Three Legged Saint

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Over the last few months we have really missed our beautiful girl, Sasha. We knew we couldn’t replace her, but Amy and I felt we had too much love for just two dogs. In December we decided to try to find a new dog. I found a mastiff/rottweiler mix that was 8 months old named Makayla that needed adopting. We picked her up and brought her home. It ended up being a big mistake. She was 90 lbs. and was a very aggressive puppy. Not knowing her own strength, combined with being about 6 months behind in training proved to be too much for us. We took her back to the rescue group. It was a very hard decision for us, but she scared Amy and our other dogs. After this experience, we decided to find a younger puppy that we could raise ourselves.
This led us to our new baby, Annabelle. We drove about 450 miles to pick her up from a breeder in Illinois, just before Christmas. She has been a blessing. Sasha was a perfect dog and we feel that Saints fit us temperament wise. If she grows to be half the dog Sasha was, we will be very happy.

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It has been a long time since we updated this blog. I’m sorry for that because Sasha had so many victories that I could have reported on. After her amputation she was able to get around quite well. So well, in fact, that the animal cancer center recorded her and used the videos to help other people to make their decision about amputation. After each of her six doses of chemotherapy, she had no side effects. It wasn’t until she started her metronomic therapy that Sasha ran into trouble.

We started her on a single dose of Cytoxan, a low-dose oral chemo drug once daily, immediately after her last round of standard chemotherapy. Within three days, her urine became bloody. She was put on one antibiotic, then another. After several weeks of little improvement, Sasha was put on sulfa drugs. This finally cleared up her urine. The chemo vet felt that the bloody urine was caused by a bladder infection that was coincidental. The vet then put her on Leukeran, another low-dose chemo drug. Unfortunately, after a week she had bloody urine again, and also had an episode where her gums and other mucus membranes turned grey-white. We took her to an emergency vet where she was diagnosed as anemic and dehydrated. I took her to the chemo vet where I was told Sasha probably had an auto-immune response to the chemo drugs, and she was destroying her own red blood cells. She was regenerating them, so that was good news, but she couldn’t take the chemo drugs any longer.

Over the next month, Sasha had a couple more anemic episodes. She became weaker and didn’t eat well. She still drank water and could get up relatively well.  In the last week, Sasha has gotten worse. She hasn’t eaten, she vomited a few times, and she doesn’t drink much water. She only gets up once a day, and that is a struggle for her. The end has come for our tough fighter. Friday, September 16, 2011, we are going to have a friend that is an animal control officer come to our house to help Sasha. It has been a difficult, tortuous decision, but a necessary one. All that we have done for Sasha has been to help her be comfortable and have as good a quality of life as she can. Her quality of life now is almost nil, and she is in obvious pain. It is time.

It has been such a privilege to be Sasha’s owner. She is so smart, funny, sweet, loving, and a little bit naughty. Everyone always comments on how beautiful a dog she is. They especially love the spots on her ears. She is such a tough girl, who has been through so much. Although she was almost 200 lbs.,  she didn’t let the loss of her front left leg slow her down. She still ran, jumped up on the couch and bed, and even went down the basement stairs once (to avoid getting her flea treatment). As weak as she is now, she still wags her tail. When her Momma comes home,  it even spins in a circle. She has such a strong, positive spirit. Our hearts will have a hole for a long, long time when she is gone.

There is a poem called “The Rainbow Bridge.” I know Sasha will be there.

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water, and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; his eager body quivers. Suddenly, he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together….

– Author unknown

We will miss your slobbers, your big raspy tongue, and the piles of hair all over the house.  We will miss your bright eyes, your smiley face, and your whippy, thumpy tail. We will miss your soft, pink, freckled belly that was always in need of more pets.  We will miss your face on the counter, your loud sonorous barks at the mail man, and the messes you made.   We love you, Sasha. You are our big, beautiful baby girl, the sweetest thing; and you will always have a special place in our hearts.

Sorry we haven’t posted anything new in the last few days.  There hasn’t really been anything major to report.  Sasha’s been doing well, and her walking and stair-climbing skills have improved little by little each day.  What compelled me to write today was how well she has done with the stairs recently.

Last night, Sasha needed to go outside pretty badly and couldn’t wait for her harness to be put on.  I figured it was OK this once, since she at least had a T-shirt on.  When it was time to come in, I worried about getting her up the stairs without the harness.  I needn’t have worried at all!

With the harness on, she’d been getting her front paw up into the kitchen, then laying down for a break.  At that point, we would take her harness off and then she would climb the rest of the way up into the kitchen. Sometimes she would need our help to guide her back legs up, sometimes not.  This time, however, without the harness, she walked into the house and onto the landing, then jumped up the couple steps into the kitchen like it was nothing!  Based on that performance, if I didn’t know better, I wouldn’t have guessed she was an amputee at all!  She has gone up the steps like that at least twice more since then.

It amazes me every day how well this giant dog has adapted to such a challenge, and I am so thankful for everyone’s prayers and support.  I know they have helped her get through this.

–Amy

P.S.  Sasha has permanently reclaimed the couch for herself.  A few days ago, Tim and I were in the kitchen.  I glanced into the living room and saw Sasha on the couch.  I hadn’t even heard her hopping over there or struggling to get up there or anything.  Later that night, I saw her jump onto the couch like it was no problem at all.  Since then, she has almost always headed there first thing after coming in from outside.  In fact, as I am writing this, she is on the couch, snoring away.  

P.P.S.  While petting her last night, I came across a big scab in what I guess would be the armpit of her right front leg.  We’re guessing it was caused by chafing from the harness having gotten wet in the snow and rubbing up against that area, but we’re not sure.  (It’s good that she’s managing the stairs so well now, because it means we can give the harness a rest for a while.)  The area was mostly scabbed over, so it is healing; however, I was horrified to come across it — and to think of how she must have felt when it was a fresh wound.  Poor baby!  Has anyone else experienced this with their tripawd?

I just want to take a minute to thank everyone for their kindness and support. This site is a great medium for any pet owner, let alone one owned by a Tripawd. We have been very blessed these past weeks and with the love and support from all of you; we will keep going strong!

Sasha went to the oncology veterinarian today for her one week check-up. They were very surprised by how much she had improved in just a week. Her sutures looked good so they didn’t re-bandage them. We just put a double T-shirt on her (a men’s large). They also took blood to test her white cell count and everything looked fine. We go back in two weeks for round two of carboplatin.

They also loved her AST Pet Support Suit. It made it so much easier when I had to halfway pull her into the office.    I would recommend this great product to anyone who might have to lift a very heavy dog or who just wants extra control.

I built her a box to cut her jump into the minivan by half. It worked great; she didn’t even hesitate to jump onto it. It’s a little heavy because I made it extra sturdy, but I can climb onto it with her if I need to. I’ll take some pics later.

It has been quite a week. Sasha has been such a brave, beautiful girl. Sometimes it’s easy to forget she lost her leg. We go tomorrow to see the oncologist and get another blood test to make sure her white cell count didn’t drop too much after the chemo. Hopefully we can get her inside. It was a struggle to get her into her regular vet’s office.

We purchased one of the AST pet support suits for Sasha.  So far it has been great.  It is much easier to get on her than the jacket and it is easier to help her navigate stairs than with the slings.  It also keeps her from getting her T-shirts too wet.  Here’s a pic of her in it.

Here’s another:

Queen of the Hill

She’s so silly!  She picked out the highest bit of snow to climb up and flop onto.  She has actually eaten most of it by now.  That girl loves her snow!

Here’s a final pic of her in her winter jacket catching snowflakes on her tongue.  What a cutie!

This Saint Bernard keeps surprising us. Last night after going outside she headed into our bedroom, instead of hers. She laid on the floor, but Amy thought she looked like she wanted on the bed. I said it wasn’t a good idea because if she got up she might hurt herself getting down. We left her there and went into the living room to watch TV. About two minutes later we heard her thump around in the bedroom. Amy got up and went to check on her. She found her almost all the way up on the bed! It’s got to be at least 2 feet high! Amy helped her up the rest of the way. She ended up sleeping there until 4:15 am.

We had a difficult day with Sasha yesterday.  We got her to go out a few times, and each time she refused to go back in.  Perhaps her leg was hurting, as she would lie down in the snow and not want to get up.  Momma stayed outside with her for nearly two hours yesterday afternoon!  (We realize in hindsight it was perhaps a mistake to open the garage and sit with her and lay out a blanket for her.  She got too comfortable!)  We had to employ a different trick each time to get her in the house, as the same trick never worked twice.  She’s too smart for our own good!  The worst was when she woke us both out of a deep sleep at one o’clock this morning and then gave us a hard time coming in.  Our current trick, which has worked three times (a record!) is to bring the baby gate outside and rattle it a bit.  (We feel bad that we’ve had to employ such a tactic, but we were getting desperate, and for some reason, that seems to work.)

We had to make a trip to the vet today.  Sasha’s bandage had ridden way up and her sutures had become exposed.  We did an emergency re-wrap at home, but finding horsey-sized bandages proved to be difficult.  I found some self-adhering wrap (similar to an ACE bandage) at CVS, but it did not work all that well.  Due to our concerns about seepage, we decided to make an appointment at our usual vet, Rossoni Animal Hospital in Taylor, MI, since it is only five minutes away.

The big concern was getting that big girl into the minivan.  This was the first time she’d had to get in (without the aid of a gurney) since the amputation.  It proved to be a non-issue, since she jumped up into it with just a little push from Daddy. After Momma got ready, away we went to the vet.

When we got to the vet, stubbornness set in.  She didn’t want to jump down from the van, as it was a tad too high, which was totally understandable.  (I’ve since decided to build a box step for her, after reading other people’s ideas in the forums.)  I ended up getting her to lie down and pushed her out from behind, so she slid out of the van instead of jumping.

Once she realized where we were, she laid down, in the guise of being tired.  The techs came out to help.  One of us went to open the van to get something, and suddenly that tired girl had enough energy to stand up and run toward the car!  The techs were tickled pink at how she was able to move so well!  After some pushing and pulling, we finally got her inside an exam room.

Dr. Schollenberger came in with the kennel attendant, Kirk, and two techs.  They got their materials together and cut off and pulled away the old bandage.  This was the first time Amy and I saw her sutures.  I have to say I expected to be “grossed out” or overcome emotionally, but it wasn’t bad at all.  The site was bright pink and the sutures in a T shape with arms close to a foot long each way.  It looked as good as could be expected.  The surgeon, Dr. Walshaw at Animal Cancer and Imaging Center (ACIC) in Canton, MI, does good work!  They cleaned it up and, after checking with the oncology surgical tech at ACIC, decided to do a light bandage so it could air and dry out if it happened to get wet from the snow.

After everyone was left sweating and covered in short white hairs from the hard labor of re-bandaging her, Sasha looked much more comfortable.  The techs put two T-shirts, men’s large, over her bandage to offer her more protection and warmth in the snow.  Getting her back in the van proved to be no problem, and we went home to let the big girl rest.  And rest she did, well into this evening.

I just want to say that all the people involved with this have been great!  I don’t think most animal hospitals have a lot of dealings with such a large dog, but they always do great.  As I have said, we have been blessed!  Through two snow storms, Sasha has been able to exceed our expectations, and I know she will continue to do so!  Love to all, and God bless!

Quick update:  We had a breakthrough — Sasha’s first poop after surgery!!!  Funny how a poop can make so many people (and dogs!) feel so good!   One more worry put to rest.  Afterward, we got her back in the house, and she gobbled up the meal I had prepared for her.  It was a recipe recommended by Dr. Schollenberger, after I expressed concerns that she wasn’t eating enough.  It is equal parts chicken, white potatoes, and sweet potatoes.  What a relief to see her appetite come back!

This is the result of today’s potty break. Sasha went outside this morning with just a little help. She was smarter this time and went just a little way into the snow to do her business. All went well until we wanted to go back inside.

Sasha wouldn’t go back inside for anything. She seemed to be scared of the stairs or was just enjoying outside too much. I was a little afraid of her shaved belly getting too cold, so we tried coaxing her in. We ended up feeding her breakfast al fresco, and didn’t get her any farther inside.

We tried another approach, going around the front way. She saw the gate open and actually tried to take off!!! Crazy girl!!! She’s such a social butterfly. She likes to go see her doggie friends in the neighborhood when she gets out. She made it most of the way down the drive before I could stop her!

Well, long story short, Sasha pretty much got carried in, all 185 lbs. of her. She got inside, looked around, then tried to get up on the couch!!! She actually succeeded with just a little help! Thanks for the prayers — they are working miracles!!! We are so blessed that this big dog is recovering so quickly.

Friends for life

Hello, everyone!  This is Sasha’s momma, Amy.  Sasha’s daddy (my husband, Tim) is the one who started this blog and has written the posts up until now, but I’ll be posting and commenting on here from time to time, too.  Thank you to everyone who has given us such a warm welcome and so much encouragement and so many helpful tips and so many prayers and well wishes!  We really appreciate it all so much!

I created a photo album for Sasha on Facebook and wanted to share it with you all:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=110533&id=1333097254&l=2ebf528c52

Thank you all again!

P.S.  Sasha is taking an extra-long and well-deserved nap after her adventure outside earlier.  We will keep you all posted on her progress.