Sorry I haven't been around much. Lot's going on.
Annie started limping about a month ago, and we have a home visit vet come who said it looked like the cruciate and said we needed to get her in for x-rays. She gave us some meds which seemed to help, but as time progressed Annie stopped putting *any* weight on the leg. She became mostly 3-legged, and after she fell on the stairs we blocked her to the downstairs where Lauren would sleep with her. We got her to the vet this last Friday and the vet immediately showed us how Annie did not have a cruciate problem by bending her leg in an unnatural manner. It was broken. So, she took an x-ray.
Her leg wasn't broken, it was eaten by tumor. She gave us two options: amputation or euthanasia. We chose amputation. Talk about a gut-punch.
She had the surgery that night and we went to visit her on Saturday. She was dopey as heck and probably one of the saddest things I've ever seen. This is her having fallen asleep on my daughter's leg:
We opted to leave her there one more day and picked her up on Sunday. We got her out of the car and she hopped into the garage where she said, "I'm done" and proceeded to park herself for the next hour.
She then sat up, and tried to get herself into the next room in the three seconds it took me to run to the bathroom. We've had that problem before with her - she doesn't like to be rushed and she doesn't like to be watched. Leave her alone and she'll deal with it. I rushed back in there, I grabbed her harness to help her and she sat herself on her bed and spent the night all comfy and surrounded by people.
This morning she sat up and wanted to go out so I grabbed her harness and she trucked on outside like it was no big thing. I think she's going to do well. I'm pretty much just supplying balance - she's doing all the work.
Some sad news, though, and that's that her biopsy came back as Osteosarcoma, which is not good, but the surgeon said the bone above her amputation looked great so we'll talk with an oncologist when she goes back to get her staples out.
Osteosarcoma is extremely likely to metastasize (often to the lungs), but the fact that her chest x-rays and blood work were clear and that she did so well with the surgery mean that we *may* have just literally cut off a foot to save the whole dog. From what I've read, chemo is far less awful for dogs than it is for people, so we'll see what that's all about. She is 10, remember, but she does not act like an old dog, and that's why we took this path. We won't let her live in pain, but we firmly believe there's still some good years left in the old girl yet.
Annie's had a rough couple of days.
Annie started limping about a month ago, and we have a home visit vet come who said it looked like the cruciate and said we needed to get her in for x-rays. She gave us some meds which seemed to help, but as time progressed Annie stopped putting *any* weight on the leg. She became mostly 3-legged, and after she fell on the stairs we blocked her to the downstairs where Lauren would sleep with her. We got her to the vet this last Friday and the vet immediately showed us how Annie did not have a cruciate problem by bending her leg in an unnatural manner. It was broken. So, she took an x-ray.
Her leg wasn't broken, it was eaten by tumor. She gave us two options: amputation or euthanasia. We chose amputation. Talk about a gut-punch.
She had the surgery that night and we went to visit her on Saturday. She was dopey as heck and probably one of the saddest things I've ever seen. This is her having fallen asleep on my daughter's leg:
We opted to leave her there one more day and picked her up on Sunday. We got her out of the car and she hopped into the garage where she said, "I'm done" and proceeded to park herself for the next hour.
She then sat up, and tried to get herself into the next room in the three seconds it took me to run to the bathroom. We've had that problem before with her - she doesn't like to be rushed and she doesn't like to be watched. Leave her alone and she'll deal with it. I rushed back in there, I grabbed her harness to help her and she sat herself on her bed and spent the night all comfy and surrounded by people.
This morning she sat up and wanted to go out so I grabbed her harness and she trucked on outside like it was no big thing. I think she's going to do well. I'm pretty much just supplying balance - she's doing all the work.
Some sad news, though, and that's that her biopsy came back as Osteosarcoma, which is not good, but the surgeon said the bone above her amputation looked great so we'll talk with an oncologist when she goes back to get her staples out.
Osteosarcoma is extremely likely to metastasize (often to the lungs), but the fact that her chest x-rays and blood work were clear and that she did so well with the surgery mean that we *may* have just literally cut off a foot to save the whole dog. From what I've read, chemo is far less awful for dogs than it is for people, so we'll see what that's all about. She is 10, remember, but she does not act like an old dog, and that's why we took this path. We won't let her live in pain, but we firmly believe there's still some good years left in the old girl yet.
Annie's had a rough couple of days.
I’ve been in this position but felt forced to make the opposite decision. (It was probably close to 30 yrs ago now) I’m happy that you are able to give her a fighting chance, with today’s modern med’s and the newf communities love and prayers, I hope you find more time to share love. I think Obe’s Mom took his leg, haven’t heard to much but I hope they are doing well. She may have some in-site to share.
