lyndon baines

Today started out with pseudo- panic.  Lyndon was super lethargic all night long, but in the morning not only was he totally zonked to the point of having trouble standing up, but his breathing was also a bit short and quick.  I called the vet and told them what was going on, and also that he hadn’t been eating for a couple days.  They told me to not give him any pills for the first half of the day, and try to get him to eat with some home cooking.  Thank God, the recommendation worked well.  I got him some ground turkey and rice, and he scarfed it all down and had a lot more energy after that.

As glad as I was that he had some energy again, the carpet was not terribly thrilled.  I had to go to a meeting for a few hours, so I again set out food, water a potty pad and put on his cone collar.  When I got home, this is what I found…

what a naughty little tripawd!

He tore up the pad, peed on the carpet, knocked over his water, and threw down one of the gates I put up.  His little butt was covered in fluff from the inside of the potty pad too, so I had to give him a bird bath. 

He’s a naughty baby, but I sure am glad he is better.

Next halloween we can add a peg leg to make the costume better

Lyndon and I had a long talk last night before bed.  He agreed not to waned and whine the whole time and I agreed not to put on the cone.  We decided to try sleeping in my room again.  Well, true to his word Lyndon slept like a rock.  In fact at one point he was sleeping so well that I got a little nervous and woke him up to make sure he was alright.  I’m sure he was thinking, “Geesh, she’s never satisfied. I stay awake and she begs me to go to sleep, I go to sleep and she wakes me up!”  Luckily he is making up for it by sleeping most of the day.

"No not winter again! We hate winter!"

Another funny thing happened today.  I had to run a quick errand today, so I put the cone on him and set out a potty pad incase he had to go potty before I got back. When I returned, not only had pooped on the carpet, but he tore the potty pad to shreds just to spite me.  It was so funny that I couldn’t be mad at him.  It was like a big “F you” for leaving him with the cone on.

Lyndon told me that he was sick of me taking pictures of him (he hates the camera), so I decided to put some old pictures of him in the blog today.  Till tomorrow…

I'm gonna miss this view so much!

Well, I finally figured out what was making Lyndon such a panic attack at night… the stupid cone of shame!  I had only been putting it on him at night because that is the only time I am not watching him like a hawk.  I tried everything to get him to calm down last night, but he was running around absolutely frantic.  It really upset me.  So After trying everything I could, I figured I would rather just stay up all night and watch him than sleep while he was so upset.  I pulled of the cone and wallah… he stopped panicking, layed down and fell asleep (almost instantaneously).  So I took all of the cushions off of the couch and lined them up on the floor next to Lyndon’s doggie bed.  Hence, I was able to sleep a bit too with my hand on lyndon to make sure that he wasn’t bending back to lick.  So I think that is what we a re going to have to do till his stitches are removed.  Now that I know what is stressing him out there is no way I am going to put that cone on him for more than a few minutes while I go to the bathroom. 

Scampers and Fifi are behaving better now that I am allowing them in the family room with us.  That doesn’t mean that Scamp is above startling Lyndon up so he can lay in Lyn’s bed.  We are now having more of a problem with licking… I really really have to watch him now, he’s so sneaky.

Amputation isn't the most annoying thing mom's ever put me through!

My baby boy is doing pretty good.  His stamina is increasing, he’s sleeping more soundly and he is moving around better.  He still has a bit of a problem laying down.  He does this really cute thing now where he stomps his back leg four or five times in quick succession if he wants to lay down… I guess that’s his hint for me to help him down.  What a cutie!

Well last night was even less pleasant than the night before.  This time not only did I get no sleep, but Lyndon didn’t get any either.  He has finally started to take an interest in his incision, which meant that I had to put the cone of shame on last night.  He was upset about the cone and anxiuos  because of the pills and restless because of having to go potty every hour.  Poor baby. 

The good news is that his stamina is increasing a bit.  He has been wandering almost constantly and every time I lay him down he gets right back up again.  Stubborn little rat is still refusing to eat anything other than ground turkey, so I’ve been really careful about taking him outside to avoid a nasty accident.  Lyndon has really gotten the hang of postitioning himself for potty time, and he hops from one plant to the next trying to find that ultimate perfect spot.

Lyndon and Scampers three years ago

My other dogs, Scampers and Fifi, are still quite the problem.  Scampers has spent all morning crying and howling.  Finally I brought Scampers down into the family room with Lyndon and I.  Scamp could have given a crap about Lyndon, he didn’t even look at him.  Scamp went straight to Lyndon’s food dish and started eating.  Later on Scampers went over to Lyndon in his bed and barked in his ear.  Lyndon jumped up and Scampers curled up in Lyndon’s bed… I was so mad at him.  Scampy has calmed down now, he’s laying next to me on the couch. 

I have to really watch Lyndon now because of his interest in the scar.  He’s a bit redder and a bit more swollen today.  Everything else is going pretty well, though.  Here’s to getting a little sleep tonight (for us both).

Today is the 2nd day since Lyndon has been home.  We had a long night last night.  I felt so bad about the pain he was in that I opted not to put on his cone collar.  That, of course, meant that every time he made the slightest movement I had to wake up to make sure he wasn’t going after his incision.  So, Lyndon slept well, but I didn’t sleep much at all.  Lyn’s definitly in more pain than he was in yesterday.  He is also more anxious, wandering around more and looking like he’s not quite sure what to do with himself.  I can tell that he’s going to have to build up strength in his remaining hind leg, at the moment he gets tired easily and the leg starts to shake a bit with the strain.  Still, he is doing better than I had expected and I havent left his side for more than a short bathroom break in 30 hours.

Fifi, Scamp and Lyndon before the surgery

The real problem has been my other two quadrapawds.  They are not accepting of this whole separation thing, and they have voiced their disaproval and confusion non-stop for two days.  This morning Lyndon and I were serenaded with blood-curtling howling for an hour before I had to tell them to stop.  Since then I have had Lyndon baracaded in the family room with me and the other two (Fifi and Scampers) free to roam the rest of the house.  Of course, they are only interested in getting into the family room.  They are driving me crazy and occasionally stressing Lyndon out.  Its hard doing this process, with three dogs on opposite sides of th fence, by myself.  Thank God I don’t have to work for these next two weeks or this would be impossible.

In support of old cliches, “today is the first day of the rest of our lives.”  Lyndon came home from the hospital today!  The surgery went really well, the vet said that at one point his heart rate went up a bit, but that it quickly corrected itself without any assistance needed.  Yesterday I was totally inconsolable… the word “mutilation” kept running through my head and my guilt was at 100%.  It helped to dig myself into work to distract myself, but in between tasks I fought not to want to go rescue him before the surgery.  Then when the surgery was done, my only thought was, “Oh my God, what have I done?!”

Today I was expecting to be horrified, guilty and down right ill.  I was so nervous in the waiting room that I thought I was going to vomit, and then… there he was.  He came hopping into the room all excited and looking around and doing fine.  The incision site was not nearly as aweful as I expected.  A lot of the pictures I had seen of other dogs was much worse.  I’m kind of wondering if the difference was that those dogs got staples and lyndon got sutures.  He had an oozy spot where they had been giving him local anesthetics through a kind of cathater all night, but the vet said it was supposed to be that way.  The surgeon also left a small muscle pad on the back of his hip so that when he sits it won’t feel awkward.  I was so happy to see him up and about that the scar didn’t really bother me at all. 

Since being home he’s gone potty, eaten his normal food and taken a nice nap.  I’ve decided that i’d like this blog to help other people who have to go through this process, and so I’m going to add pictures every day of his recovery (other dogs’ pictures helped prepare me for the shock, and I think having seen others it made it suprisingly happy to see that his wound was not as bad). 

Today is a bit sad, but I am feeling a bit more pawsitive about the whole process.  All of the comments and support I have gotten from the tripawds community has helped me immensely.  I feel that I am no longer going through this process alone, and I am so grateful to have found this site.  So, thank you to all of those who have been sending Lyndon and I your best wishes and prayers; they are much appreciated.

I was hoping to get some good cuddle time with Lyndon in today, but he has been wanting to stay outside catching a bit of heat.  He loves warmth, he even insists on being blowdried in the morning.  Oh well, I guess I’ll get lots of cuddle time in the next few weeks.  Tonight I’m going to rearrange the family room for him to have a comfortable/safe spot to recoup in.  Thanks to all those blogs that gave me ideas on how best to accomplish this.  Till tomorrow…

I gave Lyndon his pre-surgery bath today.  My other dogs try to swim over the water, but Lyndon just gets stiff as a board; like a cat.  I felt so sad washing his leg, knowing that by thursday it will be in the bottom of some biohazard waste bin in the back room of a necropsy lab.  I actually had to go into a biowaste storage once… it was horrifying.  I’ve been spending the day looking up pictures of amputation scars and reading early-stages recovery stories.  Needless to say I am emotionally exhausted.  The worst part is that he has no idea what’s about to happen to him… and I can’t explain why I’ve made the decision to do this scary, painful thing to him. 

More than anything I think that I am afraid he will die in the surgery, and in an attempt to prolong his life and happiness, I will have actually killed him when he would still be able to survive if I hadn’t done this.  If he dies I don’t think I will be able to ever forgive myself….

Hi my name is Ananda and My dog, Lyndon, has synovial sarcoma.  I’m sure that this is not the most fancy or formal blog that can be found in the tripawds site, but this is my first attempt at a blog and I’m still trying to figure out the system. 

I joined tripawds this week because I’ve been told that it is a very helpful and supportive community of doggie parents that have had to go through the amputation process.  My little miniature pinscher, Lyndon, is going to have his hind leg amputated this coming wednesday and I am having a very difficult time dealing with the guilt of putting him through a surgery, a long recovery and years of only having three legs.  After reading some of the other blogs in this site I realize that I am very lucky, as Lyndon will not require any chemotherapy.  He has a synovial sarcoma (which is cancer of the joint fluid) around his left hock joint.  When I first had the growth looked at, my vet thought that it was a cyst because she was able to extract fluid from the lump.  So, relieved that it wasn’t cancer, we had the “cyst” surgically removed.  The tissue was interwoven though his muscles, bone and achilles tendon.  When they did the biopsy of what they removed they found out that the growth was actually cancer.  Two months later the tumor was completely back and bigger than it had been when we removed it.  I tried to avoid amputation, but it is the only thing I can do now.

Lyndon is 12 years old and I am terrified that he will not be able to adjust to life with only three legs, not to mention the idea of surgery is a terrible one. If anyone could offer me a little encouragment on this absolutly aweful process I would sure appreciate it.  Thanks, Lyndy B’s mama.