:Kobesaur

Last Saturday Kobe had what he considered to be a perfect Saturday. We went and visited Grandma, Grandpa and one of his cousins at their house in the country and Kobe was able to run and run and run. We don’t have a fenced yard so Kobe doesn’t often get the chance to run free like he can in the country.  He also got lots of petting, praise and treats!

To see a short video of Kobe running like the wind….click on the link below:

Kobe on YouTube

There are some donkeys across the street and we took Kobe over to see them – he tried to be tough so he barked once at them and then hid behind Grandma (she protected him) 🙂

Awww, come on Kobe, I just want to be friends....

Kobe had such a good time he slept the entire ride home and dreamed of the fun day he had!! We’ve had a bit of rough week since then but that is for another post…right now is for fun and celebrating Kobe’s 2-month ampuversary tomorrow!

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We’ve been enjoying some cooler weather here (ok, not really cooler but a bit less humid and we’ll take it) so when we had some family visiting we decided to take Kobe to the park for some kite flying and belly rubs! At first Kobe thought we must be joking..

That's funny Mom...we haven't been to the park in a long time...you make me laugh 🙂

Kobe was really excited to spend some time with his cousins while they flew some kites.

Aww that's the spot - rub right behind my ear 🙂

Then we took a walk around the park before resting in the shade where Kobe enjoyed some marathon belly rubbing!

We had a great weekend and are so happy that Kobe is doing so well! We are just enjoying the time we have together and trying to appreciate all the good days Kobe has!

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Saturday turned out to be eventful for us but luckily we all had a happy ending. My husband and I ran errands on Saturday morning and when we got home Kobe was very excited to see us and started to jump around. He sometimes forgets that he doesn’t still have 2 back legs and this time he landed off of the carpet runner and slipped on the tile floor and fell pretty hard. I was standing in front of him and couldn’t stop his fall and the sight of him falling and the sounds he made after the fall will unfortunately stay with me a long time. At the time it was a bit chaotic with both Adam and I rushing to him and trying to comfort him as he continued crying. I got up and got him a tramadol left over from his surgery (my first thought to try and stop his pain). He was able to get up and walk over to his bed (which was a big relief) but he continued crying. I called our vet and through my tears asked if we could bring him right in – which we could.

Kobe stopped crying and we put his harness on him and helped lift him in the car. I sat in the backseat with him while Adam drove us to the vet – Kobe shook the whole way there. When we got to the vet’s office he seemed so much better, just nervous because he always gets a bit nervous at the vet’s office. The vet on duty (our regular vet was off) checked him over and he was fine (yay!). We think when he fell on the tile he landed on his right hip and without his leg there to buffer him – he landed right on the bone – which obviously hurt him a lot and also scared him (and us).  We all went home grateful but a bit shaken…and poor worn out Kobe slept most of the afternoon.

Since Kobe fell we have been extra nervous whenever he starts walking around – even though we have runners in place – we have a lot of tile floor and now we’ve seen how easy it is for him to slip off the runner. We are now keeping his harness on him all the time except bedtime – I kept thinking after he fell that if he had his harness on that maybe I could have grabbed a hold of him. It’s so hard to not get caught up in the worrying….worrying about his cancer and what the future will bring and worrying about him falling and hurting himself. But for today we are just glad our Kobe Dog is ok and in tail wagging shape.

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Not too much new to report, which we think is a great thing! Kobe is continuing to do well. There is lots of petting and tail wagging going on at our house!! We have been going on mini-walks before work, after work and again before bed giving Kobe lots of time to rest during the day. He is enjoying chewing on his favorite bone again, something he only does when he’s happy and feeling good!

Sometimes Kobe just likes to hold his bone...almost like it comforts him.

Kobe likes to be near by when I am cooking dinner in the kitchen because you know occasionally I drop things 🙂 The other night I looked over and he just looked so regal on his bed that I had to grab the camera before he moved.

I just love the crossed paws 🙂

But mostly we are trying to just hang out together as much as possible and enjoy our time together.

These are my favorite times.

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Things here have been going really well for the past week – Kobe has been acting like his old self and like he definitely feels a lot better! My husband and I are trying really hard to take advantage of each of these days we are lucky enough to have.  Kobe is loving his new harness and I must say that he looks pretty darn cute in it!

Kobe is thinking of taking up modeling...

We have been taking several mini-walks every day – which seem to be enough to keep him happy but not too much to wear him out. He has continued to eat well and I’m glad we haven’t had to worry yet about that.

Yummy - I love me some dinner!

My brother graduated from Army Bootcamp this past week so my husband and I traveled to Ft. Benning to watch the ceremony and were going to be away 2 nights – the first time since Kobe got sick. I usually have a great place we take him (that he loves) but I couldn’t do it this time…so we got the daughter of a friend to come stay at the house with Kobe. I was able to enjoy my brother’s achievement so much more knowing that Kobe was happy at home with someone willing to give him lots of petting 🙂 He was so excited to see us when we got home but I think we were even more excited to see him!

Really we are just so glad and thankful that Kobe is enjoying life!

When Kobe had to wear the "cone" we tried anything to make him happy...this...didn't work but it did make me chuckle 🙂

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Well, our visit to the vet today didn’t go as well as we’d hoped but we did have 2 small victories. Kobe did get his sutchers out and we threw away the cone of shame! YAY!!!

The vet took some chest x-rays so we could see if there were any spots on Kobe’s lungs. Prior to his amputation there was 1 micro-spot on his lungs that the vet thought could be the cancer but it was so small she couldn’t say for sure that is what it was. Unfortunately on today’s x-rays there were 7 very definite spots (they were easy even for me to see) which the vet said demonstrates that the cancer has spread to the lungs and become very aggressive.  She said looking at the x-rays she would not recommend chemo for Kobe. I am going to do a bit more research on nutrition (there is so much on Tripawds that I haven’t been able to wrap my brain around it yet) to see if there are things in his diet we should change.

I really am just devestated..I guess because in the last couple of days Kobe has really started to seem like his old self again that I just thought he must be doing better. Our vet was super encouraging that Kobe is out of pain and we are lucky to have time to spoil him and enjoy lots of quality petting. I just wish we could go back a month to before we had ever heard of osteosarcoma…..

As Kobe and I were driving home from the vet – he was groggy because they had to give him some sedation to take the x-rays and I was in tears – and I tried to think of how I was going to tell my husband the bad news and I tried to think of some blessings to focus on instead of the incredible sadness. I came up with the following:

1. I am thankful that we have such a wonderful dog who continues to bring us such happiness!

2. I am thankful that we had the resources to go through with the amputation and take away his pain.

3. I am thankful that we found a vet who cares for our dog, takes the time to explain confusing medical terms to me and encourages us to enjoy our time with Kobe.

4. I’m thankful that even though things haven’t gone exactly how we would have wished – there is still time and things will come a bit more into perspective in the morning (it always seems worse at night).

Kobe and his cousin Sophie waiting for a Christmas treat from Grandma

Kobe with his daddy and our nephew..who is also Kobe's special buddy

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We’re all so excited – by this time tomorrow night Kobe will have his stitches out and be rid of the cone of shame!! Tomorrow will also mark 2 weeks since his amputation – yay!! I think Kobe has had a spring in his step lately and is starting to feel more like his regular self.  They are going to do chest x-rays tomorrow as well to see how things look and discuss our options. Can’t wait to report back good news!!

A picture of Kobe pre-amputation - contemplating the future...

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My husband and I had been dating a couple of months when I decided it was time for me to get a dog. We went to the animal shelter and did some “dog watching”.  There were so many sweet dogs there and we found a couple that seemed like they would be a good fit but we decided to come back the next day and play with the dogs and see how it went. The next day we thought we had the perfect dog picked out but when we went in the pen to play with him we just didn’t “click” and then they brought in Kobe. We knew right away that he was a perfect fit for us! Kobe was 6 years old when we got him but he really thought he was still a puppy (actually, much to my delight…he still does). We used to wonder how anyone could give up such a wonderful boy, but we have been sooo grateful that they did because he has brought so much joy into our lives. I have been going through old pictures and thought I’d share a couple here…

A picture of Kobe not long after he came into our lives.

Kobe loves running at Grandma and Grandpa's house in the country!

Always a happy boy...

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Today was my first day going back to work since we brought Kobe home from his amputation last week. It was harder than I thought to leave him and was really glad I work close enough that I could come home over my lunch hour and check on him. He was really excited to see me (according to his wagging tail and big Kobe smile) and glad I could take him out to go to the bathroom. I don’t know if it’s the medication he is on but ever since his surgery – Kobe has to go out more than he used to.  I am taking him back to the vet tomorrow to get his Fentanyl patch off and for them to just check out his incision. My husband (Adam) and I feel like his incision looks good but honestly we don’t know how it should look so I’ll be relieved when I hear it’s ok. He had a lot bruising immediately after his surgery and that is starting to go away. I am glad I took a picture of his incision the first night so we can really see the improvement. We’re hoping that Kobe will start sleeping through the night tonight – he hasn’t yet but last night he slept until 4 am so I think he’s getting closer.

Kobe loves to lay out by the pool and be in the sunshine.

Kobe loves to sit by us and here he is resting his paw on his daddy's foot.

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