Lily's Lovely Limbs

Two days before Lily’s surgery, her arm began to swell up tremendously. It expanded so much that the would she had opened up again. We had to wrap it up and stop the bleeding. It was also getting very red and infected-looking around the wound. I was so worried that I took her in the next morning, a day before her surgery.

The doctor kept Lily for the day and told me that her day was very booked, but she would try to get to her surgery if she could. She took Lily back before giving me a chance to reassure her and say goodbye. I thought about her the whole day at work. She told me to call back later in the afternoon to check if she had gotten to Lily or not. If she didn’t I could pick her up and bring her back for her intended surgery time the next morning. Before I had a chance to call, they called my mom to let her know that they did get to Lily’s surgery and that we could come by and see her Tuesday. On Tuesday, they let me take Lily home due to how well she was recovering. The doctor told me that as soon as she walked in to see Lily that morning, her whole back end was wagging at her.

On Tuesday, they let me take Lily home due to how well she was recovering. The doctor told me that as soon as she walked in to see Lily that morning, her whole back end was wagging at her. She started talking to Lily and told her that she couldn’t go home until she ate. She placed the food down and turned around. She said the food was gone by the time she turned back around.

The vet informed me of how her surgery went and then finally let me see her. She put her on the floor and allowed her to walk to me. It was miraculous! She already was able to walk short distances on her 3 beautiful legs. She spent the whole day with her Nana while I was in class. My mom was sending me videos and pictures all day. Lily was happy and healthy! I had to reassure her that she still looked beautiful.

The day before Lily’s surgery I had a good friend of mine take pictures of her so that I could document her before and after her transformation. I can’t wait until her incision is healed to take the after shots.

 

This is my favorite picture from the shoot. Lily is running to get her favorite ball that I threw for her. 

Lily has been home for 3 days now. She is healing beautifully. Her first night she began to feel a little discomfort, but we made it through. The next day she was able to potty outside on her own without falling over. Today was a big day for her. She walked all the way from the front of our street to our house with only a few short breaks all by herself. Our house is the 5th house on our street! She also jumped up on the couch on her own to sit in her favorite window. I can’t wait to see her run!

Today we took Lily to the vet for her consult to discuss her options. I went in thinking I was okay with my decision and that everything was going to work out, but making the call was more difficult that I anticipated. The doctor informed us that Lily’s form of cancer had moved into her lymph nodes. I asked if there was a way to take the lymph node that it had invaded out, but she told us that all of the lymph nodes are connected like a computer network. It has already reached all of them; however it chooses to stay in this one above her arm. The doctor told us that the reason that the wound in her arm isn’t healing is due to the cancer in her cells. It won’t allow it to heal. Please excuse the gory picture.

She also told us that she is going to take the arm as far up as possible so that the time it take to come back is either eliminated or prolonged. Since it is in her lymph nodes the cancer will, unfortunately, come back. It can come back like it did this time, as a wound on her skin, or it can come back with a vengeance and attack her spleen or liver. I pray that doesn’t happen! Her surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, May 3, 2016. They sent a blood test off this morning to see how far it had spread. The doctor told us that she was wagging her tail the entire time she took the blood.

When we brought her in the first time, the doctor told us not to worry until she did. . . She told us today that she was worried. I pray that God take pity on my sweet angel. I’m not quite ready to give her up yet. 

Lily is a shih-tzu that I got from the parking lot of a Target shopping center in December of 2009. I begged my parents to let me get her for hours and finally they allowed me to. She was a quirky little puppy. When she was little she would lay in my hair and roll around in it. She also liked to nibble and bite ears, toes, and fingers. Lily quickly learned that her ball was her favorite toy that she could never part with. She picked up how to play fetch very quickly! She was a lively little squirt!

In March of 2016 Lily jumped off of my parents’ bed and hurt her front paw pretty badly. She wouldn’t put any pressure on it. It was so swollen that she couldn’t straighten it. We thought she had broken it. We took my poor gimpy puppy to the vet where they x-rayed her arm. Instead of finding a broken bone they found a small abscess where they thought something had bitten her and caused and infection that we were unaware of. I knew that another animal couldn’t have bitten her because she is taken out on a leash every day and is always with someone. The vet lanced the infection and gave her a pink cast to wear for a few days. We gave her the prescribed antibiotics and after about a week and a half the infection was gone. She proceeded to be the crazy, weird, and fun puppy she is.

About a month later I noticed that her arm looked abnormally large. I showed my husband and he seemed alarmed. I immediately called my mom to ask for her advice. She told me to take Lily to the vet as soon as I could. I took Lily to the vet the very next morning. The vet told me she wasn’t sure why the infection had come back and that she would take a look at it again. I had to leave my poor sick puppy there all day. When my mom picked her up that afternoon the doctor informed her that the would didn’t look like an infection, so she sent a biopsy off to be checked out. About 5 days later she called with the results. On April 27, 2016 I got the news that my sweet, loving pup had a form of skin cancer that had spread to the muscle in her front arm.

After a lot of research and many tears we decided that amputation will be the best option for her at this point. It is a very scary decision to make, but we want what is best for our fur baby.