JesseesJourney

Just for reference of size.  Here are the shirts on Jessee, she is at

108lbs right here 🙂

Hi.  Had two of these shirts made a year plus ago.  Jessee wore it once.  It is not to keep warm but more of a comfort shirt and to stop licking etc.  It’s made out of very light stretch swimsuit type fabric. Easy to put on and to take off.  It was custom made for my 110 lb dane, that’s post op.  Before amputation she was 125 lbs just to give you an idea of the fit.  These are a little snug under her remaining front leg.  The colors in my photos do not do it justice.  It’s cute

Sky blue sleeves, and lavender and blue sea creatures.  Will be listing this in the angel exchange section of Tripawds for anyone interested and I will find the second one!!!!

As we are rapidly approaching our 23 month anniversary thought we’d share some Happy Halloween from our house to all the other tripawds out there. Jessee is super tolerant of dressing up so it’s always fun.

Jessee is doing really well.  Gained another 1/2 lb and had a “wet accpuncture” treatment that really seemed to help her legs a lot!!!  Will be doing that again.  We are on chemo trmt #51 tonight.  going strong like a cancer warrior does!  Hope all the other tripawds out there are having good luck also!  Here’s a few others in the house

and last but not least my lovable lion.. Jaymee

Well we are back to having good days again!!!  After getting the night time weird episodes under control (thank you Xanax) and adjusting the diet to whatever Jessee likes, all is good in our world again.  Seems that two 1 mg Xanax and the300 mg Gabapenten does the trick for her.  Has to be given at 5PM together then we don’t seem to have any issues at all.  Which is fantastic for all of us as they are really draining on us and on her I’m sure.  Why after 21 plus months she has decided she does not like her oncology diet, well, who knows.  All I know is that we are down to two meals per day instead of the three she has eaten for the last 10 years.  That’s ok.  And now we do a combination of things.  All super high quality, all balanced nicely and she woofs it down which makes me super proud.  I was chatting with a fellow dane owner the other day.  She has had many Danes over the years, whereas I have only had 2.  She was saying 9 years always seems to be a danger zone for these guys.  She has had some not even make it to 9.  Double digits a very big deal.  Double digits with amputation.. like WOW!  So, once again we are back to enjoying the really good days and they are right now!!  With her lung nodule under control, her eating back on track and these evening episodes stopped, well, life is just pretty darn good.   Below is Jessee on the front porch this morning barking at the geese flying over and letting the neighborhood know she is HERE!  Second photo is of her and Jaymee enjoying a Suckie baby moment.  They’ve been doing that forever!  Hope everyone else is having a good week now also!!!  Never lose hope!  The vets continue to comment about what terrific core strength she still has!!  that’s my baby girl.

Well it has been an interesting couple of weeks.  Thank you for the comments and suggestions.   I discussed all of it with our vet and our oncologist.  The consensus seems to be we don’t know what’s triggering these night time attacks.   It reminds us of Sundowners syndrome.  My father suffered from it towards the end of his life and the symptoms are just so similar.  We are no longer using the Ace or the Trazodone.  Both knock her out to where she can barely walk and becomes extremely disoriented into the next day.  Dead lifting 110lbs is bit much for us especially with three dangly legs.  Tried weighted blanket, made no difference.  Tried a “snoodie” to block out noise, made no difference.  Tried no TV, no difference.  No phones, no difference.  However her episodes are now starting between 7:30 and 8PM every single night.  Chemo nights or not, no difference.  What was working for five nights was two Xanax 1.mg and one gabapaten.  Thought we were onto something and then last night at 11Pm the episode started again.  Heavy panting, unrest, some shaking, really wants to hit Peter (dad) with her front paw.  But the Xanax seems to be the best option for now.  Oh yes, we tried Prozac, no effect.  The chest xray and blood work from the oncology visit last week  were very good.  Lung nodule is staying the same with no spreading shown on the xray and not getting bigger.  However, the oncologist did tell me, Lynda, she is an old dog now.  At ten years and almost two months she would be considered an elderly dane definitely.  And almost 22 months as a tripawd is taking a toll.  She is now having issues with her rear foot.  Both doctors examined it and basically the toes are rubbing together and there is no fat there.  So we are dealing with that too.  She has also decided she will no longer eat her oncology diet.  No matter what adjustments I make to it.  So we are trying to find things she will eat.  Right now it seems to be a combination of freeze dried beef or chicken and a bit of canned Evangers  with some other good stuff I add in there.  She is skipping lunch which is alarming as she has been eating lunch since she was two months old.  So far her weight is maintaining but I’m expecting that to drop.  I’m preparing myself.  I don’t know that cancer is going to win here, actually I don’t think it will.  I think time is against her.  So, as usual we are enjoying every single minute of each day with her for as long as we have.  When speaking with Dr Rizzo she told me we have been very fortunate.  Some people do exactly what we have done and still do not get the extra time that we have gotten so we still feel very very lucky.  Any thoughts or suggestions would be most welcome.  In the meantime, here is Jessee

This is the sore rear foot.

Barking at the dogs on trails behind our house.

Still munches on romaine

Knocked out from her double Xanax.

 

Jessee is now almost 21 months a Tripawd and is a ten year old great dane.  She is on her third battle with cancer, all different types.  We are currently taking an oral chemo that she is tolerating very well and seem to have the lung nodule under control.  However, we have a behavioral issue we are not able to resolve yet.  It’s now happening every night after she has had dinner.  Everything is calm, no strange noises (sometimes a text alert on TV will start it, sometimes not).  All of a sudden she will start panting, shaking and become very aggressive with her from foot.  She attempts to “hit” my husband or myself.  Nothing calms her down.  She has had Xanax, Gabapaten and combination 0f the two.  Neither works consistently.  We try taking a walk, going outside, holding her,  brushing her, attempting to distract her.  Makes no difference.  Recently we decided to try a “knock out” pill Acepromazine 25 mg.  It works.  One night we felt she needed two and it was too much.  One 25 mg seems very effective for the time being.  Fingers crossed.  After taking the pill within about ten minutes panting, shaking stops.  The episode is over and she will go get in one of her two beds and sleep for several hours.  I’m trying to understand what is this.  Our fabulous vet is reaching out within her community of behavior vets to see if they have seen similar behaviors and encouraged me to reach out here to Tripawds forum.  No one else seems to have seen this in Danes before.  Other than these nightly episodes she appears to be doing very well.  Gained another pound.  Eats almost every meal, more picky about lunch.

This was Jessee last night with “dad” in recovery mode from an episode

Would really, really appreciate any feedback from anyone … thanks so much