Nikki the Rottweiler

Nikki just continues to improve post surgery. She’s getting around just fine, and is starting to act like the old Nikki in just about every way.

I had to take off early this morning and head into the office for a series of meetings, then race back home in time to get Nikki to her appointment with Dr. Friedly. Before I left this morning, we (All of the dogs and I) went through what I would have to say is the first “totally normal” morning routine since Nikki’s surgery. (The routine is pretty simple, I get up and head downstairs, the dogs follow, they go outside and do their business, then come back in and wait for me to start handing out the treats. Usually this involves 3 dogs scrambling for position in front of the pantry door. This morning we had all 3 in the mix and Nikki was very pleased to get a normal treat.

We had our appointment with Dr. Friedly early this afternoon. The idea behind the appointment was to discuss Nikki’s case up to this point, and get an idea of what our options are in terms of a treatment program. We also wanted to learn a bit more about Dr. Friedly and understand what his approach to this kind of treatment is. (Here’s a picture of Nikki waiting for Dr. Friedly to come in)

Dr. Friedly has over 30 years of experience as a Veterinarian. He has many impressive diplomas and certificates on his walls from places like Washington State University and Colorado State University (Did you know that there was a diploma that certifies a veterinarian as an acupuncturist?). He has spent many years treating animals, and has dedicated the last 10 to an entirely natural and holistic practice. He explained to us that he’s seen many, many cases like ours, both as a conventional western doc, and as a holistic/homeopathic practitioner as well. He was pretty clear with us that there’s no magic bullet in treating cancer, and that ultimately the end-result is going to be the same whether we go down a natural path or a conventional one. The difference though is in quality of life, and he’s seen enough cases where that average 4 month lifespan has increased into years, even with aggressive cancers like osteosarcoma.

It seems that the key to controlling this is preventing the cancer from “attaching” when it spreads. Basically when the cancer metastasizes it’s looking for a hospitable place to go. For Osteosarcoma, the lungs tend to be the most hospitable environment aside from the bone.

Dr. Friedly has seen the most success with a regimen that includes:

• Artemisia Annua (Artemenisin/ Artecin) – This is actually more commonly known as “Sweet Wormwood”. There have been studies that show Artemenisin kills cancer cells in the petri dish, but there’s not a lot of evidence to show it working once it’s “inside” the dog. However there is enough anecdotal evidence to say that it does help slow the growth of the cancer cells that it’s worth using. The science behind this is that cancer cells like to attach to iron molecules. The Artemisia interferes with this process and causes the cancer to “move on” in the bloodstream where it can get cleaned out by natural processes without ever getting the chance to adhere to anything.
• Pectin – (I had a real hard time with this one, I know pectin as a thing that you use in canning) Apparently pectin (both from Apples and Citrus) has some properties that help the body build up resistance to the cancer cells that helps discourage them from attaching anywhere.
• Phytoprofen – This is a combination of Tumeric, Indian Frankincense, Bromelain and Ginger. Basically it’s an anti-inflammatory that also helps strengthen cell walls.

The interesting thing about this whole process for me is that I’m an engineer, so things that are natural/homeopathic are by definition foreign to me. Dr. Friedly took great pains to explain the science behind each of these things, and of course it all sounds good at this point.

So, starting today, Nikki is going to be using the regimen above, in conjunction with regular visits to see Dr. Pyne for the “normal” follow-up.

If you are considering the natural approach to the post-amputation care for osteosarcoma, there’s a couple of things that I would really recommend you do. First, don’t believe everything you read. Find someone who truly has experience with treating animals with cancer, and find someone who isn’t trying to profit from your hopes. Secondly, understand the effects of the herbs that you’re using. One very important part of our treatment plan is the fact that since Artecin changes the way the body reacts to iron, you don’t want to have it in their system at the same time any meat product is (Meat is full of Iron). You need to wait 2 hours after feeding any meat product before giving Artecin and visa-versa. You also want to speed the absorption of the Artecin by wrapping it in cheese or some other non-meat fat…

I really enjoyed our time with Dr. Friedly. I think he is going to be a great advocate for Nikki on this journey.

Today is Tuesday, exactly 1 week ago at about this time Mary and I were heading to Banfield to pick Nikki up after her surgery. If you would have told me (and now that I think about, a lot of you did) then that I would be describing Nikki’s progress like I have been, I would have called you a dreamer..

Anyway… Guess who met me at the door today when I came home? Yep, Nikki was right there with the other 2, just wagging her (shaved) nub like the others.. Don’t tell her she’s missing a leg, I don’t think she realizes it!

The anti-itch cream seemed to have helped Nikki quite a bit. After we got home from the visit with Dr. Pyne last night, Nikki was more relaxed than I’d seen her since the surgery. None of the “itch scoot” or the bite/lick that we’ve been seeing as the stitches heal. She woke us about 3am, and let us know that she had to go out, but once that was over with, she pretty much went back to sleep (not entirely, there was a bit of time where she was restless) until it was time to get up for real.

Nikki is doing really great going down the stairs, but she’s still trying to figure out the up part. This is pretty much the only time she needs my help now, and I’m confident that as her remaining rear leg strengthens, she’ll get that down as well.

Mary let me know that Nikki is back to her old habit of sitting by the door waiting for the UPS truck to drive by, then growling and barking at it. (I don’t know what it is about delivery vehicles, but Nikki hates them – and even if we’re out for a ride or something and she sees a UPS or FedEx truck, she’ll bark and carry on) so every day brings a little bit of the “normal Nikki” back. (She just hopped into the office here to see me, I think letting me know that I haven’t pet her enough today)

Tomorrow we see Dr. Friedly here in Falcon. He comes highly recommended by Dr. Pyne as a vet who does pure holistic treatment. Apparently he worked for one of the larger hospitals around and decided that the holistic approach is more suited to what he wants to do. (I’ll post more about him after we meet him tomorrow) We plan to discuss what our next steps are with Nikki and see if he can offer suggestions in terms of Chemotherapy alternatives..

Nikki is now laying at my feet and letting me know that she feels so much better today.. I still can’t believe it’s only been a week….

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!

Last night was another good night. Nikki was a bit restless when we first went up the stairs, but she did settle down pretty quickly. She had been pretty mobile on her own throughout the day and evening, so I know she was tired. She woke up around 0330 and whined for a little while, but quickly went back to sleep.

We slept in until 0730 this morning (WOO HOO!) and then started the whole morning ritual. I took Nikki down the stairs and outside (We have 2 sets of stairs she has to navigate, from the bedroom to the main level, and then from the deck to the ground) and at this point I just let go of the sling at the bottom of the stairs outside, and she “runs” off to do her business.. She is still a bit unsteady on that remaining hind leg, but I know it will get better for her.

We got back inside the house and the dogs got their treats and breakfast, then Mary and I sat here in the office to go through email, facebook, etc….

You can see in the third picture below that the bruising is already disappearing on Nikki’s wound. I think this is due in part to the fact that Mary has been occasionally icing the area per Dr. Pynes recommendation.

Sasha and Buddy have been doing just great with Nikki (We weren’t so much worried about Buddy, but Sasha was a wildcard. She’s crazy, and as full of energy as you might expect for a 1 year old Rottie) and the dogs are all simply laying together in the front entry way watching the goings-on in the neighborhood.

Mary and I are going to go out today and buy a ramp. We both drive SUVs and Nikki loves to ride, so rather than try and struggle to get her in the vehicle (we have an Appt. on Monday to see Dr. Pyne) we’re just going to get a ramp..

I’ll post an update this evening, and maybe try and get some video of Nikki out in the yard today.

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).

Wow.

As I write this, I can barely keep my eyes open. Last night definitely qualifies as being in the top 10 of worst nights ever. Starting from about 9:30pm, Nikki just could not stop whimpering and whining. I tried everything I could think of; I took her outside, both front yard and back, I walked her around the house, and I laid down with her on the bed. Gave her as much water as she would drink as well. Nothing worked…. It didn’t seem like “Pain” whimpering, and according to Dr. Pyne it was likely Dysphoria,  brought on by the Tramadol. All I know was that there was absolutely nothing I could do about it, so we both suffered. Finally at about 4am, she went to sleep. Of course my alarm went off at 0415, so the night was pretty much shot. Couple no sleep with stress and worry, and well, it isn’t fun at all…

Instead of driving in to the office for the early morning meeting (Which is normally 0630 on Tues/Thurs) I decided to do the call at the house and then head to the office. It was very interesting to me that Nikki was happy to see Sasha and Buddy when they came down the stairs. She also seemed to really perk up once Mary was up and about. 

While I was on my call, Mary fed the other dogs and sat with Nikki, feeding her whatever she’d take. She started to whine less at that point, and by the time I was done with my call and headed out the door, Nikki had that “old spark” in her eyes, and kissed me when I bent down to her to leave…

She slept most of the day, with occasional ups to go outside.. Mary said she was quite happy just sitting on a blanket in the living room with the other dogs and the TV.. So all in all it was a great day for Nikki..

The fun begins though when I walk in the door after work. The normal ritual here is that I open the garage door, and then have a gauntlet of dogs to walk through as I put my stuff in the office, with all of them letting me know that they missed me. (To be fair, they treat anyone who comes into the house as their long-lost best friend) Today was no different, and sure enough Nikki was there on her blanket wagging and bouncing (as much as you can bounce while laying on your stomach I suppose). I walked over to her, and she just positively lit up. She crawled to meet me, then ROLLED OVER to let me rub her tummy. Then she laid on her side, arched her back and did the normal thing she does to get me to scratch her back.. As I did that and got down on the floor with her, she licked and licked and you could just tell she was SO happy…

After a bit of this playing around, I got her up and took her outside, and she really did great, with very little help from me on the sling…

All in all, it looks like we’re turning a corner and getting better. It’s only day 2, and I imagine I’m in for another long night, but it sure is good to see her acting like she is now!

Now, for those that might be a bit squeamish, you might want to stop looking… One thing I wanted to do is show a picture of her wound, and the associated bruise. (I took this while she was upside down letting me rub her tummy) I show this because it is completely normal, and those that may go through this after me need to see this. Don’t freak out when your baby looks like this:

This is going to be a short update as I need to get back in and relieve Mary. She’s been sitting with Nikki all day while I’ve been at work, and needs a break.

Nikki seems to be doing as expected. When I came home from work she perked up and actually kissed my face when I bent down to her. Her eyes also looked a lot better than when I left this morning, so I think the healing is continuing.

I put the makeshift sling on Nikki and took her out front for a walk around the yard. She did pretty good, and for awhile didn’t even really need my support on the sling. I don’t think it’s time to let her manage on her own yet though, so we’ll still use the sling for a little while.

Starting tomorrow we’re supposed to begin reducing the pain meds slightly. We’ll see how that works out.

Anyway, thanks again for the comments. They are very much appreciated!

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..