Hello Pam and Tazzie, it's nice to meet you and thank you so much for your advice and support regarding OS. I'd like to say that Jim suggested that I see the movie today, about Tazzie the 3 legged Mastiff, and I must say I was very impressed how well Tazzie looked, how happy she was, and the mobility of her body getting around just 3 mos after her sx. I was astonished at the resilience of giant breeds. She looked beautiful.

To answer your question, no, chest x-rays have not been taken yet. My vet did not do them. I will be requesting that they be done tomorrow, when we go to the specialists at our consultation. The Metropolitan Veterinary Associates said they will be doing some more bloodwork as well.

It is good to know that up to 25% of dogs can survive 1-2 years or more even without chemo and that there is some hope for a better prognosis than 6-9 months then from what my vet told me. Apparently, my vet is misinformed.

We have been limiting stairs for our Mastiff now even before any operation, may be needed. He even knows to lead with his left paw instead of his right so as not to put pressure on the right to limit any pain for himself, when he has to go out to go potty.

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Hello Jake's Mom, it's very nice to meet you and thank you so much for your support and kind words. Jake is a very handsome boy, and strong, and to bounce back the way he did and to be swimming in just such a short amount of time after his surgery in September, is truly AMAZING!!! I can't wait to check out his pictures and videos in his blog at Jake's Journey. I have been reading a lot of amazing blog/storys on this website, as Tripawds.com truly is, like you said a wonderful website, with wonderful people.

I didn't know that the results would take 1 week to come back from the specialists. I'm glad you told me. I guess I will find that out tomorrow when we go to our apt. I will definitely be on pins and needles now Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts on Thursday. Especially Angus, he will need it
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Hello Jim (And Spirit Jerry), It is very nice to meet you and thank you for the nice welcome. I am so glad that I joined Tripawds.com, and I think that I found you all just in time. I have found so much information on your website so far that has given me comfort. I now know that there is hope for Angus because I have seen photos, and films of canines surviving bone cancer, longer than what I was actually told by my own vet, at least. So, like you said, I have decisions to face. I know I won't be alone when I face them because I now have the greatest people in the world that I have met that are supportive, and couldn't be kinder that have gone through the same things with their pets, and will help me face them together. I will certainly keep everyone posted on Angus' progress, after his consultation tomorrow, 10-7-09, and his biopsy on Thursday, 10-8-09.

TY
Mary

Hello everyone,
I'm so sorry that I haven't been around. I was having some trouble getting onto the website, but I found out what the problem was (with some help) and corrected it, and now I am back. I so missed talking with everyone

Hello Laura, It is so nice to meet you and Jackers. Jackers is a very handsome boy and I'm so glad that he is happy and doing well. You are so right about the stress though. But, I'm not talking about it being stressful for me. I think it's more stressful for Angus, and my heart bleeds for him every time I have to take him to the vet because it just stresses him out so much I think he gets mad at us each trip to the vet (and I'll explain later) and I feel so guilty now. I think it all goes back to that visit at out local vet when the technician took his Lyme Disease bloodwork test sample. He just wasn't the same after that visit. He so loved going to the vet. But now he shys away from the techs/doctors now. He always had to get bloodwork before on many occasions because he has allergies, so he is used to getting needles. Maybe it was just a bad day for him, but now he'll never forget

Hello Debra and Emily, it is so nice to meet you. Emily looks just like my Black and Tan Coonhound, she is very pretty. You know, you are so right about the statistics. When we got to the specialists, the doctor gave us a completely different answer of statistics from what our local vet gave us. I have to mention this (because I didn't mention this one statistic above that my local vet told me w/o any tx'mt Angus had 4mos) ok that said. The specialist gave us 6-10 mos for Angus w/o any tx'mt at all and 10-14 mos for Angus w/amputation and chemo. However, I know that those statistics can change because every dog is different, based on age, breed, health, etc. The specialists also agreed with our local vet about the OS when she looked at the x-rays, but she said she was 99% sure it was OS (our vet was 75% sure) which changed the percentage down to 1% that it wasn't OS So, the specialist went ahead with the biopsy and x-rays of Angus's entire body (I'll explain later). Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers.

Hello Macsmom, it is so nice to meet you. Thank you so much for the nice welcome and for your thoughts and prayers.

Hello Mary and Cemil, It is so nice to meet you. What a cute smile in Cemil's pic. I'm so glad that Cemil is doing well after his surgery. You know I often wonder that thought now, as I am coming to the final decision soon, as I watch Angus limp every day and soon we will be speaking to the oncologist, will I have made the right decision for him once he has the operation. I then say to myself, it's the best thing for him because he won't be in pain anymore. I keep telling myself that. He's in so much pain now with the limping I'm trying to hang in there everyday for him but just watching him makes me cry for him. I just hope the meds at least give him some relief, or at least takes the edge off somewhat until the operation can take place.

Hi Jim and (Spirit Jerry), Well, we went to see the specialist on Wed, 10-7-09 and we thought it was going to be a consultation only, however the doctor requested that Angus not eat that morning. Only take his meds and drink water. We thought it was because they didn't want him getting sick, because he was getting sick from the Rimadyl. The biopsy/surgery was scheduled for Thursday, 10-08-09. Like I mentioned above, when the doctor saw the x-rays, she did agree with our local vet 99% that Angus had OS. She gave us the statistics of 6-10 mos for w/o any tx'mt at all and 10-14 mos for w/amputation and chemo. Then we said that we wanted to talk with the oncologist as well. She said he wasn't in that day, so we would need to make an spt. with him. She asked if were thinking about the amputation, we said we wanted to know all of the options. She told us about the bone replacement, however she said that the bone replacement surgery may not always take and may have to be done again. ($10K surgery + cost of Chemo). She didn't want to do the biopsy if we did the bone replacement, because that would have weakened the bone. So then we talked about the amputation ($3500 Sx + Cost of Chemo). So, we said do the biopsy and we will go from there. She said, Angus didn't eat? We said no, why? She said well since he didn't eat we can do the biopsy today. Our apt was at 10:15a, we were an hour away from our house. She said I will also do a full body x-rays of Angus to make sure his boy can withstand an amputation and make sure the cancer did not spread. So, by the time we were waited on it was 11:00a, because this is not only a veterinary hospital, it is also an emergency hospital. So, we were waiting for quite some time. By the time the technician took Angus back to sedate him for the x-rays and the biopsy/surgery the doctor told us to go to lunch and to be back by 2pm because he would be all done and ready to go. We went to lunch and were back by 1:30pm. The doctor called us in the back at 1:45pm to look at Angus' x-rays. She said his lungs were very clear the cancer did not spread, so there is nothing to worry about. His heart looks very good. Both of his knees look great and both of his hips look terrific. No arthritis showing anywhere. Left front arm looks great as well (no tumors anywhere). She also showed us the right front distal radius again, where the tumor was and where she would be doing the biopsy. Also the doctor did bloodwork, which came back normal. Needless to say, it was 2:00p at that point she hadn't started the biopsy yet. She said, they were only just prepping him for the biopsy and it would only take her a 1/2 an hour for her to do the biopsy and then for Angus to wake up from the sedation. We would be leaving in about an hour. Well, let's just say we wound up going to dinner at 5:00pm and then not leaving the hospital until 7:30pm. Angus for some reason had a hard time waking up for the sedation. He left there with a cast and a boot. We left with instructions of going back in 10-14 days to get the sutures out and the cast off, and when we go back we will speak with the oncologist. Also, medication of Tramadol and Rimadyl

When we got home Angus just wanted to sleep, but the next day he didn't want to do anything, when I say didn't want to do anything I mean, not eat, not potty (pee or pooh, not even drink water). I was getting so worried. He hadn't poohed since the day before we sent to the specialist, and he hadn't peed since that morning of the specialists visit (which was 24hrs). So I called the vet (specialists) and let them know right away. They started thinking that maybe he was getting dehydrated. So, they said to call my local vet That's all I needed. So I called my local vet to let them know, they said to bring him in as soon as I could. Well, I figured Angus already had a stressful day the day before, now he was going to go through another stressful something with this vet, and be mad again So, his not usual vet doctor, and she was a mean one, came over to him and started poking around his mouth to check and see if he was dehydrated, then she pinched his skin. Then she said, "Well, he's not dehydrated. It must be kidney failure." So we said, "how can it be kidney failure when the doctor just did bloodwork the day before and the bloodwork was normal." So, she said she would call the specialists we saw the day before and get her recommendation, and go from there. She did and came back. She did bloodwork again. The bloodwork came back normal again. So she said we may have to do a catheter to empty his bladder. They took him back, he was so upset when they took him in the back room that he peed right there on the floor. The brought him back out within 10 mins. and we said, "that was fast". They said, he peed on the floor a big puddle and then another little puddle So, he was just either mad or just being stubborn. Ever since then he started eating and drinking and going potty
But....when we took him back to get what we thought was the sutures and cast removed on Thursday, 10-15-09. The doctor only removed the cast and boot, and kept the sutures in until 10-23-09. She said they have to stay in for at least 10-14-days. When we brought Angus home he was stubborn that day with not eating but he was ok with potty and drinking. Just not very sociable. I just feel that he gets mad when we take him to the vet. So, now we have to take him back on the 23rd to get the sutures out and that's the day we will be s/w the oncologist. But I guess once we speak with the oncologist and we decide to go with the amputation, there will be many more visits to the vet and Angus will get mad. So I guess that's where the stress for me will come from. Maybe the stress won't be so bad for Angus once the pain goes away I'll keep everyone posted.