic with a link whenever you update Hunter’s blog. There are many members who rarely leave the forums.
What a big lovely, spunky girl! Happy to hear she came through the surgery just fine.
It’s hard to believe but we started a similar journey with Catie, our Golden Retriever, almost a year ago. The limp; the devastating diagnosis of osteosarcoma; the options; the overwhelming financial implications; the anxiety over how she would cope with three legs; when would the cancer come back; how much time would we have — whew.
For all our human distress, I swear Catie didn’t even blink. She had her right foreleg amputated on January 13 2010. She’s still here. She’s still lovely. We have absolutely no regrets.
Sending Hunter many many healing wishes and hopes that her recovery period is speedy and uneventful. Look forward to hearing more of her, and your, journey. It’s not one any of us in this Tripawd community would have chosen, but it’s comforting – at least it has been for me – not to have travel it alone. 🙂
Wow your Hunter is so beautiful!
Her courage and stregnth will help her along this journey, she has proven she is a fighter- and you are giving her that chance.
Best of luck with which ever treatments/protocal you go with, I look forward to updates from you on this gorgeous gal!
Deborah
Mom to Spirit JD and the quads Serena and Maya
Sounds like Hunter is doing really well! Hope you get to bring her home soon and celebrate the new year together!
Welcome Hunter’s pawrents. You will find soooo much help on Tripawds. I don’t think I could have made it without this community. When you are alone or even just talking about it with family, it is so difficult to wrap your head around the fact that in order to have more time with your dog and have that time be pain free for your buddy, you have to have the leg amputated.
Once you get past making that decision and your pup is back home, the first two weeks will be at times frightening, but help and advice is just a few key strokes away. We all have or have had a tripawd and they are amazing dogs. Welcome to tripawds.
Spirit Opie and Quadpawd Mattie’s Mom, Nancy
Thanks for Hunter’ story. Gives me a more courage. Wish Hunter has a speedy recovery and would like to hear about her progress.
BTW I live in Sri Lanka.
Regds
Ananda
glad hunter made it through surgery well. sounds like she is anxious to get home and back to doing her job as protector and family matriarch! loved the post about her history, hopefully you will soon get the info you need to determine if chemo is the right step to take for you guys. welcome to the site, we look forward to more updates!!
charon & gayle
Hey, Hunter! You share your amputation date with Holly! She celebrated her 1 year ampuversary on December 29th. So we can celebrate our ampuversaries together now! Holly is also a right rear amp, so we also share that.
We are so glad you got a second opinion and went through with amputation. While it’s not always the right choice, Hunter sure sounds like she will do great – what energy she has! A year ago I remember sitting watching movies with Holly while she slept. I was so scared of the road we were starting down. The first few weeks had some ups and downs, mostly due to her losing her appetite and not wanting to eat. But now she is doing great! We’ll keep all fingers and paws crossed that Hunter has a good, strong recovery and amazes you with how well she does.
Holly had 6 carboplatin treatments and is now on metronomics. The chemo was rough on her – there were several times I almost stopped that treatment. Have you asked if you can withdraw from the study if you feel it is having bad effects on Hunter? If you can withdraw, then you might consider trying it and seeing how it goes. We didn’t qualify for any studies, so I’m not sure how that would work. But when we started chemo I kept in mind that we could stop at any point if it appeared to be having too many bad side effects.
Good luck with your decisions about treatment. We’re all here for you if you have questions. We can’t wait to hear more about Hunter!
Hugs,
Holly, Zuzu and Susan
Hunter, how are you doing today? We hope things are going well for you. I love the way your pawrents make you sound, you seem like my kinda crazy girl! Keep it up 🙂
I am doing very well – thank you for asking :-). My mom has been busy with work and hasn’t been able to post an update but plans to soon. Lucky for me she is working at home and can hang out with me all day.
I still try to eat the mailman (or at least bark like I might) when he drops off the mail and I love going for my short walks. I just can’t figure out why my mom and dad make me turn around and go home before I’m done exploring.
~Hunter