Jake's Journey

There still hasn’t been much improvement with Jake’s back leg weakness. In fact, the past few days it has gotten worse and he can’t get up or walk around unless he is being supported by us with his harness.

But he seems to be feeling good otherwise… and here are some pictures of him enjoying the warm sun and fresh air and playing with Wolfie on the patio today…

If you didn’t know about his cancer and amputation… I’ll bet you’d never guess there was anything wrong with him… Just that he’s too lazy to get off his bed to play… But unfortunately, we know otherwise. We just want him to be happy and enjoy his life… for however long he has left! 🙂

Here are some videos of Jake and Wolfie… This one is of Jake playing with his bear… Wolfie is lying next to him…

In these 2 videos, Wolfie is teasing Jake and then they play a little tug-of-war… Wolfie is taking advantage of Jake not being able to walk… and drags him while pulling at the bear! But Jake seems to be enjoying all the fun! Tomorrow we’re going to try and get him to swim…

Well, it’s been exactly 6 weeks and 5 days (47 days) since Jake had his surgery. He’s been doing so well, up until just a couple of days ago.

He’s been having problems (weakness?) with this back legs. We’re not sure if it’s due to his cancer spreading, or if it’s due to severe arthritis or hip dysplasia. To rule things out, we decided to go ahead and give him Adequan (polysulfated glycosaminoglycan) injections… First one was last nite. It’s given to dogs with severe degernerative joint disease. It’s given twice a week and usually takes a week or two of injections before you seen any effect. We’re hoping that is the cause of his back leg weakness… and not the alternative… his cancer spreading.

Today there has been no change… but things aren’t any worse… So, we are keeping our fingers crossed and hope for the best. Jake is still in great spirits, great appetite, and is interested in all his surroundings and playing with us and Wolfie. Only problem he has is walking or standing.

Keep sending good thoughts our way… we need them all!!  I’ll keep you all posted!

Jake and Wolf went swimming this afternoon… Jake hasn’t been feeling to well lately (problems with his back legs?)… but he sure perked up when it was time to go swimming!

 After swimming around 8 laps (wow… that’s more than me!) Jake decided he was pretty tired… so he laid around on the patio, watching his brother Wolfie play.

Wolfie has completely destroyed his blue Jolly ball… but he doesn’t seem to care… plus, it still floats, ha! ha!

Since Jake wasn’t going back into the pool… off came his float coat… Ahhh, much better…

Such a lovely day outside… Jake is getting sleepy…

Oh, what’s that? A butterfly or a lizard on the screen??

Awwwww…. It’s just my brother Wolfie… trying to get some attention from mom…

Think I’ve had enough sunshine and fun for today… I’m pooped and going to take a snooze.

Update: Jake is still having problems with some weakness in his legs. I thought that maybe swimming might help loosen things up… but it hasn’t… Maybe it’s even worse. Guess we’ll see tomorrow how he’s feeling. Here are some pictures we took last nite with the cell phone (sorry, poor quality) but it shows Wolfie sleeping next to his brother Jake.

For the past 2 or so days, Jake seems to be having some problems walking. Not sure if he overexerted himself with playing a few nites ago. He seems to need extra help (with the harness) to get up and walk (hop) to go outside, or to get around the house. His back legs are starting to shake again, when he’s standing. We’re taking him swimming in a couple of hours, so I’m hoping that perks him up again. He’s been doing so well so far.

Well, it’s been a little over a month and a half since Jake had his front right leg amputated, due to osteosarcoma and he seems to be doing well so far.

He still gets pretty tired after just hopping from one end of the house to another… but he has a great appetite, is alert, and plays with us and Wolfie in the evenings. He’s been on meloxicam (NSAID and cox-2 inhibitor) for almost a week and a half now. He vomited once, 5 days after starting it, and we put him on daily pepcid AC, and that seems to have stopped that. I haven’t noticed his back legs shaking anymore for the past couple of days, so that’s a good thing. I’m going to have to trim his nails tonite… and hopefully that will help him from sliding too much on our wood and ceramic floors.

He’s just finished his dinner… and hopped all the way into the office to hang out with my while I write in his blog. He is such a sweetheart…

Here’s Jake chewing on his poor squirrely in the kitchen…

Wolfie has his own teddy bear to chew on…

So, that’s the update for now…

I’ve been in bed most of the day, fighting this stupid flu bug… But I got up earlier and took Jake and Wolfie to the pool. The weather was nice but the water was already getting cold… and Jake couldn’t wait to get in! We only stayed in the pool for about half an hour… then I started feeling really miserable… so we got out. Here are a few pictures and videos from today!

Wolfie loves to jump into the pool… but then Jake decided he was going to make a run for it.  I freaked out a bit… thinking he was going to hurt himself, but he just decided he had to go and pee. It’s all good!

The water was cold… and I was freezing… but Jake wanted to keep swimming…

Here’s his last swim… I was starting to loose my voice again… and freezing my butt off!!

Now Jake is just chillin’ outside the pool. Doesn’t he look handsome in his float coat?

Wolfie swimming…

Isn’t he a handsome boy?

I think that Jake has finally had enough…

 After the boys had their fun… I dried them up and took them into the house. I went to bed and slept the rest of the afternoon… Just woke up now (around 8pm).  Gonna watch some movies, then probably pass out again. I hate being sick!

Today was a great day for Jake. He went into work with his dad (Jacques) while I stayed in bed with the flu, with Wolfie sleeping by my side… Jacques said that Jake met a new friend (girlfriend?), an adorable little Maltese named Phoebe. Of course he didn’t take any pictures of their encounter. ARRRHHH!!  So, here’s a picture of Jake from yesterday, sitting in the study… Look at that adorable smile!! 🙂

This week Jake has been doing pretty well, except for some stiffness in his back legs… But some swim time exercise tomorrow should help with that!

Today was a chilly day in Florida… It only got up to the high 60’s… and with the wind, it was a little too cold to go swimming. So instead, we spent most of the afternoon on the patio, enjoying the nice cooler temps. Jake hopped around, checking everything out, as usual…

He heard our neighbors next door having a bar-b-que… so he had to investigate.

Then he got tired and decided to lay down to watch the birds and squirrels.

Wolfie had to patrol the pool to make sure the coast was clear… Jake watched to make sure he didn’t miss anything.

Ahhhh… nice cool fresh air… making me sleepy… Time for a little snooze.

In the meantime… Wolfie has to investigate things while his dad (Jacques) does some yard work…

Later on it started getting colder, so we all went in the house. Jake got his favorite spot on the couch, with his new monkey toy.

Today is exactly 1 month since Jake had his amputation surgery. He is doing pretty well, although he still seems to tire easily.

We went swimming today… trying out Jake’s new float coat… He was having a great time! It really helped him balance while he was swimming.

So now he’s just taking a little break from swimming… and looking to see what Wolfie is doing…

Here are a couple of videos of him swimming with his new K9 float coat!

Yesterday, Jake finally received his very own K9 Float Coat. It was a gift from an awesome Tripawd parent, Toto’s mom!!! We thank her with all our hearts for her wonderful generosity!!! Jake won’t go swimming until the weekend, but he just had to put on his new gift to model for everyone!

It fits him perfectly! We can’t wait to see how well he swims with it! We’ll definitely be taking some videos of Jake in ‘action’… But Wolfie was acting a little jealous, so we put it on him for a few minutes…

Thank you again Kristin (Toto’s Mom)… I will think of you and Toto every time Jake goes swimming!!!!