Rocky's Pawrent, I think your experience is very common. We waited three months before amputating our dog's right front leg because our vet thought the limp was caused by an infection and kept trying to treat it with (5!) different antibiotics. When the vet finally did the biopsy, we had to wait one more week to get the results, then another several days to get in to see the oncologists in a city a couple hours' drive away--then (because of the holiday season) nearly three more weeks to have the surgery done. The chest X-rays done at that time showed no lung mets, but the biopsy done at the time of surgery did show a good possibility of cancer in the nearby lymph node. Our local vet did comment (when she gave me the news about the initial biopsy showing the cancer) that she wished so much she'd done the biopsy sooner.

In the meantime (during the three months before surgery), I could tell that my little dog was in a great deal of pain. The vet put her on Meloxidyl for the pain in October, but that didn't really help enough.

Please don't beat yourself up about not getting the surgery done any sooner. In most cases, a limp is caused by something other than cancer--a sprained muscle, a touch of arthritis (especially when the dog is a little older), or an infection. They are all very reasonable assumptions. Believe me, cancer was the furthest thing from my mind, and I was shocked (as was the vet) when the biopsy came back. (It wasn't osteosarcoma, but a very rare, aggressive, and malignant cancer.)

Once the recovery period is over, you (and Rocky) will probably feel a great sense of relief to have that nasty cancer pain kicked to the curb.

((((hugs))))) from Nancy & Susie