Month: May 2020

Hi to our friends,

Finn is a little over 5 weeks post-amputation today and I am so happy to report that he seems to be 90% back to his old self. All I can say for folks who are struggling with Phantom Limb Pain is hang in there. There are options. I know because I exhausted them all! For us, the best thing we ever did was take Finn to a Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist – he is a DVM who also studied traditional Chinese veterinary medicine so has a very blended approach (I know I said all this in my last post but I can’t stress enough how much I adore him and his thinking!). It has truly been night and day for Finn. We went from constant restlessness, readjusting, muscle spasms and whining, to zero of these symptoms in a week. I know it sounds really dramatic but it has been life-changing for him and for us. My stress and guilt levels have completely dropped knowing he will be OK and happy again. We have had two sessions so far and will continue to do them through chemo.

For cancer treatment, today was Finn’s last Yale immunotherapy vaccine dose, which means we were able to schedule his first chemo appointment for next week. We have also started Finn on few new supplements as prescribed by the new vet he sees. He is continuing his low dose of gabapentin and CBD oil. We have added Wei Qi Booster (Chinese herbal supplement), Stasis Breaker (another Chinese herbal supplement) and a complex mushroom supplement.

We’ve been walking about every 2 or 3 days. Short walks, of course. We even walked down to his favorite neighbor (always comes out to give him treats). Well, when said neighbor did not come out and I told Finn we had to go home, he refused to leave. I had to then coerce/drag (I know I looked like an idiot) a giant, stubborn dog back to the house which one of the other neighbors interpreted as he was hurt and needed help. I then had to explain his cancer/amputation/stalling tactics/pain-in-the-buttness to them which was embarrassing. So yeah, you can say he is back to normal.

The only other hiccup we’ve run into is a pressure sore on his back right foot. I’ve been doing my best to keep him off it but it has developed a small sore on it. I ordered some Manuka honey after reading a lot about it here and received it today. Tonight I cleaned it well, applied the honey and dressed it. Stay tuned for results…We are definitely keeping an eye on it as the last thing we want is an infection.

Thanks as always for all the love and support. We couldn’t have done or continue to do this journey alone. The Tripawds community is something to be overwhelmingly grateful for.

Lots of love,

Finn and Casey

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The improvement in Finn’s phantom limb pain has been staggering. Acupuncture day has now become our favorite day ☯️ . . #greatdane #osteosarcoma #tripawdsofinstagram #tripawds

A post shared by Finn (@finnthegr8dane) on May 21, 2020 at 8:07pm PDT

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Running toward the long weekend like 🎉 . . #greatdane #tripawdsofinstagram

A post shared by Finn (@finnthegr8dane) on May 20, 2020 at 2:44pm PDT

Today we are 25 days post-amputation. Since Finn’s diagnosis on March 13, we have seen 5 different vets, he has been on 9 different prescription medications and I’ve had countless moments of regret and meltdowns. Since about day 8 of surgery recovery, Finn has had symptoms that he was experiencing pain and discomfort. Until this point, no one has been able to tell me what’s wrong or has even believed me that something was wrong. Yesterday though, we went to a new vet (hopefully our last) who I reached out to as he was also a certified veterinary acupuncturist and I was desperate for help. I can’t begin to tell you how amazing our appointment was. He took  a lot of time with us, he explained things thoroughly and he believed me. He explained the difference between western-medicine thinking and Chinese-medicine thinking and his blended approach. We went through Finn’s symptoms and he explained all about how acupuncture can help him. We also discussed other herbal supplements. It was SUCH a relief to have some understanding and answers.

The plan now is to continue acupuncture for the next 4 months. As for medications, we will keep him on his low dose of gabapentin for now, add in herbal supplements (the vet has them on order so I’m not sure exactly what they are yet) and CBD oil (I actually had ordered some before our appointment so I asked the doctor what he thought about adding that to his regimen. He said as long as it was a high quality, reputable brand and full spectrum, he was absolutely for using it.).

No change to our overall cancer treatment plan. Finn will get his next immunotherapy vaccination in about a week and a half. Chemo will start a week after that. He will continue to get acupuncture and herbals throughout for treating both the cancer and any side effects of the chemo.

For what it’s worth, today has seemed to be a more comfortable day for my big pup. I hate getting my hopes up, but I need to maintain a positive attitude. I was reminded during acupuncture that Finn picks up on my energy. And I know I’ve done a terrible job of keeping the right energy for him lately. Definitely something for me to work on…

I hope our experience can be helpful to someone else on this journey who is struggling. Again, I don’t know if what I’m doing is the right or wrong thing anymore, but yesterday definitely felt like a breakthrough of answers and potential solutions. Here’s to hoping we are finally on the right path.

xoxo,

Finn and Casey

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First acupuncture session yesterday ☯️ #tripawdsofinstagram

A post shared by Finn (@finnthegr8dane) on May 15, 2020 at 11:03am PDT

Well, no one said it’d be easy, right? Always when I think we’re on the right path and take a step forward, we go right back downhill. The last few days have been back to pure discomfort for my poor boy. It is constant up and down and readjusting, never fully resting. And watching him so uncomfortable is killing me. My last ditch effort to help him has been to take him off everything except for his 300mg (2x/day) of gabapentin starting yesterday. I even took him off all his supplements. And while I don’t want to jinx it, today he seemed to be slightly better. He was even excited when I offered a walk – something that has yet to happen! We walked down to the end of our street and back and it was the happiest I’ve seen him since his amputation.

Maybe I need to accept that he will have good and bad days? Or maybe I need to just be patient? I can’t help but keep thinking he is dealing with phantom limb pain and maybe one of his meds/supplements is not agreeing with him on top of that. Part of me doesn’t know what to think anymore.

For now, we will continue to take things a day at a time and hope we turn that corner for good. We also have our acupuncture appointment tomorrow which I’m excited for. Stay tuned…

Lots of love,

Finn and Casey

I think I knew there’d be hard days. Ones like the past few for us. Just when I thought Finn’s pain was under control, he has spent most of the last few days trying to get comfortable, lying in bizarre positions (assuming trying to get comfy), occasionally whining and making it almost impossible to get him inside after potty breaks – simply refusing to move. He just looks pathetic. He’s even resorted to lying on the floor – a place this dog has never slept. I’ve really been struggling to not think that his recovery is going in the opposite direction. Two days ago was the first day I second guessed the decision to amputate his leg.

I’m letting you all in on our hard days because I feel like it’s real life. I think it’s really difficult not to question your decision, especially when you feel like recovery is not going at all the way you planned. We are 14 days in, why isn’t he getting better? I find it also hard to read other recovery journeys which are going much better than ours. “STOP COMPARING,” I keep telling myself. I know every journey/dog is different. But I can’t help it. It’s easy to let the negative thoughts come swarming in.

The good news to all this is we took him back into the vet yesterday and nothing seems to be glaringly wrong with the big guy. There could be multiple reasons for his discomfort but probably nothing rest and time can’t fix. Along with our continued massages and ice/heat therapy, the vet has also added amantadine to his mix. Meanwhile, I’m praying to all the dog gods that this helps and really wishing I could have a cocktail or 10 (I’m 5 months pregnant).

To add on more good news, Finn did get his first immunotherapy vaccination yesterday from the Yale clinical trial. For those interested about it, you can read more about it here. Dr. Mamula was incredibly responsive and helpful with all my questions and concerns. The logistics have also been wonderful and easy. We got our histopath report back Monday morning confirming the osteosarcoma so Dr. Mamula and his team were able to overnight the vaccination to our vet that day. Next step is to receive his second dose in 3 weeks. We then have to wait another week before starting chemo.

So, here I am now trying to get my positive pants back on and know that we will get through these hard days of recovery and back into our (new) normal. I appreciate all the love, healing and support you guys have sent us so far and continue to. Hopefully our next report is full of smiles and tail wags.

Xx,

Finn and Casey