At the Top of Our June Pile

Here we are at the end of June. And, as always it has been quite a month that is now behind us. 

As always, there is a lot going on behind the scenes. But for this post, I'll focus on what's at the top of our pile for the month of June, that at the moment is Noodle. 

He's had several vet appointment over the last few weeks. We've had x-rays and an ultrasound done to assess his leg to help decide a direction. 

The more detailed x-rays and an ultrasound did give us some good news, in that the cancer did not appear to have spread into his chest or other areas. 

That brought on the discussion of the benefits and risks of surgery to amputate Noodle's leg. I'll add that the vet did say that she didn't think euthanasia would be a bad consideration either. She added this because osteosarcoma or bone cancer with and even without amputation has a 4-5 month prognosis. Those that have the amputation surgery and get chemo afterwards have a little longer--maybe a year. The benefits for just doing the surgery would be that Noodle would ambulate better/more comfortably and hopefully be pain free. However, the expected recovery for him would be a little more difficult only in that he has lost muscle in his other leg. The downside of course was the cost and the question of could or should the Rescue's funds be put towards a dog with a better prognosis?  Those were all things that the Board of the rescue needed to discuss, consider and decide. Honestly, I didn't know what the best decision was, which is why I would of course support the Rescue's decision, whatever it would be. It was a tough decision. 

The Board of the rescue discussed and voted to go ahead with the surgery, without chemo, and give Noodle that chance to live pain-free for the time he has left. Noodle had surgery this past Thursday to amputate his leg. Of course everything is being biopsied and an oncologist has given us hope that maybe the cancer Noodle had was confined to the knee joint and was not osteosarcoma and would or could be curative. We'll find out this week when the test results are returned. 

All that aside, the surgery went as well as it could have given the condition of Noodle's leg, his atrophied muscles and his overall body condition -- it made cutting through the bone, nerves, etc., a bit of a challenge and so it meant the surgery took a little longer. Getting his body temp to regulate afterwards was also a little challenging because he has so little body fat. 

By about 5 o'clock, Noodle was awake and doing well and ready to be picked up. We'd been dealing with a power-outage from the night before, and thankfully the power came back on as I was leaving to pick Noodle up - YAY!! I was happy for us and so grateful that Noodle got to come home to a cool house. 

So far, Noodle has been a good post op patient. Even though he wasn't using his amputated leg to stand, he knew how to balance himself with it, and of course now, he is having to learn to rebalance himself without it. He needs a lot of help, but that's what we're here for -- And this morning it was good to see that he'd gotten up on his feet by himself. Progress!

So, today is day 3 of his recovery, and there is another level of healing that we've moved up to: The cone of shame because Noodle won't leave the surgery site alone - Something I was expecting and ready for. 

Noodle is such a sweet boy and this is all part of his healing journey and a story that I'm grateful gives him a chance at a good and pain free life for however long that may be.