Author: jogswithdogs

We picked up Riley yesterday.  She hopped out to greet us, and her tail was wagging.  She needs help, but the harness has been very useful.  We can steady her and help her up as needed.  It was surprising how much more alert she was than after surgery in February.  She was looking around expectantly on the ride home, so we fed her some kibble, and she ate it all.  There have been no problems with getting her to relieve herself – she goes when she has to.  We just steady her with the harness during the process.

All in all, this is going better than we had hoped.  The surgeon said that Riley received an injected pain blocker of some sort during the surgery, and that it lasts for three days.  When that wears off, it may be a different story.  For now, though, we are grateful that she has this respite from pain.  Currently, Riley is receiving some sort of medication every four hours.  This should help her stay ahead of any pain.  Setting multiple alarms is a small price to pay for that.

It is wonderful to have her back home.

With some misgivings, we dropped Riley off this morning for her amputation surgery.  It went fine, and she’s cruising on pain medications right now.  We expect an update this evening, and we will bring her home tomorrow.  That is when we discover if we are up to the task of taking care of her!

In some ways, it is a relief to have reached this point.  While we are both heartsick that it was necessary, at least it feels like we are moving forward.  Better days from here, I hope.

Riley is a 12 1/2 year old German Shorthair Pointer.  She had been having trouble with her knee as far back as August 2016, but x-rays didn’t reveal anything, and it just sort of went away.  She was back at the vet in late January, and there was massive swelling in the knee – so much that it was dislocating.  We took her to a specialist, and they pulled 25ccs of fluid out of the joint.  Lab tests showed nothing except severe swelling.

At this point, we opted for exploratory surgery, with a possible kneecap repair if needed.  The surgeon found “lots and lots” of nodules in the leg, but nothing wrong with the kneecap or Riley’s ACL.  Lab tests on all fifteen biopsies came back showing no cancer.  We were elated, if baffled.  A course of antifungal meds (just in case it was valley fever, also she tested negative for that, too), did nothing.  We were back to square one.  We had some of the slides sent to CSU, and the diagnosis came back with synovial sarcoma/histiocytic sarcoma.  Without amputation, the prognosis is very poor.  So, Riley is scheduled for amputation in a couple of days.  Gulp.