Hi friends. What a three weeks it has been. This has been one of the biggest emotional rollercoasters I’ve been on and I just want to say how grateful I am for this community and everyone’s words of encouragement and advice (thank you Pam, Stacy and Jerry for your sweet comments on our last post!)!
I’ll start this out by saying the past two days for Finn have been better – not perfect, but definitely better. Today even had some helicopter tail in it!
Now to recap the last week… buckle up.
After we started the amantadine last week, Finn showed no signs of improvement. It was constant up and down and discomfort. His elbow was destroyed from getting up and down off the floor so much. He would lie in his weird position and cry if you tried to manipulate him at all. I researched like crazy and started to think this was all phantom limb pain – he had all the classic symptoms. Maybe even exacerbated by his scapula being left in. (I had no idea leaving or not leaving the scapula in was even a thing until reading about it here after his amputation.) By Thursday, I had no idea what to do. I don’t think he had slept all week and we had exhausted all medications/therapies. We were all mentally and physically depleted. I ended up calling another surgeon for a second opinion. He recommended taking him off all his meds except for the carprofen as he thought it could all be a side effect from them. By the next day, he was not better but worse so we brought him in to get looked at. After two vets examined him, they decided nothing is wrong and sent us home with trazodone. I felt like I was going crazy. I know he acts differently at the vet than at home probably because his adrenaline is pumping, but something was wrong. When I asked about phantom limb pain and my strong feeling that that is what we were dealing with, it was brushed off. They told me not to give him any more medications still except his carprofen and the trazodone as needed. Once we got home, he was back to his usual severe discomfort and whining.
Now I know I’m not a vet but I know my dog and I knew something was wrong. I made the executive decision that this was phantom limb pain we were dealing with and he needed something. And not trazodone. Later that night I restarted his gabapentin at the lowest dose. I also restarted the amantadine on Saturday. Lastly, I converted one of my long sleeve compression shirts for him to help with 1. protecting his poor destroyed elbow and 2. keeping some pressure on his muscles to maybe help with twitching/spasms.
Now I don’t know if it was the couple day break from all his medications then restarting, or the shirt, or divine intervention but by Saturday, there was SO much improvement. Today seemed to be continued improvement so fingers crossed we are going in the right direction!
I have also reached out to a local vet who does acupuncture as I’ve read good things about that helping with phantom limb pain.
We are gladly still excepting all the love and healing you’re sending. It is greatly appreciated! Oh and Happy Mother’s Day to all you amazing, strong mommas whose fur babies are lucky to have you (especially those 3-legged ones) 💕
Xx,
Finn and Casey
(p.s. picture is of Finn and his sister Charlie sun bathing last week)
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.
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!
After scheduling Finn’s amputation, it was time to mentally and physically prepare for his recovery. We are incredibly lucky in that we have a large sunroom off the back of our house where our dogs typically lounge on their oversized ortho beds, so we already had a good space for him to recover in.
Because the room is tile, our first step was to rug the entire room.
Next, my husband built a ramp for the back door and got him used to using it. We already had a hitch step on the back of our Toyota 4-runner; however, he built the back door ramp so it could also hook to the step.
The last physical preparation we took was ordering him a Ruffwear Web Master Pro harness with the added Brush Guard (more on that later).
Mentally, we spent lots of time with Finn, loving on him, and praying we were making the right decision. We knew recovery was likely to be rough, but we also had hope there was light at the end of this tunnel and surely beat the alternative of succumbing to this terrible disease.
Day of Surgery
The day of surgery, I dropped him off about 10am. I had talked on the phone with my vet the night before so we did not talk again the morning of. I knew what to expect. They called me about 4:30pm to tell me he was out and had done really well. Sighs of relief filled our house.
Day 1 Post-Op
I anxiously awaited a call from our vet the next morning to hear how he did that night. They called and told me he had done well all night, even standing up very strong on his own that morning. While we hoped we could bring him home that day, they wanted to keep him one more night to manage his pain and monitoring his swelling. I was able to go and sit with him on my lunch break however. I brought him some of his favorite snacks and stuffed animal. He was so happy to see me and I could immediately tell he was going to be alright. A couple of things I wasn’t quite prepared for was the lack of anything on his incision site – our vet did not dress it – and the swelling. The incision site seemed huge.
After sitting with him for about an hour, leaving him there was heart wrenching. I just kept positive thoughts that we would get to pick him up the next day.
Day 2 Post-Op
I think I slept the worst in between day 1 and 2 post-amputation. Not that sleep had been coming easily in the last couple weeks. I was so anxious thinking about Finn and wishing he was at home rather than at the vet. The next morning was another morning waiting for the phone to ring. When it finally did, they told me he had gotten up strong again and even went outside to go pee. His swelling looked like it was improving as well, so they were ready to send him home. More relief! My husband strapped the ramp to the roof of the car, we put down a thick comforter in the back with one of the seats down. Because we wanted someone to sit with him on the way home, we both went. And because of the coronavirus and no one to watch our 2-year-old, we had a carseat too. Fun stuff.
Getting him into and out of the car was one of the more stressful parts of the recovery journey for us. While he was used to the ramp, it was still hard. Sitting with him on the way home was really beneficial and highly recommended. He struggled with maintaining his balance due to not having that leg to stabilize on.
Once home and after getting out of the car, it only took a few steps before he was exhausted and lied down in the grass. We let him take his time and had him pee before bringing him inside. It was a long process as he tired very quickly.
Most of the day was spent sleeping which was to be expected. We were just so happy to have him home and resting.
Finn resting after coming home 2 days after surgery
Medications sent home with him:
Cephalexin (antibiotic)
Tramadol (pain)
Gabapentin (pain)
Carprofen (anti-inflammatory)
Additional note: I donated a couple of my soft t-shirts to Finn with some modifications to the sleeves for his remaining front leg. These have been awesome at keeping him from licking and also serving as a base layer for his harness.
Day 3 Post-Op
Day 3 was similar to day 2 – lots of sleeping.
One thing I noticed start to happen on day 3 was the swelling and bruising near the incision site started to migrate. I had read that it would move down his belly and toward his groin, but I wasn’t really expecting it to move down his front right leg. Found with elevation and periodically wrapping his right leg with an ace wrap help tremendously.
Another concern I had was that he was preferring to lie on his incision side. I assumed it was OK, thinking he wouldn’t do it if it was hurting him. The Tripawd community reassured me that it is perfectly fine for them to lie on that side – even a really good sign! Getting up from that side is not the most graceful sight, but each time he does it, he gets better at it.
Harness talk: Day 3 is also when we started to use his Ruffwear Web Master Pro harness over top of his t-shirt. Because we had the added Brush Guard plus the t-shirt, the harness did not rub his incision site at all. The harness is clearly top notch and I really want to love it. Our problem is that it secures only on his amputated side, meaning we have to make sure his good leg is fished through the harness before he stands up. There is no getting his leg through once he is already up. Frankly, it is just a cluster trying to get him in. Maybe other people have had better luck but I feel like it really depends on which leg remains if your dog is a front limb amputee. After researching the Ruffwear harnesses, I actually believe the Flagline would be a better fit for us seeing as it clips on both sides making it an easy on, easy off, no matter which side has been amputated. I’m currently in communication with the company to see if they would let us return and replace potentially. Stay tuned…
Day 4 Post-Op
Day 4 was a real game changer for us. Finn clearly had turned a corner and was really seeming like his old self: tail-wagging and smiling. It was also the day of his first post-op, 3-legged poop. You could tell he was so happy to figure out his poo-stance! We really focused on getting back to his routine too. Normal feeding routine, normal potty routine, and later that afternoon, I put on his harness and leash and presented the allusion of going on a walk. We went and sat in the front yard instead, but I believe just doing the usual pre-steps of our daily walk, made him feel normal again.
Overall, swelling had significantly decreased. His leg was still swelling slightly but I continued to elevated and add compression as needed.
Days 5-7 Post-Op
The last couple of days have been really great. I am amazed each day just how much stronger Finn becomes and how much more stamina he has. Potty breaks don’t completely exhaust him. Each day I’ve been going through our normal daily walk pre-steps and taking him at least to the end of the driveway and sitting in the front yard with him to make him feel like we are still doing our walks (this missing part of his routine has definitely been the hardest for him!). Today I have also started some strength-building exercises (starting very small).
Tomorrow I intend to call the oncologist to confirm when they would like to start chemo.
While things have been most definitely challenging, I have zero regrets for going forward with the amputation. It is clear now that a big dog can thrive on 3 legs. If you are like me, and seeking inspiration that everything will be OK, please have faith in your dog and the process.
Hello all and welcome to the story and journey of Finn the Great Dane and his fight against osteosarcoma.
Finn is a 6-year old, 160-pound Great Dane who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in his front left leg on March 13, 2020. Our vet explained that typically they would amputate the leg; however, due to his size, Finn was not a good candidate. Devastated by the news and accepting the fact we had no choice but to treat him only with palliative care, we started him on gabapentin (pain), carprofen (anti-inflammatory) and alendronate (bone strengthening). I tried to keep his routine the same, taking him on his daily walks but limiting his back yard zoomies with his sister so he didn’t injure his leg. It was clear, however, two weeks later that the tumor and pain were progressing quicker than we could have ever imagined. Finn developed a limp and the tumor got bigger and bigger. I went back to our vet and we started him on tramadol (pain) as well. This helped for maybe another week and a half.
Finn’s tumor 4 weeks after osteosarcoma diagnosis
During this time, I really started to question everything and became desperate for other palliative care options. I knew we had a choice to make as time with our beloved pup was running out; I decided it was time to get a second opinion. I researched and scheduled an appointment with a well-reviewed local oncologist for April 14. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the appointment was difficult as I had to stay in the car the entire time. The doctor, however, came out four or five times to talk to me which was awesome. She wanted to do x-rays of his lungs to confirm they were clear, but after her assessment of him, her suggestion was to absolutely amputate and subsequently do chemotherapy. He was in serious pain, she said, and we needed to remove that source of pain.
My heart broke. Firstly, we had already written off amputation as an option, so getting into that mindset again was hard. And second, I felt so guilty we had waited so long to get another opinion and kept him in pain.
Once home, my husband and I talked about it all night and scanned the internet for some kind of sign. We wanted desperately to give this full-of-life boy more time. It was really after reading many success stories with dogs even bigger than Finn within the Tripawds community that gave us the strength to make the decision to amputate.
The oncologist sent her report to our regular vet and we scheduled amputation for the next Monday (April 20).
