3 weeks after surgery today was D Day. Diagnosis Day that is. After the long wait its the best news we could have received for this situation. Bogart has low grade Chondrosarcoma. The surgeon says that they checked the lymph node and its clean so there is a good chance we got it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We will need to talk with Dr Fox (the oncologist) on Monday to determine our next steps but for now we are all sitting around with smiles on our faces. We now know that we made the right decision.
Hello! Again I’m happy to report I haven’t had any updates because there is nothing to update!!!! We hit our 2 week ampuversary and we started weening Bogart off the meds and he comes back a little more each day. We finally gave him a bath, he needed one so badly. He almost seemed embarrassed 🙂 We dog sat again for Couy, its amazing to see them happy to be together but realize that Bogart has to take it easy.
Bogart really doesnt make the best mouse pad.
Today we had his Oncology checkup appointment. We were supposed to get the results from the biopsy. We have been dreading the call every time the phone rings….and today we were going to face the news. But there was no news. Results are not in yet. Its a weird feeling. Dr Fox said its not normal for the decalcification to take this long, maybe that’s a good thing?? Maybe its not cancer! Tony and I are handling this differently. I’m telling myself it is Osteosarcoma (because statistics say it is) and I will be surprised if its anything else, where Tony is starting off with its the 1% chance of something else. Dr Fox is going to try to get the results by Wednesday this week. Otherwise the visit was great. Bogart practically ran into the hospital – apparently he doesn’t remember what happened to him last time. He wanted to play with every dog he came in contact with. He is walking, almost running so good and those slick floors didn’t stop him. We were down a couple more pounds, 12 total (remember a whole leg had to be at least 6). The bottom of Bogart’s incision has opened so they had the surgeons restitch the bottom, which will still put him on light duty for another week or so. We talked a long time with Mike, he is Dr Fox nurse. We enjoy talking with him, he has a tough job. I can tell he respects our plans of treatment. He started his career later in life and it really has Tony thinking about his career. With all this going on with Bogart and Tony not working he has really been thinking about doing something with animals – maybe a vet tech? Mike said the money is not great, but they don’t do it for the money. Its something to think about. I also read about Massage for dogs, since I recently finished my schooling for massage therapy I think I need to check out more for dogs. Maybe Tony and I could help all kinds of dogs!
On our way to his appt, Bogart loves Nico
Since Bogart tends to come alive when we take him out and about we are planning on making our first ‘fun’ outing tomorrow night. Farmers market here we come. Bogart always got lots of attention at the market but NOW, I bet he steals the show 🙂
I suppose its a good thing I haven’t had a post in a few days. It means nothing bad has happened. Also means nothing great. But today was a GOOD day. We went to the parade this morning and left Bogart home alone.
Nico at the parade and her first sucker!
When we got back he was waiting for us at the door – this is a first post amp. The one thing that his been bothering us is that he has not been eating. But today that all changed. We did take him off one of his meds and we don’t know if that is why he is now eating but we are going to continue. We had stopped for ice cream cones after the parade. Bogart ate most of mine 🙂 Then he ate Nico’s left over lunch. Then guess what he did?? Bogart and Tony took a nap.
Tony and Bogart sleeping (both snoring). Notice Bogarts smile 🙂
Then he came out with me and laid at the pool. It was a good day, that’s what Tony and I kept repeating. He’s his old self. Then for supper he was in my way every move i made – again a first post amp.
Bogart right at my feet in the kitchen just waiting for something to ‘drop’
He then sat under Nico waiting for any droppings from supper and finished her leftovers. Guess we don’t have to worry about him not eating. Today was a good day.
Paranoid Parents, that’s what you can call us. Saturday morning was a continuation of the week, he still didn’t want to eat and he was panting heavy. So we decided to take him to our vet just to make sure everything was OK. He spent all morning just laying Tony’s chair. See below (and yes that is a smile)
Bogart laying in dads recliner
Nico giving Bogart some lovin
We called the vet and they would squeeze us in. Now we go to leave for the vet and guess what? Bogart comes alive! Even tried to jump in the Jeep like he used to. Typical kid. They are sick until you get to the doctors office. We get to the vet clinic and they are waiting for him. They are all amazed at how well he is doing already. The tech weighed him, she was concerned he had lost 10 lbs in the past two weeks. I did have to remind her that he lost a whole leg so that might have something to do with it 🙂 (you have to keep your sense of humor). Bogart is hopping around to any one in the waiting room and he leans up against them, its his way of forcing them to pet him. He is his old self. We saw the vet, all is good. She said he probably is going through some depression and we can up his Tramadol (we realized we weren’t giving him enough – bad parents).
So then we went to Grandma and Grandpa Oliver’s – again he is the old Bogart. Eating anything they give him, even played with his favorite ball. We came home, time for more Tramadol! and then Bogart was back to the laying around and not eating. But then we go outside and hes alive again. He even tried to get in the pool with Nico. We have just decided that he is a Drama King and likes being spoiled. While in Ames Uncle John hand fed him, my guess he thinks I’m going to do that. WRONG. So he will eat eventually. And we will up his Tramadol and see how Sunday goes.
Bogart is watching over Nico in the pool
My SuperDog!!! This is one of the t-shirts i made for him
Thank you for all the comments. Its so nice to hear from others that have been through this and I cant wait to be able to pay it forward someday.
This must be the point when you have some regrets about your decisions to amputate. We had some issues with Bogart not wanting to move, usually later at night. Of course Dr Kieves had mentioned pneumonia so that’s always in the back of your head. I mean right now everything is in your head. Wednesday night he started panting real heavy (a sign we were told to look for with pneumonia) so of course i was paranoid. Thank goodness for this website and people on the chat room late at night. They said that sometimes pain can cause heavy panting. We decided that if he was not better on Thursday Tony would take him back to get checked out. So then Thursday came and Bogart seemed to be doing better but then he stopped eating. Wouldn’t touch his food. Tony called Dr Kieves and she said to bring him in Friday if still not eating. So since everything is a doubt right now its hard to distinguish between ‘normal’ and ‘not normal’. I mean its 100 degrees outside, I don’t want to eat either. So then we were in stress mode again. Tony took Bogart out one last time Thursday night and guess what? He saw his friend Couy and went running to him. He acted like nothing was wrong. HMMM… Tony came in the house and said ‘ i think he’s faking it’. So is Bogart being a drama King? We do know that he played us for 2 years acting like he couldn’t jump into the truck and we were lifting him in each time until one day we found out he really could jump. So is he doing that now? Is he laying ALL DAY on the couch because we are babying him? I also wonder if he loves going outside but then overdoes it just a tad and regrets it later. Time for bed Mr Bogart! Friday morning seemed to be a different boy. He ate good today, took 3 walks up and down the street. Tony removed his bandage today and really its not as bad as i was expecting. Still a little seroma but the bruising is almost gone. He has had a long day, because of the rain finally it cooled off so he has been laying on the deck a lot today. We have put him to bed early. It seems we are on this roller coaster of emotions, sometimes we think we did the right thing and other times its hard to tell yourself that. But if he keeps this up we are on a road to recovery. Oh and his hair is already starting to grow back. So now we are officially through week 1. Glad its over and wish we were at the end of week 2, except….biopsy results. They haven’t come back yet and I’m dreading that call. I’m setting myself up for the worst and then it can only get better from there right? Good Night from the Oliver’s, i think this is the first time I’m going to bed on time since Mr. B’s diagnosis.
Nico wearing the ‘Cone of Shame’Bogart with his bandages off
I got a kiss today!! Bogart actually gave me 3 kisses this morning before I left for work today. Ahhh maybe he will forgive me? I think today was pretty laid back day. Tony says that Bogart slept a lot. To the point he was snoring and moaning while chasing whatever he chases in his dreams.
I went to the store to get more canned food. Bogart is now being spoiled with soft food. I got him these rubber booties. I cant help but laugh at him but they are giving him traction on our hardwood floors, keep the hot pavement cool and hopefully help prevent him from scratching his incision.
Ames called today to check on him. They were a little concerned about him not wanting to get up last night. We will keep a watch on him. It may be he just needs more pain meds or we need to push him to get up and move a little more.
John called tonight (i think we will call him Uncle John aka Bogarts first assigned Student) I think Bogart misses him. Maybe Uncle John misses Bogart? Its nice to have someone check up and see how he is doing and make sure we dont have any questions or concerns. It makes me feel better knowing we have someone that cares and can help.
Well I think we have had a long week and will all turn in early.
First full day home with Bogart. Tony had his schedule of when to give pills, feed, ice pack and heat pack. He had a lot on his plate along with taking care of a 19 month old. Glad I’m going to work! Of course I worried about Bogart all night since he had been bleeding the night before but when Tony went to get him out of his kennel he hopped right up and was wagging his tail. Bogart did a lot of lounging around today. I think Tony had a little melt down moment. Bogart has always loved to lay on the couch but he couldnt get up so Tony had to lift him up. It made his sad that he had to help him. The good news is that Bogart wants to get up just cant right now. I said we need to worry when he doesnt have the desire to get up on the couch. Oh and Tony finally got a kiss from Bogart. Im still waiting….
Grandma and Grandpa Oliver came over to see Bogart. Grandpa is having a hard time with this. And really so is Nico. She knows he has an ouchy and she really acts up when we are trying to help him. Its almost like we brought a new baby home and she is jealous. She is jealous of all the attention and toys that Bogart is getting. She wants to ride him so bad. We need to watch how we react to her. I’m afraid we respond loudly and quickly when she trying to play with Bogart more aggressively than she should. So Nico went home with Grandma and Grandpa so they were not so upset by being around Bogie. Bogart also got a get well card from Grandma and Grandpa Stewart!
I got home and Bogart was laying in the drive way soaking up the sun while Tony cleaned out the garage. He seemed to be doing pretty good. He has no desire to try stairs yet so we keep having to carry him in and out of the house. He got his pain patch removed tonight. He seems really down but I did see a little of the old Bogart. Nico and Bogart have a supper ritual. She ‘stashes’ her supper on the sides of her highchair so he can get them when she is done. He didnt finish his dinner but he was ready to get the ‘stash’!! I also got him a big comfy bed to lay on. He is so spoiled.
Bogart eating Nico’s ‘stash’ from supper. Check out Bogart’s shirt. This is his Tri-Pawd shirt i made for him.
The rest of the night we just chilled. When it was time for bed he made me a little nervous again. He had no desire to get up. Wouldn’t lift his head and would not get up. We had to lift him to his legs and then he walked but VERY slowly into his kennel. We even tried a treat to coerce him into his kennel. He didn’t care. Another moment when you doubt your decision.
Yeah Bogart gets to come home! Of course I’m already panicked! I feel like a first time mom. At some point on the trip home either in the car or after we got home we let him wander the yard he busted open his incision and i see BLOOD. Dr Kieves was great and had dressed the incision because she knew i was uncomfortable to see it and now its bloody. We are home 5 minutes and already calling the hospital. They said he should be fine and just to watch to make sure that it doesn’t pull open more or continue to bleed. We gave Bogart all his night medicines and gave him his food and he ate every bit (pills included). He really doesn’t want to lay down and relax, which is also stressing me out. We put the shirt i made for him on, it really seems to work well covering the incision and the Fentanyl Patch. The T-Shirt reads Tri-‘Paw’d with three paw prints 🙂 Grandma and Grandpa brought Nico home later. She was so excited to see Bogart. She see’s his shaved neck and thinks that’s his ouchy. Then she was back to normal, trying to ride him like a horse. Its going to be hard to keep her off of him for a while.
Bogart and the ‘cone of shame’
It was time for Bogart to go out for bathroom break. Then we saw all the neighbors outside. Of course they are all dog owners themselves and found this very hard. There was a lot of tears by all the neighbors but everyone was very impressed on how well he was getting around. I just have this feeling that Bogart is special. He seems to just touch peoples hearts with just his look and his ‘lean’. At release we found out that Bogart has Seroma which is a fluid accumulation under this skin so now he needs heat packs twice a day to reduce the fluid and cold packs 3 times a day to reduce swelling. So he got his heat pack and was ready for bed. Tony was exhausted and went to bed early. Of course i couldn’t sleep. I’m still paranoid hes going to bleed all night. But off to bed. Guess what? I woke up this morning and Bogart was just fine. He was wagging his tail waiting to get out of the kennel. The one thing I’m still waiting for is a kiss from Bogart. He wags his tail but he is still not giving kisses. I will keep waiting. Then i was off to work. Hope Tony does OK taking care of Bogart and Nico today!
Hello! I’m just getting this site going and feel that i have a lot of catching up to do! Here is Bogart’s back story.
Sometime this spring Tony and I noticed a bulge on Bogart’s left front leg at the joint. It doesn’t seem to bother him, so we don’t think anything of it. He is still running 2-3 miles a day with Tony.
June 06 2012 – Grandma Oliver took Bogart to see Dr Bunn. She thought the bulge on Bogart’s leg just didn’t look right. Tony and I didn’t even think about the appointment that day because we never thought anything was wrong. Dr Bunn took x-rays of Bogart’s leg and said it looked like Bogart had bone cancer and he wanted us to go see the surgeon at IVS.
Here is Bogarts two fron legs, you can see the bulge in the left leg.
June 08 2012 – Tony and Grandma Oliver took Bogart to see the surgeon. He reviewed the x-rays and agreed that it looked like cancer. The only way to validate if it was cancer and what kind was to biopsy the bone. This would also help give us a life expectancy. He recommended amputation to eliminate the pain in the leg. The cost at IVS was $14,000 for amputation and chemo therapy. The surgeon also told us that he was leaving the practice in one week and did not feel comfortable doing the surgery since he would not be around if Bogart had any complications after surgery and suggested we go have him looked at Ames Veterinary College.
Tony and I did some research on the Internet. Our main focus was to not cause Bogart any additional pain in the time he had left. We agreed that we did not want to do the biopsy. Bogart would have to be put under anesthesia and the biopsy would weaken his bone. We also agreed we would not do chemo because this only gave a few additional months – it is not a cure. We did however want to go to Ames and have x-rays of his chest. The most common bone cancer osteocarcinoma usually moves to the lungs fast. We wanted to know if it had moved to his lungs and that would help judge how progressed the cancer was. By this time we have all done A LOT of crying. We love Bogart so much and he is such a good dog we can’t imagine not having him around. Plus he does so well with Nico and she LOVES him. At this point Bogart starts favoring the leg a little more. We think it’s partly because now the vets have been manipulating and pressing on the tumor.
June 14 2012 – We have an appointment today with Dr Fox the oncologist at Ames Veterinary College. We met her nurse Mike and her student Justin. We talk to Mike for a while he is very nice. He tells us that he has a 3 legged dog. He makes a statement that will stay with me. He says this is an emotional thing and they know that ‘when we see you here it means they are your family and you want to help’. Justin performs the initial review of Bogart. He then takes him out to see Dr Fox. Dr Fox and Justin come back in to talk about our options. Dr Fox states that they would like to do another x-ray of his leg. They are concerned that the tumor has also affected the Ulna bone and it is not common for bone cancer to job to the next bone. We also went through the possibilities of diagnosis and the possible treatments. Tony and I stuck to our plan that we just wanted the chest x-ray and now the additional x-ray of the leg. We also agreed that if possible Dr Fox would try to use ultra sound to see if she could find a crack in the tumor that she could stick a needle in to do a biopsy without using the drill. We left Bogart in the doctor’s hands and went to lunch. Dr Fox called back and was ready to review results. His chest x-ray came back clean, although they tell you that don’t mean there are not micro cancer cells in the chest. They also found that Bogart’s Ulna bone had a fracture. She thinks it was caused by the tumor growing so large it pressed against the Ulna and eventually caused the fracture. (We wonder if all the doctors manipulating the leg didn’t cause the fracture.) With this she recommended amputation. She said it was only a matter of time before the larger bone with the tumor broke and then amputation would be necessary. Then Dr Fox said something else. This doesn’t look like the typical bone cancer. It’s possible Chondrocarcinoma which is a slow growing cancer or maybe it’s not even cancer at all. Why did she have to say this and get our hopes up? And what about the amputation? We had agreed we would not cause him any extra pain. Dr Fox gave us a lot to think about but stated we were on a short time frame. If we don’t decide soon to do the procedure then all the lab work and x-rays already completed would have to be done again prior to surgery (this = more $). Until we decided the vet recommended keeping his physical activity low so as not to stress the leg. Dr Fox sent us an email with all the possible scenarios and estimated fees associated with treatment. Ames fees were a fraction of IVS.
We were dog sitting for the neighbors so now we had to make sure Couy and Bogart did not get to active
Dogsitting for the neighbors. Bogart and Couy love to play
Tony and I know felt confused. We originally knew what are plans would be. Now his leg is already fractured, and he may not have cancer?? Now what?? We felt like our only options were to have his leg amputated or put him down. And who could put him down? There was nothing wrong with him. If it wasn’t for a small bulge on his leg you would not know anything was wrong with him. We did a lot of thinking that weekend. My fear would be that I would be home alone and Bogart’s leg would break. I would have Nico and panic because I can’t lift a 100 pound dog. Then of course it would be an emergency visit in Des Moines which would end up costing us more money that if we would have just done the surgery earlier. Then what quality of life would Bogart have if we didn’t. We were fearful of him running down the stairs, getting out of the jeep. We wouldn’t throw the ball for fear his leg would break. That’s no fun for him. Even on the trip home we were leaning towards the amputation. But we still had a lot of thinking to do. I spent the evening researching amputation on line. Everything said the same thing: it’s a low risk surgery, no owners regretted the surgery y and all the dogs bounced right back. Dogs are truly three legged dogs with a spare. Everything said it’s the owner that has a problem not the dog. I watched this video of a golden retriever and his puppy friend. Just days after surgery they were running around playing. By day 17 it was like the dog had always had three legs. Tony and I were again on the same page, we had to do amputation and soon. Leaving the Vet I texted a family friend to ask about family pictures. She called back immediately and we set them up for that next Tuesday.
June 19 2012 – Family pictures at grandma and grandpas. Joelle took our pictures and they turned out great! Of course it was hot today – in the 80’s by 9am. Bogart had some much fun on the farm he ran all around the timber area and the prairie grass It was hard to imagine that he had something wrong with him.
Bogart sittin pretty
Dad and Bogart
June 20 2012 – After yesterdays adventure on the farm Bogart was limping. We hated to see him in pain but it made it easier to validate in our mind that there was something wrong. Today we had an appointment with the Surgeons at Iowa State University Vet hospital. Dr Kieves and Dr Krebs along with Student Doctor John reviewed Bogart’s file and preformed another exam on him. Bogart was weighed in at 95 lbs and all vitals were good. Today was the first day that Bogart was getting anxious with all the visits to the strange people and i could tell he just wanted to go home. After review the doctors came back in to talk to us. They stated of course they do not know what the tumor is so they have to list all possibilities but of course its cancer, cancer, cancer, other, other. We went through the options that Dr Fox had stated before. Tony and I were still struggling with taking his leg, he still didn’t act like he was in much pain, what if it really is the ‘other’ diagnosis. Would we regret taking a good leg? Well the truth is it wasn’t a good leg. It has a large tumor and a fracture. So in reality all roads lead to amputation. We could try other things first but that would just cost us more money and Bogart more pain. I have done research online about amputation. I didn’t find one story where the owner regretted the surgery. That helped. I’m amazed at how the doctors seem to care so much. It even seems they tear up sometimes. How can they deal with all the pain they see? It takes a special person that’s for sure. Ok so we decided for the surgery – it will be tomorrow. They said we could take Bogart home that night if we wanted but he would have to be back up by 7:30 the next morning. We decided to leave him there, he was already getting anxious with all the trips so we thought it would be best. Apparently the student doctors are assigned a pet. John was ours 🙂 We tried to tell him any of Bogarts idiosyncrasies but there’s to many to tell. We told him don’t call the kennel a kennel, he wont go in. Tell him to go to bed and he will walk right in. Just love him!
June 21 2012 – Today is surgery day. John calls us around 7:30 in the morning said Bogart was doing good. There were two surgeries scheduled before Bogart so they thought he would go in later morning early afternoon. I was stressed about the surgery all day. What if this wasn’t the right decision. What if he didn’t come out of the anesthesia? What if he lost too much blood?? I could go on and on. Then the doctors never called and it seemed like forever. Finally at 3:30 pm I made Tony call for an update. He was in surgery right then. Then at 5:30 Tony called Bogart was out of surgery and did good. What a relief! I cried for a moment and then felt so much better to know it was over. We went to meeting that night, everyone wanted to know how he was doing, I have been keeping them updated through my face book page. Of course we hear the same from everyone. He’s so young, he’s such a good dog, he’s so pretty. We know all of these things 🙂 John called around 8:30pm said that Bogart was doing good but was still pretty drugged and wasn’t moving much but they would get him up moving in the morning.
June 22 2012 – We were told that we could come visit Bogie so we went to see him Friday night. We had talked to Nico about Bogart having an ouchy and that he needed lots of kisses. Not sure how else to prepare a 19 month old? I wasn’t sure she would even realize whats going on. They took us into a visitor room and they went to go get Bogie. When I heard them coming I turned my head. I just couldn’t look. I finally took a quick glance and it wasn’t that bad. They had him bandaged pretty good nothing for me to see. Bogart came in and laid on the blankets on the floor. We just showered him with love. Nico noticed some of the areas that had been shaved. She thinks that’s his ouchy. Dr Kieves came in to talk with us. She showed us a picture of Bogart that morning. He had rolled onto his back for her to pet his tummy first thing in the morning. He must have been feeling good. He wasn’t feeling the greatest and didn’t want to eat. Dr Kieves remembered that I had said Bogart loves cat food, so guess what he got for breakfast! Then John made meatballs from canned dog food for lunch and dinner. Dr Kieves was so good with Bogart and Nico! Nico took over her on call phone pretending to play doctor. I could tell that Bogart was pretty drugged and that his muscles were very sore. He would not move his neck to look at you. When it was time to leave John and help got Bogart standing up and used towels to help steady him. At that moment Bogart regurgitated. Apparently he had been doing this since surgery. Bogart was not really anxious to try to start walking. I think he found it easier to just have John slide him on the slick floor. Maybe Bogart will go home tomorrow or Sunday?
Pet my bellyNico giving love to Bogart
June 23 2012 – Got a call from John 7:30am Bogart is still regurgitating every time he stands up and they are concerned he has not gone to the bathroom. Oops. We forgot to tell them he will NOT go to the bathroom on a leash, never has and I don’t know why. We had John remove the leash (its not like Bogart was going to run away) and immediately he hoped around in his circle found the right place and went to the bathroom. There problem 2 solved. Now for problem 1. Originally we thought it was because of all the pain medications. So they decided to start taking him off the pain meds. Our 8pm checkup call found that everything was still the same. Bogart was still regurgitating. The new thought is that while he was in surgery he regurgitated some and it sat in his esophagus during the surgery and so it irritated the esophagus. Dr Kieves is going to try some new meds for stomach and reflux. They are also going to take him off food and water.
June 24 2012 – Got our morning call from John 🙂 Bogart’s still getting sick. Dr Kieves called us and explained the treatment plan. She asked if we had any questions. I just want to know if I should be worried. I kind of felt guilty that I was not worrying much. I knew he was in such good hands and I felt more comfortable with him there than him home with me. We went to see Bogart today. Grandma and Grandpa Oliver also come, they want to get the ‘shock’ over with. When we get there Bogart had just started to get an IV drug so we had to wait for him. When they brought him in he seemed worse to me that he did 24 hours after surgery. He seemed very out of it. Possible just tired. They say that the ICU room is no different that human hospital. They bother them every hour and Bogart also hops up anytime someone walks by. We give him lots more love. He has a yellow mesh shirt on today so we can see more of the incision. Nico is bothered by this. She doesn’t directly show it but she begins to act up the minute Bogart is there and tries to move around. At this point you have to find humor in things. I notice that Bogart tends to hop around in circles. Hope he goes straight someday 🙂 We also weighed him. He was down 6lbs, so how much do you think the leg weighed? Of course grandpa doesn’t pay attention to our conversations and tried to offer Bogart a t.r.e.a.t we all yelled because Bogart was supposed to be off food. But this really perked Bogart up. I have video of him hoping down the hall way like nothing happened. This made me feel good. He was going to be ok. If we could just figure out why he is getting sick maybe he can come home. I think maybe he’s just homesick? I know he does love John, i could tell. But still not as much as mom and dad. 8pm checkup call – Bogart hasn’t gotten sick since morning!! Maybe if he keeps this up he gets to come home.
Nico with the 3 legged dog statue
June 25 2012 – We sent Nico to grandma Stewart’s today in hopes that we would get the call to go get Bogart. The call came! Tony called me at work around noon and said that he kept his food down and he could go home! I took off work early and we went to get our boy. We met with John and another student doctor first. They went through Bogart’s discharge papers. 7 drugs he is on! and mostly for his stomach. Its so confusing Some have to be taken on empty stomach some while eating and some prior to eating but one of them cant be taken anytime around all the others geesh. then he has hot and cold compresses. While waiting for Dr Kieves we started looking at a book in the waiting room ( i wonder if they planted it there for us) it was 100 things to do with a golden retriever. So many of them were Bogart. So does that mean hes not that special? I think he is…but i think all goldens are pretty special. Dr Kieves came out and gave us discharge instructions and then went to get our boy. He was doing so good. She had put new dressing on the incision because she knew i didn’t want to see it. His shaved hair bothers me just as much as the wound. He looks like the monster from Monsters Inc that gets shaved down because he touches a human sock. Bogart drew a little group to say goodbye. He really makes friends wherever he goes. And we are so grateful for everyone that loved him while we couldn’t. We got him in the car and we were on our way home to start our new journey!
