german shepherd – Page 3 – The Ongoing Adventures of Sheba

“Ruff” night! Tripawd Day 7

Last night around bedtime Sheba started whining/crying inconsolably. The fentanyl wasn’t going to peak until 10am today so I gave her tramadol and an extra trazodone (as directed). No luck, she cried off and on all night, played musical beds and eventually ended up in my bedroom. Ruth called the vet this morning to ask the surgeon what we should do because by then she was maxed out on all her pain and anxiety meds. Doc recommended a short walk and a car ride. It sorta helped, but she’s still crying intermittently. I think she’s finally realized her leg is not coming back and is depressed. She went to sleep with a leg, then woke up and it was gone. I don’t think it would be unreasonable at first to think it might reappear the same way. Poor brother Buster is worried and tries to console her, even though she doesn’t always appreciate it.

Buster is trying to be supportive, but Sheba doesn't appreciate being breathed on! — Buster is trying to be supportive, but Sheba doesn’t appreciate being breathed on!

We finally have an ID on the fungus – Aspergillus spp. which GSDs are known to be susceptible to, the surgeon was already worried about spinal cord involvement prior to surgery. Because its not in the nasal cavity (the usual location of infection) she could not give us a prognosis. When we go in for future removal on Tuesday we’ll consult with the infectious disease specialist as well. We already knew she’d require monthly monitoring and potentially months to years of antifungal treatment. Unfortunately I can’t find much information about disseminated aspergillosis that doesn’t already involve the lungs (Sheba’s are clear). Bedtime meds seem to have kicked in and Sheba finally stopped crying, hopefully we’ll sleep better tonight. I’ll leave you all with some puppy pics!

Tripawd Day 6

I do believe we’ve recovered from the fireworks! Once again, San Jose PD has totally let me down when it comes to preventative community policing. Good to know they’ll show up if theres a body involved, maybe I should have lobbed a bottle rocket at one of the gang bangers down the street. That’ll get the cops here, in celebration, but that’s better than nothing.

And yes, Sheba pooped yesterday. Cowpie, but who cares, its poop and our vet says cowpie is ok. While I was in class, Ruth took Sheba in for a new fentanyl patch. By the way, removing the old one was a total nightmare last night, but its way better than the staples we had after the TPLO patches. Dr. Appel did a once over, incision looks good and stitches will come out next Wednesday.

Histopathology came in today: definitely NOT cancer, definitely YES its infectious. Still waiting on the fungal identification and susceptibility. Why can’t they make the little hyphae grow faster!!! I hated doing fungal cultures in microlab, these people must really love their jobs because I’d just shoot myself!

fentanyl patch kickin' in — fentanyl patch kickin’ in

Happy Fourth of July! (Tripawd Day 4)

***UPDATE 7/5: Fireworks didn’t stop til 2am ish. Sheba and Buster both tried to get under my twin bed. Sheba ended up ON my bed and stayed there for hours. We’re still trying to sleep it off. ***

Happy 4th of July to the Tripawds Community! And a very special thank you to the men, women, and pups in the Armed Forces who set their own lives aside so we can live ours!

Its surprisingly quiet right now, but I doubt it will last. I love my local first responders, I really do, and I know the job SUCKS sometimes (which is why I don’t do it anymore)! But if you, as a department, say you’re going to enforce the fireworks ban, at least ACT like you’re freaking trying! Patrol, be more visible, SOMETHING!

Sheba and I spent most of the day sleeping. Her fentanyl patch is wearing off so I started supplement with Tramadol (as directed by my vet, of course!). We’re not yet back up to full pre-op dose, but I expect we will be tomorrow. New patch goes on Wednesday if we still feel we need it. We have a visit with the surgeon anyway. There’s a reddened area on Sheba’s underbelly on the side facing the good leg. It looks like either REALLY bad razor burn (they shaved over a spot that have been shaved for ultrasound a few days before) or some blood pooling from surgery. Since she has VERY sensitive skin I’m apt to believe its just razor burn and since there’s no sign of infection the tech said we could wait til Wednesday.

Excitement of the day: we’re eating normal again! Sheba is now eating normal amounts of food and she’s not spitting her kibbles out any more! She seems to have gotten the hang peeing, though we do have to support her a bit using the harness so she can keep her balance. Poop by the end of the week, maybe?

what is this sleep thing and why hooman need so much?! (Grandma catches Cynthia and Sheba sleeping but isn’t sneaky enough to snap a pic without Sheba waking up!)

I came back from putting my dishes away and Sheba looked at me like we'd had an earthquake! Who knows, its CA, maybe we did — I came back from putting my dishes away and Sheba looked at me like we’d had an earthquake! Who knows, its CA, maybe we did

Tripawd Day 3

I work 6 hours on Sundays, which means 8 hours away from home. Let me tell you, I have never been so happy to go to work! The fireworks were horrible last night and the only way to keep Sheba quite was to hang out with her in my room, which is not set up for her aside from a bed. In grandma’s room her bed is enclosed in a pen. In my room its just pushed into a corner. Fortunately, once she got comfortable she didn’t get up again except to readjust a few times. So I got to sleep in my own bed until 3 am meds, then we moved back to grandma’s room for some more solid zzz’s. Not much else to report, two more weeks of sleep deprivation to go!

Tripawd Day 2

Last night was Sheba’s first night home. Since I’ve got school and work all week my aunt and I agreed that I’d sleep with Sheba and be on “duty” at her bedside during the day today. The neighborhood (illegal) fireworks that lasted all night didn’t help her anxiety and she was restless until I was finally able to restart her on trazodone around 1am. She keeps staring at her incision and flexing her muscles like she’s trying to find her leg. Hoping the gabapentin will help with that. She finally ate this morning, but only the chicken, not kibbles. towards the end I had to pick out the remaining chicken pieces for her because she’s too drugged to pick around the kibbles.

Mostly slept today, but she did get up enough times for us to get her Webmaster harness on, adjusted, and then attached the brush guard. I really wish we had been able to fit it prior to surgery but the first harness was too small so the replacement didn’t come in until the afternoon of surgery. But yay for Amazon Prime and free next day shipping! Fortunately, Sheba seems to be ok with this harness, we were worried she’d protest because its bigger than her previous walking harness (looks like a harness a lot of the front-leg tripawds use). So far she hasn’t had any side effects from the antibiotic or antifungal. Hopefully that continues to go well.