Got my boy back from the vet's! (long post)

curbdiver1954

16 years ago

Happy Dance!! I had referenced the chaos in our lives a couple of times, but wasn't really able to out into print what's been going on with our big guy, Poco. Poco (who's going on 12) had a tumor start bleeding 2 weeks ago - burst a vein just 4 days short of when it was going to be removed. The vet did him as an emergency surgery instead. He lost so much skin when she removed the tumor that there was barely enough to close the incision (it was about 9" long, 3" wide and 2"deep). It, as we feared, is cancer. By Monday, he was having problems with fluid building up around the incision. Back in for 2nd surgery to insert drain tubes. Following Monday when the drains were to come out, I came home and found he managed to eat the dressing that was over it and tore out the stitches (steel tension sutures!) in the center, deepest part. Back in surgery for another repair. This time we elected to leave him at the clinic rather than subject him to the struggle to get in and out of my car every day. Poco weighs 160 and can't get in and out of my back seat easily. I have missed him so much! The 'good' part of this is that, although the third surgery left an open wound about the size of a silver dollar, it is now beginning to heal well enough for him to come home! We brought him home last night and he looks so-o-o-o much better than he did when we left him there a week ago. Because of his eating the dressing before, he is nattily attired in a red sleeveless t-shirt of DH's, with a tan (Ace bandage) sash and a sort of an upside down lampshade that's clear plastic.

Please pray that the vet got all the cancer and that he will recover successfully. We know we are on borrowed time with him because he is such a large dog (his back is about even with my mid-thigh), but the days are now so-o-o-o precious.

Hugs,

Pat

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Comments (15)

mosaicwench1
16 years ago
Praying for you and him.

It's hard to surround ourselves with lives shorter than our own but they enrich us immeasurably.
wackyweeder
16 years ago
What kind of dog is your baby? I absolutely adore big dogs-My inner terrier is probly a mastiff, LOL.
The t-shirt things work really well. Somewhere on the internet I saw someone made a sort of Onesie for their cats when they were spayed and they didnt need to use the hideous collar.
Heres hoping he's OK!
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gretch1964
16 years ago
Pat glad he is back home. Prayers he heals up and it the cancer is all gone.
curbdiver1954
Original Author
16 years ago
Wacky - Poco is 1/2 Rott and 1/2 red Doberman, best we can tell. DD rescued him from a #*^&%% when he was about 10 wks old. The nut (teen age boy) was her friend's boyfriend and he was determined to have a mean dog. Poco REALLY looked Rott when he was a pup and this kid was kicking him around, hitting him, etc. because he wasn't housebroken. Nikki waited till the guy was out of town and talked his mother into giving her Poco. Original plan was to find him a good home, but we fell in love with him. At the time, MY vision of our next dog was a female beagle crossbreed, but God had other plans...;)

Pat
crystal01
16 years ago
Oh pat doggy prayers going your way.
PantherFL
16 years ago
Got my fingers & toes crossed for him. We had a half/half dobie/rottie, and he was such a sweetie.
shrty411
16 years ago
Sounds like he's going in a positive direction. Hope everything heals.

Maria
nicethyme
16 years ago
Oh Pat, big hugs for what you've been dealing with. It is so painful watching our dogs like this... I' certainly hope that they got all the cancer and that you may get alittle more time with him.
stjohnsgypsy
16 years ago
Sending prayers for a complete recovery for Poco....our beloved pets become such a member of the family...
texaswild
16 years ago
Glad to read he's back home, CURB. Prayers continue here too.
toomuchglass
16 years ago
Oh Curb -------- that is great news !! Poco is a biggee !!!! LOL .. They do have a way of getting those bandages off,don't they ? When my
Poppie got hit by a car and her foot was damaged - I bought baby socks to put on her ... LOL . (I taped them on but she still got them off.) Poco is 12 ? That's proof that he's had a wonderful life . I hope he's with you many more years ! St. Francis ( The patron saint of animals ) is blessing you !

((((((((((((( POCO ))))))))))))))

((((((((((((( CURB )))))))))))))))
curbdiver1954
Original Author
16 years ago
Update: Things apear to be going well. The hole in his chest is beginning to heal from the inside out, I think (hard to tell since I see it 2x a day). Talk about a couple of crazy ol' folks....here's the image of DH and I doing his hydrotherapy. The only place we can do it is in the bathroom due to the cold weather. That bath is galley or hall shape, long and skinny. We put him on a thin piece of foam that's covered with an absorbent bathmat. I sit on the side of the tub and for 10-15 minutes spray tepid water directly into the wound. About every 30 seconds I stop and dump the runoff out of the cake pan we are using as a catch basin. It's a 9x14, glass and VERY heavy as I lift and twist to dump it in the tub. About 50% of the time, he lays down so far from the tub that I do the spraying leaning forward as far as possible. This happens twice a day, with the first treatment at 4:45AM so DH can get to work by 6. While we're stressing, Poco dozes off! By the time we have him dried and re-dressed the whole process takes 30-45 minutes. BUT, we've got the cleanest bathroom floor in town! LOL!!

Got to walk him for the first time yesterday...not far, just a couple of blocks, but it's a start. You should've seen the looks we got from passers-by! Don't understand it...haven't they ever seen a big dog in a sleevless t-shirt strolling down the sidewalk before?!?!?

Thanx for your continuing prayers! They're certainly helping him and us!

Pat
texaswild
16 years ago
OHMYGOODNESS - Kills my back just thinking of what you have to do. Ask your vet if hydrogen peroxide w/aid in healing along w/the hydrotherapy. When I had a pressure sore on my head from a long hospital stay, my Mo bathed it daily w/HP and it aids in cleaning. Glad to hear of the progress.
shrty411
16 years ago
Oh, my what we do for our pets!! Glad he's coming along!!

Don't understand it...haven't they ever seen a big dog in a sleevless t-shirt strolling down the sidewalk before?!?!?

Got a picture of that??

Maria
texaswild
16 years ago
W/be in your neighborhood tonight at the Cowboy Country place in Arlington. Hope your dawgie is improving still. The Tobster is in his room at Club Dawg in Texarkana.