Nikki the Rottweiler

Today is Monday, 6 days post surgery for Nikki. She just continues to amaze everyone with her recovery. We took her to see Dr. Pyne this afternoon, and even the folks at Banfield were pleasantly surprised at how well Nikki was doing. She didn’t even want/need my help to walk from the Tahoe into the store and basically acted just like any other time she’s been in to see the docs….

Nikki weighed in at 95 pounds, so she’s lost a bit during this time (I don’t think the leg weighed that much) but all in all is still very healthy and most importantly she’s very happy..

One of the things that Nikki has learned is how easy it is to scratch her stitches by scooting on the carpet. Dr. Pyne had to redo a couple of the external stitches on the wound because they’d come undone. She prescribed some anti-itch cream for Nikki that should help reduce this problem.

One thing that Mary and I discussed with Dr. Pyne is the fact that we think we’re going to forgo the Chemotherapy treatments for Nikki. We still don’t have the pathology report from the leg, but we do know that Nikki’s X-Rays and blood-work have come back normal, so we think we might have caught this cancer in time. There’s plenty of evidence against chemo out there, but not a lot of evidence for it. Dr. Pyne told us about a vet that operates out near where we live that practices the holistic approach to cancer treatments, so we might consult with him as well. Our thought on this approach is that we don’t yet have visible signs of the cancer spreading, and if we get in front of the problem, maybe we can head it off. This is all subject to change of course, but it’s where we’re headed at this point.

Well, it was another fairly uneventful night with Nikki and the others. We took them upstairs and Nikki laid down on her bed and watched while the rest of us went through our nightly rituals. I played with Sasha and Buddy and the laser (they just love chasing that thing) and then we all settled in to watch yet another episode of Adam 12 on the Xbox. (Can’t get enough of the old 70’s TV shows)

Nikki was a little restless at first, but she settled down and went to sleep. I think her stitches are starting to itch a bit because she’d occasionally wake up and try to get to them. Otherwise though it was a pretty calm night. About 6am Nikki had positioned herself in front of the door and was pawing at it (she has figured out that she needs to lay down to do this now) to let us know she needed to go out. I took them all down and out, and Nikki did her business and came right back to me for help up the stairs.

I’ve had a bit of work to do today, so I’ve been sitting here in the home office while Mary is doing other housework. The dogs have been hanging with me off and on, pretty much treating the day as a normal weekend day.

As you can see by the look on Nikki’s face, she’s not doing too bad at all.

Nikki has been fairly mobile today. She hasn’t been scooting around much, just hopping wherever she wants to go. When I took everyone outside for the second time (We normally let them come and go as they choose as our back door is fitted with a dog flap, but Nikki tried to go out it yesterday and didn’t do so well, so we’ve decided to close it off until she heals more) she decided to slow down a bit and just enjoy what for her is a normal routine outside. You can tell she gets a bit tired towards the end of the video, but she appears to be adjusting pretty well. As this is only day 5 post-op, I think she’s doing fabulous. (You can hear that the wind is really blowing here today as well, which I’m sure doesn’t help Nikki too much)

As the day wears on, Sasha is pretty bored, Buddy is hanging out with Mary, and Nikki is trying to tell me it’s time to go for a ride. I don’t think she’s quite ready for that yet, although tomorrow she’ll get her chance as we have an appointment with Dr. Pyne for a post-surgical checkup.

You can see in this picture that the bruise on her wound is healing up quite nicely.

I said that I’d capture some video and upload it this evening, so that is mainly what this post is for. I thought though, that since I was here anyway, I’d go ahead and update on Nikki’s progress.

Nikki had one of those mixed days. She was up and about a fair amount, and I think that caused her to get a bit more tired out than she really should have. She also spent a lot of time today laying and whining, but she’d be still and quiet if either Mary or myself were within eyesight. Nikki made me sit with her for a couple of hours in the early afternoon (if I got up, she would immediately start whining)

After breakfast this morning, Nikki was laying in the hall by the office and Mary and I were at the computers doing whatever it is that we do, and some noise outside caught Nikki’s attention, and for whatever reason she just started howling. Now, you have to understand, when Nikki howls it is one of the funniest things you’ll ever hear or see… She normally “plants” herself (yes, just like wolves in the cartoons) and lets it rip. This time though, since she couldn’t plant herself, she was just laying on her stomach and getting that snout as vertical as she possibly could…. Wish I’d have been able to get a video of that.

One big victory today was the first post-surgery poo! (Funny how we track that as a victory, isn’t it?)

Note: It has come to my attention that this was actually her SECOND poo, I just missed the first… Mary says if I’m going to put poo out there, I’d better put the correct poo!

Our daughter came over today with her new beau. Nikki greeted them happily, and let Gabbi know that she missed her with a bunch of licks..

Right now (about 6pm) Nikki is laying in the hall just outside the office door, watching what I’m doing and trying to figure out what the noise is coming from the computer (there are a lot of birds tweeting in the video)

Here’s a short video that we shot on Nikki’s second trip outside today. Keep in mind when you see this that she was still in surgery  less than 80 hours before this video was shot. I think it’s amazing progress!

It’s only been 3 days since the surgery… Hard to believe actually when you look at Nikki and see just how far she’s come since Tuesday night.

I took this photo after coming home from work today. As I was putting my stuff in the office here, I heard a dog coming my way, assumed it was Sasha, and then was surprised to see Nikki! She had hopped in from the family room, then turned around and went back to the dining room to lay down…

Last night was  a good night. Mary and I decided that we’d try the “normal routine” and let Nikki sleep in her own bed in our room. So, when it came time to go to bed, I helped Nikki up the stairs, and she went to her normal spot and laid down.. She was a bit restless (She’s on a lower dose of Tramadol now) but that settled down fairly quickly..

She woke up once around 3:20am, whined for a minute, but then went right back to sleep. When my alarm went off at 5 this morning, she was still sleeping soundly..

After the normal shower/shave/etc. routine, I took the dogs outside (helped Nikki down the stairs, which she was a bit unsure of, but it didn’t take her long to realize that I literally had her back) and decided to remove the sling and let Nikki try to go to the bathroom on her own. She took off and “ran” (not sure you can call it that, but we’ll pretend) around the lawn, then did her business. She then came back towards me and sat down. I put the sling on her, got her back up the stairs to the deck, and then back in the house. She drank, then waited patiently for me to bring her treats. (The morning ritual is that all the dogs get a few treats once they come in from their business)

While at work, Mary let me know that Nikki was having a very normal day, was playful, and managed to spend some time outside in the sun as well. She also has a healthy appetite!

When I got home, Nikki was very playful and happy. Very much like her normal self..

You can see in the photos that we have wood floors throughout the main level of our house. Mary has distributed throw rugs over much of the wood, but for whatever reason, Nikki enjoys laying on the wood. She can’t get enough traction to stand when she’s laying on the wood like that, but she’s so smart that she’s figured out if she crawls to a rug, she can get the traction that she needs. It’s all about adjustment, and I am just completely and totally amazed at how quickly Nikki is adjusting to all of this..

Tomorrow is Saturday, so I’ll get to spend more of the day here at home with Nikki and see for myself how she’s healing.

We see Dr. Pyne again on Monday afternoon, and then I’m sure I’m going to start worrying about the next phase of the treatment (We don’t yet know the results of the pathology testing on the removed leg).

After we got Nikki settled in last night and my bed made, Mary headed upstairs with Sasha and Buddy, and I laid down next to Nikki to read. Nikki was pretty much passed out from the pain meds, but was starting to stir somewhat. When I turned out the light, Nikki started to whine a bit, then some more, and then it turned into a wailing session. She was also trying to get up and make her way to the makeshift door we put on the room to keep the other dogs out…. After about 20-30 minutes of this, with me trying to hold her back, she finally slipped out of my grasp and drug herself to the doorway, where she proceeded to scratch at it like she does when she wants out. The noise brought Mary down, and she took one look and said, “She has to go out to the bathroom”.. Here I am thinking all the whining is pain, and it’s really just the fact that she needs outside badly…

We took her outside, she did her business, we brought her back inside and she settled down nicely.. I felt like an idiot…..

I laid down, shut out the light and went to sleep as well. Nikki woke me 3 or 4 times throughout the night, but for the most part she slept comfortably until it was time for me to wake up and get ready for work (yeah, unfortunately I can’t miss any work time this week, we have big-doings in the office that require my presence). Mary came down to sit with Nikki while I went up and got ready. When I came back down, we took Nikki outside again in case she needed to go (she didn’t) and then brought her back in. She took her pills just fine, and Mary was able to feed her some breakfast as well…

So, all in all, the first night went OK…

Here’s a picture of our bed:

Sasha is very upset over all of this, but hopefully as Nikki recovers a bit more today we can let them together for a bit. Buddy seems upset too (remember, he’s only been a member of our household for a couple months) but I don’t think for him it’s anything more than everyone else is upset so he should be too….

Will update more when I get home and learn all the goings-on for the day..