Nikki the Rottweiler

Wow, what an insane day! I had to be in the office early, so I was up and downstairs by 0530. Nikki and the others of course followed me down, went outside and did their business, then came inside for treats.. As is the custom, after the treats, Nikki laid by my chair in the home office while I drank my coffee and caught up with the non-work email/facebook stuff, Sasha laid in front of the desk, and Buddy went back upstairs to be with Mary…

When it came time to leave, I took Nikki and Sasha back upstairs, and noticed that Nikki was really favoring her leg along the way.

When Mary got up and went through her morning routine, Nikki was busy with one of her favorite things: Gazing out the front door at all the goings-on in the neighborhood…

Mary spent a good portion of the day out running errands and getting all of this weeks shopping done, as we figure that she’ll probably be staying very close to home for the rest of the week. So when I came home for lunch (not normal for a weekday, so it truly surprised the dogs) Nikki seemed overly excited that I was home, and she spent more time trying to make sure that I was paying attention to her than usual.

We had some friends over this evening and all went out to dinner, and when we came home, Nikki was really asking for attention from me, to the point where she put her paw on me and “asked” me to bend down so she could lick my face…. Not sure what this behavior is all about, but she did it several times. Our friend Kay thinks that Nikki senses how worried I am about tomorrow, and it’s her way of letting me know it’s OK… I don’t know, but it was definitely different.

Tomorrow morning starts with an early conference call with my team in India, then loading up the Tahoe with Nikki and heading for the dreaded surgery. We have a bit of turmoil going on in the office right now that I unfortunately have to deal with, so after dropping Nikki off and the Vet and then Mary back home, I’ll have to head to the office. I guess that’s a good thing, since it will (yeah, right) help keep my mind off what’s happening with Nikki.

I’ll update this page tomorrow when we’re home from the vet. Keep your fingers, toes and paws crossed for us!

Well, today was another lazy day of household chores and other misc stuff.. The dogs and I spent some time in the back yard filling the bird feeders and horsing around as usual.

Nikki seemed to be favoring her leg a bit more today, probably because she was so active yesterday. (She actually chased the laser for a little while last night.. This is not normal, she usually just watches as the other two chase it around before we go to bed)

I thought about taking Nikki for a ride today, but she tends to get very active in the back of the Tahoe, and the docs have warned us that we need to be extremely careful that she doesn’t fracture her hind leg. So, even though Nikki really loves the big R, we decided it would be best to let her enjoy the trip to the vet on Tuesday instead..

One thing Nikki really likes doing is destroying cardboard boxes… I don’t really know how this started, but pretty much anytime I have an empty box (she won’t touch it until she knows it’s OK) she wants to destroy it. I decided to take some video of her doing that today. Not the most exciting of videos, but I imagine I’ll be happy I took it at some point in the future.. You can also see her sister Sasha here trying to help out. (Sasha will turn 1 year old in a couple of weeks)

On the video, when she gets to the second box (about 40 seconds in), you can see how she really favors her right-hind leg.. On one hand it’s going to be very strange seeing her as a TriPawd, but on the other it’s going to be nice to not see her in pain when she walks.

Mary and I went to the store today in preparation for Tuesday. I’m sure Nikki won’t be able to handle the stairs for a few days post-op, so we bought an air mattress that we can put next to one of the dog beds on the main floor for me to sleep on. (We figure at least for the first week she’ll need to sleep downstairs and I’ll stay with her) I also picked up (ok, I tried to pick up. Seems as if I got the wrong kind and will have to try again tomorrow) a canvas grocery bag to use as a temporary sling until Nikki heals enough to use the harness.

Today is Saturday, a day that I don’t have to get up early and go to work, and a day where we generally get the collective errands that need to be done taken care of.

As far as Nikki is concerned, this is just another day. She was happy as we trudged down the stairs to start the normal morning routine around 7am. I let all 3 dogs out, then watched them from the deck for awhile. Nikki spotted a rabbit and half-heartedly took off after it (she has always done this, it’s like she knows that she’s supposed to chase them, but doesn’t really want to catch one because she wouldn’t know what to do with it) and then came in for treats with the others..

A bit later she decided that it was time for her to get in my lap (even though she’s 105+ pounds, she still thinks she’s a lap dog) and sleep for awhile.. Later as Mary and I were watching some TV, Nikki decided to get on the couch next to Mary and watch me play with the others..

All in all a normal day… It is very hard for me to watch this behavior of hers and not feel like she’s OK.. I’m glad though that she’s acting like this, because it gives me hope that we’ve caught this in time!

A quick correction

In re-reading my earlier posts and some of the comments from folks (by the way, thank you SO MUCH for your comments, it’s VERY much appreciated!) I think I might have led some people astray.. While we consulted with the fantastic folks at CSU in Ft. Collins, we’ve elected to let our “regular” vet handle the treatment, with consultation from Dr. Michelle Nanfelt at CSU. Dr. Nanfelt wrote up a very nice treatment plan for Nikki, and our Doc (Dr. Pyne) will be taking care of everything. When it comes time to move to Chemo, we’ll use the good folks at Veterinary Specialty Center in Colorado Springs. Dr. Hines and Dr. Morgan there are the ones we consulted with and got the first diagnosis.

Again, I want to thank everyone here for their comments and supports. It has not gone unnoticed!