31 January 2011 -- Surgery Day

Hi, All,
First and foremost, thank all of you who posted, prayed and thought about Razzle this week. It is all appreciated and I KNOW it helped. To catch you all up:
After a lot of research, I decided to go ahead with amputation and chemotherapy. There were several considerations in my decision.

• About four inches of bone in his distal radial leg was involved; there was so much bone compromised a break was a matter of days, may be hours.

• Given how deeply the bone was involved; he would either be in excruciating pain from a break; or he would be on pain medication that made him unstable, and susceptible to a break.

• Given the severity of the bone involvement, but with the rest of his x-rays and tests clear, there were two options, amputation and euthanasia. I felt he had a better-than-average chance at a good result for the following reasons:

o He is young, calm and happens to LOVE the vet (any vet). Anywhere he goes where he gets food for no work and be petted for no reason is a GOOD place. (He’s made friends already). I thought for a long time he had Munchhausen’s.

o I work at home and though I am very busy, I can pay attention to his needs and be here for him during the day.

o I have a wonderful group of friends, neighbors and staff who can help with my work and his care and want very much to do so.

o If he has seven additional months after healing (a conservative estimate) that would be 8% of his life. If someone gave me a conservative estimate of 8% of my life with a terminal cancer diagnosis I’d be thrilled. So I’m thrilled for him.
Every time a dog goes through treatment, every owner that tries new diets, therapies and ideas and documents them, something is added to the science. While this may seem hard, I want the next greyhound owner, and the next and the next to benefit, if possible, from what we learn. Whether he lives, seven days, seven weeks, seven months or seven years, what we learn and what we do contributes to the overall knowledge of first treating, then hopefully beating this disease. We have a responsibility to try, and, by trying, to help make the first greyhound to beat this disease not a hope, but a reality (and I hope that it will be Razzle!)

The surgery went well. He had an initially poor reaction to the fentanyl patch, but seems to be doing much better. They said he was showing some interest in eating this evening (about 1800 PST) and is interested in people watching again (surprise, uh, as we all know, Not.)

Mom made him four dinners (tofu, broccoli, eggs, coconut, peanut butter, more peanut butter, coconut water, love, love and kisses) and took them over so he would have something from home and no meat to contaminate his mouth. He also had hard boiled eggs, his jar of peanut butter and K9 Immunity for treats). For now and ever carbs are off the menu.

He’ll be starting his first chemotherapy treatment (poor baby!) tomorrow. Cisplatin (Platinol®): This will be, I believe, five treatments. This is an in-hospital intensive chemotherapy treatment.

Everyone should have access to the Ohio State Osteosarcoma protocols at http://www.vet.ohio-state.edu/assets/pdf/hospital/bloodBank/wellness/research/BoneCancerinGreyhounds.pdf

To some of you, this may all seem very clinical and cold. I grew up on a farm and I’m the daughter of a physician. I know keeping a positive and happy outlook for Razzle is critical to his recovery. I also know that, as my Dad used to say, don’t borrow trouble. Worrying about what MIGHT happen, steals the joy from what IS happening. Razzle and I spent the weekend in bed together, eating bad food and snuggling. No matter what happens tomorrow, that’s the choice of yesterday that I hold on to --- if, and only if, bad times come. For now, I look forward in hope, for him and for holding him once again.