An Update on Duke

Duke is home from his surgery.  He came home last Saturday.  Overall, he’s doing fairly well.

The surgery was mostly a success.  Dr. S. was able to get about 95% of the tumor.  The rest of it was growing into his vena cava, and removing it would have been too risky. 

The pathology report on the tumor came back.  It is cancerous.  Apparently, everyone except me was expecting this.  I thought it was going to be a benign mass because I seem to excel at denial whenever anyone is sick.  It’s a slow-growing tumor, and Duke is an older dog.  There’s a chance he’ll develop Cushing’s symptoms again.  There’s also a chance that he’ll live out the rest of his life without problems from what’s left of the tumor. 

Dr. S was great about calling with updates about Duke.  She called at least twice a day, even after hours, to let us know how he was doing.  She also let me know that Dr. M2 would be taking over Duke’s care on Friday.  I’ve seen Dr. M2 in the lobby before when Emma was going almost monthly for bloodwork.  Dr. M2 always seemed to talk to the dogs first, then the people and would get down on the floor with the dogs.  So it seemed like she was very caring.  She was also great about calling us with updates about Duke.  Both vets commented on how good Duke’s appetite was, which made us happy since eating is Duke’s favorite thing in the world. 

We brought Duke home on Saturday.  The incision is quite a bit larger than I thought it would be, and his feet were a little swollen.  Dr. M2 told us to massage Duke’s feet to help with the swelling.  Duke seems to enjoy his foot massages, and the swelling has gone down significantly.  His activity is extremely limited for a few weeks, and he’s still having some trouble getting up, so they fitted him with a Help 'em Up harness.  It was expensive, but that thing is a lifesaver!  It’s so much easier on him and us when we use that.  I’m planning to do a more in-depth post on the harness and a few other things soon, but if you have a dog with mobility issues, I highly recommend a Help 'em Up harness.  I usually can’t lift Duke on my own, but I’m able to with the harness.

Right now, there’s a lot of lifting Duke up.  We have to stand him up and get him to move around several times a day to help prevent blood clots.  The medications he’s on cause excessive thirst, so there are extra bathroom trips and changing out his puppy pads since he’s not quite back to his usual excellent etiquette.   He does seem to be getting a little stronger and seems to go a little faster and farther every time we take him out.

Nick and I have been taking turns sleeping out in the living room with Duke since he seems to need a bathroom trip or a puppy pad change every few hours.  We’re exhausted!  It has been over twelve years since we’ve had a dog recovering from major surgery, and we’re definitely feeling the difference between lack of sleep in your 20s versus lack of sleep in your very late 30s.

Duke is on several medications, which he gets in Pill Pockets or cheese, so he’s happy to take the pills.  He’s on pain medication, anti-coagulants (blood clots are a big concern after this surgery), steroids, and a few other medications.   The steroids are because it takes some time for the other adrenal gland to start functioning after the surgery, which pushes them into Addison’s Disease.  The steroid dose will be tapered over months, and there will be bloodwork to determine when and how.

Dr. V. started Duke on the steroids but has said that Dr. M. should be able to take over managing the medication.  I’ve talked to Dr. M., and he agrees with me that it seems hopeful that getting 95 percent of the tumor was good enough to stop the Cushing’s Disease since bloodwork is showing that Duke does need to be on steroids.  Obviously, we may not know for sure for a while, but I’ll take hope where I can find it. 

Howard has been Duke’s self-appointed caregiver, companion, and massaging pillow.  Howard adores Duke and has barely left his side since he came home.  I wasn’t able to get a picture of it, but yesterday, Duke was sleeping with his chin resting on Howard.  It was so sweet!  There’s some thought that cat purrs may promote healing, so as long as Howard doesn’t seem to be bothering Duke, we’re happy to let him stay with him.

Duke’s follow-up with Dr. S is in a couple of weeks, and we should know this week when Dr. M. will want to see him for medication management. 

Now we’re just hoping for a speedy recovery and that what’s left of the tumor doesn’t grow at all.