Day 11 Post-Amp: Our New “Normal”

Howdy!

I definitely eased off on the blogging once we hit the one-week mark — which wasn’t a conscious choice, but probably a good one! We spent a lot of time loving on Molly over the past few days and it has been really nice to start to adjust to our new “normal.”

Everything has been progressing well with Molly’s recovery. The amputation site looks great for 11 days post-op, she’s walking comfortably (and quickly!) on her own, appetite is normal, consequently BMs are normal too, still sleeping a lot but most of the grogginess is gone, and the swelling in her ears has gone down! She’s on quite a cocktail of pills, especially since we had the allergy issue, so I’ll be excited when she doesn’t need Rimadyl, Tramadol, Gabapentin, Benadryl, and Glucosamine. Whew! As a person who hardly ever has Advil, this many meds makes me twitchy but I know they are making Molls much more comfortable. And as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we nailed her pain pill schedule so that she is never hurting (as far as we can tell) but she isn’t a complete zombie either. For any others who are struggling with that challenge, here’s where we are at and have been for the past 4-5 days:
Prescribed: 75mg Rimadyl twice a day, 100mg Tramadol 2-3 times a day, 100mg Gabapentin every 8 hours.
Current dosage schedule: Rimadyl and Tramadol with breakfast, Gabapentin around 1-2pm when we come home for our lunch and her potty break, Rimadyl and Tramadol with dinner, Gabapentin at 10pm before we go to bed.
She’s also on 50mg of Benadryl twice a day for her allergies/swollen ears, which she gets at breakfast and dinner; and we’re back to her regular pre-amp glucosamine, which is one chew each at breakfast and dinner.
Every dog is obviously different (temperament, recovery, weight, etc.) and we made sure to clear our plan with our vet. Happy to have figured out something that works so well!

We’re looking forward to her appointment on Monday for suture removal and the first round of chemo. I’m slightly nervous about how she will react to the treatment but overall, just ready to start slowing the growth of the nodules in her lungs and trachea. She’s not showing any signs of discomfort but it still nags at me to know it’s just sitting there, so unwelcome in our sweet girl’s body.

The other thing we’re ready for: planning our road trip to the beach! We will be taking Molly to the west coast at the end of the summer so she can experience the ocean. She’s such a water dog that we know she’ll go bananas over the beach, so we’re really excited to get those plans on the books for late August.

Time for a beer and bedtime for our pack. Night!

Love,
Kirby, Jordan, & Molly