We are sorry that you and Holly have had to make your way here, but glad that you have found Tripawds.

On Our 8+ year old Alaskan Malamutes, Mya, is now 11 days since her surgery. About 7 weeks ago we had no idea there was even a high risk of bone cancer in dogs. Mya and Macleod, { couldn't have just one }, were racing around the yard , knocking us over, wrestling with each other, not a care in the world. One night Mya struggled to get up off the floor, and was limping ever since. Thought it could be arthritis. 3 weeks later she was in screetching pain prompting a Xray of her leg and sholder, it was cancer, Ostiosarcoma. We started looking looking every where for information and stories of other peoples journeys. That led us here and I'm so glad we made it. Reading the posts about this happening to other familys, all over, and right now was startlling. We were absoultly, devostated is an understatement, and it happens so fast. Mya, Allison, and (I) Terry, truely do share your pain. We have found the way to ease our way through this is to arm our selves with understanding. We talked with everyone we could, searched everything we could on this, and cancer in general, then to Tripawds and saw all the stories, pictures and videos. It was inspiring. I found we had to get past it for our selves, It really did bother us more than it did Mya. She has really adapted well to walking in three legs, with her limp she didn't put any weight on it anyway, she was almost in training. It doesnt seem to bother her at all, and the pain is gone, just a little tender from the surgery. She only hates being leashed for a bathroom break. She just wants to be a dog. We get the staples out next week and will start chemo theropy.  We started on Metacam (5cc 1x daily) and Tramadol (100mg 3x daily) before the surgery and upped tramadol to 200mg 3x daily and that has worked out well for the pain. We did find the tramadol make her talk a bit, Mals do that, and pant. I found if she looked me right in the eye and started squakingshe was hurting and if she was just chatty and looking around she was just a little anxious about the buzz. Letting her sleep as much as possable and keeping her cool really helped.

Our vet had just gone through this with her dog 2 years ago. He handled it well, even with a few complications he had another year and a half of happy pain free life. Her dog was 11.5 years old at the time of the surgery and mildly arthritic.

Ask all the questions you can don't be shy at all theres always someone here who knows what you are going through. There are difficult decisions you have to make so learn you can and talk about it over and over again untill you keep coming back to one right answer. We will help you any way we can. Remember that dogs live in the day, as long as today was a good day they are happy. And if yesterday wasn't it's already forgoten about.

Our thoughts are with you

Mya, Macleod, Terry and Allison

Hi,

We were sitting at Heathrow waiting to board a flight back to the US on July 13 -- one month ago -- when we got the call that Milo's limp was due to a tumor, most likely osteosarcoma.  He'll be 10 this fall.  He's a tall, skinny ~80lb, Australian Labradoodle who's had weak back legs in the past due to a back injury, and has always been a klutz.  He'd also injured his right shoulder (good leg) in May and again in June when jumping out of the pickup truck.  Lopping off his left leg when he might have a bad right shoulder, and occasionally weak back legs was an unsettling thought.

We met with a canine oncologist on Monday, July 18.  We got Milo into a clinical trial for osteosarcoma which required lung x-rays and abdominal ultrasound and a fine needle aspirate to confirm is was osteosarcoma and he had no metastases yet.  We had a slight delay due to the Metacam (only 7% of dogs have a bad liver reaction to it -- Milo was one of them.)  His leg was amputated on July 28. 

We've since hit a few more bumps.  A very thorough pathologist noticed a lesion on his scapula when analyzing his amputated leg, and it turned out to be a metastasis, so Milo got kicked out of the trial.  It was also determined he has a very rare, very aggressive form of osteosarcoma (Giant Cell-rich Osteosarcoma) -- I have more fingers than there are dogs that have ever been diagnosed with this form -- probably because most have too many metastases and are too far gone to ever get to the level of post-amputation biopsy necessary to diagnose it. 

Here I am, one month since the initial "cancer" phone call.  I now have a Tripawd that's been kicked out of the trial and probably has a short future, not the 1+ year that we had hoped for ......and my thoughts on our choices now with some hindsight...... I'm thrilled with our choice to amputate and would do it again in a heartbeat!

Milo is doing great.  He's not in pain.  He was definitely in pain before.  He wanted to go for a walk the other night.  We had a clambake at our house yesterday and he meandered amongst the guests and watched lawn games.  He's hating the heat (as usual), but he's mostly being his old self.  One guest actually thought Milo was my brother-in-law's service dog due to his harness and didn't notice he only had 3-legs. 

The full biopsy revealed this unusual form of osteosarcoma.  I might have made a different choice if I had done a biopsy first -- I would have been scared by the Giant Cell Osteosarcoma, and I would have worried about putting Milo through an amputation.  But I'm glad i didn't know because watching Milo now, I'm sure I made the right choice for him.  He'll most likely die from metastasis to his lungs from this stupid cancer, much sooner than we thought, but those aren't painful in the same way bone cancer is.  Bone cancer hurts ALL the time.  Lungs will slow them down, steal their breath, eventually coughing, etc.  But it's not 24 hour pain.  This way we can watch him and choose the time that's right for him, and know that he's not in constant pain.  And in the meantime, he's currently our good old Milo, albeit with just 3 legs.  And who knows -- maybe we'll break some crazy odds -- somebody wins the lottery!

Peace,

Jenifer & Milo

Great to hear surgerys done and Holly is resting comfortably.  I expected to come here and read an update on what was to come.  Didn't expect to hear surgery was over already.  But thrilled to hear scans were good and surgery is over.  Let us know how we can help once you get her home we'll be here waiting for an update.  Try to get some good sleep tonight you might be a bit short on that in the next few days.  It's an intense journey but you have taken the steps to get Holly out of the pain of osteosarcoma.  As Holly learns to navigate on 3 be prepared to be amazed at her resiliency and adaptability.  You have a great "can do" attitude that will serve you well.  Sending healing love and hugs yours and Hollys way.

Linda, Riley & Spirits Mighty Max & Ollie