Bringing Fletch Home

Well, we got to bring Fletch home yesterday. The drainage was all normal and he was walking a little better. Sam and I had a consultation with a vet tech before we took him home. They armed us with Rimadyl (anti-imflammatory), a half tablet to be taken every 12 hours with food; Tramadol (pain killer), 1 tablet to be taken every 8 hours; Cephalexin (antibiotic), 1 tablet to be taken every 8 hours until they're gone; Acepromazine (tranquilizer), 1/2 tablet to be taken up to 3 times a day to help him mellow out and rest, UNLESS he's already taken a Tramadol, in which case, we can only give him a 1/4 tablet; and aminocaproic acid (to help with clotting), 1 mL to be given every 8 hours for the next 5 days.

So we have our work cut out for us. Luckily, with the long, rainy weekend ahead, we'll be able to stay on top of this.

Last night, Sam and I decided it would be best to sleep downstairs with Fletch. He's been feeling very attention deprived and he takes comfort knowing we're close. So we gathered all three of his massive dog beds together, grabbed pillows and comforters and made an entire spread in the living room floor. Fletch is still getting used to only having the one leg in front, so he's taken a few nosedives when he loses his balance, so we're definitely glad we had all the soft blankets and pillows around so he doesn't hurt himself.

I ended up sleeping on a dog bed last night...they're surprisingly comfortable! However, it was not a perfect restful night. We tranquilized Fletch so that he could sleep easily and be less restless. That worked out really well at first. Around 2:30AM, Fletch bolted awake and started to whine. I was able to get him to lay down again, but he was not still. Every couple of seconds he would adjust his head or flop into another position or rub his wet nose up my cheek. So for the next two hours, I laid awake, just scratching his neck, which was the only thing that kept him calm. That's when Sam woke up. I told him it was his turn, which he was okay with, but I was finally able to get another hour or so of sleep before we had to get up for work.

Today has been much of the same as last night. Fletch is still pretty restless and wanting attention. We're working on keeping him laying down and resting, but he'd rather be on his feet and following us all over the house, which has made things a little frustrating, but we know it's just a few more days of this and he'll start feeling a lot better. The only concerns we've had today is that his urine is a little brown. I called the vet who talked with the surgeon and they think that since he's eating and drinking, it's probably just his system still flushing out and breaking down all the extra blood from the extensive bruising. If it starts to get better by tomorrow, we'll leave it. If it gets worse or stays the same, we'll take him back to make sure his blood levels are okay.

I think that's all for now. I'll try to update again tomorrow or the next day!

Day One: Recovery

Hey everyone! We got a call this morning with an update on Fletch. He did well overnight and was up and walking around a little and eating some. However, he had some drainage at his incision this morning and the vet wants to monitor that, so they decided to keep him another night, but they did say we could go see him today! 

Based on the call from the vet tech, we were expecting Fletch to walk into the visiting room to see us, but when we arrived, they told us that he'd been very anxious, whiny, and restless in the afternoon and he needed his rest, so they sedated him prior to our arrival and the techs had to carry him into the room. 

Needless to say, this made me a quite emotional; mostly because I was a little shocked as I was expecting to see him up and around as opposed to laying so helpless on a blanket. But he had his eyes open and it was clear that he knew who we were. 

As you can see from the picture, they have him wrapped up pretty tight around the incision. What the picture doesn't show is how bruised he is all up and down his body. Obviously, with this sort of trauma, there's going to be bruising and swelling and we're told greyhounds bruise especially bad. His chest, stomach, and groin area are a deep reddish-purple and he's got the same color bruising down his legs and especially around the spot where they had the IV. This is all normal and just like any bruise, will go away with time. The whole front right side of his body was shaved, but the hair will grow back. 

We had a nice visit of hugs and kisses and soothing talk. We went prepared with a few chicken treats--made by his great aunts Donna and Rhonda--and some bread, but he wasn't able to eat anything while were there, but Sam got the bread bag out of his pocket at one point and Fletch's eyes and ears darted up toward the sound, so that was really comforting to see. Basically, the drugs are making him groggy, but we definitely saw a few characteristics of his personality shine through. 

We'll get another update tomorrow morning and will hopefully be able to take him home in the evening. 
As always, we'll keep you all posted as Fletch works toward recovery and the start of chemotherapy in a few weeks.

Out of Surgery!!

Hey all, just a quick update. Fletch's surgery was today and all went well. The surgeon just called and said that Fletcher did well and once getting in there, he still felt we were going about this the right way. The surgeon said they were utilizing aminocaproic acid to help Fletch clot and everything looks good there as well. They are going to keep him overnight in a sort of puppy coma. He's not under anesthesia anymore, but he's not really awake either, just heavily sedated to give his body time to heal without interruption. 

We'll get a call tomorrow to go over how he's doing and hopefully discuss discharging him so we can bring him home tomorrow evening! We're so excited to see our boy! Addie is excited too! She's been a little whiny tonight, missing her big brother.

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts. The amazing support we've received is more than we could have ever hoped for. It's truly appreciated from the bottom of our hearts!

-Marissa and Sam

Pre-Surgery Message from Sam

Hello all! This is Sam, Fletch’s dad, doing an update on the Save Fletcher blog!

 

First, I just wanted to thank everyone for their support through this whole ordeal, the outpouring of messages on facebook and re-posting of our blog has really kept Marissa and I strong for our little trooper. And several generous donations have already helped us toward paying his crazy vet bills – for everyone who has given to help us save our hound, you have my sincerest thanks. You are truly wonderful people and I hope we can repay your kindness one day.

 

I thought I’d share a fun moment from the last few days. Fletch is a weird little guy, and likes nothing more than the “treat” of a slice of bread. Every time I have made a sandwich over the last two years, Fletcher would sprint into the kitchen and lie down, expectantly waiting for his favorite treat. One time he actually stole the peanut butter sandwich from right out of my hand when I wasn’t paying attention, but it was so funny I couldn’t even get mad at him (even when he spit it out a few seconds later – he doesn’t like peanut butter)!

 

Well, he’s not feeling the best with his bad leg and all, but last night I was moving the bread in the fridge, and he must’ve heard the bag crinkling or something. Because he popped up from his dog bed in the living room and hopped all the way to the kitchen, just like he used to. It was great to see him still so excited about his favorite treat. He’s still our little guy!

 

Fletcher’s surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning, we’ll keep you posted with how he does.

Fletcher's History

Fletcher's amputation appointment is set for this Tuesday, the 28th. We'll be dropping him off in the early morning, he'll have surgery sometime that day and will have to stay overnight, but he should be able to come home by the following afternoon. We know this is going to take away the pain he's feeling.

I wanted to take this opportunity to share some bits about Fletcher's life before we got him. He hasn't always had the greatest of owners and it's amazing to us that he's as good a dog as he is. 

Fletch was born on the track, but to an unregistered litter. Since the trackmasters are interested in pedigree and documentation and winning lineage, they were not interested in Fletcher, so he was given up as a pup for a fair price to a man who turned out to be an animal hoarder. He was kept in a wooden kennel that was too small for him. He tried to chew through it, which is why his front teeth are jagged and broken to this day. About a year or so later, the cops apparently came to bust the man for animal hoarding and it's our understanding that the man committed suicide right there in front of the cops...and Fletch. 

From there, he was given to a foster group and shuffled around to foster families. A few months later, he was adopted by a guy who probably took decent care of him. He might even be the one responsible for teaching Fletch to lay down on command and jump up in anticipation when he hears a bread bag being opened, hoping he'll be tossed a piece. However, the guy eventually got a girlfriend who was not Fletch's biggest fan. One day, the girlfriend decided that in an effort to portray that he needed to chose between her and Fletch, she chose for him and dropped Fletch off at the Humane Society. And the guy never came back to claim him. Being a full blood greyhound, the Humane Society knew that the rescue groups would want to be notified as they hold a sort of jurisdiction over this breed. He was picked up by Rescued Racers and one of the ladies active in the group is the one who actually gave him the name Fletch. She said he just looked like a Fletch. We're unsure what he was called prior to this. 

We know he went to another guy who had to give him up because his fiance was allergic and he went to another family who had small children and his size compared to the kids made the wife nervous, so he's been shuffled around quite a bit. But not anymore.

When Sam and I decided to adopt a grey, we had been searching Rescued Racers website when we came across the bio for Fletch. He seemed like the perfect dog, so we set up an appointment to go meet him and his foster dad. We hung out with Fletch for about an hour and by that point, our minds were made up and we started the adoption process as soon as we got home. Fletch was delivered to us the following weekend and it's been an on-going love affair ever since. Our world has revolved around him and I don't know that any decision we've made in the last two years hasn't involved him in some way. Even our decision to buy a house (he would get anxious with the constant coming and going of other tenants in the apartment building) and get another dog (he seemed lonely during our 8 hours at work) had a lot to do with Fletcher's well-being and comfort.

And we're not stopping yet. Fletch is an amazing animal who has somehow managed to keep a fantastic spirit and personality throughout his life even though he's witnessed and lived through some horrific and saddening experiences. He's worth it all. We love him so much!

P.S. Did I also mention that Fletch is Team Edward??

Background

About three weeks ago, our 9 year old greyhound (Fletcher) started to exhibit a slight limp, favoring his right front leg. We felt around on it and he didn’t give any indication that it hurt anywhere on the leg or on his pads, so we assumed he just tweaked it or sprained it a little while running around the yard with his 3 ½ year old greyhound sister, Addie. At the time,  Sam and I were heading out of town to attend a wedding for a week and we left Fletch with friends. They said that he seemed to get better the first few days, but by the end of the week, he was limping pretty bad and actually dragging the leg; putting no weight on it. We took him to the vet that night.

 

The vet took x-rays, but between three vets at the clinic, they could not find any reason he would be limping. Not even arthritis. They prescribed Rimadyl to help with inflammation and gave us a two week supply, stating that they’d ruled out anything serious and it was probably just a little muscle inflammation and he’d bounce back. He never did. With the Rimadyl, he did start to put a little more weight on the leg, but he was not really showing any true signs of improvement. We were 3 days shy of finishing the supply of Rimadyl when we decided to take him to the vet again. We had heard that if it was a muscle or ligament issue, a cortisone shot might be beneficial to aid in the healing process, so we wanted to discuss that option with the vet. On that visit, the vet agreed that that might be an appropriate next step, but she wanted to be absolutely sure all the Rimadyl was out of Fletch’s system first, so we set up an appointment for a few days later. When we went in, they decided to do another x-ray as Fletch seemed to be less comfortable off the Rimadyl and there was an increase in swelling around his shoulder. When they took the x-ray again, they noticed the bone was starting to be eaten away and diagnosed our Fletcher with osteosarcoma. 

We’re obviously devastated. To keep Fletcher alive, the best option is to amputate his entire right front leg and to start a regimen of chemotherapy. The expenses involved are of great concern. We’re both recent college graduates, planning a wedding/honeymoon, and have monthly expenses on our home, cars, etc, but we're trying to do all we can for our little guy!

 

Sam and I truly appreciate you taking the time to read this blog and all the well wishes we've received so far. We are going to add a PayPal button to the site so that anyone willing and able to help us out with the expenses of Fletcher's amputation and treatment can do so. Our address is also at the bottom if you'd rather send a check. Every little bit helps and it's going to a more than worthy cause. Anything we receive will go directly to Fletch's treatment and recovery. In the event that we receive above and beyond what is needed for his care, 100% of the surplus will be donated to Rescued Racers, the rescue group that we got Fletcher from.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Please keep Fletcher in your thoughts!

Love,

Sam, Marissa, Fletcher, and Addie

Fletcher's Address:

6206 Hoffman Ave

Saint Louis, MO 63139