Otto’s Journey

It’s been a while since our last update because life with an infant, a toddler and a recovering tripawd has been a little crazy (as you can imagine)!!! BUT, we are all doing well and life is getting somewhat back to normal! We had our two week follow-up with the surgeon and Otto is cleared for normal activity again! They said his incision looks fantastic and he is adjusting to life on 3 legs beautifully! And the best news of all— WE KICKED CANCER’S BUTT! Removing his leg meant that we completely got rid of the tumor-YAY! We are so blessed to receive the news we did (thank you God!)

Not only did we receive great news, we are seeing amazing progress! Otto is finally back to his normal routine of waking up bright and early, wanting to go outside at his normal time, eat food regularly, and most importantly RUN, JUMP and PLAY (with caution of course because mommy is super protective 😉)!

We know we still have lots of healing to do and working with Otto to strengthen his core and his leg muscles, but seeing the progress we are and getting back to some normalcy feels sooooo good!

So to anyone out there feeling nervous about the upcoming surgery please know that we went through all the same feelings! So much anxiety and restless nights, BUT please know that animals have amazing superhero strength and will get through it, and so will you! Stay strong for your fur babies and their strength will in turn  inspire you and affirm that you made the right decision! We are beyond proud of our SUPERDOG, Otto 💙

It’s been a few days since we’ve given our last update. We had a rough few days between the 3-5 day post-surgery mark and then we started to make a turn for the better. Otto is progressing every day and starting to get back to his normal routine. Does that mean he is feeling great-no he is definitely not feeling great, but he is gradually getting back to normal habits which makes us feel as if he is becoming more confident. We know he’s still in some pain as there are times where his demeanor changes and he just wants to be alone. So we are aware of when he needs more pain meds and extra rest.

We had some visitors this past weekend when family stopped by to see our kiddos for Halloween. Otto was extremely excited to see everyone-so much so that we had to keep him calm so he wasn’t trying to jump to welcome everyone as they walked through the door. It was good to see his endless tail wags and barks of excitement—it’s been a while since we saw that spunk from him!

We know it’s going to take some time to get back to normal, but we can see that he is getting more of his swag back each day. We will take all the little strides we get as we know we have a long road ahead of us.

Thanks for keeping up with our journey. We look forward to more positive posts ahead ❤️

Well just as most of you have said, days 3 and 4 have been really rough on our little guy. We are mastering going to the bathroom which is amazing, but the sadness upon his sweet face is just heartbreaking. We can tell he is in immense pain. His behavior has also changed too—he’s wanting to hide in rooms and under tables away from the family, which is not like him. We did make a few calls to the surgery team today and they prescribed another pain medicine to add in. Throughout the day, we are also icing to help with swelling. I did notice some bruising on his stomach and sent in pictures to our vet as well. They also reassured me that it is very normal and we may see some fluid build up as well, which we started noticing this afternoon.

We know it’s going to get worse before it gets better, but we just want to see his spunky, energetic, life of the party personality to show again really soon! We know it will come with time so we are staying optimistic and taking it day by day! Pain management and keeping him comfortable is going to be our focus 10000% in the coming week. Please pray for Otto (and our breaking hearts) ❤️

Otto is doing very well on day 2 post-op! We had a rough afternoon yesterday after he arrived home. It took some time for him to get used to his new space and he was very nervous going outside to use the bathroom. He ended up laying down to pee the first time 😞. BUT, we continued to encourage him and the more we took him out, the more confident he got and is doing much better today. We have walked him around a little more today and he is getting used to his new hop—our 3 year old thinks it’s funny and giggles! Hey, we can all have a little giggle, right? The more positive we can all be around him the better so we think it’s ok 😊! We are looking forward to watching the progression each and everyday. We can already see his determination and know he’ll be back to his crazy self in no time!

Dropping Otto off for his surgery was an awful feeling, especially during COVID! We had to drop him off at the front door to the surgery vet tech, which was very sad—he was so scared! The hour ride home was full of tears, prayers and pep talks about how we were doing the best thing for him!

We didn’t know exactly what time Otto’s surgery was so we waiting anxiously all day. We got a call around 1pm from the surgeon as they were gearing up for surgery. Well the butterflies started fluttering in our bellies for the next few hours as we waited to see how our lil guy did. We continuously prayed for  positive outcome and successful surgery. About 3.5 hours later, we received a call from the surgeon saying that Otto did well and was resting comfortably. The surgeon has that calm about him that just put us at ease knowing our Otto was in good hands. Late that evening we received another call from one of the surgery vet techs who updated us that Otto was awake, alert and doing so well! She constantly reassured us he was in good hands and they would take amazing care of him! This made our hearts so happy. Sleeping through the night was rough as we laid and wondered how he was doing, worried if he was in pain, sad we couldn’t be there to comfort him. As we wake up on this Saturday morning, we doing our normal routine with the kids and are anxiously awaiting a call from the surgery center to see if we are able to pick up Otto today. We have the house all ready for his arrival. Not knowing what to expect is a scary feeling though! We are committed to doing all we can to ensure he is comfortable and well taken care of! Stay tuned for how we get through the first few days of recovery! In the meantime, please pray for Otto 😊