Hi our 3-legged friends:
Well, it seems wild that it’s already been 2 weeks since Finn’s amputation. I won’t sugar coat anything for you either, it hasn’t been as smooth as I hoped. I honestly feel like the first week was cake compared to how the last 7 days have been. Most of it has been due to pain management issues and trying to figure out the timing/dosage of his meds and getting him comfortable. He also continues to have trembling in the muscle at his incision site. Talking to the vet and reading lots here, it seems like it might just be nerves regenerating/mis-firing and not necessarily painful for him.
He got his stitches out Friday and his incision site is looking great. We also discussed with the vet on Friday what I’d like to do for Finn’s treatment – with their consideration, of course. After doing a lot of research and contacting the doctor in charge of the Yale immunotherapy clinical trial, we are going to do the immunotherapy vaccine before starting chemo. The thought there being we would get the immune response established first. I am a firm believer in getting the body “primed” to fight the cancer. We are still waiting on Finn’s histopath report to come back from his surgery, but as soon as diagnosis is confirmed, we will do the vaccination. After the first vaccination, he will have another at week 3, and can then start chemo a week after the second dose. I know this path forward is a crapshoot but I don’t feel we have much to lose right now.
In the meantime, I am continuing to make batches of bone broth (using grass-fed beef center cut marrow bones) for him and have also added an immune system booster supplement to the mix. Oh, and lots of massages and love. Hopefully we can get his body ready to kick the cancer for as long as possible!
Xx and slobbery Finn kisses