6 weeks after 2nd treatment

Tristan has been doing very well for the last 4 weeks. That is no to say he never limps, but his limp is considerably less than before his injection. His morning walks are virtually limp free as you can see from the video and he is quite spunky. The 2nd video is dark but it shows a bit of his enthusiasm in the morning at a time when his leg was usually quite bad. He will never be young again but I feel that this has added to the quality of his life considerably.

11-6-08 New Progress

It has now been 3 weeks since Tristan`s 2nd stem cell treatment. I hesitate to say this but it has been 4 days now with hardly a limp at all. I noticed on Monday that he was having a good day and it is now Friday and it continues. We have been having some very damp weather as well which would normally make anyone with arthritis worse. I am still keeping him confined to his room for the most part and only going for short walks to potty for another 3 weeks as per the vet-stem instructions. I hope the progress continues or at least stays as good as it has been this week.

10-28-08 2 weeks after 2nd treatment

Tris went for his second stem cell injection 2 weeks ago tomorrow. I have not yet noticed any great improvement. He had the tumor removed off his rear leg at the same time and thank goodness the biopsy was negative, it was the kind of cell that could easily have turned malignant so it was good that we removed it when w did. We only had enough stem cells to make one shot so we used it for his left foreleg. I have kept him confined and quiet for almost 2 weeks now.

10-14-08 4th Shot

Tristan went for his 4th adequan shot today. He is doing OK with the shots, some days he seems stiffer than others but all in all there has been some improvement. We have decided to remove the growth on his rear leg on Wednesday and at that time we will also do the stem cell injection that we have left. It will be injected in to his left elbow, which is still the joint that gives him the most trouble. Maybe this time the effects will not be so short lived.

10-3-08 We had a good day !

This past Monday, Tristan went for his 2nd Adequan shot. I only noticed a slight improvement up till now from the 1st shot. Today however was a very good day. Usually first thing in the morning he is very stiff but today he hardly limped at all on his morning walk. He will get a 3rd shot on this coming Monday. In the next few weeks he will go in to have the tumor that was found on his rear leg removed. We have decided that at that time we will also use the remaining stem cell shot in his front leg. It seemed very unlikely that I would put him under anesthesia in the upcoming year for the sole purpose of using that remaining shot so it just seemed that the wisest thing to do would be to do it now since he would be under anyway.

You can see in the video from today that he was much more comfortable. It gives me such joy to see him have a good day. Hopefully now, without having to ever do any steps, his improvements will last a while longer...and with the next injection of stem cells he will improve further so the winter won`t be so hard on him.

9-22-08 Tristan goes to the Vet

His ramp is complete and he has taken to it quite well. He still however has not improved at all in his front leg. Today we took Tris to see if adequan shots might be of some benefit to him. We found a new growth on the back of his rear leg that looked rather suspicious, it will have to be removed before too long. If the adequan does not provide him with adequate relief from the stiffness and pain in his foreleg at the time when he is under for the tumor removal we will implant the remaining stem cell injection. He was such a good boy at the Dr. today ( could be that she had cookies ...hahaha) but I do believe he really knows that they are trying to help him.

Tristan gets a Ramp!!! 9-10-08

The workman were rained out but at least were able to finish the ramp part. Tristan took to it right away. I am hoping that it will help in the long run now that he will no longer have that shock to his forelegs from going up and down the steps.

Going down is easier than coming up but he will get the hang of it before long I am sure. He thinks he needs to jump on to the ramp and has stumbled a little a few times, we just need to take it very slow and it will become natural for him.