Sloane my boy 'O

The morning went fairly normal, for my post amputation  pup we prepared our nutritious breakfast, vitamin supplements and borage of pain killers and antibiotics. As I was doing this notice that there was a little more swelling in his pubic area and the bruising had moved a little as well. When I picked him up after work from doggie day care at his Veterinary office Dr. Weber came out and let me know that the swelling was keeping him from having a normal urine expulsion but not to worry this will pass shortly, I can put a little ice pack on it to keep the swelling at bay and all should go back to normal in no time. It is a little graphic but I thought I would show a photo of the bruising and swelling for others to see what is in the realm of normal. It is a blessing to be able to drop him off at the Vet office every day so all questions are always answered for us…..and we always come with questions it seems.

I should also mention that the day before Dr Weber had me text and E-mail several photos to see what was going on…This was on a Sunday, how fortunate am I that I can consult with an exceptional Veterinary staff 7 days a week and by several methods.

Thank you Dr. Weber

Dari and Sloane

Sloane and I have been cooped up in the house since Thursday, we are both a little stir crazy, there is only so much couch time we can endure. So we decided it was time for a little field trip and figure out how we were going to be getting him into my car for Doggie day care Monday morning.

It took us a few times to get in but we found that  grabbing the harness and with my other arm under his stomach for support  hoisted him in to the FJ, we used the same method to get out at our destination.

The Wilco Farm Store…Yea…. This is  one of his favorite haunts, every one knows Sloane and has been with us through all of our trials thus far. When he entered everyone came around to give my little amp boy loves and snacks and we were able to give them the final diagnostic of the Fibrotic Myopathy. I have a feeling that we over the course of time we will be able to educate more and  more people on this icky condition. So I will have to due further learning to educate myself.

At the store Sloane picked out a large bone, a new  jolly ball, a pig ear and a new box of organic, grain free treats. That he promised he would share with his brother Strom (Great Dane). At home we opened all the new goodies and have been spending time in the yard enjoying a beautiful day in the sun. Ice tea on the table and computer in hand all in all a successful day.

Dari & Sloane

This is a little about how Sloane and I came to be part of the tripod family

Sloane (Doberman) 3 years old, and I lead an active lifestyle. He has been by running, hiking, camping, beach going buddy for almost three years. In April of 2013 he started having an odd gate in his left hind quarters. It presented as flipping his rear leg out as he walked and ran, there was also some swelling on the inner part of his leg. I took him into Newberg Vet Hospital to see Dr Fischer,  he was concerned with how the mass was presenting so he took a tissue aspiration, it came back inconclusive. Next we took a large core sample with results that pointed maybe to Fibrosarcoma, but again not conclusive. Booked and ready for surgery we went in with the thoughts that we would be aggressive if this is a cancer and go from there. Surgery went great leg was sutured beautifully.

Sloane came home and over the corse of the weekend he blew out one stitch (the incision was 12 inches) so one stitch not to bad. I still took him to the vet because there was a little swelling low that was not there before. They decide to keep him and continued to keep him for the next several days. During this time I get a call  and they tell me that he has eaten all of his stitches and the connective tissue. We now are dealing with an open wound that I could put my hand in. I run out and purchase a basket muzzle and he was put on 24 hour watch. About a week later I talked Dr. Fischer  into letting me bring him home at night and drop him off when I went to work in the mornings. When at home he was tied to me by connecting the  muzzle to me all night. There were 3 months of very little sleep. As his leg started to granulate in more and more I started to see this odd movement come back to his gate. My Vet said this is most likely happening because the new tissue granulating in is  tight.

This leads me to think we need to step up or PT work out. There was a time of small change and then one day he had no use of his leg.

We went back in for an appointment to see what was going on now and were told; because of the amount of tissue that was taken and how the granulation of scare tissue grew back in my very sound conformation dog Luxated his Patella. With all the complications thus far he referred me to a specialist. When I met with the new Doctor it was evident that he was brilliant. He was able to deduce many many  things just from our conversation. Half way through the visit I shared Sloans post operation gate while moving. This made him step back, and a new set of words were thrown out Fibrotic Myopathy. Fibrotic Myopathy is an uncommon acquired, disorder which can occurs after muscle contusion that heals primarily by scar tissue.  The whole muscle or part of the muscle is replaced with fibrous connective tissue within the semitendinosus and, occasionally, the quadriceps muscles of the hindleg.  When most or all of the traumatised muscle is replaced by fibrous scar tissue that contracts to an inelastic band, it is termed fibrotic myopathy or muscle contracture. This is a very rare issue known in dogs and when it dose occur most often it is in German Shepherds. I also learned that approximately 90% of non specializing vets will never see this condition. Lucky us to be in such a low percentage group…..hmmm

This was not good news especially since my specialist had never had a case nor had any of the other Doctors that I had been working with. But he took my information and talked with several other surgeons through out the US for a few days. I was presented with several options, to send the original samples to Colorado for further analysis, do the Luxation surgery and hope it is not the Fibrotic Myopathy, wait three months and see if there is a change, amputate. This is such an ugly condition because it can become bilateral, but not often. I decided that he only needed to go under the knife once.  Because there was a high chance after the  fix with in a few months this issue would persist and his patella would re luxate.  I personally spoke with 5 different vets over the course of the next few days and made the big decision…amputation.

This is one of the most emotional decisions I have ever made I am usually not one to cry but I spent several days not doing much else. My boy is my best friend and I love all of him. But I set the date for 7-11-13, when my vet called me at 5:00pm with the update that everything went well but they had to take a little more than originally thought I was relieved it was over and we could start the heeling process. As it turned out the all the muscles were starting to become Fibrotic. So we had our conclusion and the decision made was the best choice for my Sloane boy.  I picked him up that evening and will be his nurse made until he is healed and we can get back out on the trails.

I want to send out a special thanks to all the Vets at Newberg Veterinary Hospital and all of the amazing staff. I could not have made it through this process with out the amazing outpouring of love and support you have all given Sloane and I. From the bottom of my heart thank you.

Dari & Sloane

Two says after amp, not bad.