How my Sheridan has faired since his cancer surgery...

[Greylyn58]

It has been thirteen days since my beloved Sheridan had his mouth surgery to remove a cancerous tumor. My poor boy had to have the front part of his mouth (lower canines, little front teeth and a piece of his lower jaw) removed because of it. His new look isn’t as bad as I feared. I told a friend of mine that when I look at him, he reminds me of a little old man missing his lower partials.

I’ve run the gamut of emotions since learning Sheridan has cancer. I knew it was a possibility since he is a Golden Retriever and unfortunately, his breed is prone to that sort of thing. I also knew that at 12 years of age, there was an even stronger chance of it popping up. If there is an upside to all he has been through, it is that the kind of cancer he had does not spread once the tumor is removed. The vet did some tests, checking for cancer signs in his lungs, abdomen, and elsewhere and it all came back negative. Thank God! I haven’t given any updates since his surgery, as it has been full time job caring for him. It’s like having a baby in the house as I have to help him eat, drink, and prevent him from running into everything and hurting his mouth.

During this time, he has had to wear an e-collar. I’m sure anyone who has ever owned a pet knows what these are, but for those that don’t I will describe it. It is a big, plastic tube that is worn around the animal’s head to keep them from chewing or otherwise hurting themselves. So for the last 13 days, my poor boy (and I) have suffered through the presence of the cone. He has had a hard time adjusting to it. For the first few days he looked at me like I was punishing him for something. I felt so bad, but thankfully, he will be seeing his normal Vet on Thursday to have the stitches in his mouth removed and hopefully have the cone removed.

Since I have to hand feed Sheridan, sometimes the food falls out of his mouth and into the cone. I constantly have to clean his face and fur. Yep...he needs a good bath, but I still love my boy and am so happy to have him healthy again. All the Vets who had seen him said that he looked really good for a 12 year old dog, so I hope that continues to be the case.

Here are some pictures I took of Sheridan a couple of days after his surgery. He was on some pain medication at the time and was sleeping a lot.

[nytemare]

1. What a sweetie.

Here's to a full, speedy recovery.

[Madrone]

2. Awww.

Bless you for doing what you needed to do for your doggie. I get my first foray into the dog surgery world within the next month (hopefully sooner than later) - I'm looking at a $3,000 surgery to stabilize my dog's knee. I'm not looking forward to watching him suffer through it, but I am VERY MUCH looking forward to him getting his hiking/walking/swimming/playing life back.

LOVE to your doggie. :hug:

[fortyfeetunder]

3. Here's to Sheridan's recovery!

Hope he's feeling better soon!

[Flaxbee]

4. oh, I'm so glad he's doing well --

I'll be very interested to hear what the vet says on Thursday! Will you need to continue to feed him after the cone is off, or do the vets think he'll be able to manage?

:hug: to Sheridan, and to you for caring so much for him.

[Greylyn58]

6. According to the Vet....

he can go back to doing everything he was doing before the surgery. Playing fetch, playing with his chew toys, eating his normal food. She told me that dogs who have this surgery handle it very well. And so far she has been right.

[emilyg]

7. What a sweetie.

[SeattleGirl]

5. Thanks for the update, Grey

I've been wondering how Sheridan was doing.

Hugs to you :hug: and woofie hugs to Sheridan. :hug: