Last Friday 9/18, Our 6 yr old girl Rottie went in for TPLO surgery for what was believed to be a blown crucial ligament in her rear left leg. She’d started limping badly on Tuesday 8/11 all of a sudden and babying her front right leg. I tried to check her pads and toes but she was having none of it! She seemed to improve but then worsened again so we took her to the vet on Sunday. As she was getting into the back of my SUV, her dad thought he heard/saw something fall out and found a little blob of plastic with sharp corners! We thought “aha” but went to her regular vet anyways. By the time we got there, she was walking fine and even let me fully check out her pads and toes! Since she seemed fine now, we decided to go home without seeing the vet. Unfortunately, she started limping again later that week so we went back to the vet the following Sunday who did a physical exam and found nothing wrong. We were scheduled to go out of town that week for 10 days so she suggested X-rays when we get back if she continued to limp.
we took Amira to her trainer Brigette for the 10 days we were out of town and when we got back, Brigette said that she’d been doing well but for the past 4 days, she’s been having issues with her BACK left leg and we should get X-rays done. We were like “Huh, her back leg??”
anyhow, we scheduled for her regular vet to do the X-rays on Wednesday 9/9. Radiologist reviewed and saw osteoarthritis throughout and some fluid in her rear right stifle but thankfully, no growths/masses. Her vet palpitated and felt some swelling and suspected a torn CCL and referred us to an orthopedic surgeon. We went for the consult 2 days later on 9/11 and yep, torn CCL! We went ahead and scheduled the TPLO surgery for the following Friday 9/18.
During that week in between, Amira seemed fine; one would never know she was limping unless you knew to look carefully at her movement but by the next wednes/ Thursday, she seemed perfectly fine! Her dad and I agonized over whether to proceed with the TPLO since she seemed fine ( and I could not replicate the “drawer movement”!) but ultimately decided to go forward after reading tons of articles saying that CCLs don’t repair themselves and will only further deteriorate without surgical treatment especially in big dogs like Rotties. So I dropped her off Friday morning 9/18 for the TPLO surgery.
Later that afternoon, the surgeon called and told me that during the TPLO surgery, the membrane of her joint capsule was noted to be thickened and discolored. They proceeded with the TPLO and took a biopsy of the joint tissue for pathological testing. I was obviously very worried and started praying HARD but we were so glad we went forward with the TPLO as otherwise, we would never have found the problem until it was probably too late.
We got the devasting news the next day that she tested positive for synovial sarcoma (soft tissue cancer). By this time, I’d tried to learn as much as much as I could about abnormalities in canine “joint capsule” and had read about synovial sarcoma and knew that prognosis could vary depending on what type it was. I’d read one vet study that found a high incidence of histiocystic sarcoma in Rottweilers and that would NOT be good…. We asked the surgeon what type of synovial sarcoma our baby Amira had and she said they wouldn’t know without having further histology stains but those would take 7-10 business days. She said that regardless of the typing, recommended treatment would still be full leg amuputation.
Her daddy and I decided not to wait (or give that evil cancer even one extra second to have a chance to spread!) and scheduled her amputation surgery for Tuesday 9/22 with her primary orthopedic surgeon.
Although her previous X-rays taken when she was diagnosed with the torn CCL showed no thoracic or abdominal abnormalities, an ultrasound of her belly would be performed the next day (Sunday). Needless to say, we were emotionally drained from a night of crying and worrying, so the wait to hear back seemed interminable! We finally got the call with bad news – they found a nodule on her spleen. They aspirated it and sent it off to pathology so another round of crying, begging God to spare her, and night of research re splenic masses ensued. We decided to bring her home Sunday afternoon since her surgery was not going to be until Tuesday.
I have never prayed so hard for anything and it appears that God was listening because the next afternoon, we got the call that pathology found no cancerous cells and the nodule was “normal regenerative growth” ( whatever that means I don’t know cause I stopped listening at “no cancerous cells).
Of course they said that the cytology is not as definitive as a biopsy but we were not about to have her undergo abdominal surgery for a biopsy after she’d just had the TPLO! We are optimistic that the cytology result is indicative of NO metastasis which hopefully means the amputation with follow up chemo, will successfully eradicate and prevent any spread. So, we breathed a sigh of relief, thanked God and prepared to take her in the next morning for her amputation.
The next day was one of the most difficult days I’ve ever been through waiting to hear how Amira did through the surgery. I’m sure God was tired of listening to my prayers all day along! Her surgeon had warned me that they would probably be doing the procedure in the afternoon and that we may not hear from him until 6 or 7 pm. As it turned out, it was actually 7:45 pm when the junior surgeon called and reported that everything went smoothly and Amira did well. My sense of relief was indescribable!
Amira did well that night reportedly and had even been able to get up and walk with a belly sling!! we visited the next afternoon but knew that we had to set a positive emotional example but I was afraid that I would break down seeing her for the first time after the amputation. Having read someone else’s brilliant suggestion to ask the techs to put a t shirt on a new Tripawded, I did exactly that and it definitely helped. She seemed to be in good spirits and in less pain than she was on after the TPLO surgery only 4 days prior. Our poor baby went through so much in such a short period of time…Doc said that if she did well again that night, she could come home the next day and she did! She reportedly was up and moving and was eating (which she wouldn’t do after the TPLO) and “acting as if nothing was wrong!” We sprung her outta there and brought her home yesterday early evening and our road to recovery and rehabilitation began.
within an hour of coming home, I was in a panic and tears again…as I was helping her arrange herself on her new $200 Big Barker bed, I accidentally grazed the stifle area of her remaining rear leg and she let out a scream! My a baby is not a screamer, in fact before all this started, I’d never heard her cry out! Of course our greatest fear is that there is something wrong with her “good” leg (i.e. Same thing as the amputated leg…) as she has already been through so much! I can’t even bear to think about it…..still waiting for the follow up pathology reports which will probably be very telling…we pray that it’s synovial myxomas which rarely metastasis!
It was a very difficult night for all three of us as Amira was visibly in pain starting around 11:00 pm which was 3 hrs after her last dose of Tramadol. She was non-stop heavy panting and wouldn’t sleep. We don’t know whether it was due to incision pain, phantom pain or God forbid, her remaining hind leg. We gave her another does of tramadol at 6 hrs vs 8 her but it took 45 mins to kick in and only seemed to help for about an hour before she stared panting again. I slept on the floor with her to try to soothe her and I don’t know if it helped or not…
We got up at 7:30 and she went out and peed. I feed her her breakfast by hand and she ate it all which was a great sign! She’s been resting much more comfortably today so not sure what helped although I’m just glad she seems to be feeling better. I’ve been taking her out to do her business using the Ruffwear Webmaster harness and it really helps although we are trying to limit her even being on that back leg at all for now. Talked to her surgeon today and he said there’s no way to know what is going on with that leg without examining it but we agreed to do it at her next appointment in 2 weeks for sutures to be removed. In meantime, he told us to slightly increase her tramadol from 3 to 4 pills every 8 hrs and see if that helps. We shall see tonight! Fingers and toes crossed that she will rest easier tonight!
So sorry you and Amira have to go through this journey. What a stressful week for you all! It is one of the hardest roads we have had to travel, but at 15 months post amp surgery, it has also been one of the most rewarding. Our Dobe Nitro is doing well – a real cancer warrior! We will keep you all in our prayers for the upcoming days. Keep the faith, better days are ahead.
Paula and Nitro
Thank you; from your lips to God’s ears!! It helps knowing that others have and are going through what we are and have come out the other side still sane! we wish continued good health to Nitro! Unfortunately we got the news tonight that indeed it is Hystiocystic sarcoma however we hope and pray that it remained localized to the knee joint and went no further. Although we prayed for it Not to be hystiocystic, I wasn’t actually surprised it was as it appears to have a higher incidence rate in Rottweilers…good news is that if the amputation is done before any metastatis and followed with chemo, the median survival period is 18 months. Of course we hope Amira will blow by that timeline by many many more months!! I suppose at least now we know what our enemy is and what we are battling… We just pray that fate would not be so cruel as to compromise her remaining leg while she fights to beat this disease!
Ps the night is young, but she seems better than last night although definitely still in some pain. Hopefully the increased dose of tram afoul I just gave her will help her sleep through the night!
So sorry you and Amira have to go through all this. What a week it’s been!! Sending healing thoughts your way that each day gets easier for her as I’m sure it will! We are three weeks post amp and Max is out of pain and loving life again. Amira will be there soon too!
our baby Amira just can’t seem to catch a break…Last night was a tough one again. We had hoped the increased dose of Tramadol as suggested by her vet, would help but it seemed to make things worse. She actually had a decent day after the prior night’s discomfort and so we thought maybe it’s a nighttime thing, so I gave Amira her evening dose of Tramadol of 4 vs. 3 pills at 9:00 pm. By 11:00 pm she was panting heavily again and difficult to get ‘tucked into bed’. I laid down with her again to try to soothe her but she was still panting away non-stop. She took her 1:00 am dose of Rimidyl with some coaxing and chicken breast chaser – chicken has been my ‘reassurance’ that despite the pain, panting, etc. that she was still ‘ok’ as long as she gobbled up the chicken! I fell asleep at some point but was awakened at 4:00 when Amira cried out as she got up herself and proceeded to take off out of our room toward the door in another room to go outside. I scrambled up and caught up to her and when i realized she was at the door to go out, i ran back to our room to get a flashlight. In my haste, i stumbled and fell and slightly twisted my ankle (i just had bi-level cervical spine fusion surgery myself in June…!) incredibly, my husband slept through all this which goes to show how exhausted he is too especially ‘being strong’ for me on top of dealing with his own pain for our baby…in any event, i took her out and she peed just a little bit and we went back into the house. She would not go back to our room to her bed; instead she went into literally every corner of every room of the house, around and around with periods of just standing at the door outside staring out. I thought she needed to go out again and each time, opened the door but she just stood there. We have deer on our property and she likely sensed them. I thought she was “patroling’ which she has always done during the night to keep us safe but the round and round we go, went on for 35-40 minutes… we finally went back to bed and my husband relieved me on sleeping on the floor duty at 5:30. We all got up about 8:00 and i hand fed her her breakfast which she did eat but she continued the heavy panting. I called the vet at about 9:00 but he was in an exam. Amira continued to pant and was now dripping saliva from her tongue that was hanging out. She also would not sit or lie down. She began to continually pace and i’m freaking out because i don’t want her on her good leg so much since she yelped on thursday when touched; so i’m following her around supporting her with her harness, for an hour and a half. By now she’d been panting like a freight train for 15 hours so i called the vet in a panic. By now though we’d done enough research to find out that Tramadol may make some dogs pant/anxious.. Vet said to drop her back down to 3 pills and that maybe she’s nauseous given the salivation so he suggested OTC Pepcid. I suggested maybe she’s more anxious than anything so he said to try 50-75 mg of Benadryl. I gave her 75 mg of Benadryl at 2:10 and by 2:40 she had calmed down and actually sat in the same spot for about 15 mins. During this time, i noticed that it looked like something was hanging off her stomach area – i thought maybe it’s just the wonky way she’s sitting since she’s all off center now. I explored and OMG, it feels like a lump – not solid but definitely bigger than the other side…i’m trying not to freak out and maybe it’s from her Webmaster harness cutting into her. will monitor this as it does seem to have ‘deflated’ a bit. I cannot let myself jump to conclusions and i won’t believe that my girl has yet another problem…I managed to kinda slid her front legs out from under her to get her to lie down. i lied down myself and managed to sleep for a bit and I gave her her 5:00 dose of Tramdol (3) hidden in brie cheese which is her favorite. at first she was not interested but after i wrapped some chicken around it, she took them. it’s now 7:30 and she’s still lying down and not panting although still some periods of heavy fast breathing if my husband doesn’t have his hand on her stomach. But about an hour ago, i did my ‘chicken test’ to gauge how she was feeling and she turned it down…i am now terrified that there’s something else/more wrong. I am emotionally and physically exhausted and it’s only day 4 post op. i have not cried this much ever; not even after my dad died! i keep waiting to wake up from this nightmare…
Is your baby on any antibiotics? Max was on antibiotics for 14 days after surgery. How about gabapentin? A lot of dogs get that for phantom limb pain in addition to their Tramadol. Max was on antibiotics, Tramadol, Rymadyl and gabapentin for the first two weeks. Is the lump near her incision? If so it could be a seroma. Max developed one of those but his leaked and didn’t build up. Some dogs develop one that needs to be drained. I’m so sorry you are having such a hard time here. I’m just throwing things out there that I think might be the problem. I don’t think Tramadol alone might be enough pain relief if that is all she’s on. Please check with your vet. Take a breath it will get better! Start a post on the recovery forum and you will get a lot of good feedback. Don’t try to do this alone we are all with you!!
Finally got a hold of a surgeon at the vet hospital evening and daddy’s on his way home now with gabafentin for Amira. She actually had a fairly decent day without any pain meds, only 1 dose of rimadyl and 2 doses of Benadryl. There were a couple of short spells of the heavy breathing vs heavy panting and some restlessness; otherwise she was pretty calm today probably due to the Benedryl. Although she managed pretty well without pain meds today, we dont want her to suffer any pain unnecessarily so hopefully getting her on the gabafentin will control whatever of extent of pain she may have. She’s eating cooked food pretty well as long as I spoon feed her and she’ll drink the water I boiled her chicken in but only if I bottle feed her! (It’s a water bottle for dogs we used on hikes). I noticed that the benedryl seems to affect her appetite so I had to make sure to give it to her after she ate. Since the gabofentin has a sedative effect, I think we will stop the benedryl now and see how she does on the gaba. Fingers crossed that it’ll do the trick and she will rest well tonight!
Also is she drinking? If not drinking water try to give her water that the chicken was boiled in. She needs to keep up her fluids with all the panting.
So sorry. Know exactly how you feel. My dog was operated on nearly 3 weeks ago and started chemo 2 weeks ago. Slowly he has been making good progress, until today. Hardly moving, very sick and not eating so no pain relief can be given. Surgeon told us not to worry. May be a slight reaction, so long as he’s drinking. Feel a visit to the vet coming on tomorrow. Can have put him through all this for nothing. My grandson was born yesterday and all this worry has certainly taken the edge off our joy 😰😰😰😰. I wish your rottie well.
Oh dear, I hope your boy is feeling better! It’s heartbreaking to see them suffering but hopefully this is just a minor setback that he will bounce back from quickly. Congratulations on the new grandson; it’s great that there is some happy news!
Wow, you guys have been through a LOT and I am so sorry. It’s enough to give you whiplash!
I can’t recall anyone else here going through the two procedures so close together. Amira will need some extra recovery time I’m sure but between your smarts and awesome attitude and her strength and courage, you’ll both rock it in no time.
If there is anything we can do for you don’t hesitate to post in our forums OK? We’re here to help.
Oh, by the way, here’s a histio survivor’s story you’re going to love. He’s STILL doing great, I talk to his mom often.:
http://tripawds.com/2014/08/12/tripawd-tuesday-tilts-a-hat-to-barney-b-a-six-year-histiocytic-cancer-suvivor/
Thanks for sharing Barneys story! He is an inspiration and gives us hope that our girl will likewise kick this cancer’s butt with all three legs!