The vet appointment had some good and bad news today. First with the bad… Bellona’s vet Dr. C thinks she has Phantom Pain. That leaves me feeling helpless and not sure what to do. We got refills on her Rimadyl and Tramadol. So far tonight she’s doing good. Dr. C says that her incision looks great. They also did an ultrasound to rule out any other complications.
Now on for the good news… Another preliminary test from the leg shows that the muscles and tissue from the leg came back negative for cancer. Hopefully we’ll get the final report soon to find out if her leg had Osteosarcoma or something else to weaken the bone enough for a clean break.
One more slice of good news from our home – We tried to see if Bellona would attempt to go upstairs to our room. I’m proud to report Bellona safely made it upstairs and to the comfy dog bed. I think this will be the first night of restful sleep in a very long time. I don’t want to talk bad about the couch but I’m glad to be in my own bed.
Keeping warm
Glad she’s doing better!! Your vet didn’t suggest putting her on Gabapentin for the phantom pain? My dog, Maggie, was on gabapentin before and after amputation – only I didn’t know that it was actually used for phantom pain until reading about other dogs on Tripawds forums that used it for that very thing. It was a LIFESAVER for Maggie prior to amputation from some very serious pain from her tumor.
Well, that is good news that it wasn’t cancer in her leg but I’m confused when I read stuff like this – could the leg have been saved without amputating? Or was the bone too deterioated to do that?
Glad you got to sleep in your own bed! Sounds like Bellona is coming around 🙂
Tracy, Maggie’s Mom
Elizabeth & Tracy – Bellona’s soft tissue report came back but we are still waiting for the bone biopsy. Most likely the bone contains Osteosarcoma but the soft tissue was not infected with cancer and Bellona’s Lymph Nodes came back clear as well. I hope this clears up the confusion! 🙂
Bellona’s news is good!
Sammy experienced phantom pain too, which was remedied within a couple of days once we got him on gabapentin. My vets hadn’t heard about it and were not willing to perscribe it, so I had to switch to a vet that was more knowledgeable regarding the cancer situation. Within a couple of days he was doing great.
I hope that helps, and I am so glad she didn’t have cancer!
Elizabeth and Sammy
I’m also confused, but hopefully you will get the full story. I’m sure you want to know exactly why Bellona had to lose her leg.
Did everyone sleep better after moving upstairs? I hope Bellona settled in and slept all night.
So happy she seems to be getting stronger and recovering well. Tracy makes a good point about the phantom limb pain. Gabapentin appears to be what most dogs take for it. You might want to give it a try.
–Shari, Dakota’s wrangler
Please be sure to review the tips for managing phantom limb pain in dogs in the Tripawds Downloads blog.
As a front legger, Bellona is going to have a much easier time going upstairs than down. Be sure to take care with her going down!
Thank you! I will check out the page about Phantom Pain. I haven’t heard from my husband today to see how Bellona did on the trip down the stairs. It’s not uncommon for Bellona to sleep in and not get up with me when I’m getting ready for work. My husband does most of his work from home so we’ve been fortunate to have him home with Big B.
Oh! That clears it up for me, I think 🙂 But still, though, your dog isn’t the first I’ve read that biopsies weren’t found out for sure if cancer until after amputation?
In my dog’s case, my vet did the biopsy and then for sure told me it was soft tissue cancer before amputation. She told me it was a tumor before sending the biopsy in but to be sure she sent it in. Is that the same in your case?
Tracy, Maggie’s Mom
Tracy – We could have done the biopsy first but that would have cost as much as the surgery. Since Bellona’s leg was badly broken and they needed to take the leg regardless if it’s cancer or not. Hopefully we’ll get the final verdict soon from the biopsy.
Bellona’s Mom–
We also opted out of a pre-op biopsy for the same reason. Dakota had to lose his leg, we knew that. He also did not present as bone cancer, and he had a needle aspiration (not a biopsy for sure, but still some info) that indicated a soft tissue cancer. Biopsy is expensive (a consideration for my family), requires anesthesia, and for us would not have changed the treatment. One anesthesia and surgery was all we wanted to put Dakota through.
Let us know when the bone results are in. I’m very curious. And Bellona looks wonderfully comfy in that bed!
Shari
Thanks for clearing it up for me…makes perfect sense! Wow that the biopsy would cost as much as surgery!
I know I really wanted my vet to hurry up and do the amputation and not wait for the biopsy report because she was in soooo much agony…I wanted it ended as soon as it could for her. But my vet wanted it confirmed first…even though she diagnosed it as cancer.(soft tissue).
How old is Bellona? I think I read somewhere 4 yrs?
Tracy, Maggie’s Mom
Tracy – With Bellona she was in a lot of pain too with waiting for amputation. She broke her leg on a Friday and had surgery on Monday. That was the soonest they could do the surgery for Big B. Bellona will be 10 in August and is a Cane Corso.
Ah, her grayed muzzle made me think she had to be older than 4 😉 She’s a beauty! I assume you’ve seen Spirit Fortis’s blog? Another wonderful Cane Corso although he had docked ears so looked way different.
Tracy, Maggie’s Mom