Our lurcher, Orinoco is about 12 weeks post amputation due to osteosarcoma in his front right leg. Once we got him home it was tough to see the wound and knowing how much pain he must have been in pre-surgery, but he was amazing in adapting. He was more frustrated that I wouldn’t let him use the stairs for the first week for fear of him damaging the wound. We experienced the yelps and shivering described in other blogs post surgery and from time to time still lets out the odd yelp.
12 weeks on, he’s adapting like a hero. He’s had 3 sessions of chemotherapy. The last one was put back a week due to low white cells but that’s bounced back. He’s going to hydrotherapy once a week to build up his leg muscles and getting confident in the pool. In three weeks he’ll have a scan to see how he’s doing.
I’ve found the blogs and tripawd site really useful. I did download the e-books and read them prior to Orinoco coming home. I’ll admit I did things the book said not to. I slept with him on mattresses on the floor for the first week and took his food bowl to him, but he was always super spoilt so nothing that he wouldn’t expect from me. I found other people’s accounts so helpful I though I should get round to sharing my experience with Orinoco.
It has been tough, but amazing to see him adapt and just get on with things. It’s been harder for the people to adapt than the dog. We need to take a lead from our dogs and just get on with things!
Delighted to hear that Orinoco is dping so well! Yep, recovery is rough, but once that sparkle starts coming back bigger and brighter than before…MAGICAL!!
I also throw the rule book out when it comes to spoiling and pampering! My “replacement rule book” is all about spoiling!
Look forward to celebrating all of Orinoco’s victories…AND seeing photos of this brave boy!
Keep on soaking up the bliss of living in the present! Orinoco sure is!
Hugs to all!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Hi Orinoco and family, welcome! You are too cute, you made us laugh when you talked about doing things we said not to do in the Tripawds e-book! 🙂
First, thank you for buying the books, we hope you found them useful. I know we are a bit tough when it comes to things like not sleeping on the ground or over-babying your new Tripawd, but I’ll admit, every dog is different and you really do have to play it by ear (or paw!). Do what you need to do to make sure Orinoco heals and goes on to live a great life, we’ll back you up 100 pawcent!
If you need anything at all just holler OK? We can’t thank you enough for joining the Tripawds community, your experience will help others as much as theirs helped you. xoxo & Hoppy New Year!