Lucy the Wrinkle Monster

2009-06-30T07:38:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I haven't updated in such a long time! I've been so incredibly busy with working two jobs and trying to find a new apartment.

Lucy is doing amazing :) I have some videos of her running! Check them out!

chasing a bun-bun (bunny):

very shaking video of her running
(and me almost trampling her):

short video of her walking/hopping:

2009-06-15T17:14:00.000-07:00

Lucy went to the vet today to have her Fentanyol pain patch removed. It was stapled in, so we had to have it removed at the vet here in Welland, Ontario. It went very well! She didn't even flinch at any point and it only took about 30 seconds! I was very proud of her.

She has an appointment on Thursday the 25th at 2PM to have the other staples (holding the incision closed) removed. The vet said it should go just as easily/quickly and she shouldn't need any sedatives. I was worried they might knock her out to remove them, but he said she should be okay! Yay!

Lucy is STILL doing great. No troubles today. She is still acting like herself even though her super strong pain medication has worn off. She is still on her other tablet pain/inflammatory medication, which is good.

So overall, all is great in the land of the wrinkle monster tripod dog. :) I have more photos and one video for you guys.

The video is of my brother Dan and her. It is so cute :

and some more photos:

and one last photo from late last night. I had to ice her incision down and she was all shivery so I put a blanket on her and she fell asleep:

Home!

2009-06-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

Goosy and I are home!

We got home last night around 9pm. The trip went very well - she slept about 3/4 of the way. She's doing great today. Walking/running around absolutely fine. She is acting almost 100% normal! I am so amazed by how well she is doing :D I really couldn't ask for more. Oh, except for her to poop! She hasn't pooped since the night before the surgery (wednesday)...but she wasn't eating at all until yesterday. So I expect a poop very soon, hopefully. The pain medication has probably made her pretty constipated.

Here are a few more pictures...and also, I took a video of her at the vet. This was about 16 hours after the surgery and she still was highly medicated. Looking at this video now kind of makes me cringe because of how terribly she is bouncing around. Compared to now, that looks scary! Anyways, here is the video. (also, the fluid/bloody discharge falling from her leg is pretty gross at the beginning)

I'm going to get a video of her walking later today when I take her for a tiny stroll up the street. I'll post it later tonight.

Here are the pictures

Icing her down with a bag of frozen broccoli:

Oh! I also completely forgot to mention another amazing person that helped with Lucy. Harry's dad not only gave Lucy a card with $100 in it...BUT, he also made her a customized sling! He works for a company that makes special slings and braces and stuff for NFL players! He specially made this sling to go around Lucy's tummy to help her getting around. It is so SO helpful getting her up the stairs. Harry and his family are the most amazing people I have ever met.

Another shot of the sling. The inner material (white part) is amazing! It's this super soft, but really rubbery, sticky sort of material. Basically it sticks right to her skin and gets an awesome grip on it so it doesn't slip off her belly. The vet said we could use a towel around her belly for support, but this is much, much better!

Oh, and Harry's parents brought her over the toy as well!

Here is her awake looking like she has no legs.

The incredibly roomy backseat.

The chauffeur.

And the wonderful storm we went through.

2009-06-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

lucy came home this afternoon!

everything went so great...she is doing so amazingly. she walks almost 100% fine..she'd even be able to run if I let her! she's passed out next to me right now, still pretty out of it from the medication.

the stumbles/spills that she has taken have mostly been because of the pain killers she is on. but aside from that, she is doing SO WELL.

She is able to pee completely normally (she hasn't pooped yet, but I'm sure she'd be okay)...so no troubles in that department. She hasn't been licking the incision at all, which is great. We have a lampshade for her and also a diaper thing to cover the wound in case it is leaking - this morning there was a fair amount of fluid dripping from part of the stitches, but the dr. said that it was a good sign and completely normal. She hasn't been dripping or bleeding at all since we've been home.

I am so happy she is doing so well. We're heading back to Canada tomorrow. She will probably sleep for most of the trip home. She is on pain medication as well as antibiotics for 2 weeks. She'll have the stitches taken out in 2 weeks..and the fentanyol patch (pain patch which is stapled to her side) removed on Monday.

I'd say that after the stitches are removed, she'll pretty much be back to normal. Thank you all for your support...I truly appreciate every ounce of it. Lucy too. Here are some pictures from the vet.

2009-06-11T21:39:00.000-07:00

tiny update;

lucy's surgery today went very well. her xrays and bloodwork all came back good. the surgery was about 2 hours and dr. humphries said everything went good! we will be visiting her in the morning. I am BEYOND excited to see her. I borrowed a bambam* to sleep with for the night so I wouldn't get lonely! anyways, I will post more tomorrow! hopefully with some tripod picture goodness.

*a bambam:

2009-06-08T22:19:00.000-07:00

I am pretty anxious about the estimate the vet is giving us tomorrow (today). I hope it is something that we can afford. I'll post an update about the estimation right after we find out.

And as promised, here is a picture of harley and lucy:

2009-06-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

I totally forgot to get pictures of Lucy at the vet, but I snapped a few of Lucy and the dogs here...I'll take some more over the next few days.

pebbles, bam and lucy:

bam and lucy:

2009-06-06T11:06:00.000-07:00

hey everyone!

just got back from the vet. we have an amputation scheduled for thursday.

the doctor says that things look pretty promising! it looks as though everything can be cleanly removed with the amputation. she will have more xrays done on her chest (both sides, and view from bottom) to ensure nothing weird is going on in her body. if something does come up on the xrays, then we will reconsider the amputation and see exactly what is taking place. if there is more bad stuff going on in the rest of her body, then we will see what our options are and go from there. but basically, from the other xrays that have been done, it looks as though it is just in her leg.

so yeah! it is good news that something can be done. the vet is really great and I am very happy that something will be taken care of so soon! as far as the costs go, he is calling us on tuesday with an estimate and see what kind of deal he can arrange. I am hoping that it is similar to the estimate the other vet gave me ($2,200CAD) because that is fairly affordable with what we have raised and saved. :)

thank you ALL so much. I will post pictures later today!

2009-06-01T15:10:00.001-07:00

Hey guys!

First off, I want to thank everyone for their donations. You guys have been unbelievably generous and I truly appreciate every cent from the bottom of my heart. Lucy too! The donations should put quite a dent into her medical bills.

Only 4 days left until Lucy and I leave! We are incredibly excited/anxious to get down to PA. We'll definitely take lots of pictures of her while and post them to the blog. I can't wait to see her reaction to seeing Harry, Lauren and their three fur-babies and also her reaction to seeing Jordan and Dave again! Ah, I love how excited she gets when she sees people she hasn't seen in a long time. She turns into a wiggle monster :)

I figured I'd just do a tiny update and post a picture as well. Thank you all again for checking the blog and for donating/passing the link along.

PA trip, Blog stuff and donations.

2009-05-29T13:35:00.001-07:00

So far the blog is doing really well, along with the donations!

so far we have at least a quarter of what we need and are well on our way to having enough money to help lucy and pay for her medical bills and aftercare.

As for me,

I'll be heading up to PA on the 5th to meet Becky and Lucy to go to the vet's office with them the morning of the 6th and also with some fazed pals for some drinks.

Beers are on me for all in attendance regardless if you donated or not.

Even though it's kind of a stressful journey, I will be happy to see becky and lucy
and geodave and to meet a few fazers i've always wanted to meet and a few ones i've
never really talked to but would definitely like to party down with.

we'll post pics next week of lucy and maybe some random internet creeps :)

2009-05-28T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

It's been pretty crazy around here since my last post so I wasn't able to post an entry sooner.

Lucy has been doing well. She's acting like the same healthy dog I know and love, which has been great. We have most of the travel arrangements organized and we are looking forward to visiting beautiful Pennsylvania. Lucy especially, since she loves long car rides.

Our good friend Dave, who Lucy adores, will be driving us down to Downington, PA. I am so thankful he is helping out on that end (thanks Dave!), as our other options were kind of complicated and expensive. Having the travel stuff simplified takes a lot of stress off the whole situation.

I took a few pictures of her leg tonight and seeing them in picture form makes me feel really upset with myself. I wish I had taken care of this sooner. But anyways, I'll post them as URLs so they aren't ruining the cuteness on this page:

-The patch where the vet shaved to do the fine needle aspirates.
-The fatty mass hanging from the skin around the hock.
-Width of mass on her thigh area.

And to end off on a cute note...
Lucy listening and watching a thunderstorm earlier today:

2009-05-20T14:38:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone!

Today has been a lazy day for Lucy and I. We've been watching Turner and Hooch together. She does that cute head tilt whenever Hooch barks.

So since this is the first post of the blog I should introduce myself. My name is Becky and I am currently living in the Niagara Region in Ontario, Canada. My boyfriend, Jordan, lives near Greensboro in North Carolina. Lucy and I were living in NC with Jordan for about 5 months, but Lucy and I had to move back to Canada about two months ago because of those silly immigration rules.

Since Lucy and I have been back we have been trying to get back into the groove of our normal life - settling into a home, looking for a job, playing with other dogs, chasing bunnies and squirrels - the usual stuff! But since we have been back it has been difficult for the both of us. It's been tough for me trying to find work in this awful economic situation. But it has been especially tough for Lucy because of her health.

About a month ago I took Lucy in to the Vet to get a lump/mass on her leg checked out. We had blood work, an xray and a fine needle aspirate done. And from all of the results, it looks as though Lucy has cancer. Our vet says that it looks like an infiltrative lipoma mass. Hearing the vet tell me that made my heart break into a million pieces. It by far was the worst news I could ever hear, especially considering the financial situation I am stuck in right now.

Lucy has been by my side for over four years now and she has given me so much in that short period of time. From the day I saw her, I fell in love with her and my life has never been the same since then. She means everything to me.

Right now we have been making arrangements through a friend, Harry, in West Chester Pennsylvania, to see his Veterinarian, Dr. Humphries. He might be able to help Lucy and I with the necessary surgeries at a lower cost. We have an appointment to visit Dr. Humphries at the West Chester Veterinary Medical Center on June 6th to see what he can do for us.

Even if Dr. Humphries can help us with lowering the costs of the surgery needed, we still might need to raise funds for Lucy. I will be setting up a paypal donation button on the blog that will go towards Lucy's medical bills. Any size donation would be greatly appreciated.

Jordan and I will be updating the blog frequently so please check back soon!