On Day 16, I would say Tate was at about 40%. On Day 17, I’d say 85%. He popped up with the alarm, tail wagging, and resumed a lot of his routine behaviors. Plunked himself outside the bathroom door while I brushed my teeth, went completely around the block with no rests (okay, it’s a short block but still a milestone), wanted to play with his ball, pushed open the door to the garage to run out when he heard my car coming home. All while wagging his tail. A blue-ribbon day. A big change just that fast.
He tried walking over to Grandma’s but I made him come home, too far (0.6 mi). But we drove over and they were so happy to see each other! And Grandma did really, really good at holding back her tears. She may not have much memory left but she still has her great big heart. She knew better than to cry in front of Tate! I was so proud of her.
Now that we are past the amp, I’m back to researching histiocytic sarcoma. Now I know the stories of Harley, Barney in Texas, Ruthie, Tehya, Marley and Barney the collie. Thank you so much for sharing!
Another Tripawd blog (Toby) led me to Peter Moore at UC-Davis. It’s the best summary I could find, at: http://www.histiocytosis.ucdavis.edu/ (I think this jump is in the Resources but it would not link for me.) (BTW, it seems blogs show up in Google searches but not the forum?)
So the pathologist mentioned “curative” in reference to the amp, the surgeon said “Tate might enjoy a normal lifespan”, and the vet said “We may well have saved Tate’s life.” All very promising, as it appears he has “localized histiocytic sarcoma” and not “disseminated histiocytic sarcoma.” I am trying not to get my hopes up until we speak with the oncologist on Tuesday because I know how insidious those evil cancer cells can be. But I’ve realized, I’m kind of counting on this.
Just a couple other oddball observations. Tate’s started licking his bed or the carpet next to his paws. I guess they do this. The other thing is that Tate used to sneeze a lot when he got up in the morning, and he used to have a discharge from the corner of his eye a lot (eye boogers, to be descriptive about it.) Neither of these things is happening anymore. Very odd (to me). Not that I miss them.
What a great post!!! Woo Hoo!
Hmmm- sneezing and eye boogers…..maybe he was allergic to his bad leg.. 🙂
Daisy used to be terrified of lightning and thunder, even with copious amounts of diazapam, post amp she sleeps right through it. Very strange.
So much good news!
You go Tate….that is absolutely pawesome!
Ha! Have you read all my pleas for help about the licking? Seriously, I have posted an awful lot about it on one of the forums. People came out of the woodwork and seemed to agree that for dogs so inclined, the OCD stuff might bump up a notch after surgery. For Dakota, Mr. Anxiety/Mr. OCD, it is through the roof. But he was a licker before surgery. It drives me nuts…
So happy to hear Tate’s finding his new normal. It’s very gratifying, isn’t it?
Shari
Yes, I remember Dakota’s licking so I wasn’t too worried about Tate. Last night he moved onto his paws. He always has liked to groom himself, Rick thinks there is a cat inside of him.
what great news that tate is back to being tate! keep enjoying the moments with that wonderful pup, and don’t forget the medicinal naps as needed!
charon & gayle
If you found a broken link, please let us know which one. We didn’t have this on our resources page so we just added it. Thanks!
There is such a wealth of information in the forums that specific search results may be pages deep on Google, the Forums search function will generate better results.
Glad to hear Tate is on the up and up!
Thanks for all your support, everyone. Tate’s so much better, but I was probably overly enthused with the “85%” estimate! He still tires easily, and is still working on his balance. We just let him continue at his own pace, so far he is reasonably self-limiting…and loves his medicinal naps. But he also loves all the hugs and pets when he accomplishes something new.
Way to go, Tater Tot! Glad to hear you are getting back to your old self. The balance and stuff takes a little more time, but at least he’s back to doing some of the stuff he was doing before.
Rio and Rio’s mom
PS: when we got Zephyr from the puppy rescue, her name was Tate. But she didn’t really seem like a Tate. You look like the perfect Tate!
Zephyr is much more creative and cute! We didn’t name Tate, and we didn’t get him til he was over a year old so we kept it. But I think you’re right, it suits him.
Hey Tatespeeps,
We have a 10+ year old Flat Coat (mix?) – named Kenya. She looks JUST LIKE TATE except she is maybe a little bigger. She had her R front leg amputated on 3/26 so we are about 2 weeks behind you on this.
Thank you so much for posting Tate’s progress and your own feelings around this journey. We are going through just about exactly the same things and it really helps to see what life might be like in just two more weeks!
Thank you again and a big hug and kiss to Tate from us and a belly rub from Kenya – she has so many she can spare one!
Cheers,
Colleen
Another flattie! Looking forward to seeing a picture of Kenya. We did a lot of research on breeds because we never had a dog before and didn’t want to get in over our heads. Tate’s a classic flat coat, he hasn’t disappointed. Very smart, very obedient, loves his pack. Still a big puppy.
I’m glad you’re finding the blog helpful. I don’t know what we would have done without this website.
Was thinking of you and glad to hear he is doing much better. I can hear in you typing that you are doing much better too! 🙂
Praying that the news tomorrow is just as good!
Blessing, to all.