Isa's Story

Well my goofy girl has now bounced back from the last round of chemo. She greeted me at the door last night, bouncing. As in hopping up and down, both front legs off the ground. Not as high as when she was a quad but still. Has to be good for her core. She knows better than to jump up on people so this has always been her alternative to express her excitement.

Then we went on our longest walk to date, post amp. When I decided we should turn around, she sat down and refused to budge. I had to force her to turn around (as in physically lift her by the handle) and head home. For the record, I was right. She was toast by the time we got back to the house. And Wallee accompanied us for the entire walk.

Then later, after dinner, we had a good tug of war session. Something she’s not been interested in since long before diagnosis.

As a side note, when I talked to the vet yesterday about the additional chemo, he said they were so used to Isa being around the office all the time (there’s an understatement), he didn’t know how they’d handle her absence and that I should give her a pet for him. The irony is last week, while we were waiting for them to take her back for chemo, the vet walked through the lobby to talk to another client. Isa took one look at him and headed for the door, stuck her nose in the crack between the door and the jamb, willing it to open so she could make her escape. He may be fond of her but it would appear the feeling is most definitely not mutual. Cracked me up.

So there you have it – good news! Something I know is always welcome around here.

Peace

Purely for entertainment value.

This is the present/bribe my sister brought when she was visiting last week. Look at the size of that bad boy, it’s as big as her head! She was so happy – for a while. It was a little too rich for her and upset her tummy so she only gets possession for little bits of time now.

Her Halloween costume! She’s hard to photograph – never holds still long enough. The blurry one is a better shot of the wings. The look on her face in the other – once again I am judged insane. I have wandered through the Halloween pictures here on the site and she really should count her blessings. It could be sooo much worse!

This is from four or so years ago, when we first moved to New Mexico.

She does love her pillows. And clearly, looking at her expression, my insanity issues are long-standing.

This is us at the Rio Grande about a month before her amp. Best thing in the world playing with the ball in the river! She loves to drop it into the current and watch it flow downstream. We’ve lost any number of balls that way. She also jumped out the (parked) car window on this trip, she was so excited to be at the river again.

She’s doing well. I cancelled our rehab appointment for Wednesday so I need to get us moving with the new place. And it looks like her elbow is starting to heal and harden up. So we’ve got that going for us.

Happy Monday!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, after an interminable time, the bandage was removed Monday morning! And it’s been long enough that the fur they shaved initially is more or less back. Hooray! After the vet, I dropped her off at home and headed to work. When I got home that evening, I checked her elbow and there were pink spots, places where that newly-healed fragile skin was being rubbed raw. Freak out! But then I figured out that it was probably (hopefully) just the (highly textured) area rugs that were the culprit. I found what soft blankets I could (that weren’t in use because there are extra people around the house that for some reason think they’re entitled to blankets just because they’re humans) and covered the offending rugs, at least in the places she spends the most time. Seems to have worked – I checked her elbow again last night and it was still pink but no worse and maybe even better than Monday. A little hard to get a good look, she is awfully wiggly.

And however inconvenient I find the extra humans around the house, she’s enjoying the company. When I get the pictures out of my phone, the reason will be clear.

Hugs all, happy hump day!

It’s shameful how long it’s been since I’ve posted. Mostly it’s a sign that things are going well so there’s that. I’ve dropped from worrying about Isa daily to every other day, so life has crept back in to distract me. Oh, and impending house guests arrive Monday.

Isa is doing really, really well. Third round of carboplatin was two weeks ago. She was definitely down for the count for 48 hours afterward (subdued appetite and professional-level napping). By mid-day Sunday she was back to herself and we made a trip to a local park. Threw the ball for her, mostly to her. I can’t remember the last time I saw her so happy – she lit up when she saw the ball – I can’t begin to tell you how happy that made me. We have also during that and subsequent trip(s) introduced any number of young children (and parents) to tripawds. Isa was very free with the dog kisses, particularly with the kids at her eye level.

We’re still dealing with weekly vet visits for bandage changes on her elbow, not to mention two rounds of antibiotics. BUT! there is a rumor circulating that the sutures are out, the wound is closed, and the bandage will come off for good and all next Monday! I don’t believe everything I hear but how awesome would that be! I couldn’t even tell you how long we’ve been trying to get that thing healed, I can’t remember anymore. Maybe that’s a good thing? “A beautiful mercy to forgetting.”

We’ve had three rehab visits. I’ll head to the forums for that discussion. I’m having some difficulty with perspective on the issue and could use any/everyone’s two cents. Perhaps an issue of unrealistic expectations?

Thankfully, there’s not much to tell at this point. Isa is happy and healthy. The cortisone for her back worked miracles – she doesn’t appear to be in any pain. Although she was panting a lot last night – way to freak out mom. I don’t know what that was about, it certainly wasn’t hot. Oh, but it was a thunder and lighting storm. Duh – subtract points from mom for being a dufus. Isa has never liked thunder. About a month after I got her from the shelter, way back when, I woke up in the middle of the night because I was having trouble breathing. Woke up all the way to realize there was a thunder storm outside and she was sitting on my chest. Can’t imagine why I couldn’t breathe.

We still have stair issues, as in I’m still sleeping on the floor in the living room. We have gotten her upstairs a couple of times but most definitely not under Isa-power. By the time we get to the top, I know I’ve pushed her limits, maybe even too much although we do rest partway up. I’m jealous of people/tripawds that get upstairs sooner rather than later. Maybe they’re smaller and/or younger dogs and/or less long/steep stairs – there’s no way to know. In theory, I know better than to think in comparisons. Maybe it should be chalked up to frustration and sub-optimum sleep. And someone’s bad habit of barking at dog-knows-what for big chunks of the night.

Which is also, technically, a sign of her feeling better. She did zero barking through most of the summer and we’re now back to near-normal levels. Good news/bad news. But mostly good.

So there’s the State of the Isa as of today. If that damn bandage does in fact go away Monday there will be pictures and celebration!

Almost two weeks, what can I say? For what it’s worth the week of the 15th was a mess and only somewhat due to dogs and vets and cancer. Work also decided to go sideways and 1:30 am texts for a WTF sleep interruption. I have noticed that when those weeks happen, there’s nothing to do but hang on and ride it out. If nothing else, you can always count on things changing. Eventually anyway.

I am happy to say there were no ill effects from the second round of carbo. A little extra napping perhaps. So once again I got my feathers flustered for no real reason.

Last week was much, much better. Only one trip to the vet Monday morning and such a bandage he put on her bum arm! Up and over her shoulder and chest in such a way that there was nothing she could get her teeth into so we could do without the cone! Hooray! We also went to rehab for the first time on Wednesday – I have some mixed feelings about the visit/doctor for various reasons, not all of which I have sorted out. Isa liked it but most likely because both the doctor and her assistant had pockets full of turkey. What’s not to love there? Thank goodness much of the visit was recorded – huge help. Not that I’ve managed to do any some/much/anything with her, a little massage and some stretching because I am evidently a lazy wench. I put the hot water bottle on her back last night and after a minute or so she let out a long, drawn out, shuddering sigh. Clearly it felt good.

We also met another tripawd at the vet last Monday – a little 5-7 lb. terrier. Man, that has to be a whole different world when you can just tuck them under your arm. She had osteosarcoma too and was more than a year post-amp. Cute little thing and terrified of being at the vet. I’ve never seen a dog shake that violently, I felt so bad for her. Her dad didn’t know about Tripawds so I grabbed one of the brochures for him. Spreading the word!

It was a long weekend though. Her back has been worsening for the past few days which means her only back leg is weak and wobbly. I suspect the cortisone from the week from hell has exited her system and we’re back to square one. And at some point Saturday she started limping on her bum front leg, putting as little weight on it as is possible, meaning as a practical matter we’re functioning on one leg. And she started crying Saturday evening/night, something halfway between a whine and a groan. Freaks me out because she has not uttered a sound previously. Ever. Not through the cancer or surgery or any of the rest of the road we all know too well. So back to tramadol the last couple of nights. Bonus round is I overdid it working in the yard yesterday and my body was hollering at me too. Sleep has been somewhat fitful for everyone.

I all but carried her out this morning to go potty (maybe I’m getting stronger?), then to the vet for a bandage change. He’s keeping her for the day and will give her the cortisone shot for her back we’ve been waiting for – I can’t even remember how long it’s been. He said by the weekend we should see the full effect of that, whatever it may be. The bad news is the wound on her front arm “went south” — the reason she was limping on that leg. I can’t say I understand exactly what happened – vet was talking rather quickly and some words were outside my vocabulary. And he wasn’t certain right then what/how he was going to do about it. I’ve not doubt he’ll figure something during the course of the day. Another chapter of the waiting game. I’ll pick her up at the end of the day (hopefully) and have a better idea of what’s going on. We’re well into the twilight zone of frustrated with this chapter.

One day/hour/moment at a time.