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Colbys Story

Incision Re-check & Pathology Results

Colby’s appointment went so well–all we could have hoped for!  We took him in at 7:40pm last night for a re-check of the incision and were hoping the pathology results would finally be in.  First, the incision check…I think my expectations were high because I was afraid it wasn’t progressing well enough.  Dr. John said it looked great.  Lots of healthy tissue and things were filling in and closing nicely.  He did put in a few more stitches to further close and prevent a section of his hide from curling under.  He said I was doing a great job and keep up the good work with twice daily scrubs and bandage changes, as well as keeping the antibiotics and tramadol on board. 

The pathology was even better.  It is NOT bone cancer, but he said it was a kind of degenerative arthritis that was eating away at the bone and joint.  We are thrilled not to be facing the relatively short prognosis that goes along with bone cancer.  I must admit this gives us mixed emotions about the amputation.  Since we went into the decision to amputate having been given a diagnosis of bone cancer, it made us uneasy to have been told after the surgery that it most likely wasn’t bone cancer (since it jumped the joint), but may be some other form of cancer or perhaps degenerative arthritis.  It is one of those things, it is what it is, and I don’t think my vet would have amputated if he didn’t think is was the best course of action…but I’d love to hear from others familiar with amputation for degenerative arthritis.

That being said, we are SOOOO excited that we do not have to contemplate chemo or continue to worry and grieve for the grim prognosis that bone cancer provides.  We feel very fortunate and blessed with this outcome.  Go Colby!!!

Colby Goes Camping – Oct. 18th-23rd

My parents originally were going to care for Colby while we took a trailriding trip planned a year ago with another couple and all our horses.  Since his incision didn’t progress as planned and was still requiring twice daily bandage changes and occasionally the need to reposition my 90+ lb. lab,  we nixed leaving one of the granddogs with my folks.  Our other dog Piper still got to go have fun with Nana & Pop, but Colby went on a camping adventure to the NC mountains.  I think the incision is coming along well, although not as quickly as I hoped after the setback.  As expected, Colby took right to camping.  I’ll attach some pics of Colby goes camping.  He has another incision check with Dr. John tomorrow, so will post that as well.

Sutures Pulling–Trip Back to the Vet 10/15

I made an appointment early afternoon Friday to take Colby in later that day.  He loves to go for a ride, so despite having been a bit lethargic for the last several days, he jumped at 5 of his 6 favorite words–“wanna go for a ride?” (His other favorite word is BALL…which plays a song in his head something like “ball, ball, where’s the ball, get the ball, you gonna throw the ball…or what?”).  He did his speediest rocking horse (what we call his new gait) over to the retaining wall that allowed him to step into my SUV. 

At the vet, we waited in the back of the car until a room was available and the very nice vet tech came out to help me get him out of the car.  Colby wagged his tail for everyone–people and dogs–coming by.  Dr. John did not seem shocked at all looking at his wound, which now looked worse than ever.  The raw spot was now the size of a biscuit and the cavern…way to cavernous for my liking.  He numbed him up, cleaned things up and put several more stitches in the cavern.  The rest was going to take time to heal and he showed me our new routine.  No more dishwashing liquid stuff, he brought out the hard stuff–antiseptic in a squeeze bottle.  After a good flushing, the raw area needed scrubbing with a gauze square soaked in another antiseptic, after which I was to place a square section of pig graft (not the clinical name) over the raw area which was really going to aid in healing…and started wrapping.

What a relief.  I feel much better and Colby seems to also.  When I got home, he didn’t so much care about getting out of the back of my car, so we let him stay there for the evening until we all went to bed.  I went to book club for some much needed comfort and girl time from my best girl friends.  A couple glasses of wine helped with the stress also.  Doug was in charge of Colby.  Fed him in the car and he got out to go to the bathroom, but climbed back in.  It was perfect.  He was right where the action was–grilling with various neighbors coming by to visit.  It was a much needed good ending to a long day.

Colby’s Surgery/1 wk Post Surgery

His surgery was done last Thursday morning, October 7.  It was a tough morning.  We were comfortable with our decision–although there were no options that feel good– but so nervous about the surgery and recovery.  Doug went with me to take him this morning–I knew I wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone—plus, he wanted to be there.  I  did pretty good until we had to say goodbye.  Doug stayed with him and walked back to the entrance to the back part of the animal hospital where surgeries are done, etc.  He also wanted me to take pictures of him  (and me) with him this morning in the back of the car with all 4 legs.  He was all clean and pretty since I just bathed him.  They told us we should hear something between 11:30 and 2pm about how surgery went.  I was nervous as all until then…maybe I should stop the constant flow of coffee ; ).

I got the call from the vet just before 2pm.  Thank goodness everything went well–which was expected, but your mind tends to get a little overly dramatic when waiting 2 1/2 hours to find out.  Doug & I were both just giddy that afternoon with relief. 

Although I had looked at a lot of pictures, pickup the next day around 4pm was scary for us.  First, when the vet came in to talk to us before bringing Colby in, he made the statement he was anxious to get the labs back on the leg to know for sure what it was.  This was the first we had heard anything other than bone cancer.  From x-ray, his “cancer” was in his elbow and was above and below the joint.  I had not yet read that OSC does not jump the joint as a rule, but my vet said those words.  So now it was not likely OSC, but might be another form or cancer or even a type of degenerative arthritis.  He left the room to get Colby and we were somewhat in shock at what he had said.  When he brought Colby in, his wound was not covered and was dripping a bloody discharge–probably to be expected, but we hadn’t expected it.  He seemed confused and distraught.  Once we got him home, I sat in the back of my SVU with him for an hour and he seemed to calm some. 

Getting him home with his family made a huge difference.  The vet sent Colby home with 400mg/day of Etodolac, and 1gm twice daily of Cephalexin.  I asked if that was enough for the pain and said I had Tramadol, and he said I could give him that.  I had found out earlier in the week before the surgery, what his maximum dose was for weight, so asked him if 400mg every 8 hours was ok and he said yes. 

The first days were a blur.  He perked up on Saturday when my parents came and spent the day with us.  He had the hopping down.  But by Sunday, a small section of his outer stitches was pulling away.  We had not been given instruction to cover the wound, in fact assumed uncovered must be best since that is how he gave him to us and didn’t tell us otherwise.  However, we did have a t-shirt on him.  They had forgotten to give us the cone, but I wasn’t too jazzed about putting one on him and the t-shirt has done the trick.  On Sunday there was also a lot of discharge and I wrapped it for the first time.  I called the vet’s cell later that day Sunday to ask about the area where stitches were pulling away and about the diahrea he was experiencing.  He said yes, it is good to bandage, because a covered wound heals better than an uncovered one.  He assured me the discharge was normal and that he had considered putting a drain in, but then didn’t.  He said to give him some immodium–one dose now and one later that night, for the diahrea.  I decided he had been moving a little too much and decided we really needed to limit that.

Next day, Colby’s wound was continuing a large amount of discharge, but in checking for heat, it seemed fine.  However, more outside stitches were pulling.  With it wrapped and him in a t-shirt, he was not bothering it, but just the tightness I suppose caused the stitches to pull away.  I emailed pictures to the vet and he said to put neosporin in the places that were a little yellow, stay on the cephalexin and continue wrapping. 

I sent him another picture the next day, nervous that not just one place on his massive incisions, but now two, were pulling apart.  The large vertical incision seemed to have a cavern, but he assured me the internal stitches were there and he would need to heal from inside out.  On Tuesday, he had me add flushing the wound and “holes” with a mixture of warm water and dawn dishwashing soap.  Colby didn’t seem to mind that.  I filled the holes with half a large tube of neosporin every time I changed the bandage.  I skipped sending pictures Wednesday. 

Colby was getting tons of love all through this.  His best tail wags were always reserved for my husband Doug, but he was generally alert and didn’t seem to be in pain.  Doug  backed our golf cart up to the retaining wall by our barn and put his bed in it and Colby hopped right in.  He laid in the golf cart and rode along while Doug took down a section of fence.  Think it did him a world of good to realize he could still go for rides.  We both gave him constant hugs, snuggles and kisses and lots of encouraging words for everything from eating–which his appetite has stayed strong throughout, to “doing his business”, and being a very good hopper.  We dubbed his new gait “the rocking horse”.

Thursday, Colby was more lethargic.  He layed around all morning and I hoped that made for some good healing.  I had wrapped his wound around 7pm the night before, but he never went outside until around 2:30pm and I did the flushing and bandage change around 5pm.  I had hoped for lots of healing, but things were worse.  No infection, thankfully, but more opening of outer stitches.  He was very lethargic that night.  I sent a picture to the vet and he called me to say restitching really wasn’t an option, it would just need to heal.  So this was the one week post surgery situation.  A wound that was not anywhere near on the way to healing I had expected.

Colby’s Incision

Here is Colby’s incisions one week post surgery, the vertical incision really opens up for about 4 inches.  The raw area where stitches have pulled is a concern for me also…but I’m not used to looking at these things so am having a hard time gauging how bad this is–seems bad to me.

I’m Colby (named for the handsome australian guy on the 1st Survivor)

Colby is a 9 1/2 yr. old yellow lab.  He came to heal my broken heart from my previous heart dog, another yellow lab, Benny.  He is (was) a ferocious ball chaser (ball chasing days are on hold during healing) who loves the chuck-it, swimming, catching the flippy-flopper in mid-air (pre-arthritis days), hiking, his little (adopted) sister–Piper, and his Mom and Dad–Jill & Doug.  Five years ago, my husband–who never had a dog–came into my life, and they were immediate best friends–Colby was always a man’s dog.  He also has a very strong bond with my father (whom he knows as Pop), since we lived with my parents while building a house when he was about 8 months until he was 3 yrs. 8 months.  Colby developed arthritis in the last several years and was on Deramaxx and Tramadol, as well as glucosamine supplements.  About two weeks ago, we took him in for a severe limp on his left front leg.  We had this leg xrayed the prior May due to a limp then.  But this time he was diagnosed with Bone Cancer, by x-ray alone.  We were heartbroken.  Amputation was mentioned and it wasn’t until we understood it was done largely to prevent pain, that we made the decision to do it–of course with the hope that it would also prolong his life.  We wanted to prevent what suffering we could, and hopefully prolong his life since we want our friend with us as long as possible.


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