Belle of the Ball

Hoppy, hoppy Easter everyone!  It feels SO good to be back home and with my family again!  I’ll keep this entry short and sweet since Dr. Hadley advised against combining pain pills and social media!!!

I got home early Wednesday morning and let me tell you, I look DAMN good for a tripawd!  I did really well my first day back but had a bit of a rough time on Thursday.  It snowed about 8 inches at my house and when the snow started to harden on Thursday night, it made for a challenging potty call.  My dad took me out and I lost my footing on the hard crusty snow and took a really bad spill.  Luckily, nothing more than my confidence got rocked.  However, it caused me to panic, pant, and tremble at the mere sight of my collar and leash for about 15 hours.  That’s right folks, I avoided going outside like it was the plague!  Eventually with enough praise and encouragement my parents were able to get me out the door Friday afternoon, so my bladder and bowels appreciated that!

My appetite is still excellent, I have a regularly scheduled pill regimen (easily administered with lunch meat), and I my mom and I have started 2 new TV series in our free time!  Time is all we’ve got for the next week and I am SO thankful that my parents were able to adjust their schedules to my recovery needs.

Thanks again for all of the kind words, prayers, thoughts, texts, and phone calls!

Love to you and yours on this Easter Sunday!

Belle

Belle would be VERY disappointed in me if she knew it took me 3 days to update her blog.  My apologies everyone!  The stress of Monday really took a number on me and by the time I got home from work I really just wanted to crawl into bed!

We dropped Belle off with Dr. Hadley at 8 a.m. Monday morning.  There were tears, fears, and lots of hugs for our little one, but at the end of the day we knew she was in the best hands with Dr. Hadley and that it was now up to her and God to get through the surgery.  We left the veterinary office under the “no news is good news premise” so we didn’t actually hear anything until early afternoon when Dr. Hadley called to let us know that the surgery was over and Belle was in recovery.  I could feel the built up tension and anxiety drain from my shoulders when I heard the news!  She mentioned that they would continue to monitor her for blood clots, fluid buildup, infection, in addition to other things and that she would call again later with more updates.

Tuesday morning we got a call that brought me tears of joy.  She was on the move!  Pretty incredible when you consider the fact that she just had her leg removed less than 24 hours ago!  She continued to do well throughout the remainder of the day and Dr. Hadley even called her a “rockstar” when she called for the afternoon update!  When you go through something like this, you know your dog and you know what she is capable of, but sometimes you let that little voice get in your head where you start to wonder if they’ll pull through.  If they have the ability, the fight, the desire to make it happen.  And by golly she did!

This morning we are scheduled to pick her up at 10:30 a.m. providing that the night went well.  I cleaned the main level of our home yesterday and will be getting in set up as our makeshift command center for the next two weeks.  We will eat, breathe, and live in the kitchen…all three of us!  I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared out of my mind to get that first glimpse of what Belle is now going to look like.  I hope that is normal.  It is not that I will love her any less or think that she is not the same beautiful girl she was on four legs, I just think I feel a sense of responsibility for being the one who decided to take that one leg that will now make her “special” for the rest of her life.  As Brandon puts it, “I hope she doesn’t hate us for that”.  In my heart of hearts, I know she won’t.  Her purpose in this life is to be with her family and eat all the meat she can so I know there is no place she would rather be and at the end of the day she knows why we did it!

Below is a picture of the collar I got her yesterday!  Bada$$ three legged girls deserve bada$$ hot pink collars with skulls!

Thanks again to everyone for the continued thoughts and prayers.  They truly have helped me through this when there were times I didn’t think I could make it on my own.  It truly does take a village sometimes!

Love,

Bethany

On the way to the vet…one of my favorites!

Her new collar!

This past weekend my parents, my brother Grizzly, and I all made the trek north to my favorite place…DULUTH!  It was such a awesome time!  We spent the weekend at a wonderful place called Barker’s Island, just over the bridge in Superior.  I must admit, the whole idea of sharing one big house with a bunch of other people and dogs is a very strange concept for me!  Luckily the snowstorm the day before scared most of them away so I didn’t get in too much trouble for being “woofy” as my mom likes to call it!  But it was fun nonetheless and I am so happy that my parents brought me along for the trip!

On Saturday we got to go to my FAVORITE spot on the planet…the Lakewalk!  I was even able to veer off the paved path and go down my secret trail to the water’s (well, technically the ice’s) edge!  It was amazing!  My mom was being a little ridiculous with the pictures taking though!  “Just one more” she’d say…Yeah…Whatever mom!  While we were getting ready to head back to the hotel, I got one of the best surprises ever!  My boyfriend Moose and his mom Tiffany stopped by and I got to sneak in a few kisses.  I swear that dog thinks he is a Great Dane or something…he fears nothing!

My parents scheduled my amputation for next Monday, April 14th so they dubbed the trip to Duluth “My Last Four Paw Hoo-Rah”.  Pretty clever, eh?  We are spending most of this week just being together with one another.  My dad and mom are doing ok with the whole thing and each has their moments throughout the day where they get a little teary eyed.  I do my best to assure them that I am their “tough chick” and that everything will be A-O-K!  I actually get to go out of town on Friday night to attend my Auntie’s baby shower!  Ok, so I didn’t really get an invite, I am just along for the ride because we will be leaving my brother there so he can begin his 2-week vacation.  I am sure he will have a great time being showered with all the love and attention that my Auntie and Uncle will give him.  Hopefully he can get over his irrational fear of cats though…how embarassing!  We are German Shepherds for goodness sake…trained to chase criminals, not cower in front of cats!

So as my surgery approaches, please keep me and my family in your thoughts and/or prayers!  This is going to be one of the toughest things we have ever had to go through, but together we can get through anything!  I just know it!  And thanks again for all the well wishes, prayers, and kind words so far!  They’ve helped my mom more than you know!

Love,

Belle

P.S. I made my mom promise to keep everyone updated on here while I am recovering so stay tuned folks!  Apparently they don’t allow electronic devices in the recovery room…what a buzzkill!

 

Shot gun…it’s how I roll.  And yes, I am 80 lbs and I STILL sit on my mom’s lap sometimes!

On the Lakewalk with my mom and brother!

Me and my boyfriend Moose sharing kisses!

Taking in the view with my dad and brother!

 

Sunrise over Lake Superior…Nothing like it!  Life is GOOD!

Hello Everyone!  My name is Belle and I am a 5 year old female German Shepherd.  Minnesota is my home where I live with my dad, my mom, and my brother from another Shepherd mother, Grizzly.  I enjoy playing snowball with my dad, lounging with my mom, going on the lake walk in Duluth, and last but certainly not least…MEAT.  I LOVE MEAT.  Steak, venison, ground beef, hotdogs…you name it, I eat it!

Last September my dad and mom noticed that I was starting to limp and when it wasn’t getting better, they got concerned and brought me to the vet.  The x-rays revealed that I had a mass growing in my upper left armpit and I had to be referred to Blue Pearl Veterinary Services.  Turns out I had Calcinosis Circumscripta which was basically a bone crystalization growing in my armpit.  Just after Thanksgiving, I went in for surgery with my good friend Dr. Hadley to remove the mass.  It was a long, difficult surgery and Dr. Hadley did her best to remove all of the mass that she could.  Of course, we knew there were no guarantees and so we started the recovery and hoped for the best!  My brother got shipped off to our other father and mother’s for a week and then to our uncle and auntie’s house for a week while dad, mom, and I slept on a mattress in the middle of the kitchen.  For those of you who don’t know me, the bed upstairs is really mine, I just let my parents sleep there!  So I appreciated their kind gesture to sleep in the kitchen with me since I was not allowed to use the stairs in order to get to the bedroom!

Dr. Hadley said that my new normal would probably be a gait that was a little different than I was accustomed to, but that was no big deal to me.  You see, I’m a tough chick, I can hang with the best of them!  But during the last few weeks my mom and dad noticed that my limp was fluctuating between slight and serious depending on the day.  When my mom got home from work last Thursday night she decided that it was time to take me in.  We met my new friend Dr. Feldsien on Friday morning, but unfortunately we received the news that we were dreading to hear.  The Calcinosis Circumscripta was back and the de-bulking that we did in November was not an option this time around.  Therefore, my parents were faced with two difficult choices…either have my front left leg amputated or put me down.

They spent Friday and Saturday doing some major soul searching and internet research and let me tell you, there were lots and lots of tears!  It was all very confusing to me but I did my best to let them know that it was going to be ok!  You see, they love me so much that they wanted to take the time to really weigh out the options and truly consider what was best for me.  After some careful consideration, they came to the conclusion that I am one of the toughest dogs that they have ever known and that if other dogs can make it on three legs then I could too!  They felt as though I deserved the chance to try and that if I was willing to fight the good fight then they would be right there alongside me fighting too.

So, right now we are working to get some of our final questions answered before we go ahead and schedule the surgery to amputate my left leg.  We are hoping to have the procedure within the next 2-3 weeks.  Any suggestions/thoughts/prayers/well wishes are appreciated as we travel down this difficult and unfamiliar road together.  My mom will do her best to keep everyone updated on my very own blog page so that all my friends can follow my progress.  Thanks again for your love and support!

Love,

Belle

On the Lake Walk with my dad in Duluth!

Going up North with my brother Grizzly!

Just hanging with my mom!

After my first surgery!

 

 

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