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Uncategorized July 28th, 2013First I want to thank everyone for their postings. It’s comforting to see what others have gone though and will help us through the next couple months (and hopefully years). Here’s our situation:
In April, our dog, Nevada, started limping. After a couple days of not getting better, we brought her in. The vet’s guess was a torn ACL. They took some blood and X-rays and found a section of her bone had “something” wrong. The X-rays were sent to a radiologist for his input. Both he and our vet came to the conclusion it was osteosarcoma. They explained the outlook and our options. Of course we were heartbroken, she’s such a sweet dog, doesn’t seem fair. We made a group appointment with the local vet who handles pets with cancer and chemo. He states he’s not confident it’s cancer. He says she’s not following the normal cancer path. The next day we got the call that her blood came back positive for Blastomycosis. Other than the outrageous cost of the medication she’d need for 9 months, she should be fine. We were thrilled this was all it was. Come June, the leg is getting worse. They have us come back in to get more x-rays. The damaged area has gotten worse and the outer coating of the bone is severely inflamed. We get more pain pills. Come July and we’re no better, they do more X-rays to find it’s still gotten worse. They ran more blood and found her Blasto came back negative, so something else is now the cause of her pain. One vet thinks we’re still looking at cancer, the other one doesn’t think it is. All records were sent to a specialist who came back with an “I don’t know” response. His only conclusive response was that he doesn’t think it’s due to an injury, it’s some sort of disease or infection or something causing it. One vet states if it was her dog, she’d amputate. The other vet would do the biopsy. They both say there isn’t a “wrong” answer with where to go as we don’t really know the problem. Right now the surgery room is set up to amputate on Thursday. We talked over the weekend and kind of came to an agreement. We’re likely going to amputate. It’s so hard to know if it’s right to do, but I’m tired of her being in pain. It’s been about 4 months now where we’ve had to limit her activity, can’t let her play with our other dog, etc. I took her for a 2 block walk yesterday and it made it worse again. I’m pretty much against the biopsy as if we find out it’s cancer, we still need to amputate and she’d have to go through 2 painful surgeries. If we don’t have a cancer result, we’re likely stuck where we are with not knowing what it is, if it will ever go away, or even get better. Plus the biopsy could weaken the already damaged bone and force us to later amputate anyway.
So that’s where we are right now. Neither my husband nor I are confident we’re doing the right thing, but I guess we have to do something, so we’re going for it. Thanks for listening (reading)!
July 27th, 2013 at 6:00 pm
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July 28th, 2013 at 8:38 pm
It is so hard to know if you are doing the right thing!!! My dane Tank goes in tomorrow for amupation and I have been a mess this weekend. It would just be so nice if they could tell us what they want 🙁 But… you are in the right place. Tons of advice, support and love on this site. Keep us posted, I will be thinking about you!
July 29th, 2013 at 11:45 pm
I’m hoping you can see when I post something. I’m still trying to figure out this website. How did Tank’s surgery go today? Crossing my fingers it all went well and he comes home soon!
July 29th, 2013 at 3:06 pm
Gosh, I don’t know how missed your post! I just ow went t the homepage t review the blogs to make sure I adn’t missed any….and there was Nevada!
I’ll have to come back and type more later. I just want to quickly say you are doing the right thing…..removing the pain!! And any decision out of love s the right thing!!
Hang in there and we are al ere for you!
Sally and Happy Hannah
July 29th, 2013 at 11:56 pm
I think I’m doing this wrong. Anyway, benny-thanks for the comment! Her leg is even worse, so I guess that tells us we’re doing what’s needed. So hard to make a decision on their behalf! We have to hope it’s the right one. I was trying to find your page to read your situation, but this website keeps throwing me for loops! Some day I’ll get it figured out.
July 30th, 2013 at 4:06 am
Your posts are coming through loud and clear! So sorry your sweet girl is hurting without anyone being able to figure out why. So frustrating. I am not a vet but if the bone is damaged, Nevada is in pain, and you aren’t getting any clear answers from your vets then amputation certainly looks like a really good option at this point. I have heard lots of stories where people did “everything they could” to save a leg (including multiple complicated surgeries) only to end up amputating in the end. With an amputation Nevada will be free of pain and happy again. She won’t have any regrets and neither should you. I have three rear-leg amputees and they all rock! They are strong, fit, happy and living each day to the fullest.
Best of luck whatever you decide–we are here for you all the way!
Codie Rae’s mom
July 30th, 2013 at 2:11 pm
Thanks for the comments! She’s definitely gotten worse over the last 2 days, isn’t wanting to even move too much now, so I’m glad they had blocked the surgery room for us already. She’s been in pain long enough. Good for you and having 3!! I’m assuming they were adopted that way? You’re a good dog Mom!
July 31st, 2013 at 3:57 am
Yes, they all came that way ;)….all the result of stupid human tricks.
I am so sorry Nevada is hurting so bad right now but at least that nasty leg will be gone soon. The Oaktown Pack will be thinking of you and Nevada on Thursday and sending you all our tripawd power for a swift and uneventful surgery and a swift and easy recovery!
There is so much great information on this site it is sometimes hard to know where to start…..If you haven’t found it already check out this link to the “top 10 questions” about tripawds and amputation. http://tripawds.com/2008/11/17/the-top-10-questions-about-amputation-for-dogs/
Also check out the “Top Tips for Tripawds on the tripawds home page.
Hang in there–things should be looking better soon!
xoxox,
Martha and the OP