Porter's Pawless

At midnight last night, our loyal companion, Porter, left us and this world for a place where he is free of blindness and cancer. To the end, he was brave and determined to do his best and enjoy life in our family. On Sunday, he had his “last great day”; he got up and napped on his favorite couch, he walked independently around our kitchen, family room and outside and enjoyed a steak dinner with us. On Monday he gradually became weaker and stopped eating and refused water. His euthanasia had been scheduled for this afternoon (Tues.) when his local vet was available. Being the alpha dog he always was, he determined the timing and location of his passing; Laying quietly on his own bed in our kitchen with his family around him. Safe travels, Porter. We will miss you. You certainly had a great run!

Apologies for this belated post. The Fall months flew by with us adjusting to life back in the USA and enjoying time with Porter. An introduction to those of your who don’t know or remember us. Porter, our 12 year old golden retriever, had an amputation of his left front leg for osteosarcoma in July 2013 while my husband and I were living in Germany. My husband was on Sabbatical for 8 months. Our son, a college student, was caring for Porter during our absence. Porter recovered from his surgery with the usual ups and downs and we kept in close touch via skype. We discontinued Porter’s traditional chemotherapy after 2 doses due to severe diarrhea and weight loss and he switched to metronomics and alternative therapy of low dose cytoxan and I’m Unity (polysacaride) with some intermittent appetite issues. He enjoyed the Fall with trips to our lake house in upstate NY and wading in the lake where he used to be a great swimmer and duck chaser. Now he was content to watch the activity and enjoy lots of treats and pets. In January his chest films were clear and we celebrated 6 months post amputation. Sadly, last Friday he had difficulty walking and refused to eat. His declining condition happened very suddenly and we were unsure of its cause, but knew it couldn’t bode well. A trip to our local Vet revealed severe anemia and it was decided to make the trip to our oncologist for restaging the following day. An ultrasound revealed yesterday that Porter had a large amount of internal bleeding from tumors in his liver and spleen. We are at home today with Porter who is resting on his bed and eating small amounts of hamburger and canned food. He is taking a Chinese drug to help stop the bleeding, rimadyl and tramadol. He does not seem to be in pain but is weak. His Ruff Wear harness has been a God-send especially now in his weakened state. Tomorrow we will talk with our local vet re: scheduling Porter’s euthanasia. He’s certainly had a great run!

It has been far to long since my last blog entry. I have been waiting for something good or significant to say. Or, I am just procrastinating… To catch you up, I’ll begin with a synopsis of our journey so far and then continue to the present. We are living in Germany until the end of August and our adult son, Konrad is caring for Porter until our return. Our dog, Porter, is a 13 year old golden retriever with very limited vision due to ulvitis. He is otherwise healthy and has adapted to his slowly progressing loss of vision. He had been limping on and off since June, treated with rimadyl with intermittent relief then the limping became worse. An X-ray confirmed the suspicion of bone cancer, the amputation of Porter’s right front leg on July 19, a good recovery with the usual ups and downs, biospsy report confirmed osteosarcoma, no signs of metastasis, incision healing well, staples removed and then the consultation with our oncologist. We made the decision to give our Porter a chance at a longer, healthier life that chemotherapy might provide. On August 6, Porter had a CBC which was norml and was given his first dose of chemotherapy. The plan is to have 5 treatments every other week of doxorubicin. His first dose was given and except for lack of appetite he seemed to be doing fine. By Friday he was eating small amounts of rice and boiled chicken but still refusing his dog food. The complication to this was that we had, prior to Porter’s diagnosis and surgery, booked a trip for Konrad to visit us in Germany before his college classes resumed in late August. Porter was booked in our local kennel where they all love him. A kennel visit at this time did not seem right so my married daughter, living in MA, agreed to care for him during Konrad’s absence. We had a CBC done on Friday evening to be sure Porter was okay for the trip. The CBC was normal. Konrad drove him to MA on Saturday morning, August 10. Everything seemed fine. Our daughter, Kristina, had gotten cottage cheese, rice and rotisserie chicken to encouage his appetite. He loved the chicken to much as you will see… On Sunday morning, he peed on the kitchen floor without asking to go out. He has rarely done this and only when sick. He was alone for several hours and did fine. He ate dinner that evening. Sometime during the night, he pushed his way past a chair blocking the doorway and had diarrhea over all of the dining room carpet. He has never been incontinent in the house before. What a mess for my daughter to find in the morning! She cleaned up Porter and took him outside while she worked on cleaning the carpet. Porter was not himself that day. He was lethargic and wouldn’t walk without much assistance. I called our vet to check on appropriate anti-diarrheal meds for him. We gave him one dose of Immodium, 2 mg. In the meantime he had had 2 more episodes of diarrhea, with specs of blood visible. His urine was also dark yellow-orange in color. After calling around to area vets who could not fit him in as he was a new patient, Kristina loaded him in her car and drove to the nearest emergency animal hospital in the next city. He was seen there, a consultation made with his oncologist in PA and blood work done. His WBC was low, he had a bacterial and yeast infection in one ear and his liver enzymes were elevated. He was given simplicef, an antibiotic, put back on tramadol instead of rimadyl, given metronidazole for the diarrhea and his ear cleaned and treated with oti-clean and oti-max. 3 hours later, Porter and Kristina were on their way home. Today Porter seems a little better. He slept through the night without incident. Normally you withhold food for 24 hours to treat diarrhea but because he needs the above meds, the vet wants him to eat. He ate a breakfast of rice and boiled hamburger and has been out to the bathroom with only a small amount of diarrhea. We’ll see what today brings. I am wondering if this will be the case with every chemo treatment or if it is an isolated event. I’m sure the change of environment did not help the situation and maybe also the rotisserie chicken. We so hope Porter is back to his old self very soon…

We’ve made it to two weeks post-op and all is going well for Porter and our family. Porter saw the oncologist on Tuesday with my son, Konrad, while we listened via skype from our apartment in Germany. Dr. Clifford was very thorough and explained everything clearly and concisely and gave my son a written report that he emailed to us.
Porter’s Prognosis:
Location of tumor- proximal humerus, poor
Slightly elevated alk.Phos, slightly poor
Normal blood counts, good,
Age, poor
No visual metastases, good
Dogs receiving chemotherapy, good

After much discussion, we have decided to follow the treatment plan for chemotherapy. Porter will receive 5 doses of doxorubicin every other week with blood counts every week. He begins chemotherapy this coming Tuesday, which is a little over 2 weeks post-op. Today he has his staples removed. We can’t believe that he has left his incision alone! It has healed nicely so far. So far so good…Friends have stopped by and say Porter is doing great, much better than before surgery. We hope that he tolerates his chemotherapy and continues to progress.

One week pot-op and we’ve made such progress. There have been ups and dones. Yesterday the call came from our vet that the biospsy had shown osteosarcoma. We had known this would be the case deep down in our hearts. Our vet had prepared us, she had watched Porter’s surgery and and had examined the bone specimums after surgery. She had told us that the bone crunbled in her hands. So, we were upset but not surprised. She took time to talk with us several times on the phone, answering our questions and defining our options. Our appointment with the oncologist is on Tues. afternoon so we are determined to enjoy the weekend and deal with next week when it comes. I am making a list of questions to ask the oncologist. Any suggestions for things I should ask? In the meantime, Porter continues to heal and enjoy sniffing the outdoors air, roll in the grass and of course eat his food( dry, wet and cottage cheese). He loves it all!

Week 1 has been a roller coaster of ups and downs for us. This surgery has been especially hard for a senior dog. For us, Porter puts on a happy face and tries his hardest, I imagine to please us; And we are so thankful for such a big hearted companion! Yesterday while the dog sitter was there, Porter stumbled on a small step and fell on his incision. No harm done, but after getting up and going to the bathroom, he laid down in the grass and refused to move. He had to be carried back inside. Overall he is doing remarkably well but there are these little regressions that remind us of what an ordeal this surgery is for our dogs. Yesterday evening Porter had his first car ride since surgery. He went back to the vets to be shaved and have his last fentanyl patch applied. He walked to the car and only needed minimal help getting in and out of the car, less than before surgery. He is still eating and drinking well and his incision is healing nicely. Waiting…we are waiting for the dreaded biopsy report. Maybe tomorrow or early next week. And then decision time. Right now we are thinking we will not do chemotherapy if it is recommended.

Sunday night Porter was restless, crying and he kept waking up my son. Neither of them slept much. Porter had his pain patch changed Sunday evening so maybe he was feeling more uncomfortable until his new patch began working. On Monday morning both he and my son were tired. My son was able to go into work late that day. We had our dog sitter visit at mid day to check on Porter and he walked outside, laid on the grass and would go no further. I guess he was very tired! The dog sitter iced his incision outside, gave him water to drink and coaxed him back inside. When my son got home from work that evening, Porter had pushed his wicker crate just far enough for him to escape his small sleeping area in our kitchn and was asleep on the couch in our TV room. He got down when my son returned home( he is uually not allowed on the couch). The important thing was that he had done this 3 legged on his own. That evening, he ate all his food and sat next to my son all evening watching TV. That night, thankfully, he slept though the night and my son was able to go to work on time.

Porter is home from the hospital. He can walk for short distances very slowly but needs help with steps. He is eating small meals and drinking water. He is very tired today but only naps for short times.

Yesterday afternoon we talked to the surgeon. Porter’s surgery took the predicted 1 1/2 hours without complications. She described the bone as appearing abnormal and crumbling. She felt that it was bone cancer but would need to wait for the pathology report for confirmation of type. My son was able to visit Porter last evening in the Animal Hospital. Porter heard his voice, wagged his tail and tried to get up to greet my son. The staff assisted Porter to a standing position for a short time to walk closer to my son then helped him lay down next to my son. They spent about 10 minutes together.  The evening was spent preparing an area for Porter’s recovery at home. Installation of an air conditioner was a high priority due to the extreme temperatures in the Northeast. Porter will be living in a small portion of our kitchen for the next week or two to be close to family and the door to outside. Yesterday I searched online for a harness to fit a medium sized Golden Retriever. On most sites the larger sizes of the recommended Web Master Harness were backordered. Luckily, I found The Dog Outdoors website and was able to order the appropriate size. I added a note asking to expedite the order so we would have it on Porter’s return home. The owner of this company called me to say he had upgraded shipping at no cost to us to ensure the harness arrived asap. What a great, caring company! A complication I haven’t discussed yet: My husband and I have living in Germany, while my husband is on sabbatical until September so my adult son is caring for Porter in our absence. Today, Porter will come home….

Today begins our journey in the tripawd life of our dog, Porter. He is almost 13 years old and has failing eyesight due to a hereditary disorder. He has adapted to the loss of eyesight and still loves life. A little over a month ago he began limping, holding up his left paw but never showing any other signs of pain. He gradually lost his appetite and slept more and more. Our vet thought these symptoms were due to arthritis and gave him the anti-inflammatory medicine, rimadyl which helped for a short time. Two weeks later we asked for a refill which again relieved his limping for a short time. Another week passed and now our vet investigated further taking x-rays and giving him a physical exam as well. Sadly, the X-ray indicated early stage bone cancer. Several days later after blood work, chest x-rays and an ultrasound everything was clear of metastases and we were faced with the decision of whether to subject an elderly dog to this kind of surgery and rehabilitation. The alternative was dismal and in the end we opted for amputation of Porter’s left leg from the shoulder. Today is the day. We are waiting for the call from the orthopedic surgeon telling us the results of the surgery. Waiting is the hardest part.