Camping Out....

Here is Maxie on our way home from his surgical biopsy. He has about a 3" incision on the side of his wanks where they went in and cut out a piece of his tumor to have it biopsied and then they cut out another piece of the tumor so we could have a vaccine made of it (Torigen Vaccine which I will talk about soon).

He did fantastic with his surgery and recovery. Definitely keeping him overnight at the hospital was the BEST decision for him so he could rest off the anesthesia and more importantly be monitored overnight and the next day to make sure he could urinate and poop.

When dogs have a tumor where Max has his (prostate area) this can and will eventually cause an issue with not being able to urinate or defecate. This is life threatening and needs to be addressed asap if this happens.

When surgery happens in this area, it causes inflammation so it's really important that Max is monitored to make sure he still has his faculties in the potty area. Max had 24 hour care post surgery to ensure his comfort and to make sure there were no obstructions. If you are going through this I would highly recommend they stay over night in the hospital. I know it's hard to not have them home with you, but, it's definitely what is best for them.

When we picked him up he was tired but oh so happy to see us and he was urinating well. His aftercare was to make sure to keep his incision clean and to watch for signs of infection. Up to this point before his surgery, we had Max wearing diapers since he was having accidents in the house. After his surgery, we didn't want to put his diapy back on bc we didn't want anything rubbing on his incision or making him uncomfortable.

He was on several different medications including a lot for pain. His pain would not only come from his actual incision, but, just like humans, dogs have layers (epidermis skin layer, the dermis layer, and then the subcutis or innermost layer) and they had to cut through all of that PLUS then cut into his prostate. Because of what the function of the prostate is and where Max's tumor is, going poopy can be especially uncomfortable and painful after this type of surgery. So it was important that I kept track and was timely with all of his meds.

He was taking:
Gabapentin 100mg (2 pills every 8 hours for pain)
Carprofen 100mg (1/2 tablet every 12 hours for pain & inflammation)
Cephalexin 500mg (1 pill every 12 hours - antibiotic)

I had to make myself a chart so that I could stay on top of what he was taking and the times. I put him on a schedule of taking his pain meds at 4am, 12pm, & 8pm. I'd set my alarm for 4am and then give him his pill and we'd all go back to sleep until 7am when he was ready for his next round of meds and their breakfast.

I had a friend tell me that she uses the "bark" alarm on her iphone for all of her dog's medications so I followed suit and knew it was medication time every time my phone would bark at me. :)

Max did well with all of his medications. He tolerated them all well and although the Gabapentin says that it may cause sedation, he never experienced that.

We decided it would be best to camp out in the living room for at least the first week after Max's surgery bc we were really concerned with him making the big jump up and down from our bed or to the couch. The best way to keep his strides and jumps short, was to bring our mattress top out into the living where we all slept for 8 days or so. Also, this REALLY kept the dogs from playing rough or doing zoomies in the house during his recovery. The mattress took up most of the room so there wasn't a lot of space to run and jump. I kept all of the drapes and blinds drawn for

the first 10 days post surgery so that they didn't see squirrels or chipmunks that they wanted to chase and so when the UPS guy showed up, they wouldn't see his big brown truck and go absolutely cracker dog. I kept things pretty low key, put all the toys up, kept the house darker than normal, and put on Netflix movies and just chilled out with the dogs. I think they just appreciated the extra snuggle time and quiet.
Remember, our family had just been here for 3 weeks, too, so the dogs were totally out of their routine and our house was really full of people so I think the timing of everything was perfect bc they were ready to rest and get back into their routine, as much as they could anyway with the new sleeping arrangement and medication wake up times.

Max was given a shot during his surgery that would act like a nerve block. This shot numbed EVERYTHING having to do with this surgery, so he was quite comfortable and we didn't notice any pain he was having. Yet. This nerve block type of shot was going to last 3 days. He didn't have any external stitches. His surgeon sutured him on the inside and then glued his incision shut. He had quite a bit of bruising and redness though but that diminished after a few weeks.

Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday all went great. I was getting into the swing of things with his medications, we were sleeping pretty well in living room, and the dogs were doing great during the day just resting a lot while I continued my research. I was taking Max out on a leash for every potty break and we celebrated every poopy he had! His stools prior to surgery were very long and ribbon-like. Just imagine poop looking very stretched out and lengthy. Post surgery, his poop looked

PERFECT. It was normal size, nice and fat, and it didn't look like sick dog poop. This was something to celebrate bc I hadn't seen poop like that from Maxie in over a month. If we had neighbors, they would have heard me cheering after every poop. Not even kidding!!

Most likely, the reason his pooped looked this way is bc they removed a chunk of the tumor and shifted things around in there which created some space and allowed his poop to come out smooth and normal, instead of a tight squeeze. This would only last so long, but, we were celebrating anything we could at this point.

On 7/11, only a few days after his surgery, we received his biopsy results. We knew it was a tumor from what the surgeon told us but at this point we were holding out for a benign status. I received a

text from the surgeon that said it was in fact cancer. I read the text when I was alone and I just remember gasping and having to take deep breaths. I had to keep reminding myself that we knew this was a big possibility so we just needed to make a plan now for his treatment and work that plan. I had been doing so much research at this point and knew that there were some options. The surgeon told us he was stage 1, which was a HUGE relief to us (although we later found out this was not the case). They were sending off part of his biopsy to have the Immunotherapy Vaccine made so we would wait to start that.

I had made an appt. with Michigan State University's College of Veterinarian Medicine weeks ago after his very first ultrasound so we had an appt coming up with them to discuss treatment options. I was holding onto hope that they would have some encouraging news and treatment options for us. That appt would uncover Max's true staging and would shed some light on treatment and prognosis.

Back to our patient..... Max was doing great UNTIL that darn nerve block wore off. I could tell almost immediately. It was day 4, exactly what the doctor told us. We got up on that Friday and I was still leashing him outside bc we have almost 1 acre fenced in for the dogs and they have lots of space to run so we still didn't want him running yet. This time, I could tell he was visually uncomfortable pooping. He would pee just fine. His first stream was always heavy & hard - normal dog pee. He would walk around the yard and try to urinate more, only with dribbles coming out. This is normal for his condition. (Side note: keeping him on a leash during this time was important so we could manage how long he was out there. It isn't good for him to constantly try to urinate, bc all that does is cause inflammation and eventually, he would pee blood. We found taking him out to do his business and then coming right back inside was the best for him during his recovery so he wasn't straining so much).

This time though, when he went to poop, I could tell he was very uncomfortable. He would tuck his butt and get low low low to the ground and then walk around straining to poop.

He was in pain.

It was AWFUL to watch. I had to keep reminding myself that for now, I know this pain is surgery related. It wasn't that his tumor grew so much in a few days that it was causing a blockage. I had to keep reminding myself of that. I would cry every time I took him out to the bathroom. There was nothing I could do and I knew he would just have to heal from the inside out and once that happened, it wouldn't be so uncomfortable.

I checked with the surgeon and he confirmed everything I was thinking and at that point we decided to switch him back to Baytril and take him off the Cephalexin bc we knew he did very well with Baytril and that could possibly help with any inflammation he was having.

The pain Max was experiencing lasted for 3.5 days. The only thing I could think of was to talk to him and praise him while going poopy and to talk to him through my tears to reassure him that I was there. Thankfully, we saw major improvement on Monday with this. His insides were healing which was helping him physically and me mentally.

One week post surgery, Max was doing well. He never had any issues with eating (he's always hungry!) and he is still doing well with his medications. We are still leash walking him but we would stop doing this around day 15 or so, when his incision was completely healed and when we felt confident he didn't need to be restrained any longer.

During this time I was doing research on transitioning Max to a ketogenic diet (info on that in another post) and we were introducing both dogs to a new menu and way of eating.

To close this loooonnnngggg post (thanks for reading up to this point)..... I wanted to share with you all the things we are learning up to this point. I have been researching so much stuff (from food, to chemo, to radiation, to NSAIDs, CBD Oil, Immunotherapy, SO MUCH STUFF) and I had been feeling pretty overwhelmed bc there is just so much to know.

You want to do what is best for your pup, while maintaining their quality of life, keeping him as healthy as you can, trying every option we could, while not forgetting to live and love him. Max is a dog living WITH cancer. Cancer does not define him. Cancer does not define us. I am learning to embrace that fact. I am learning to embrace the good days (boy do I embrace them) but I am learning to ALSO embrace the bad days, bc there will be bad days. I can't fall apart on every bad day. I can't just praise God during the good days either.

I need to thank God that we even have our boy Max. There were SO MANY things that had to happen in a very specific order in order for us to even have this lovable and spirited dog in our lives so I need to praise God in this storm, to thank Him for all He has done, and remember that He goes before us.

We are not alone in this. There are so many people that have traveled this road with their precious dogs and we are being supported by so many of them. Just another way God takes care of us and shows us that He loves us.

Below is a perfect example of how God loves us. This beautiful picture was painted by my friend Jill Martin who wanted to do something nice for us as we traveled this difficult journey. God shows us His love working through wonderful people just like Jill. Look at my sweet boy and look at her talent. If you can bless someone, do it! We are so grateful!