As many of you may remember, we lost our 5 year old Irish Wolfhound on November 28th.  For those of you new to the site, Fergus was diagnosed with OSA on 9/20/11 and had his leg amputated on 9/22/11.  He had a difficult recovery do, I think, to his size.  By the beginning of November, he was doing well on 3 legs and running with his brothers.  On November 22, he was diagnosed with OSA in a second limb, a very rare occurence.  On November 28th, he crossed the Rainbow Bridge and has been running pain free with all of his new friends.  It has been very difficult and we miss him every day.

Yesterday, I brought his 2 year old Irish Wolfhound "brother", Shamus, to the vet to have a small lump on his leg looked at.  The doctor aspirated it, determined it is a tumor and wants to remove and biopsy it.  I can't even comprehend having to go through another potential cancer diagnosis within a few short months.  Fergus and Shamus do not share the same bloodlines.  He will have the tumor removed tomorrow and then the waiting begins.  Shamus has had a rough few months watching his best buddy get sick, work through a difficult recovery and then have to say goodbye.  This just can't happen to him. 

Please keep us in your thoughts and I will pray everything is benign.

As always, thank you for your support,

Tara, Spirit Fergus and Shamus

We hope it is benign, benign, benign too!!  You've been through so much so we are praying it turns out to be nothing.

Hello Tara,

I am so sorry for all that you have been thru…It sounds eerily familiar to what happened with our girl Brandy.  She lost the front left leg to OSA in May 2010.  Then in March 2011, another bump appeared on the rear leg which also turned out to be OSA.  She gained her wings in September 2011, the pain of her loss is still so raw for our family.  Brandy was my dad's baby and her loss crushed him.

On Saturday I noticed my Maggie girl had a good sized lump on her front right leg.  When I saw the lump I got physically sick.  I have no idea what it is.  All I know is it looks terribly similar to Brandy's original tumor.  Maggie is a 2 1/2 year old Rottweiler.  Brandy's diagnosis of her original tumor was right at 2 1/2 years old, which is very rare.  Unfortunately, living in Hawaii I have found that Rottweilers here are not breed well and I do not know much about her background because she is not AKC.   Maggie does not seem to show pain in the area nor is she limping at all.  In Brandy's case, we had no idea there was anything wrong until she fractured her front leg, these darn Rotties are too tough for their own good!  I have an appointment at my vet today and I am praying for an all clear…

I will keep you in my prayers

Benign!  Benign!  Benign! – joining in on the chants…

Teresa, Spirit Brandy and Maggie

Tara, we lost Tate on the exact same day that you lost Fergus.  I can't imagine being faced with the same situation again at this point, especially not with a 2 year old.  Praying for strength for you, but mostly for a benign diagnosis.

Thank you so much for all of your good wishes.  I am staying positive but it is really hard. 

The doctor said it is a round cell tumor.  There are many different types of round cell tumors, both benign and malignant.  If it is a malignant mast cell tumor, it will need to be graded (from 1 to 4).  The vet is being positive but I am still terrified.  I am thankful we are not looking at bone cancer again.  He has also ruled out melanoma.

Teresa, good luck with Maggie.  I will keep both of you in my thoughts and prayers.  Hopefully, it will only be a benign cyst.  Here's hoping for benign results all around.

Hugs,

Tara, Spirit Fergus and Shamus