BHRR’s Potter had some staples put into his leg today to help close up that incision. I AM so touched by how fast the Hospital could take him in and despite my protests, they did not charge me for the visit or staples etc. Thank you from my heart Dr. Liston and your incredible staff! Potter will now be on antibiotics much longer due to how slow he is healing and that he opened up his leg today plus we will remove the staples plus remaining sutures much later than originally planned(this Saturday). He drank about half a bowl full of water at KAH when I brought him back from LAH with me to work. He sure charmed many that crossed his path today! 😀 Now, hoping I can get him to eat. He has lost so much weight. The Vet also mentioned that the Duragesic patch can cause them not to want to eat or drink as much so that was removed today(it was 5 days since I put the last patch on him). Mr. ‘Boxer Boy’ the ‘Potter Man’ is sure keeping me on my toes!

Potter was a BAD MONKEY today and while I was out putting the kids on the bus, he somehow cracked his collar and then rubbed at his incision with the jagged edges and well; I came home to quite the blood bath. I have an appointment to put in a couple of staples later today to see if we can close up part of that incision. We were doing SOOOOOOOOO well too. He only had one small area that was still slightly infected and everything was healing slowly. The Vet is so correct in saying that Boxers heal very very very slowly! He is still not eating or drinking well and since I have come home last night, he has barely had a bite of food and I have yet to see him take some water. He is just losing weight and that is so worrisome. He needs his strength.

The great news is that I managed to get Potter to eat much better on Wednesday, several times and to also drink water on 3 separate occasions. His fever is no longer around 40 degrees yet is still running at a low grade. The bad news is that his leg is infected in a couple of spots. I have added Clavamox to his antibiotic regime and continue to try and keep the area clean and dry yet have found that since a drain was not put in this time; it has been harder plus more difficult on Potter too. So, we are taking things in 12 hour periods right now with his progress. We are still hoping to raise $125.00 to pay off the rest of this one bill. We still have another Vet Bill off $500.00+ to pay off for his X-Rays, BW, FNA, UA, Exam, another Duragesic Pain Patch etc.

If BHRR’s Potter does not begin to eat and drink more by Thursday, I shall be bringing him in. As of Tuesday, he has eaten and drank little; certainly a lot less than when when he first began to eat after his amputation. I shall change his Pain Patch later today and see if that is what is affecting him. I know that as soon as his collar is off to eat; he only wants to go at his stump, the poor thing. He is figuring out how to drink with the collar on yet if he knockes the bowl off; he scares himself and that is a huge set back.

Due to how uncomfortable BHRR’s Potter has been I talked to 2 Vets yesterday in respect to his pain management. It was decided to add 30 mg of Tramadol BID to see if that will help him with his comfort level. He is still getting 50 MG of Deramaxx BID and has the Fentanyl patch. I brought home a new Fentanyl 75 patch to replace his current one either later tonight or on Wednesday. I would like to see him drink a bit more yet he is doing really well otherwise. He has been the very generous recipient of $1,153.00 raised to date for his Vet Bills and we are trying to raise $775.00 to pay off his remaining one Vet Bill by Friday November 27th, 2009. Please consider helping Potter along his Potter’s Path of healing.

BHRR’s Potter had a fairly good night on Friday. He had his first shot of Hydromorphone at 9:50 PM(that last hour was pretty tough on him) and then another shot at almost 3:00 AM on Saturday. At 7:30 AM, he was still not up on his feet; so I took the E-Collar off to get him up and that was the trick! He was up and ready to go outside, had a huge pee, a poop, drank a bit of water and ate a small amount. The one thing that Dr. Liston mentioned that he did this time was that as he was tying off the nerves etc., he shot them with a local anaesthetic to help Potter. The only thing was his almost 40 degree temp. The trauma of the lep ampuation could have caused this yet most likely the histamine being released from the MCT and I called Dr. Liston and it was decided to put him on Benadrly 50 MG BID(he had been given a Benadryl injection for 60 mg during his surgery) for the next 3 days. His Saturday was understandably fitful and he ate a bit more and drank some and continued to pee well. It is taking him a bit, understandably to find his ‘balance’ to go to the bathroom. Sunday saw him still quite uncomfortable and beginning to wish to ‘get’ at the bandage that the Vet had put on his stump and on Sunday night, we removed the bandage(The Vet said when I went to take him home that if Potter got the bandage off within an hour or so post surgery or we took it off within 3 days, all was fine). I am going to be calling the Vet Hospital today to give them an update and to also discuss other pain options for between the Deramaxx and the Duragesic patch, Potter is still very much in some pain. We have now made it past the post – op, 12 hour, 24 hour and 48 hour milestones and we forge forward in making it past the 72 hour milestone right now. Thanks so much to everyone that has donated to date AND we only have $815.00 left to raise by Friday November 27th, 2009 to pay off this bill. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE consider helping us to continue helping Potter along his path to healing. Below is a picture of Potter from November 22nd, shortly after we took his bandage off. HE has been so amazing in allowing me to clean the area etc. It is a lot less swollen than it was and after another very up and down night(from Saturday onward; he did not wish to stay with Sean in the ‘triage’ zone we had set-up) on my bed; we are up and at it for, hopefully an even better Monday for him! There is not one person out there that would not be hardpressed to feel such depth of emotion for Potter as he heals over his amputation. Statistics give him a high probability of having another MCT develop and please keep him in your thoughts, blessings and consider helping him. I will also be discussing with the Vet about chemo/radiation. I wish to additional thank his newest angels for donating a special soft bed and some treats etc. to his Potter’s Path. He really enjoyed getting out to have a wee visit with all of you last night!

BHRR’s Potter – November 22nd, 2009 – 48 hours after leg amputation

By Friday, BHRR’s Potter was running a low grade fever, his WBC was slightly elevated, he had not eaten since Wednesday, the MCT had almost doubled since Wednesday, he was lethargic(and those that know Potter KNOW how energetic and happy he is) and slept all day Thursday PLUS he had lost almost 1 KG(2.2 pounds) since Wednesday night. Potter weighed 27.7 KGs(60.94 pounds) today. I brought him in for his amputation Friday afternoon and his surgery began around 1:00 PM. He was out of surgery by just past 4:30 PM and I brought him home by 7:00 PM. I gave him an injection of Hydromorphone at 9:50 PM for the pain was getting quite strong for him and the goal was to try and get him to last between 9 PM – 10 PM before giving him more Hydro and so he did great. I have another injection that I can give him between 3 AM – 4 AM on Saturday. He is now back in la lal land and I also treated him for shock. His body temp was quite low at the Hospital so when I got him home; lots of towels and blankets from the dryer to help regulate his temperature. He is much better now and our next goal is getting him to the post-12 hour surgery mark. Small milestones one at a time as he moves along his Potter’s Path of healing. We have raised $1,113.00 for his surgery and I put down another $400 today myself and we have only $815.00 to raise by Friday November 27th, 2009 to pay his one Vet Bill. We will also need discuss chemo/raditation requirements etc. Please consider opening up your hearts in helping Potter along his path. I am adding two pictures below of Potter from Friday night. Potter was assessed by 4 Vets who all believed(as I did  myself) that his best chances of survival prognostically was to have his leg amputated. Boxers are prone to MCT’s and they can be very aggressive as this one was in Potter’s case.

BHRR’s Potter – Leg Hind Leg Amputation Due to MCT – November 20th, 2009

BHRR’s presurgical bw has come back and it is fine at this time….sigh of relief. I just talked to my one Vet in respect to his bw. I shall be bringing the X-Ray disc and the FNA slides with me tomorrow and a copy of his bw will be faxed over to Liston Animal Hospital.

UPDATED TOTAL: $1,053.00 raised to date AND $875.00 to be paid off by November 27th, 2009 Please help Potter along his Path to healing!

I just talked to the Vet and BHRR’s Potter is scheduled to go in for surgery tomorrow. As the Vet is in appointments in the AM, his surgery will not be until the afternoon. From talking to the Vet, who has had a lot of experience with mast cells in Boxers; he says that they can be quite aggressive in this breed and though he would wish that the location of the mast cell was lower; at least it is not right up near the hip and it is a back leg. The lower the location of the mast cell on the leg, the more that the Vet will have to work with. Even today, the mast cell was larger than it was yesterday. So, please keep BHRR’s Potter in your thoughts and please please please consider helping us to help him have the best shot at a long quality filled life.

I ended up bringing BHRR’s Potter to the Vet on Wednesday night instead of November 23rd. I had been increasingly concerned about the growth on Potter’s left inner thigh and my suspicions were proven sadly correct. BHRR’s Potter has a Mast Cell Tumour. I have since created Potter’s Path Fundraiser Page for Potter requires a left hind leg amputation to give him a chance of living any quality of life moving forward. 🙁 Time is of the essence here and I am trying to get Potter into the same Vet that amputated BHRR’s Jaxsons left front leg plus shoulder blade on September 25th, 2009. I will be calling him first thing later today(now that we are almost 1:30 AM here) to see if I can get Potter in on Friday November 20th, 2009. We did pre-surgical bw, a FNA, UA and X-rays on Potter to date and his lungs are clear as of now. His weight was 28.4 KG(62.48 pounds) and the Vet says that his heart sounds fine and she thinks Potter might have a condition similar to Postural or Orthostatic hypotension that causes him to feel faint or dizzy and become short of breath from doing something too fast or much in his excitement or stress. I have also added new slides #10-#17 to Potter’s slideshow.

There is much urgency at this time to try and raise enough funds to put down a deposit for BHRR’s Potters surgery. We are trying to come up with between $500 – $750 in just under 24 hours so that we can have his surgery on Friday November 20th. We never dreamed we would be having to do another leg amputation so soon after BHRR’s Jaxson yet here we are and we are desperate to give BHRR’s Potter the best fighting chance possible to not have the cancer spread and for him to lose his life.

Please please please please consider donating to allow us to try and save BHRR’s Potter and allow him to travel along his Potter’s Path freely and without pain.

I just wanted to post that I have an appointment for BHRR’s Potter to see the Vet on November 23rd. I am not liking his difficulty to obtain adquate perfusion of late. When Sean and I recently cut his nails, he went quite blue/purple on us and then at our last BHRR Mini Open House for 2009; Potter had more than one moment that his lips and gums went quite pale. More than one guest at our home was also witness to this. 🙁 I shall also be looking into a growth that we found over the weekend on his left inner thigh. I will update his blog as I know more.