I am sitting at home waiting to pick Winnie up from the hospital. Her amputation was Tuesday after an almost unbearable decision to save her life instead of her leg. Winnie has (or hopefully “had) synovial cell sarcoma in her knee. It’s a cancer of the joint capsule. Dr. Glassman, our kind and particularly talented surgeon started to perform at TPLO surgery on her last month and found trouble once he got in there. It’s been a wildly emotional ride and today, we start recovery.
I must admit that I originally found the idea of having to decide to amputate Winnie’s leg as completely horrific. Well, until you consider the alternatives – any of which for us included pain, lameness and perhaps metastatic cancer. So, in the end, it really wasn’t a choice. In fact, I cried to poor Dr. Glassman just an hour before her surgery “There are no other options, right?”. “No.” he replied. And that was that.
Winnie has been at the vet for two nights now. They have kept her comfortable. She’s not eating but that’s terribly unlike her without a serious surgery and ample sedation. I haven’t been able to see her for fear of upsetting her or getting her too excited and then leaving. So, I haven’t yet seen her and am promising myself that I will not cry when I see her but smile and let her know what a great dog she is. She is, by the way. Really. Great. Dog.
Our goal is to get Winnie back to her playful ways before the pain. I know the next few days and weeks will be tough but we’re just going to set our sights on the long view.
Here we go. Woof.
Welcome to the club that no one wants to join with the cancer diagnosis. Winnie is a beautiful girl. Your decision not to visit was a good one as you said some dogs do get upset or anxious when their owners leave. I hope things go great for her. Looks like you have runners already down on the floor which is great for an amputee. Yes, seeing Winnie the 1st time will be shocking but remember she isn’t in pain and she doesn’t know she is missing that leg.
The next few weeks there might be some ups & downs don’t hesitate to post on the forum or in the chat if you have any questions. Sometimes we don’t see blogs if there are a lot of people updating their blogs that day.
Good luck
Hugs
Michelle & Angel Sassy
Ohhhh pretty girl! You are going to be A O K when you’re all recovered, I know it! I’m sorry you got diagnosed with the cancer but as you’ll soon show your pawrents, it’s not the end, there is MUCH more living and barking and playing and wrasslin to do! So get well soon little one and get your strength back, things are gonna be OK.
Oh, and folks, thank you SO MUCH for your generous supporter gift, we are deeply grateful for your kindness during such as difficult time. Please let us know if there’s anything we can do to help OK?
Okay! That’s it! Win ie just melted my heart bigtime! I’m in love!!
What a sweet, sweet girl! LOVE this picture!
Oh gosh, we can all relate! I was hysterical and completely out of my mind with fear! It felt like K was stuck in a nightmare and would never wake up! I even canceled the first scheduled surgery because I just could not wrap my head around what I was about to do TO my dog!!
That was over ten months ago and I realize it was something I did FOR my dog!! Absolutely the BEST decision ever!! We just celebrated our ten month ampuversary snd moving forward (knocking on wood)!
We are have the mst glorious blissfully happy time just loving and spoiling and living in tne gift of the moment!
Youve probably already go e to pick her up, but don’t even look at that ole’ incision site…just look i to her eyes and let her klw how hapy yoj are and hlw proud of her you are and soak up the kisses!! Yeah, you might cry, but they will be tears of joy!
Okay, I didn’t want to say this on your other post so publicly… shhhhh…….but, heck yeah, spoil her right now!! Shhhhh……our little secret……just say “no” to tough love…at least duri g recovery:-) 🙂
Will look forward to your update AND more pictures! Winnie is a beautiful soul and clearly a GREAT DOG!
Hugs!
Sally and Happy Hannah
Winnie is adorable!
My Willow had synovial cell sarcoma, in her shoulder joint. She was living at a rescue when she had her amputation and was diagnosed, so I can’t give you advice about the surgery since I adopted her after that. But, I can tell you that Willow was amazing on three legs! She was a senior and had arthritis, but she ran around like a tomboy and could even dig holes even though she was a front amputee!
Carol