Learning on three paws

It has almost been three weeks since we first bought our Hazel home after her right front leg amputation due to an osteosarcoma tumor.

All I can really say is….WOW!

Dogs are truly amazing creatures in every way. Every minute, hour, day we noticed Hazel getting more comfortable with moving around on 3 legs. She has over come obstacles we thought were mile stones, and not to mention how fast her body is healing from quite the incision.

During this emotional roller coaster ride for our baby girl she has made us 100% sure that she will be able to be her playful, stubborn self after what she has gone through. From not allowing her to play fetch, or run while she had her tumor to not thinking she ever would be able to, to at last playing small amounts of her favorite game with her just so she can prove to herself that she STILL can.

It was difficult to keep Hazel on bed rest in order to heal that first week and a half as we noticed she was becoming depressed. We know that it could have been due to the medication she was on that was making her feel sedated, and the fact that she just had a major surgery and was just pooped from it all, but it was bothering us to the point where we had to think about what Hazel loves to do. That’s it, Hazel needs to go outside and outside Hazel went.

Hazel loves nothing but to be outside in her big yard, chomping on a new tennis ball. This we knew would cheer her right up, and it did. After a little bit of playing with some dog toys in the house, seeing her pounce at her human dad we knew she was on the right track to being herself again.

We found that putting a shirt on her worked best than the cone.

 

Hazel lounging with her brother Brady.

It has been 5 days since Hazel’s first chemo treatment. If you guys did not know we enrolled Hazel into a chemotherapy clinical study at Tufts University in Mass. This study is to try a new combination of chemotherapy drugs that could potentially help people/children with an osteo cancer and other animals. Hazel is given a common chemo drug for 5 session with three weeks in between and then may or may not be chosen for the clinical trial drug.

Hazel is responding to her first treatment quite well. She has had no nausea and no change in appetite. She hasn’t showed any signs of being lethargic either. Hazel will have her second session the day before Thanksgiving with some blood drawing in between.

At this point I can say that we did the best thing we could for Hazel and her situation no matter how much stress and heart ache it caused us. There is nothing like seeing your dog recovery so quickly back to her old self wanting to play and being able to run again!

I apologize for not keeping up with the blog as often as I wished I could!

Life has been very busy these days! Until next time fellow Tripods!!

 

 

Love Hazel and Fam <3

Today was the day we were longing for the moment we dropped Hazel off at Tufts Cummins School of Veterinary Medicine in Mass. It had felt like the longest 5 days without her home with us. Everyday we continued to remind ourselves that we made the right decision, and she was in the best possible place.

After attending a family member’s wedding in New Hampshire the night before, we made our trek through the New England states to pick her up after a night of laughter and love but never forgetting that just the next morning we get to see our Hazel.

Standing in the line waiting to check into the lobby I felt my throat getting choked up and tears pricking my eyes just knowing in a few minutes she finally gets to see us, and come home. Somehow I managed to take a deep breath and hold back my emotions while we checked in where the woman said, “Hazel?, oh I was just back there with the dogs, she is such a sweetheart” and smiled genuinely at us. I remember looking at Ian and smiling because we know damn well that Hazel stole many hearts during her stay at Tufts.

We were brought into an exam room after waiting a mere 3 minutes where the student, Andrew who had cared for Hazel during her stay updated us on how she was doing and gave us some follow up care instructions. When Andrew left the room to retrieve Hazel, I could no longer hold it in and I burst into tears. I didn’t know what to expect when we saw Hazel and had so many emotions like excitement, nervousness, happiness and a  feeling that we have already begun this new chapter in Hazel’s life, but now we experience the journey of it.

We heard the taps of her paws coming closer to the door and Hazel bursts through the door, a new member of the tripawd community looking lovely with her plastic cone. She hopped right to us with so much excitement and a big smile on her face. I know that moment made her day and she was ready to go home when she stood right at the exam exit door. We got to examine her incision which looks gnarly, but was reassured by Andrew when he pointed out some spots that he said will go away and her swelling would go down. Andrew stated that she was doing very well learning to walk with three legs and at times would even pull him when he took her out for short walks. Not to mention he said that Hazel was a cuddlier and his favorite patient during her stay.

I stuck my face in her cone when she gave me the kisses I looked forward too the past 5 days. After seeing Hazel in the exam room and we both knew in the moment that we definitely made the right choice and that she would bounce back in no time to run and play.

We removed her cone, strapped on her brand new harness thanks to Tripawds for the RuffWear recommendation where she graciously walked through the busy Sunday morning lobby and even stopped to say hello and sniff someone looking pets.

We got her into the car, with a little time and on we went, back to CT to our home with our Hazel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Knowing we needed to have a comfy recovery area for Hazel we transformed 4 dog beds with pillows and comfy blankets to create a KING SIZED dog bed. Shortly after she got into the house our set up became Hazel approved where she has been lounging the rest of the day.

Hazel and I resting together after a very long morning.

 

This will conclude my very first blog post on our Hazel’s Journey page. I appreciate everyone taking the time to read my post and future posts. I think that this is a great idea to journal our journey with Hazel as well for this can be very scary and new but seriously who doesn’t love doggy success stories???

Hazel loves her blog too,