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When it rains......

Luvmysphynx

Senior Lairian
Senior Lairian
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May 27, 2009
Messages
389
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It pours! What a week, and it's only just starting :( Ment to post this yesteray, but one of my furbabies needs your prayers again, my service dog, Hannah, had to have surgery to remove her entire tail today. Wednesday I noticed her holding her tail out funny when she was walking around, so I looked at it closer and found a break in her tail. Assuming that was the problem I carefully wrapped it in cast padding, splinted it with popsicle sticks, and vet wrapped it thinking that'd be the end. Well, for a couple of days it seemed to be helping, but then things got ugly. Saturday morning I noticed the end of her tail was turning black. Naturally I'd assumed I'd accidentally wrapped to tight so I removed the bandages only to discover there was dying skin and tissue under the bandage as well. Of course, I rushed her to the vet to figure out what was going on. The vet I took her to didn't seem to concerned and said to watch it and see how far the neorcrotic tissue goes and bring her back in a week. So I left it unwrapped, and kept an eye on it. But Sunday evening it was much much much worse, if anything bumped it at all she'd loose a big patch of skin and hair and it'd start bleeding. By this point I was pretty freaked out, but when I called my regular vet he said to just keep her on pain meds and antibiotics for the night and bring her in first thing in the morning. Well, Monday morning when I got up I could easily see a good 6" of her tail was now dead tissue, and was at the clinic as soon as it opened. My vet took one look at it and immediatly cleared his schedule so he could take care of Hannah. Originally when he saw her we thought we where going to try to save at least part of her tail, but sadly, when he got the tail shaved and got a good look he found the culprit - A lession near the base of her tail was pressing on that main artery going into the tail and cutting off blood supply. Most likely we're dealing with osteosarcoma :( Sent off some biopsy samples to comfirm. This dog has been through ALOT with me, she as a gift from my fiance before he died of cancer 6 years ago. She's been through several moves with me, and many hard times. She's been there with me through my "couch surfing" days when I really had nowhere to stay, She's my service dog, my constant companion, and my very best friend in the entire world. Right now I'm devistated, and praying that either my vet is wrong about the cancer, or that by amputating her tail we got it all and they'll be no more problems. My heart is breaking right now! I just have to do my best to stay positive and keep thinking good thoughts, Hannah's a tough customer! She's got nothing but a very tiny nub left, the vet had to remove as much as he dared in an attempt to get the entire tumor removed, but he did have to leave behind some "questionable" tissue, and we're both worried that by the looks of the skin on th ebottom of her tail we may have only delayed the problem and not solved it, there's a very real chance ths kin could sluff off and we'd loose the stitches, and there's very little tissue left there to work with :( Please pray for my Hannah, I'm praying so hard that this is just a temporary set back and that she'll be back to her normal self in no time, they'll be no complications, no cancer, and I'll get to enjoy many more years with my girl!
 

havingalook

V.I.P Lairian
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I will be thinking of you and Hannah. I hope the surgery yesterday is all that is needed.
hugs
Kerry
 

Mug-ys mumma

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Oh you poor thing! What a nightmare week :Cry:

Sending lots of positive vibes and prayers for both you and Hannah.

Big hugs

X
 

susi794

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I have tears running down my face. I am so very sorry. Will pray very hard that Hannah heals and is able to live many more years as your best friend.
 

lemmysmommy

Senior Lairian
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Oct 5, 2009
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I am so sorry to hear of this news. IG's have a special spot in my heart. I hope that Hannah feels better soon! I will keep her in my thoughts and hope that they got all of the suspected cancer. Keep us updated.
 

zoes mom

Lairian
Joined
Sep 27, 2009
Messages
133
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41
It sure sounds like you have been through a lot:Cry: I am so sorry to hear you're story, you sound like a very strong person and I too pray for you and your beloved girl! Stay strong and keep us updated big hugs too!!
 

ckutkuhn7

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Jan 16, 2010
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What a week! I'm sorry to hear about the possible cancer. Doesn't get much scarier than that! Please know my thoughts and prayers are with you and Hannah that all will be well and for a fast recovery!
 

Luvmysphynx

Senior Lairian
Senior Lairian
Joined
May 27, 2009
Messages
389
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To exhausted to post much of an update, but here's a short update of what's going on. Hannah's already back at the vet for a 2nd surgery, as we feared the tissue sluffed leaving a big open wound at the end of her tail :( He's gone back in today to try to close it up again and pray that it actually stays closed this time! I'm anxiously waiting for him to call and tell me she's ready to come back home, I'm really nervious it's taking him so long today, I'm hoping that just means he couldn't get to her as early as he thought he could and not that she's having trouble coming out of anesthesia this time, I really get nervious when I have to have them put under that close together!
 

ckutkuhn7

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Oh goodness. I'm praying for you!!!! Hopefully he is just taking his time and doing the best he has ever done with any surgery ever! Prayers for you and Hannah as always!!
 

GioThermal

Lairian
Joined
Mar 15, 2010
Messages
106
Points
66
Stay positive... she needs you! It's like the law of attraction... think positive thoughts. Try not to think about the worst that could happen. Hannah is in our thoughts and prayers. Keep us updated.
 

nbolin

Senior Lairian
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Joined
Mar 25, 2009
Messages
498
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103
Oh no! Not liking all this bad news lately! That is sooo sad :( Me and Kreacher are praying for Hannah!
 

Luvmysphynx

Senior Lairian
Senior Lairian
Joined
May 27, 2009
Messages
389
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Thank you everyone for your support and kind words. I'm just praying this surgery will be the last Hannah needs! I'm totally completly exhausted both emotionally and physically! Hannah is having a really hard time tonight, despite being on 2 different pain killers it's very obvious she's really hurting, and there's not really a whole lot I can do about it :( I'm keeping her in a diaper and a baby onesie on top of her e-collar just to make sure that A: Nothing gets near her sutures and it stays clean and B: that even if she does manage to get her nose around the edge of her e-collar (she's trying, and those iggy noses are long enough she may be able to!) that there's still no chance of her licking at her little nub. But she is not happy about either the diaper, the onesie, or the e-collar. Hopefully I don't have to keep that up for more then a couple weeks, I'm really worried about that incision still, I'm already seeing signs that it's starting to pull, hopefully it won't continue, and the skin will hold, there's really not much more then that that we can do! It's still looking like it's also probably infected, we've got her on some pretty strong antibiotics, I'm praying that does the job, and it really is just an infection and not a sign that we missed part of the tumor :( Hannah's got a long hard road ahead of her I'm afraid, but she's tough, she's just got to make it through this!
 
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