Over the last few days, Hudson has improved and his personality is back. I kind of forgot about the whole stubborn part of his personality though. He wants to do everything by himself, which he isn’t ready for. I’ve had to block off the stairs, since he seems to think he needs to climb them. His remaining back leg isn’t strong enough for anything more than the three steps down to our backyard.
Tony and I put his sling on him last night and assisted him up the stairs, thinking that might take care of his desire to climb them. He struggled all the way up, then took a twenty minute nap at the top of the stairs to recuperate. Coming down was not fun. Hudson hasn’t yet learned to redistribute/rebalance his weight for coming down. It was a nerve wracking experience for all of us, and we had hoped that would curb his interest in stairs. Not so much. I stopped him so many times today from going up that I lost count.
It was really nice in Littleton today, weather wise, so we all went and sat on the new deck while I worked on my laptop. Initially, Hudson laid in the grass and just enjoyed being outside.
All too soon, though, that wasn’t enough. I had to get up constantly to stop Hudson from trying to wrestle with Porter in the grass. I had to stop him from trying to walk on the rocks bordering the lawn. He can’t yet balance on the uneven terrain, but sure thinks he should try. Eventually, I made all the dogs come up on the deck and shut the gate to prevent them from returning to the yard. Then Hudson wanted to lie on the wood. I brought out his bed, a pet cot, and even just a plain sheet for him to lie on. He wasn’t having it. Eventually, we went back inside to save my sanity.
We removed Hudson’s Fentanyl patch last night, per the vet’s instructions. His personality came back in spades, but unfortunately, he seems to have gained phantom limb pains as well. I don’t know if the Fentanyl was blocking these sensations before, or if it was just coincidence that they began the day after the patch came off.
Since phantom limb pain is a psychological problem, pain meds can’t help. I did a little research on the issue to not only better understand what he was experiencing, but also to find ways to perhaps help him deal with it. What I discovered is that about 80% of human amputees report having pain and sensations in their missing limb. Sensations are often described as burning, aching, tingling, or feeling the missing limb is “crushed” or somehow sitting at an uncomfortable position. There are many theories as to why this occurs, but the bottom line is the pain is real. The most current theory is that the brain has an idea of what the body looks like, a “map” that it refers to. After amputation, the map in the brain is still a whole body, as it takes time for the brain to re-map to the new body configuration. Because the brain is expecting input from the missing limb and not getting any, it sends sort of a panic signal that is interpreted as pain.
I found several things we can try, but most of them require waiting until the incision is healed.
• Gentle massage
• Warm soaks or heating pads
• Mild exercise – just to increase circulation
• Wrap in a snug, but not confining bandage
Even though Hudson’s incision has another week before the sutures are removed, I’ve been gently massaging the muscle above the surgical site in an attempt to help. Hudson doesn’t seem to mind me doing it, and it really decreases his anxiety. I’ve also noticed that some of the twitching of the muscle stops almost right away, and completely stops after a few moments.
Dr. Stubbs called this afternoon with the results of the pathology. Hudson’s tumor was indeed Osteosarcoma. (There was a perhaps 1% chance that it wouldn’t be, so I was prepared for that answer.) It isn’t an aggressive strain, but it isn’t one of the easier ones either. Hudson will be going in for suture removal on Monday, June 20th and will have his first chemotherapy session then as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment