Happy 2 YEAR Ampuversary Maggie!
October 20, 2011
Two years ago today, we were waiting for Maggie to come out of surgery for amputation of her left hind leg, due to soft tissue sarcoma on her knee. It was a real struggle up until October 2009 to get a correct diagnosis on Maggie – started going to several vets in June of that year. She wasn’t really “lame” but shifting her weight from left side to her right side of her body. Couldn’t really pinpoint what was wrong. Diagnosis went from ACL injury(two different vets), to no, not ACL(one other vet), to psoas muscle pull(one vet) to finally in October, was diagnosed first by Gina, my sister a Vet Tech, as a probable soft tissue sarcoma, to then going to Dr. Chris Miles at Lucerne Vet Clinic in Dedham, Maine, for a final diagnosis of yes, a cancerous tumor. By that time, her knee was very large with diffuse swelling. Biopsy confirmed soft tissue sarcoma, of what type, they couldn’t tell us and after many special stains, we never have found out exactly what type of STS.
Thank you to Dr. Miles for doing a successful amputation for Maggie and caring for her at her hospital for three days/two nights. With her expertise in surgical amputation, Maggie is still free and clear of her cancer, two years later.
I do not ever want to repeat that time frame of about 3 weeks before and after amputation. I could not wait to get that leg off of her…the pain was unreal…thankfully, again, for my sister for finding out about a drug called Gabapentin, a pain reliever but not a common one. The local vet up here didn’t even know what it was, let alone prescribe it. That drug got Maggie through some incredibly painful days before amputation. Thank you Gina for being there when times were at it’s darkest for Maggie. The “vet” certainly wasn’t. “Give her a sleeping pill” he told me or “give her a Benadryl, it will make her sleepy”. I have since stopped going to that “vet”.
Her two weeks after amputation were HELL. No doubt about it. Four days after surgery, she wouldn’t eat and had a low grade fever. With Gina’s help, we got her eating and the fever down with dosing her with a homeopathic remedy, Belladonna and also a supplement by Standard Process, Parotid, which she ate directly out of my hand with no issues. Belladonna for the fever, Parotid to clear her system of chemicals from surgery, etc. Maggie ate fried eggs, baby food, canned dog food, dog kibble, liver treats, McDonald’s cheeseburgers, cooked hamburg/chicken…anything to get her to eat in those two weeks. It was a struggle..often having to force the first bite in her mouth. Extremely trying time for me – did I do the right thing for Maggie? I sure was doubting it then but we couldn’t look back and had to fight this!
By mid November 2009, life for Maggie was looking MUCH better! The two week recovery from HELL was over! Little things that we all take for granted, was a HUGE triumph for Maggie, like the first time she got up on the futon all by herself! Party! To the first time I let her off leash after having been on leash for so long before/after surgery – watching her figure out how to go to the bathroom, how to figure out her balance.
Fast forward to May of 2010, she was entered in her very first APDT Rally-O trial at Wag It in Lincolnville, ME. I never, ever thought she’d be in a competition ring again after amputation. She’d been an agility dog for 8 years prior to amputation. Sits were and still are, hard on her at times but we have worked hard with physical therapy work regularly and she has regained a lot of strength and stamina. She has now earned all three levels of Rally titles – RL1, RL2 and RL3 and her Veterans RLVX2. She also competes in Wag It Games in the “Heart Dog” program designed by Sumac Grant-Johnson of Wag It Training Center. Maggie is the inspiration for the “Heart Dog” program as Sumac saw the struggles that Maggie has sitting in Rally. Maggie gets special circumstances for being a Tripawd and isn’t required to do all the sitting exercises – she may stand instead. Also, she may skip some obstacles if they are too hard for her to maneuver. My hat is off to you, Sumac, for thinking “out of the box” for the disabled dogs(and handlers) out there that still want to compete! Maggie has earned her WAG1S, WAG1I and WAG1O so far! Wag It Games is PERFECT for Maggie. Being able to continue to train and compete with Maggie is really “icing on the cake”. I just wanted her to be out of pain from her cancer. Mission accomplished with amputation. As the saying goes on Tripawds.com “it’s better to hop on three legs than to limp on four”.
I also want to thank Jim and Rene of Tripawds.com for, first, having their website chock full of information for tripawd owners – I had only wished I had found their incredible site before Maggie’s amputation. I didn’t find it until 2 months later. But I have been fairly active on it since then, trying to help others with their journey of newly amputated dogs. Trying to help with physical therapy work or providing holistic views on treating cancer, to emotional support to others. No one can really know how tough it is on an owner to amputate a dog, unless you’ve gone through it. It’s an incredible emotional roller coaster.
I also want to thank Dr. Charles Loops, a well known cancer homeopathic vet from North Carolina, of whom I actually met in person at a seminar here in Maine many years ago. Who knew I’d be using him to treat my dog for cancer years later. Maggie gets 3 remedies to keep her cancer from spreading, rotating two of the remedies daily and every fifth day with one other remedy. Maggie is also on a product called Transfer Factors, which Dr. Loops recommended for Maggie.
So here we are, two years later after amputation. I am here to say I am VERY happy we made the decision to amputate Maggie! There have been up’s and down’s but mostly up’s! She is now 11½ years old, her 12th birthday will be in January. Her most recent struggle is her eyesight seems to be changing. Not related to being amputated of course but with being 3 legged it makes her more fearful than I do think it would being 4 legged. She’s a brave, brave girl and I’m very proud of all her accomplishments, from being brave through her recovery of amputation, to figuring out life on 3 legs, to going to compete again. Maggie is my hero!
Love you Maggie-Moo! Happy, Hoppy 2 year Ampuversary! Here’s to many more!!!