Domino's Journey

I haven’t updated in forever!!

A lot has happened since my last update unfortunately. As far as life on three legs, Domino is doing amazing! He’s now 3 years and 4 months a Tripawd and with regular rehab exercises he’s doing great on three legs.

However a few months ago I noticed a hard bony mass on Domino’s lower left jawline. At first I unfortunately didn’t think much of it. When I did take him to the vet, the vet agreed that it wasn’t painful or worrisome and he agreed maybe it was an issue from his car accident (it’s on the same side as his amputation). So I waited a few weeks and then took him in for a routine dental cleaning and the doctor was going to xray his jaw while he was under. I dropped him off and then got the call I dreaded most. Domino’s jaw was indeed abnormal, and actually he had no bone left on the majority of that jaw bone, it was all tumor. The doctor cleaned his teeth and woke him up and referred us to a dental specialist.

Dr. Duncan at UVS is a wonderful doctor, our consultation was good, but she agreed we needed to biopsy and see exactly what we’re dealing with. While waiting to do the biopsy we hit another speed bump. Domino’s jaw had started to drift to the left and his teeth were hitting each other. I sent a video to Dr. Duncan and she agreed we needed to act sooner rather than later, and possibly more aggressively than we thought. Her concern was that he already had a jaw fracture or severe bone loss further back. We got his surgery for his biopsy schedule asap for Tuesday Sept 19th. The plan was to go in, pull the majority of the molars over the tumor and take enough sample out for a good biopsy.

Once Domino was under and Dr. Duncan was able to take xrays and do a good oral exam we decided to go ahead and  do a total hemimandibulectomy, which is basically taking that entire side of his lower left jaw, all the way back to the joint. She discovered during his exam that his jaw joint had major bone loss and was unstable. It’s a major surgery and very scary. He had the surgery and stayed the night at the specialist. I’ll be honest, I was terrified to pick him up. He was going to be missing half of his face, how that’s scarier than missing a leg I don’t know, but it was. But when I picked him up I cried happy tears, he is still my happy wiggly whiny boy. Im shocked at how good he looks and how well his recovery is going. We are now 4 days post op and Domino is eating great, drinking water just fine, and is mad that he can’t play with his brothers and sisters. It’s amazing to watch him learn so quickly how to do things all over again. It’s like watching his amputation recovery all over.

Now all there is to do is wait. We should have biopsy results in about 10-14 days. My fingers are crossed for good news, but I’m also trying to mentally prepare myself for bad news. No matter what happens I believe I made the best decision for Domino. He seems just as happy as ever.

I’ll try to post another update as Domino’s recovery continues!

Cassie and crooked faced Domino