Nikki the Rottweiler

Mary and I took Nikki to see Dr. Pyne on Saturday. This was a follow-up visit from the earlier visit this week, plus we needed to hear the results of the lab tests on the “congealed seroma” fluid.

First the great news, NO CANCER DETECTED!!!

Both the lab work from the fluid and the chest X-rays are cancer free!

(Not sure I need to write anything else after that! It’s great to hear that the cells are not cancerous)

However, there is some worrisome activity going on. It’s pretty clear that Nikki’s lymph nodes are working overtime in that area, and we don’t really have an idea as to why. The lab results showed some high values for <insert technical name here for the Lymph cells, I can’t remember it> and some elevated white cell counts. This leads Dr. Pyne to wonder what exactly is going on, and we’re going to be keeping a close eye on the area for the next few weeks. We’ll be taking Nikki back for weekly visits, and hopefully whatever is going on will work it’s way through and be done.

Nikki seems none the worse for wear right now. She’s been pretty happy this week, and pretty much up to her old tricks.

She let me know that she doesn’t like the blanket that I threw in the back of the Tahoe for her to lay on while we ride to/from the Dr. Office… She did this while we were driving to the office…

She was much happier with just the regular carpet on the ride home! (Thank goodness)

Things have been going quite well with Nikki’s recovery. I’ve been on the road quite a bit over the last 3 weeks (was home all this week for a change) so I’ve been missing out on the day to day stuff with Nikki, but when I’d come home she would be very happy to see me, and last weekend she was really clinging to me and giving me the worried look until she realized that I wasn’t leaving again.. Funny how dogs really know these things..

Anyway.. Tuesday night Nikki was very restless. She just couldn’t get comfortable at all. We weren’t really sure what to make of it, and when she didn’t seem to get better by Wednesday, we called Dr. Pyne and got her in for a look-see. We had to drop Nikki off, and when we arrived back to pick her up, Dr. Pyne had “that look” about her. She was really worried about a couple of lumps that she found near the amputation area. She told us that it looked like lymph nodes being aggravated, and we needed to do a biopsy to determine what it is… You can probably imagine the thoughts that were going through our heads at this point, because we’d just gotten finished talking about how Nikki’s recovery has been progressing quite well.

Dr. Pyne went ahead and did the needle biopsy, and then came back in the room with a smile on her face…As it turned out, the lumps that she had noticed were simply some left over seroma fluid that had congealed a bit. We had figured that the seroma was completely healed, but apparently not.. We’re sending the fluid out to the lab anyway as a precaution, but for now we’ve breathed a HUGE sigh of relief..

Nikki slept much better Wednesday and Thursday nights, and we have to drop her off with Dr. Pyne again tomorrow for a follow-up exam…

Meanwhile, Nikki is back to her old self playing with her toys and just being a dog…

Let’s continue to hope for more “normal” days….

First the good news, Nikki had appointments with both Dr. Pyne and Dr. Friedly this week, and in both cases the results were fantastic!! Dr. Pyne declared the seroma as completely healed, and said that Nikki is doing very well for this stage of the game. Dr. Friedly said that Nikki is doing great, and that there is absolutely no evidence of any type of metastasis. This is all FANTASTIC news from my perspective. (To put it into perspective, had we not taken the amputation and treatment route, Nikki would likely no longer be with us at this point)

Nikki continues to improve and get back to her “normal” self. I have noticed though that she is really enjoying being the center of attention and gives you “the look” when she’s not being properly attended to. (Which of course is defined by her rules and subject to change without notice)

I was on the road for the first part of the week, but came home Wednesday night. Nikki was the first to greet me when I walked in, and she’s been by my side for the most part non-stop since I’ve been home. Of course this causes issues with the other dogs, since they seem to want to be part of the action as well:

There’s actually not much more to report this week. Nikki continues to amaze us with her spirit and the fact that she’s just enjoying her life, even if it does mean some adjustments to her normal routines. Sasha and Buddy seem to be figuring out that she needs space when she walks, but otherwise she’s just “Normal Nikki”.

Tonight when I got home from work Mary was holding Nikki back, because the other dogs were going nuts at the door. Nikki didn’t really like being held back so she was barking.. All in all you can tell that each day she seems to take one step towards being her old self.

It’s a typical Saturday here at the household. We’ve had a couple of days of snow, so the roads are horrible and the yard is covered. Mary and I had some errands to run this morning so we left early and got it all done. When we got back home, the dogs were typically irritated with us for having left them here (How dare we!), including Nikki, although she just seemed happy that we came back.

I took the dogs outside (We have a dog door that used to be left open, but since Nikki still isn’t quite ready for the up portion of the stairs, the door has to be closed when we are gone) and Nikki shot across the yard and started barking at something on the other side of the fence. I pulled out the video camera and got some video of her barking and protecting her space. As usual, she’s a great guard dog!

After being home for an hour or so, a friend called and needed me to meet him. Nikki must’ve read my mind that I was heading out again, because she let me know in no uncertain terms that she was going with me. So I loaded her into the Tahoe and away we went. She wanted the wind in her face, so even though it’s 18 degrees outside, I rolled the window down a bit for her. She just sat there and enjoyed the wind. When I met up with my friend Jim, he made a comment, “Hey, did you know that you had a 3-legged dog in the back”? While my answer was yes, I actually thought about it for a minute because I’m not sure that Nikki knows that she’s three-legged. She only knows that some things take a bit more effort than they used to, but she’s bound and determined to get them done.

All in all a good day! Unfortunately my travel schedule has really picked up, so I’ll be leaving tomorrow afternoon and back Wednesday. I’m missing out on a lot of the day to day recovery things with Nikki, but I’m also trying to make the best of the time I am spending with her, and I think it’s working out pretty well for the time being..

Today marks one month since Nikki had her surgery! If you had asked me back then how I thought things were going to be one month later, I certainly don’t think that I would have imagined how well she’s done.

I spent the week away from home in Seattle (Actually between Bellevue and Redmond, but who’s counting) and came home last night. When I left on Monday morning, Nikki was mad because I’d only been home a couple of days from my last trip. All was forgotten though when I walked in. She greeted me like she hadn’t seen me in ages, and was just soooo happy.

Today when I got home from the office, I was of course mobbed by dogs. Nikki was held back (Mary felt it best if Nikki waited while the others did the mobbing) but when Mary let her go, I swear she literally FLEW down the hall to see me, with her nub going about 100 miles per second. It’s such a good sight to see. I also notice that she moves VERY FAST when she hop/walks now. She’s learned to balance more on her front, and thus she’s picked up speed when she moves.. She still has a bit of a problem getting up, but once she’s up, man she flies!

Kind of a strange feeling.. I was in WA with over 1200 of my peers in the technical world for the “Microsoft MVP Summit”. It’s one of those things where the best of the best (geeky of the geek?) get together for a week of learning and social networking. I can’t tell you the number of times someone stopped me to ask how Nikki was doing. Seems as if there’s a lot more people reading what I write here than I thought!

I had a package arrive while I was gone, and opened it tonight. Nikki was watching me open, and asked me for the box when I was done.. Here’s all that’s left:

So now I think the nail-biting on my part begins. We’ve gotten to this point post surgery and there’s no indication whatsoever of any type of metastasis or issues with recurring cancer. This is about the time that should start showing up…. Dr. Pyne is very pleased with the progress Nikki has made, and we’re soon going to be having our next appointment with Dr. Friedly for the 1 month checkup there. Fingers, toes, paws and everything else crossed!

I’ll try to get some good video of Nikki tomorrow (I took some video when she was tearing the box up, but it honestly isn’t very good) to post so you can see the vast improvement.

We are coming upon the 1 month anniversary of the amputation, and Nikki continues to get better.

I was in Boston for most of this week, so I missed out on a lot of the day to day stuff, but when I got home Friday night, Nikki was right there to greet me and you could most certainly tell that she was doing better.

Mary and I took Nikki to see Dr. Pyne yesterday and we were all relieved that the seroma is pretty much dried up. Nikki was pretty happy with the ride to and from, and all in all she’s just getting on with being as normal as she can be on 3 legs. Her remaining rear leg is still weak, but at least she’s figured out to scoot around when she doesn’t want to go too far. (I think that’s less work than actually getting up and moving)

Today is a lazy day for Nikki. She’s spent most of the day under my desk as I’ve been sitting here in the office working. I was going to take her for a ride today on our normal “dog route”, but I’m thinking that I may not do that after all. I think the more rest Nikki gets today the better off she’ll be. (That remaining hind-leg is still weak, and I don’t like to see her struggling on it)

In other news, I had to get under the desk myself this morning and tie some things down. Good thing that I have lots of helpers:

We’ve had a couple of days of snow here, so the back yard is about 4” deep in the stuff right now. It is sunny today, so it’s going to melt off soon.. Nikki absolutely loves the snow! She always has, and we’ve got many pictures of her playing in the snow at various points in her life..

Now that she’s a Tripawd, she’s got a bit of healing to do before she can maneuver enough in it to play…

Yesterday Nikki spent the day with Dr. Pyne and the folks at Banfield. I had to drop her off in the early morning, so she got to go for a ride. It was pretty funny actually, because it was snowing and the roads were icy, but Nikki still wanted a bit of wind on her so I had to crack the window a bit. She was so happy that she was practically howling as we drove.. Kind of hard to concentrate on driving on ice with a howling dog, but I suppose it was worth it.

When we arrived at Banfield, Nikki didn’t let me get the ramp set up, she just flew out of the back of the Tahoe. Good think she was wearing her harness, as I was able to catch her by the handle and let her down easy.. I think she so desperately wants to be normal again.

She didn’t like being cooped up at Banfield, and let everyone know by somehow working her harness around and chewing off a buckle. She just didn’t want to be in the small kennel and wearing that harness…

The seroma is definitely slowing down. Dr. Pyne is pretty pleased with the progress there, so I think only a few more visits for this and we’ll be done with it.

I’m on my way to Boston now, so I’m going to be away for a few days. Nikki has already seen “the bad thing” (my suitcase) and knows I’m leaving, so she’s not very happy right now. I’m sure she’ll be fine, but it is hard to leave her at this point. (Work beckons, unfortunately)

As you can see, Sasha and Nikki are doing fine together. That was one of the big concerns we had, considering that Sasha is a bull in a china shop most days, and only wants to play. (I swear that dog is wound up from the moment she wakes until the moment she sleeps)

It’s Sunday morning, and we haven’t been to Banfield since Thursday, so that’s certainly good news. Nikki’s seroma seems to have slowed down quite a bit since the last drain, so we think that’s starting to get back to normal. I have to drop her off at Banfield to spend the day with Dr. Pyne tomorrow morning, and we’ll get a full report after that.

All in all Nikki is back to being pretty steady on her feet and doing a lot of the stuff that she’s used to doing.

Yesterday I opened a new baby gate (we decided that we’re going to block off the stairs so Nikki doesn’t try to go up them) and I saw Nikki eyeing the box, so I tossed it over to where she was laying and she just scooted over to it and started tearing it up.. Not quite as vigorous as she usually is, but at least she felt the need to do it.

Last night as I sat on the couch, I saw Nikki eyeing the corner and helped her get up. She then immediately decided she was going to get in my lap. She didn’t stay too long (I can’t imagine it was all that comfortable for her), but again, she is starting to get more and more of her normal behaviors back.

I installed a new “doggie door” last week (and finished it all up yesterday) that is an extra-large size (we had a large size before, which meant that the dogs had to maneuver themselves just right to go through it) so Nikki can get in/out to the deck on her own if she wants. She seems to want to be as normal as possible, so we’re trying to do what we can to help her out.

This morning Nikki is following me around as usual, and has decided to plop down next to me here in the office.

Yesterday we thought we’d seen it all when Dr. Pyne removed 685cc of fluid from Nikki’s seroma. We figured that there was no way that her body was going to produce much more… Well, we were wrong. Originally we had an appointment for follow-up on Friday evening, but Nikki was uncomfortable today, so Mary called Banfield and they had us bring her in. Dr. Pyne is off today, so another doctor saw Nikki (Nikki didn’t really like her, not sure why, hopefully it was just the fact that she was sick and tired of being poked by that big needle to drain) and extracted another 460cc’s of drainage from the seroma.

Other than these pesky visits to the Dr. for drainage, Nikki is doing great. Today she ran (yes, RAN.. No evidence whatsoever that she was on 3 legs. Wish I’d have gotten it on video to prove it) on more than one occasion from one part of the house to another to chase some threat (You know, like the UPS truck driving down the street, or the neighbor kid ringing the doorbell because he wants to borrow some vanilla extract)

The biggest problem that we seem to be facing right now, surgery + 17 days, is in trying to keep Nikki relaxed and not so active so that the seroma can heal. This, plus the restlessness, which I am sure is brought on by the discomfort around the fluid in the seroma, is proving to be our biggest challenge. Nikki has really adapted to 3 legs just fine, and aside from the fact that I am still uncomfortable letting her try the stairs on her own, she’s pretty much independently mobile.

I may have to check with the good folks over at the Guinness Book of Records to see if they have a category for “Most fluid drained from a canine seroma”..

Today we had yet another appointment to see Dr. Pyne so that she could check on the seroma that had formed on Nikki’s hip. (Remember yesterday we had a bandage that didn’t last long, so there was no compression overnight). Well, as it turned out, more fluid did develop. Dr. Pyne extracted over 685ccs of fluid from Nikki’s hip. All I can say is HOLY COW! No wonder Nikki was having so much trouble balancing. I’d have trouble too if my hip had that much fluid in it..

You can actually see the difference in the way Nikki moves with the fluid drained. Since we can’t really get a pressure bandage to stick and still be comfortable for Nikki, we’re just going to have to go down the path of making sure that we keep the area drained. Dr. Pyne said that it should clear up soon, but we’ll have to watch it on an almost daily basis. (We go back in on Friday for the next checkup)

One thing I have to say, Nikki has been a trooper throughout this whole experience. She still gets so excited when you pick up the harness because she knows that there’s a good chance that once that harness is attached, she’ll get to go for a ride! Today we also had to bring Buddy in for his checkup and some vaccination boosters. Mary was trying to quietly put Buddy’s harness on out in the front room, and Nikki heard the rattling of the buckle and practically ran out where they were..

The people at Banfield just love Nikki. She knows them all now, and treats them just like she does her family. (Word of warning, if you ever get a chance to meet Nikki and she decides that she likes you, I hope you’re not allergic to dog slobber) Nikki has the entire routine down pat at this point, and doesn’t even miss a beat with any of it.

Sort of a short update today. We’re just trying to keep Nikki as calm and relaxed as possible while at the same time letting her heal.