Holding onto hope!

Good Morning Everyone! Bandit is doing amazingly well….much to our relief! We received a call yesterday morning at 9AM from the Doctor, she said Bandit is up and doing pawsome and much to their disbelief he was getting up on his own, hopping around and even went outside to go pee. It felt as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders and some prayers were answered. My Husband & I went and picked him about 10:30AM while my Mom came up to sit with Aust. When he seen us he couldn’t hop fast enough, I sat down by him and he just buried his head into my chest, all the while wagging his tail….well enough of that he says as he made his way to the door as if he was telling me time to hit the road. Matt & I weren’t as shocked to see him as I thought we might had been and I think the reason why was because of the Tripawds site being so helpful in preparing us for the road ahead….THANK YOU! One thing did kind of hurt my feeling while at the office though…2 of the 3 Vets came out and you could tell by the way they looked at us that they very much disapproved and were disappointed by our decision to go ahead with the amputation (I must be grateful however they did a great job on his surgery and have always taken great care of our animals) and although I can see their concerns I was not about to put Bandit down because of the pain in his paw when he had so much life left in him yet. On the other hand the newest younger Vet on their team I believe was for it and you could tell she was happy to see him doing so great and that she supported our decision. Like she said, “he wasn’t using it anymore anyways and it had cancer, so why not remove it” that was good to hear. Getting him into the truck was easy but when we got home it was a bit harder to figure out how to get him out, it’s not like we could just grab him because of all the stitches and you don’t want to hurt him. Eventually we just carried the new ramp Matt had built for the of the front house over and he hopped his way down with our help. Once we got in the house Austin (still not feeling good but I already checked dogs can’t get H1N1) went and laid next to him ontop of all the blankets laying around. You could tell Bandit was just as relieved to be home, as we all were to have him home. Grama even had a suprise care package on the kitchen table for him…some natural dog treats, a stuffed teddybear and a ruff wear dog harness…she sure is a great Grama! For the most part he was just his normal self just not running around as much. He’d jump up and bark if he heard something, hop from the living back into the kitchen and wanted to be part of everything like always. Because we live out in the country the only time we ever put a lease on Bandit is to go for a walk on the road or into town. So when I clipped the lease on Bandit automatically he must have thought oh it’s time for a walk which I didn’t realize he’d think until he started dragging me down the driveway and out toward our normal walking path. I had to stop him and try to get him to come back home telling him nope no walk today…of course he just kept turning his head from side to side like what is going on…funny! I eventually had to take the lease off so he’d understand we weren’t going on a walk today…he was bummed. Another obstacle is he never goes to the bathroom in the yard so trying to get him not to take a hike into the woods proves to be another problem for us. We hover over him and he looks at us like “really guys just give me some space”, as if we are driving him nuts. He did enjoy his chicken soup for supper and you could sure tell he was hungry he even wanted to eat Wally’s (our lil Golden puppy). Wally also is very happy Bandit is home but Bandit isn’t as happy to see him considering the little guy makes him a bit nervous with all his puppy energy and his curious nature.  He’s wanting to chew the stitches out for Bandit and pull the pain patches off of Bandit’s back…guess we’ll keep Wally occupied and away for a few days…much to Bandit’s relief I’m sure. I slept with him on the floor last night all the while checking on him and getting up to go check on Austin, today I am a bit tired but I actually feel better today than I have for the last 3 weeks. This morning he was whinning at 6:15AM to go outside so I put on my duds and headed out with him. I let go of his collar to see if he’d go pee and just like that he was on run…happy he can see in the dark and I can’t, pretty sure I looked like the one missing a leg tripping in the woods…ughh! I’d get right next to him and again he’d take off, this too don’t suprise me because ever since he was a puppy if you even looked his direction when he was wanting to do his biz (#2) he’d take off and go find a different spot, guess he don’t like people to watching him…lol! Well I do think he went to the bathroom but then again all I could see was somewhat of his silhouette, then he came hopping back over by me and as we walked back to the house he did stop to pee. For now he’s back on the blankets taking a morning nap, probably wondering when’s lunch. I asked Matt last night do you think we made the right decision and his answer was yes, as for me, yes I do as well. It came down to euthanasia or amputation and I am pretty sure Bandit has some good days left in him yet! We still need to work on his weight that’s forsure but we’ll get there! Thank you to everyone on this site for your comforting words and help and especially to Rene & Jim (and of course Jerry) for giving someone like us a place to find some hope!  Love, Bandit, Misty & family

~ by band09 on October 21, 2009 .