6-30-08 A Little Gimpy today ?

Not sure why but Tris was gimpy off and on today on his front leg again. Last night we had a bad storm about 3am and he gets quite upset and paced back and forth quite a bit. I should have got up and iced his legs when he calmed down but I didn`t. This morning he was limping pretty good but by tonight it seemed a bit improved but not as good as it was. I did ice it through out the day. I removed more than half the stitches and left the ones where it is still not quite healed. He was still in great spirits all day, the limp didn`t seem to bother him, just me. Hoping it is better tomorrow after a good nights sleep.

6-29-08 Mr. "Cone-head"

Another good day as far as movement goes. Today though was the first time he has tried to lick the stitches, so they must be itching, so the cone went back on. It`s time for most of them to come out but there is still one small section on one side that is not quite healed yet so I will take out what I can and extend his antibiotics for another week and see how it does. The area does not get a whole lot of air, so it is taking a little longer to heal. Tris however is in GREAT spirits, I would swear he is smiling. Going into our 2nd week, I can increase his walks by a little bit which I am sure he will love.

6-27-08 Road Trip!!

We headed on over to the vet today for a quick check-up. It is just about time to remove the stitches but before doing so wanted them to have a look at an area in his groin in front of his sutures that was enlarged. Turns out it is just a "pocket" of fluid that is a result of removing the fat cells and it will reabsorb on it`s own. My motto is "better safe than sorry". Everyone at the animal hospital was quite pleased with how well he looked. One thing I noticed different today..when riding in the car I usually have to keep a hand on him to keep him from sliding around as we drove, today he was strong enough to stabilize himself the whole way there and back...then it was nap time.

6-26-08 Thursday

Still doing well, he is really not liking the whole "staying calm" part of this. I have had to confine him to the bedroom in the evening with a bone when he would normally be out and about because he gets to excited and could hurt himself. He must feel so much better that he wants to go faster than his legs can carry him!!

6-25-08 A Very Happy Boy

Last night we left Tris alone for the first time since his procedure, with his cone of coarse (he thinks it`s his hat and that he is very handsome when he wears it ) ;0) When we returned home instead of having to go wake him and let him know we were back, he was standing at the door waiting for us, wagging and barking. It was a really nice site. You can just tell he feels so much better. He will never be young again but just to be comfortable is nice. Today`s video shows how much more power he has in his step I believe.

Another Good Day 6-24-08

Having another good day. Tris went for 3 short walks already today and did very well. I did notice an ever so slight favoring of the opposite front leg from what was treated in our earlier walk. I think he is trying to go a little too fast since his bad leg feels better..I slowed him down a lot on our next outing and he was fine. Jim and I both noticed that he seems to be standing a lot more than he was. When he would come in from his walk he would sit and wait for his cookie, now he is standing and waiting for it and standing at the door and watching the other dogs. He is a lot stronger and much more active..."It`s A Good Thing"

Answering a few questions

1. Someone had asked how long the shots will last ?I don`t think they are really sure but I have read 9 months to a year maybe, I am sure it also depends on the dog...at that point we can use the cells that are banked to inject again.
2. Will I continue to see improvement?..I think again it depends on the individual. I certainly hope he will continue to improve through out the whole recovery period. Some dogs see some immediate improvement and others are more gradual over the coarse of weeks.
3. I was asked what supplements or medications Tris was on daily.

• phenobarbital is the only prescription he is on- 2x per day for a seizure disorder
• aspirin- 325 mg 2x per day
• vitamin E 400 i.u. 1x per day
• 750mg Shark cartilage 2x per day
• Triple strength glucosamine/chondroitin complex 2x per day
• multi vitamin 1x per day
• fish oil concentrate 1000 mg 1x per day
• host defense (mushroom complex) for immune strength 1 x per day
• 1 1/2 tsp pet tinic liquid iron supplement 2 x per day

This is what Tris has been on for most of his life, it is by no means what I would recommend anyone else try without speaking with their vet, this is just what works for him.

6-23-08 Monday

Another good day so far. I had to allow him to come up the 3 steps to the inside by himself today. There was more stress involved for him with me trying to carry him than there was letting him do it on his own. He came up all 3 without hesitation and I iced his joints when we came in just in case. Tris has always been very proud and does not like assistance unless it is really needed. In our morning walk there was a strength to his step that has not been there in quite some time. I don`t see as much improvement in his rear as I do in the front but I think that is to be expected. In front his problem was his elbow and that was injected. In his rear he has bad hips, knees and hocks and we injected knees so I don`t expect it to be as dramatic . All in all I am very very pleased!!

See For Yourself !! 6-22-08

It`s a Miracle????? 6-21-08

It`s only been 36 hours....I wasn`t really expecting miracles and I don`t want to get too excited but again this afternoon and tonight when he went out he had NO limp on his front leg, it had been very noticeable for quite sometime. I will try to take video tomorrow. It was getting very hard by tonight to do the steps because he wants to do them himself and was actually trying to get away from me so I couldn`t pick him up. He felt so good he came in and got his big bone to chew on.

A Good Morning

We have had a great 1st morning post injections. Tris and I did his morning exercises and what I though he would have objected to he was actually quite happy to do. Followed up with some ice-packs which he also sits with and kind of just wags his tails and gives a little lick on my cheek as if to say " Thanks Mom". I can`t believe this could actually be true and maybe it`s just a fluke but when I had him out this morning for his first short walk he did not limp on his front leg. Usually first thing in the morning he would be quite gimpy. I had figured that he would be stiffer than normal for the first few days after the injections just from the discomfort of having an injection in to a sensitive spot so I was quite pleasantly surprised !

A New Beginning

The day went very well as I said earlier. I can see the biggest problem is going to be trying to convince Tris that he needs to stay calm and take it easy for a while. He is sitting here whinning at me as I type to let him out.

You can see from the picture that as soon as the sedation wore off he was able to stand on his own just as well as before. I have put a harness on him to help with carrying him down the steps to the outside. Part of the rehabilitation is that he don`t do stairs for several days and allow the joints to heal as much as possible before putting them through that motion.

With the 2 vials of fat that we sent Vet-Stem, they were able to extract enough stem cells to supply us with 4 injections for today and one to save banked for future use. The procedure today required sedation, which may or may not be required in all cases you would have to check with each individual vet...(not sure if it is just because of Tristan`s people skills or not) Each joint was shaved, in his case both knees and his left elbow to prevent any contamination, the needles were then inserted into the joint capsule and the stem cells inplanted. The 4th shot was given intraveneously to help the body as a whole.

The rehab is very similar to that of a knee replacemnet if I recall. He is not to do any running, jumping or playing at all for 4-6 weeks. We will be doing passive range of motion execises each day followed by ice packs at first and slow-short leash walks. Everything is to be done on leash. The full rehab instructions can be found on the vet-stem website at http://www.vet-stem.com/images/VetRehab.pdf and http://www.vet-stem.com/images/PetOwnerRehab.pdf

We will take it from here and see how well it goes, I will post each day with updates.

It`s DONE!!! and the boy is HOME!!

It is about 1:30 pm, and we are home.The procedure started around 12:15..He looks a little like a patchwork quilt :o) but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and let me tell you it is a beautiful sight to have him home. .. the procedure went textbook perfect. I will explain more once we are more settled in.

Off to the Vet for the injection soon !!

It`s friday morning, we are waiting for the shipment to arrive fed-ex from Vet-stem so we can take Tristan in for his injections. Its almost 10 am and he again knows something is up since he missed breakfast and his favorite morning treats..he`s been a little talkative about it :o). Will post when we return and let you know how he did, I am so curious to see how many stem cells we recieve back from the amount of fat that was sent.

Good As New, Ready for the BIG Day!!!

A little stiff but still able to do the steps.

A Very Good First Night!!!

Tristan had a very good night, he slept through till 7am.I put an e-collar on him as a precaution. He seemed a little uncomfortable in the evening so I opted to give him a tramadol rather than start him back on his regular aspirin regime ( 1-325 mg Bufferin 2x per day) due to the little bit of bleeding he had yesterday. This morning he was still some what stiffer than normal which was probably due to all the extra activity yesterday along with the incisions in the groin area and his lack of aspirin since Monday. The incisions looked very good this morning and there was no more bleeding so I figured I would start him back with his aspirin along with amoxicillin, 500 mg`s 2 x per day. On his 2nd outing, he was just about back to 100%. So much so that he was after a piece of bird bread in the grass...got to love him!! He is a trooper!!! So the worst is behind us and the best is yet to come!!!

Tristan has pretty much slept all day, which is what he needed to do. He was able to go out on his own with a little assistance, was only slightly unsteady and ate 2 full meals. The incision line had a little bleeding after our first trip out but that is to be expected due to the location of the incision and has since stopped.

Not sure if you can see from the image but each incision looks to have about 5 stitches. I continued to use cold compresses 15 minutes on and 15 minutes off for most of the day to minimize any swelling.

The fat cells were packed in a special refridgerated box and I heard from the Doctor that they were picked up shortly after we left around 10:30am by Fed Ex and were on their way to California to be spun out before coming back to us on Friday morning. It`s been a long day so I will close for now...Tristan says have a good night.

He`s Home !!! Phase 1 complete

It is now almost 11:30..Tris has been home in his own bed for about 45 minutes now. I am applying cold compresses to the 2 incision sites. He appears to be doing great. I can`t thank Dr. Sparacino VMD, Dr. Schroll VMD ,Cathryn our Vet Tech. and everyone at the animal hospital for all their help and understanding. The way they handle and care for my boy is amazing...They had to do 2 incisions ,one on each side of the inguinal area to remove enough fat to fill both viles for vet-stem. Each vial contained approx. 4 tablespoons of fat. He`s finally sound asleep, I will take more photos later.

Almost Time!!!

Well, it is 7:30am....we have to leave for the Doctor in about an hour. Tristan knows something is up after not getting his breakfast this morning but seems to be OK with it. He`s a little stiffer than normal since I stopped his asprin on Monday so they wouldn`t have a bleeding issue today. Will update when we return later.

We are scheduled for Wednesday June 18th!!! 9am

This video more clearly shows the problem with his left front leg. He has severe arthritis in his elbow in this leg and does limp, some days more than others. It also shows that he is still able to get up the steps. Our procedure is scheduled to begin on Wednesday the 18th of June at 9am. He will be put under so they can remove the fat cells needed to send to Vet-stem. I might add that he had a complete blood panel run last week to prove that he was healthy enough for the procedure as Vet-stem needs to approve the candidate before going ahead with the procedure.

Video of Tristan in yard 6-15-08

A Little Backround Info

For those of you who weren`t sure, Tristan is a pure bred smooth chow chow. He was born July 22, 1995. From a very early age he began having skeletal problems. He has severe hip dysplasia in his right hip, moderate hip dysplasia in the left. However the left side is the side that has the bad knee on which he has had several surgeries. Over the years he has shifted so much of his weight to the front that he has now developed terrible arthritis in his left elbow, causing him to limp rather badly at times. Last year he was xrayed from head to toe and I was told he not only had arthritis in all the joints of his limbs but also in his spine and neck but yet he never complained and greeted each and every day with a wagging tail. Probably because he didn`t know any different. My hopes with doing this procedure is to give him finally a morning when he can wake-up and not feel pain. For more pictures of this special guy you can check his web page.http://www.luckyviichows.com/tristan.htm I hope to be able to show other people with this blog what is involved in doing the stem cell therapy and how Tris progresses in hopes that it will help some other dogs with similar problems.