You're not eating....not wagging your tail. This afternoon as I layed beside you, you wouldn't even look at me. I know this is my sign. It's gonna be so hard to say goodbye. Tonight while I sat bent over beside you, my head to yours, telling you how much I love you and the tears rolling down my face, you looked up at me. Those big eyes and licked both of my cheeks and then layed your head in my lap as if to say, "it's ok moma." I'll never forget that.....or you....

Where to go from here.....

A few days ago Razz's leg or a guess I should say bone in the leg finally broke. The thing is he still acts the same. We both said he HAD to have a high tolerance to pain when he torn the ligament in his knee, but now I'm wondering if he just loves us sooo much that he pushes it back. He still jumps up when we walk in the room, will follow me all over the house, (if i'd let him) and just last night he jumped over the ottoman to get to me in the kitchen. I can't see putting him down, but should I. I just don't know what to do.

Loves His Moma

My Razz-a-doodle is still hanging on. Instead of a limp, he's gone into a hop. Not putting alot of weight on that front leg. When his goes out for his daily "walk", he goes to the pines in the front yard, does his "business", then lays down a few minutes to regain his strength and head back to the front porch. He still eats well. When I walk in the door, he's up, wagging that whip of a tail. His daddy sleeps in the kitchen on a mattress with him every night. His Sophie loves on him everyday and gives him treats. His mommy takes him on his walk, lays with him in the living room floor, and plays a more calming game of keep away with his favorite frisbee as time marches on....way too fast.

I feel so selfish....I want him to stay. I want this pain to go away....it's not fair. He's only four years old. He doesn't know. His tail wags like a whip every time I walk in the room. I don't want him to go. Pls Lord don't take him. PLEASE...

Eight Weeks Post Opt

Razz's last checkup was yesterday. There was good news and bad news. The good news was that his back leg was healing perfectly. The bad.....my big boy has bone cancer. For the past week he has been limping on his front leg and I figured he'd done it again. A ligament, bone, or something like that. Nothing can prepare you for how bad this hurts. This stuff is very aggressive and very painful. We have maybe two weeks to a couple of months left with him. I have to get a grip so I can make these last moments as comfortable as possible.

Razz you are loved more than words can possibly describe. Our little Razzadoodle, Sophie's first "Razzy", moma's boy, I love you......

Five More Weeks!!!

So, next comes the long haul.....Razz is feeling frisky!!! Even on a short lease, standing still, he wants to hop. We had stopped using the sling, but now we have gone back to using it. It's more like a way of controlling his movement more than giving him support. He is still holding that leg up, but putting weight on it when walking. Only going out three times a day for potty breaks, he gets massages in the evening with a few minutes of ROM exercises. We can start five minute walks in eight more days!!! Whoohoooo!!!

Day Eight!!!!

Much better. I'm only using the sling while he goes up and down the steps. he's not as wobbly as he was. Putting that foot down more when he's walking. But he still holds it up when he's just standing. You can tell he feels better too! There's alot more whining going on because he's not liking that confined space, but he might as well get used to it. He gets the sutures out Tuesday. He's doing really well about leaving them alone. I'll probably update Tuesday and then maybe once a week from here on unless some kind of milestone happens.

Day Seven

Oh gosh! It's been a week! We are at day seven and I'm happy to say it's UNeventful! But I thought I'd share a picture of Razz and his sling....

Day Six

Another thing that came to light last night is that it's not that Razz isn't hungry. He doesn't trust ME fixing his food. He's tired of finding pills stuck in his hot dogs! So today has been pretty good. He's eating, pooping, putting a little weight back on the foot. AND this morning he pulled off his bandage. The incision looks really good.

Day Five Postop

.....Another half day at work. He sooo doesn't like to be left alone. I cooked a ham yesterday and he ate some of that this morning. Swelling has gone down, but again this morning he is not putting weight on that foot!! Shew, I'm ready to see huge steps FORWARD in this recovery process.....So I come home this afternoon, still no go on the dog food. Our evening outing was way too eventful. At the time I didn't realize that he just didn't WANT to go back in the house, but on the second step he stopped. I nudged. His front left leg goes between the second and third step!!He couldn't get out. William's not home yet. So somewhere I found the strength to hold his rear in up with my right hand and pull the front in out with my left. Needless to say I pulled a shoulder muscle on that one. So here we are sitting on the sidewalk waiting for daddy to get home....what a night. On the plus side the swelling is almost gone!

Day Four Postop

Half day at work. Gave him a sedative. Hope that helped. Up until today WIlliam has been taking Razz out. Now that he's at work, I'm taking over. I was nervous this morning because Razz seems to still be a little wobbly. We did very well this morning and afternoon. He slept today from 12:30 until 6:30 which was our next outing. He did not want to put any weight on that side this evening. He did not eat much at all today.....

Day Three Postop

Still not eating that great. Although he did have another bowel movement this morning. We haven't seem to have any problem in that department. Still a little wobbly on the steps. Swelling on the hock is still bad. Ate good this evening. Still doing ice packs.

Day Two Postop

Not eating very good this morning. There's lot of swelling around the ankle and foot. I'm using ice packs for 15 minutes three to four times a day. We are using a sling to help him walk and go up and down steps.
He ate better this evening. Swelling is still bad around hock (ankle) and bruising is a little worse.

The Day After Surgery

Very excited and nervous about picking my big boy up today. I know we have a long couple of months ahead of us. I just wanted make sure things go as smoothly as possible. One thing that really bothers me is the small CRACK at the bottom of the first cut on the tibia. They did not see it until they rolled him into radiolgy after closing him up. Although they assured me it would heal, they said the first few days are critical.

And the ride home was a nightmare. Make sure ESPECAILLY if you have a drive ahead of you, that you get a SUV or SOMETHING that you can ride in the back of with your dog to keep him off his feet. We have a Sport Trac with a campershell. He stood up for over an hour off and on. My nerves were shot!!!

We got home that evening around six. He could not get up the steps by his self at all. William and Charlie carried him up. He was hungry. He did not eat for them at all. I controlled his amount the first night because I didn't want him getting sick. He did poop and pee as soon as he got home.

Surgery Day

I was very nervous. Courtney, my student, called me first thing in the morning. He was scheduled to go in at 10am. They do not allow visitation the day of surgery. Finally at three, Courtney called again to let me know he was out and doing good. I was ready to go get him and bring him home.....

First Day at NCSU

Between the students and surgeon, Razz had a complete examination. Our student was not able to detect the torn CCL, but to her defense....small girl, BIG DOG, and that's what the teaching school is all about. Anyway after a couple of hours we had our game plan. Like I said earlier, there they perform TTO's and I thought they did TTA's. I was nervous because I had not had the chance to research TTO's yet. Not that it would have mattered alot because there is almost nothing out there showing other dogs recovering from this type of surgery. That is the main reason I am posting about Razz. Maybe it will help someone else. I was shown the TPLO and TTA. Then next the TTO, which is a combination of the two. I met one surgeon, but another actually performed the procedure. I was told at NCSU they do about 200 or so a year and have been doing this surgery there for four years....

A little Pre-TTo History

Razz is our 150lb, four year old, English Mastiff who injured is CCL on March 24th 2010. Mostly he is laid back, BUT he, like alot of other large breeds, loves to do these little five minute sprints when he feels good. Maybe like, one a day. And because he's torn a ligament before, I figured this was kinda like last time. No running, lots of rest, and in a couple of weeks he'd be good as new. NOT this time. I took him in to see our primary vet, who performed the drawer test and immediately knew it was a torn CCL. He referred us to an orthopedic specialist in Virgina. They did TPLO's, but did not accept Care Credit. The estimate I received was 3,000 to 4,000. There was no way I could handle all that and I didn't want to use a credit care and be charged interest. Then I heard about NCSU Vet School. They did take Care Credit and did TTA's....or so I misunderstood!!! TTO's was there surgery of choose and gave me an estimate of 2,800 to 3,600. Which hey, when your pinching, anything helps. So we got the referral to NCSU and an appointment of May 5th for an exam. If they get a positive on the drawer test they schedule surgery the next day......