Paddys story so far
Well here goes…
Its taken me 3 months to pluck up the courage to write all this down. I guess i’ll start at the beginning…
At the end of July this year we had 2 beautiful hounds, 1 with a slight limp. Paddy is 8yrs old and had started off with a very slight limp. The limp surfaced only after she had been lying down for long periods and looked like just a little stiffness for a few mins then all normal. i confess we didnt take much notice as she was happy, running around at her usual 300mph and eating well. Then one morning she could not bear weight on it so we trundled off to the vets. We were told it looked alot like a cruciate ligament problem and they would take x rays to double check….
The 1st of august i returned home from work to find my other half in tears, the cruciate ligament was actually not a cruciate ligament Problem at all…. The big C had arrived in our house 🙁
To say we were devastated and upset would be putting it mildly. while we were hugging and crying our other doggy Phil came over and put himself between us, broke my heart. Paddy was still at the vets, my other half had taken the news over the phone. I sat home with Phil in the ever so empty house while my other half picked up our doggy.
Decisions had already been made, we knew how healthy and strong she was and knew we had to help her try to fight this. All we knew at this point was that it was some form of bone cancer and her leg could fracture at any point if they didnt amputate. It didnt seem as if we had a decision to make, we had to do it,it was her only option.
The 16th of august i drove the 100 mile journey to the specialist hospital on my own with my baby. She cried in the waiting room and i’m not quite sure how i held it together not to cry myself.
Paddy was at the hospital for 1 week, the vets were concerned about the amount of bruising she had as greyhounds can have clotting issues. It was such a long week, waiting for phone calls and praying she was going to make it. The vets didnt allow us to visit as they think visiting can sometimes stress the dog out more when you have to leave them again.
I cannot explain the wait on the day she came home. My other half went to collect her and it felt like he was gone days, i remember messaging a colleugue and trying to find something to do to stop me going insane!! Then finally she was here, lifted out of the car in her big blue lampshade..
she was woozy and quiet, panting and looking a little lost but finally home.
It was a difficult 2 weeks, she wouldnt eat properly, she doesnt take tablets well (of which she had to take lots every day) and she was unsettled. She could walk and get around very easily and suprisingly quickly.
I was very concerned about how my other dog would react but Phillip was the perfect gentleman, careful around her, never knocking her in the early days…I even found them in the garden a few days after she got home with Paddy leaning on him!
Those 2 weeks were certainly not the easiest and i have to admit to doubting our decision on difficult days but finally we started to see our little paddy peeking out from behind the medication. She started to eat properly and her condition improved hugely. She had lost alot of weight but put it back on well.
We got news form the vets that it was confirmed as osteosarcoma and were given the task of deciding whether to put her thorugh chemotherapy. I found that decision very difficult, but in the end i know my dog and after much consideration of the pro’s and cons we decided against. Paddy is a stressy dog at times and we didnt want her to spend her last months, weeks or years in and out of the vets and possibly have to deal with side effects and the dreaded appetite problems. I understand why others make the decsion for chemo and i really do think its a choice that only the person who knows the dog best can make.
2 months later we took her for her first after-amputation holiday… we had a few days by the sea,with her enjoying some amazing time off lead, running circles around us all and looking so happy and healthy.
to be continued 🙂
