The adventures of Kylie

I will be updating this more as the days go on, but just wanted to post a quick one today letting others know that Kylie lost her battle to osteosarcoma on Monday July 17, 2017. We are truly heartbroken. It feels like a piece of us is missing.

I will post more and add some awesome pics of her soon. Thank you to everyone who was cheering us on the whole way through this journey & for all your support at the end. It helped immensely.

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I’ve logged on a couple times now with the intent on updating this blog but my heart is still broken and I didn’t even have it in me to pay her a nice tribute yet. There is just so much that’s happened. I can’t believe she’s been gone a month already. Some days are great but others are so hard. I just see her pic with that beautiful doggy smile and I just cry. I want so desperately to hold and kiss that furry face you have no idea!! But now instead she is in a beautiful cedar box on my mantle, as well as inside the necklace I bought that says “always in my heart” and has 3 (not 4) paw prints on it 😉 on the back it says Kylie with 2 hearts around it. We dog sat for Kevin’s sister one weekend a few weeks after Kylie passed. She’s a 3yr old yellow lab named Daisy. Kylie and her got along well, although Daisy can be very hyper (I call her crazy Daisy!) His sister ended up coming back the following weekend instead so we got to keep her a full week. It was so nice having a dog in the house again!! Definitely a different dog, different routines, personality etc. and she’s no Kylie, but still felt nice to hear dog nails on the floor and going for walks etc. I told Kevin one day when I was drying Daisy off after she was wet, “its weird she has 4 legs!” lol Funny what becomes your new normal haha! We were both sad again once we gave Daisy back. Truth be told, I think she was sad too. She got a lot of cuddles and special attention here I’m not sure she gets at home with her busy family & 2 kids. I know we are not ready yet to get another dog, but we definitely know we want another one. Just not yet.

The last days before we had to put her down were tough. We saw the Vet Sat. but couldn’t bring ourselves to put her down then. So we booked the appt booked for Monday at 4pm for the Vet to come to the house. So we had one last weekend to spend with her giving her extra attention, love, cuddles and for everyone who wanted to say goodbye, could do so. I know she wasn’t herself and she was getting worse, but I feel it was good for her too to have the opportunity to be with her family that last weekend before crossing rainbow bridge. A friend of mine I did not see for a few years contacted me that last weekend and offered to do a free photo shoot for us with Kylie. We got some beautiful pics, which we wouldn’t have if we put her down that day in the Vets office on the Saturday. I am in the midst of finalizing the vision I have for the Kylie memorial garden outside. As for inside, we have a white satin pillow with her photo on it (my friend had made) her wooden urn box with her name carved on top and some family pics of the 3 of us hanging in a big frame overtop the urn.
There really is no fitting tribute to her. She was one in a million and it would take a million dollars to spend to honour how much she meant to us. And as you know, doggy chemo is not cheap so we are very broke. Time to save up again. She was worth every penny though. We received a few signs from Kylie in those first couple days but nothing since. Maybe she is busy running around with her friends up there. Maybe she sees we are struggling along but doing OK. Maybe she is being more subtle and we are missing the signs!! 😛 Nonetheless I think we both still feel her around and in our hearts. We still talk about her every single day and then hug & sometimes have a short cry, or a laugh. That dog was friggin funny!! Her personality is not like any other dog I’ve ever met. I know there will never be another Kylie. Never. But I do know we have a lot of love to give and there are other awesome pooches sitting in shelters waiting for their forever home & a family to love them.

Thank you all so much for all your help, advice and support. This site is amazing and I will forever recommend it to anyone I know who might benefit from it. Please keep up the good work. Thank you also to those of you who suggested the Vet come to the house, instead of dragging her to the vet in her condition. I’m so glad our Vet agreed! She got to be at home, in her favourite spot on the couch with me holding her head and Kevin holding her paw. Our Vet was AMAZING with her and we will be forever grateful to her and the whole clinic for all they did for us and for her. I think she was pretty special in their eyes too because they mailed us a card from the animal hospital with all the staff signatures. As well as a donation in her name to a Vet university who does research. So we dropped off 2 dozen donuts to the animal hospital with her photo taped to the inside with a “Thank you for everything! love Kylie” Its the very least we could do. Here are a few from her photo shoot :)This was the day before we had to say our final goodbye.

Well its been a rough couple weeks as Kylie has had a wee set back. She wasn’t wearing her roughwear harness and took a tumble down about 5-6 wooden stairs at my in-laws house. That was the 2nd time in a couple months that she’s done that and after this last time we realized she is not herself, assuming she’s in pain. She was walking slower, not attempting to go up the stairs to bed on her own, not following us around the house and then her appetite in the mornings was declining. Vet is not sure if she’s sprained something or what but back on the Tramadol for a week she went!

In the last couple days she has slowly started to improve and we’re starting to see our girl back to her old self….albeit slowly! Her appetite is quickly returning, which is always a good sign for me since this lab is usually a PIG lol  Today she is also walking around more and showing interest in things rather than just laying there panting. She seems happier and more engaging with us and never a shortage of kisses!!  Maybe she knows its her ampuverary!?! 😀 Actually she does, because I told her!

After such a good check up with the Oncologist last month, I am just not allowing myself to think its the nasty C word back in our lives. It would be so wrong for it to come back with a vengeance and take her other good leg! And chest X rays showed clear! So we are hopeful she just hurt herself & needed time to mend! We are loving every bonus day we get with her!

Once again, (it certainly bears repeating) I cannot thank the AMAZING people on this site for all the advice and support when questions/issues arise! As a worried Fur Mom it means the world to have the reassurance and advice. You’ve made these last 10 months so much easier & less stressful!  Makes me realize that I need to start making time to get on this site more regularly and BE that support person to others as well. Life gets busy and I tend to only post when we have issues and that is not right! I vow to be a better Tripawd member 😉

Chris, Kevin & Kylie xo

p.s. Here is our little sun worshiper working on her tan 😀

We we recently had to repeat Kylie’s x rays after there was a “suspicious” looking area that the Dr. was not convinced was a tumour but needed to be sure.

So a month later, the area on the x ray did not get worse, if anything it looked better! Phew! We met with her Vet oncologist for a follow up & he reviewed the scans, he did a full physical exam on her, listened to her chest really thoroughly,  checked her bones, her muscles, etc. and said her mobility is good, her bones don’t appear to be causing her pain, her chest sounded “excellent” she has good activity level, and in great spirits, which are all good signs!  He was pleased. So we were thrilled! and SO relieved. We were really stressing about those results.

He says with osteosarcoma patients, if there is recurrence, the cancer will choose another bone to invade, or move to the chest, usually the chest. But the closer you get to the one year mark, that’s the tell tale sign for him, to know what the likelihood of recurrence is. He didn’t realize she was almost 9 months post amp. already 🙂

I looked him straight in the eye & said I have a question, it may be a silly one, but is it possible that because we amputated the leg and did the chemo right away, that we could have gotten all the cancer? I was completely surprised when he said Yes.  He says its only about 20-25%, but yes, it does happen.  Well guess what my friends, stats has not always been on my side in life, but in this case I’m so hopeful that we are going to get to keep our girl for a while longer! Literally we treat every day as a bonus day with her. We love her to pieces, spend so much time with her, talk to her, give her little walks, let her play with her friends when we can set it up, give her puppy massages while we watch tv, play hide and seek with her toy, etc. I told my husband if LOVE could cure cancer, then this is the case with our girl.

She will be 10 next week and we’re hoping to get many more months if not years with her. Positive thinking is the way to go!!

 

Well it’s been quite a stressful few days! Kylie finally had her first chest X-rays done since ending her chemo, to check for metastasis.

we admittedly put it off a couple weeks because we just wasn’t ready for the potential devastating news. We just didn’t want to hear it.  You see Kylie has been just amazing! She is just SO happy, energetic and not in pain. What more could we ask for?? More time with her, sure!! But we’re dealing with an aggressive bone cancer here. She turns 10 this summer. So we mentally prepared for bad news.

Both her oncologist and our local Vet agreed the X-rays “look pretty good”   there is a little area that looks suspicious but based on its shape and how it’s framed by the ribs, he is not convinced it’s a tumour so wants to repeat the X-rays in a months time then see him.

So not completely horrible news!! We are so thrilled she seems to be doing alright! ANY more time with her and we’ll take it! Every day is a bonus day! 😄

So the fact we received this news on her 8 month ampuversary I feel is also a great sign!

We celebrated with a nice trip out to the trail where she ran off-leash with her friends! I tried to post a video but it’s too big. Here is a pic of her enjoying some sunshine in her front window. And also a pic of Ms independent caught in the act since she has learned to climb the stairs all by herself lately! 😲 And oh so proud of herself too!

heres to the next 8 months! ❤️

 

 

Well not sure how time has flew by so fast but I guess as the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun! 🙂 That’s what Kylie is doing, living each happy bonus day she gets, to the fullest. Just as we all should be doing. If nothing else this experience has taught us that.

To catch you all up, one month after chemo she had her bloodwork done to see if her liver, kidneys etc. we’re affected by it. The bloodwork was “excellent” according to our Vet. So the oncologist said she was good to start the metacam daily now. She gets it every morning on her food and seems to be feeling great. Her spirits are high, her energy is positive, she just looks happy! She is her spunky funny playful kissing self!

We are getting out for longer walks now that the weather is nice (some days) Well it’s canada afterall. We can have 14C spring like weather one day and 2 days later get 5cm of snow lol She loves the snow but hates the rain, like her Mom 😉

Our walks are getting longer now. We’ve been taking it easy with her so far, not wanting to make her too sore later but then my husband reminded me, she is having the time of her life! So why not try to go a little further & walk a little longer here and there and see how she tolerates it. Well we used to limit her to 1km and now she’s up to almost 1.5km and doesn’t seem to be sore the next day. She’s also met some new neighbourhood dogs now that weather is nicer. Specifically a 16 month old boy named Oliver 😉 We go off leash on a trail near our house & she runs and plays like she used to.  She really likes him & he’s really good with her, like he knows she’s a little special. Just about brought tears to my eyes the first time I saw her running like she used to in her younger 4 legged days. She runs at top speeds and literally runs circles as they chase each other. She sometimes goes too fast and forgets she’s not as agile now & will fall over on her amp side but gets right back up! She is just awesome.

We have to get her chest x Ray done next week & we are scared to death to learn if the cancer has metastasized or not and how badly.  Hoping for the best news possible but with osteosarcoma we realize it’s never really great.

She truly seems to be her old awesome self we’ve known & loved for the last 9yrs, only now she has 3 legs. That’s honestly how it feels. I pray this nasty disease gives us as many more months as possible with her, especially in this amazing state.

P.s the pic is from today during the impromptu puppy party in the field where we met up with some neighbours. Her new boyfriend Oliver is the handsome black & white dude ❤️