The Chili Dawg

Chili Dawg had his staples removed on Friday.  Friday was also his last day of any pain pills that we had.  Monday (Memorial Day) was the first nice day we had in a long time- no rain, yay!  Monday, I got to see the Chili Dawg run in the back yard.

I’ll set the scene for you.  It was hot.  About 90+ degrees.  Noah and Juliana were playing in the kiddie pool.  Finchy and Chili Dawg were lounging in the shade by the fence (Chili was actually being “beautiful” by sitting so that his ears and fur blew in the wind).  Then, a couple of kids walking a dog walked by on the sidewalk.  Finch jumped up and ran along the fence with them.  I looked at Chili.  He looked at me.  I said, “Go ahead if you want to.”  So, he got to his feet, and took off on his tripawd run to catch up with Finch.  Noah stood up in the kiddie pool & yelled, “Look Mom, Chili’s running!”  I think that says it all.

Around 2 o’clock this morning, I woke up for no reason.  The Chili Dawg had some how gotten up on our bed again.  This time, he was curled up next to Ryan and his “cone of shame” was gone (I found it on his dog bed- it’s good that he doesn’t try to lick his staples anymore).  Ryan woke up too (unheard of, by the way) and told Chili to get off the bed.  Clearly, Chili is feeling better post-amputation, because he gave Ryan a look like, “you’re kidding, right?” and crawled over him to get to me.  He immediately assumed our snuggle position for when Ryan is out of town with his head on my shoulder and let me pet his soft fur until I fell back to sleep- one of the best feelings in the world.

Around 3 o’clock this morning, my daughter woke up (thank you appetite stimulant) to eat.  I came back into our bedroom and decided that I should get Chili out to go potty, because every once in a while the Amantidine causes him to sleep so deeply that he has an accident.  I looked at his dog bed and he wasn’t laying on it.  I checked his crate and he wasn’t in there.  I turned the light on in the bathroom so I wouldn’t wake Ryan up, and that’s when I saw the Chili Dawg.  I have no idea how he got up there, but there he was in his old spot on the bed sound asleep.  Our bed is fairly high up, and he would have had to jump or scramble to get up there, so he must be feeling better if he got up there without waking me up since I am the world’s lightest sleeper.  I think that’s a good sign 🙂

The Chili Dawg has been home for 1 week now.  He is doing really well.  He has hopped around the back yard doing his check of the perimeter the past 2 days.  My 2 year old daughter is no longer afraid of him and now gives him a hug and kiss with my 4 year old when we have to leave the house (my 4 year old fawned all over him as soon as he came home).  He doesn’t like when we have to put the “cone of shame” (for those of you who have seen the movie “Up”) on him when we leave the house, but if we don’t he will lick himself raw.  He is starting to eat a little better as well.  Last night the surgeon called and gave us the results on his leg (they sent it off for testing).  Chili’s lymph nodes were clear but the cancer in the ulna was definitely osteosarcoma.  I am glad that we did the amputation because he is no longer in pain and he is back to smiling at us again.  Now we need to decide whether or not to do the chemo treatment, and if we do decide to do chemo, where we will find the money to pay for the treatment as my 2 year old has many health issues of her own.  Tough decisions to be made…

The Chili Dawg is now 5 days post amputation of his right forelimb.  The first night was rough.  He couldn’t get comfortable and was up every 2 hours trying to find a comfy position.  He and I got through it together though.  He’s doing great now though!  He even greets us at the door when we get home, with his tail wagging.  When his leg first started hurting him, a little over 2 weeks ago, he would still greet us at he door, but by the time it was diagnosed as osteosarcoma, he could barely get up.  It’s sad to think that he feels better 5 days after an amputation then he did with a bad leg, but he does, so we are glad that we made this decision.

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