Author: rhduff

Ethel had her surgery and recovered well. She’s adapted fairly well to three legs, and can even get down the stairs by herself. She’s not able to get upstairs herself, but I don’t mind carrying her up nightly. Getting runners for the wood and tile floors was the one thing that’s really helped her mobility around the house. She’s pretty agile outside, but her walking cadence is still forced and seems unnatural. She tires easily when she walks, but she seems to enjoy her walks as she asks for them several times a day. She even feels well enough now that she asks to go to the park in the morning,  just as she used to before her amputation. I decided to go the chemo route, and she had her first treatment last week. She did well and went to the park the next day. I’m looking at four more chemo treatments over the course of the next twelve weeks or so. I’m happy she’s doing well and seems to have adapted, but in the back of my mind is the looming thought that my time with her is limited. I plan to do what I can to make her happy, including taking her to the park each day that I can. 

I came home from work a few weeks ago, and Ethel didn’t come to the door to greet me. That wasn’t that unusual, but when I couldn’t coax her out of her crate with a cookie, I knew something wasn’t right. I tried to move her, and she let out a sound I’d never heard before. I was able to get her into the car and to the vet where they x-rayed her and found a broken leg. Since it was Saturday, the said they’d have to wait until Monday to set it, and I’d have to leave her there over the weekend. They called me on Sunday, and referred me to a surgical center since they couldn’t get to her on Monday. Monday rolled around, I took her to the surgical center and the vet said the bone break looked pathological, not from an impact. They wanted to keep her and do a biopsy, and he told me that if the bone had cancer, he wouldn’t be able to set it, and amputation along with chemo would be the treatment regimen. She had her leg removed yesterday and I’m supposed to pick her up tomorrow. I’m really happy she’s coming home tomorrow, but am anxious and scared about what to expect. I want her to be her happy, goofy self, and want her to ask me to go to the park every as she does almost every day.

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