Romulus's Journey

So, today was 1 month since Romulus had his forequarter amputation, and week 2 since his first chemo dose. About 3 days ago, this area started looking more swollen and redundant, until last night it looked like this. Fortunately, Rom had an appointment for lab work at the vet’s office today, and the surgeon came over and drained what turned out to be an abscess. He has a drain, is back on antibiotics, and actually seems to be more energetic and eating better than he has since before the surgery. So I wonder if this has been slowly brewing… although the changes weren’t subtle or slow.

Anyone else deal with this kind of thing so far out from surgery? The surgeon seemed shocked, the oncologist not as much – as in, I’m giving him chemo, it can happen.

And as Rom is feeling great – that pressure had to hurt – I feel like I’ve aged 10 more years!

Back to the surgeon’s office Saturday, and hopefully this won’t stop us from getting our next chemo dose in 1 week…

This is an old pic, of Romulus babysitting my niece and nephew when they came to visit us in 2014. Just showing what a sweetie he is; the kids still call him “Romlee-us” and were very concerned that his leg coming off meant a lot of blood and gore. I assured them it was quite controlled and Rom is doing great.

He is, by the way. He’s now 2.5 weeks out from his surgery. I’ve weaned down on the gabapentin and tramadol slowly as with full doses he was sort of just spacing out. He’s been increasing the lengths of his walks daily, and seems very comfortable. He’s quite spoiled about his wet food now, though, as that’s what he’s been getting so he’d take his pills and we are trying with little success to go back to dry…

Chemo was 6 days ago. He had zero side effects this first go round. We are drawing labs next week to see if his counts dropped too low for an every 3 week dose… but I’m more hopeful now that we are gonna make it! And he gets so much attention on his walks now – people just stop and pet him and gush over him constantly. Which he loves 🙂

More as it develops, hope you all are doing well!

After our fall last week, things have continued to improve. We are taking small walks, learning to eat busy bones one-handed, and the incision looks amazing. Chemotherapy is scheduled for Thursday. I’ve been told many times that dogs tolerate carboplatin well, but I’ve also run into a couple whose doberman did poorly with it. I’m nervous. What sorts of experiences have people on this site had with osteosarcoma chemo? I know there are some long term survivors here, and I know that it’s a small minority, but my main concern is Romulus and his quality of life, with a hope but not a demand of survival. I’m just trying to figure out what to expect!

Romulus fell tonight. It was my fault; I took him outside to go potty and locked us out. So he had no good place to rest, and being only post op day 6, he still has low stamina. As the locksmith arrived we’d been outside for over an hour, and as he did his tripod hop to the door, he just tipped over. He landed on his amputation site, and his cry about ripped my heart right out of my chest. I examined him – no broken stitches, wound is healing nicely, and no fluid pocket like a hematoma developed. Once we got in, he got his meds, we iced him down, and he seems fine… he immediately passed out though and is now sleeping peacefully. I, on the other hand, probably won’t sleep well and am quite shaken.

Romulus had his surgery yesterday. I got to pick him up today after the vet called:

“He’s already been up and for a walk outside to go potty. (laughter) He’s a really strong dog!”

Rom is clearly freaked out a little, but seems comfortable. He hops up on things just fine – but then realizes he shouldn’t or doesn’t quite know how to hop down. My squat quota will be met by the end of the weekend, I’m certain.

I’m a little freaked out, too. Thankfully I came across this website and know that once he adjusts, we will be good because his confusion tugs pretty strongly at the heart strings.

Oh, my baby. Please let him get through this ok!!!