Shilo

Shilo is AMAZING.  That dog has been absolutely great the past 4 days.  Hardly ANY swelling an no trace of the dreaded ‘blood boob’.

I guess the vets at UPenn must really, really, really know their stuff.  My poor TJ was black and blue from chest to tail when the local vet amputated his arm.

I guess Shilo is really the ‘perfect’ candidate for amputation:  young, healthy, no arthritis.  Its good that she is up and about with no pain… she just finds the nearest person and snuggles up to them for some scratchies.

The new food is getting gobbled up.  Will have to have chewy.com send more food every two weeks.  Shilo was sort of a fincky eater… but with the OS and amp its time to move her up to a food that she will eat no questions asked.

One of the things I never considered with TJ was to change his diet.  Since Shilo is still very young, active, and a picky eater. I decided to find a good wet food that is low in carbs and would not break my budget.

I decided on “By Nature 95% Beef, Chicken & Liver Canned Dog Food” from the lowest cost online site I could find:

http://www.chewy.com/dog/by-nature-95-beef-chicken-liver/dp/38242

$16.34 for a case of 12 13oz cans, $5 next day delivery (they ship from Harrisburg, PA less than an hour from my house).  I may set up the automatic delivery to get free shipping.  So far Shilo loves it.

 

Picked up Shilo at the UPenn Vet center at 1630.  She was up and walking and nothing like how TJ was when I first picked him up.

The ride home in rush hour traffic was OK, Shilo had her head out the window for most of the ride.  At every rest stop she was walking and sniffing and doing fine.

Then we get home.

So Shilo evidently didn’t like the t-shirt the had wrapped around her.  She was constantly whining till I realized it and removed it.  She did get in a couple licks and scratches while I was not looking, but most of the night she was quite and well drugged (fentnyl patch PLUS tramidol).  But she still was whining.  I finally figured out that she was not laying flat, rather had her head up while her body was flat.  I guess it felt better for her.  So I finally get a pillow under her head and I could see her tried eyes finally close and get some sleep.

The night was then up every 4 hours for more tramidol, petting and making sure her head was supported.  But her incision is not bleeding, her seroma is not at all like TJs was (but it you can see some bruising and minor swelling).

I had to hand feed her as she is not super confident with standing (walking is no problem). She’s outside now laying in the sun.

Here’s Shilo (and her incision) happy looking out the window at UPenn.

 

Just got off the phone with the vet and Shilo is pissed.  Seems that she’s been ‘nipping’ at everyone so they doped her.  To me that means she’s scared and wants be back in familiar settings with the rest of the gang and me.

With any luck I’ll have her some tomorrow so I can start to smother her with love and attention.  I think she will like that.

She’s always been an active dog, so controlling her will of getting up and outside is probably going to be job 1.  But I hear they make drugs for that.

So first day a tripawd is in the history books.  Can’t wait to get her home and calm.  No super looking forward to blood boobs, but its part of the deal.

Got a call from the Vet at 0930 saying that Shilo’s blood work and x-rays were done and she was getting prepped for surgery.

At 1231 the Vet called back with a post amp update that Shilo did fine, with the exception of waking up.  Evidently Shilo had a little ‘wake up spaz out’ but other than a little bleeding she was sedated again so she would get some time to recover.

I did ask if the bone looked like cancer and the Vet said that bone was ‘spongy’ when she cut into it, but only a biopsy would confirm cancer and exactly what type.  IT will be interesting to find out what exactly its called.

So another update is expected around 6-ish.

After a few back and forth emails to the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine about getting Shilo enrolled into a study today she met the vet team and was given an exam.

I signed some papers, talked about what was going to happen and hugged Shilo goodbye.

Tomorrow 4/15 in the AM she is scheduled to get a chest x-ray to confirm no lung mets and then off with the arm!  I know in the short term the amputation will stop the pain (Shilo is limping and that means she’s in pain) but I hope that the study drug will do what is has done when used on other forms of cancer:  stop it or outright kill it.

So Shilo’s in Philly, I’m at home and will have to try and sleep tonight knowing that Shilo’s will be promoted to the official rank of ‘TriPawd’.

 

So why am I putting my Shilo into an experimental OS study?  First reason is the cost of the treatment is free.  I am a firm believe in amputation to relieve OS pain (this is my second go around with OS) and I have seen first hand the relief a dog gets from the pain of bone cancer.  Shilo’s OS was found very early, but tramidol and NSAIDs only go so far before the pain cripples a dog.   Shilo is young, healthy and already acclimated to life on three legs (well, somewhat).  Second, there is a chance that the drug may cure her.  The drug is known to be highly successful in treating mast cell tumors and they thinking is that it could be equally as successful in treating OS.  But the vet’s just don’t know for sure.  Shilo is going to die from cancer.. that cannot be helped.  But she also has the very, very rare opportunity to be treated by some top notch vets, at a prestigious vet school, for free.  I could not turn down that opportunity for Shilo’s care and to maybe find a viable treatment for OS.

I’ve mentioned cost a few times.  I know that an amputation is $1500-1700.  Chemo is $400-$1000 PER SESSION.  Radiation treatment is $600+ per session.  When you need 4-6 radiation sessions and 2-4 chemo treatments you are at $4-$5k easy.  Many dog’s never survive the chemo due to the cancer metastasizing in the lungs… so even if you spend the money you are still rolling the dice.  Vets say that radiation and chemo could add months of quality life.. but it could also do nothing.

So my cute little malmute is at UPenn doing her part to save the world… sort of 🙂