Presley's Surgery - October 10, 2007

Our 9-year-old Rottie, Presley, had her surgery this morning to amputate her front left leg to remove a cancerous tumor in her shoulder. Her surgeon is Dr. Riggs and her Oncologist is Dr. Bannink at Oakland Veterinary Referral Services.

Short version: She is recovering well. She should be coming home tomorrow. Recovery should take about two weeks. There's a 90% chance that they did NOT get all of the cancer when they removed the tumor. However, the doctors expect her to be more comfortable without the painful tumor.


Long version...

5:40AM
Presley, Diesel and I got up with Scott, who had to get up early for work. After going potty, Presley went back to bed (no food or water after 8PM the previous night) and Diesel ate breakfast. I couldn't go back to sleep. So I got up and gave Presley a little massage while she laid in bed. Well, half her body was on her bed and her head was on the floor. This has been her favorite position lately. Body on, head off. Instead of boo-hoo'ing, I decided to rile the girls up with a game of fetch. Diesel ran after the ball, while Presley gave her favorite toy snake the what for. We had a fun morning. All smiles and wagging tails.

7:30AM
Presley, Diesel and I hopped into the Jeep and drove to OVRS. (Yes, Presley jumped into the Jeep by herself. Usually, she wants me to help her get in, but not today.) The sun was shining and it was a beautiful morning. I was trying to listen to some upbeat music, but the damn lyrics kept making me cry. I couldn't find the tissues I usually keep in my purse, so I used a hand towel Scott keeps in the Jeep under the driver seat. As I dabbed my eyes, I just kept singing out loud because I didn't want the girls to get upset.

7:50AM
We pulled into the OVRS parking lot. With tears stinging my eyes, I took a deep breath and let the girls out of the back of the Jeep. They were very antsy in the waiting room and barked at everyone who came in. Presley weighed in at 90 pounds (down a few pounds since all this started) and Diesel was about 69. I declined to step on the scale. After filling out some paperwork and paying "half of the low end" of the estimate, a surgical tech brought us into an exam room and answered all my questions. When will I hear from someone today on Presley's status? What meds will Presley be on? What should I expect when I come to pick her up and take her home? Can they clean her teeth today while she's under?... and on, and on. As we were wrapping up our conversation, I spotted a box of tissues on the counter and walked over to grab some. Presley followed me and hid under the counter. She is too damn smart. When I walked back to the other side of the room, she followed me and tried to hide in the corner. I tried to say something reassuring to her but the lump in my throat made it too hard to talk. So I led Diesel out into the hallway and Presley followed with the technician. They went left and I went right. Presley never looked back at me, but she looked nervous as the door to the surgical area closed behind them.

8:20AM
I loaded Diesel into the Jeep and as soon as I sat in the driver's seat, I bawled my eyes out. Not just little tears, but major boo-hooing. I felt bad for Diesel because she looked upset. I turned on some tunes (hard, angry rock this time) and we drove off. I drove around a bit because it was such a beautiful crisp morning. The sun was so bright and I really didn't want to go home yet. I ended up going grocery shopping at Meijers, while Diesel slept in the Jeep. Finally after about 90 minutes in Meijers, Diesel and I headed home.

11:57AM
I missed Dr. Riggs' phone call when I went into the bathroom to put a band-aid on my heel. I was going to take Diesel for a walk, but now I tried to return the call and got his voicemail. I decided to wait until he calls back. So I curled up on the couch with Diesel at my feet, and we took a little snooze.

1:00PM
Dr. Riggs called and said the surgery went very well. Presley had no problems with the anesthesia. According to protocol, he sent part of the bone and lymph node to be processed (kind of a formality because he was 95% sure this was bone cancer) but we should receive the results in 5-7 days to confirm the Osteosarcoma. Dr. Riggs took aspirates of the tissue and found no infection, which is a good thing. At noon, she had received her pain meds (morphine for dogs) via I/V. He said to call back later for an update. If all goes well over night and she is not in a lot of pain tomorrow, she should be able to come home in the late afternoon. He said to call tomorrow between 10AM-11AM to see if she can be released. I asked what meds she will be on, because Presley has been so stubborn with taking her pills. He said probably just Tramadol and Pepcid AC. She'll have a pain patch on for 3-4 days. She'll have to come back in about 10 days to have the skin staples removed. In the next week or so, I can follow up with Dr. Bannink (the oncologist) to discuss next steps, including chemotherapy.

6:50PM
I spoke to Chante, an emergency technician, to get an update. Presley has been sleeping all day. Her temp is slowly coming back up to normal (hers is 98.2, normal is 100). She is on I/V fluids and electrolytes. She is scheduled to receive antibiotics via I/V at 8PM and 4AM. She has not gone potty all day, so they are going to put a sling around her and help her outside. They want her up and walking today and they will support her with the sling. After she goes outside, they will try to give her some food. It's hard to say if Presley will eat or not. I've never seen her reject food until last week when she had a bad reaction to one of her pain meds, Deramaxx. She's been eating like a champ ever since we got her off those meds, so we'll have to see. Chante said I can call any time tonight for an update. Techs are available 24 hours/day.


That's the latest and greatest. Much thanks to everyone for sending good vibes our way. Keep 'em coming.

Love,
Michelle, Scott, Presley & Diesel