Conehead

Today Eco's stitches came out which is good news except that the area is infected. The vet figures that perhaps it was caused by the stitches and so we'll give her some antibiotics and put some special cream on it and see how it does over the next couple of days. The bad news, the foot is really bugging her so she has to keep wearing her cone!

Wahh! Poor dog, that's the one thing I wanted to get rid of the most! Anyway not much I can do now but be diligent about keeping it on and keeping her mouth away from her foot and hoping that it heals as soon as possible. I just wished it wasn't raining right now as that's not really helping her situation at all!

I'm trying not to worry, I'm trying not to stress out. I'm trying to just roll with it, but it's difficult. Do you know what I mean?

My crazy week

Yes last week was pretty crazy. On Tuesday, The Kid went into the hospital for unknown stomach pains and after about 24 hours of all sorts of theories it was confirmed that his appendix had burst and he had an appendectomy on Wednesday night. Thursday was Eco's surgery.

On Sunday, The Kid was discharged from the hospital and is doing better.

Eco will get her bandage changed tomorrow but things are going pretty well. Every time she goes outside I have to wrap her foot in a bandage so I'm going through our supply of shopping bags but the little thing is so sweet and allows me to put on her big Buster collar when I can't keep a good eye on her. She's doing very well, especially since she is a young dog who is used to being active and she hasn't been able to walk or play for about a week. She's starting to get a little too energetic for her foot, so I'm trying to find activities that burn off some energy without putting extra stress on that foot.

Yesterday I went to a dance bootcamp and really got a workout. I know you're thinking "well what do you think a bootcamp is lady?" But I've been to other bootcamps and this one was by far the hardest! Today my hip flexors are really hurting and my stomach is sore - which is think is from muscles and not anything else. I'm glad that this is a short week, since we get Friday, November 11th off for Remembrance Day.

I did complete a knitting project but I'm not happy with it at the moment so I won't post pictures until I either fix it or frog it and remake it. For those who aren't knitters, frogging means to unravel the piece and was named because in order to unravel it, you rip it, rip it, rip it.

How was your weekend? 

There Goes the Toes

Remember last June when poor little Eco had to get surgery on her foot to remove a lump (hamartoma-normal tissues growing abnormally) ?

Well either the dang thing grew back or she grew another one. The problem is it's between her toes so it's a difficult spot to do surgery, especially when there's very little skin in that area in the first place. Apparently their existence is pretty common, but they are usually on parts of the body where they can just exist without interfering with life - such as the shoulder or neck or back.

My vet posted photos of it on a veterinary forum across Canada and the United States, but it seems that  our only option is to remove the toe. We can't inject it to stop the growth and radiation is not recommended because of it's location and sensitivity. She could wear a special orthotic boot - but for the rest of her life? An active young labrador?

 So it looks like amputation is our only choice. And the vet says recovery time is only 2 weeks. I'm really sad about this but there doesn't seem a lot I can do about it. It's possible that we remove the toe and life goes on and we never give it a second thought.

Wow, I just googled "toe amputation in dogs" and was surprised to see all the entries. I guess that's making me feel a little better about it. But still, I don't like my poor little baby losing body parts!

Any suggestions? What would you do?