Hi Guys,

Just wanted to give you an update on our beautiful girl Bella.

About a month ago I posted on this forum for the first time after receiving the devastating news that our beautiful 5yo bull mastiff Bella had osteosarcoma. My husband and I didn't know what to do and we were very unsure about amputation in a large dog. The information, support and advice we got from everyone here gave us the strength to make the decision to go ahead with the surgery and we haven't looked back.

Today is Bella's 3 week ampuversiary and every day she is continuing to amaze us with her strength, determination and love of life . Bella spent 5 days at a wonderful specialist vet hospital here in Australia and while she was away we frantically carpeted hallways, built ramps, bought dog socks and harnesses, fenced off our verandah & put down marine carpet, bought her a low firm bed and generally went overboard! She has since chosen to run up the stairs instead of the ramp (she does go down the ramp!), walks on the wooden floor instead of the carpet, lays on her old bed and won't even hear of being locked up on the super safe verandah. My husband and I took turns at staying home with her everyday for the first two weeks and I am sure she kept wondering what all the fuss was about and why we kept cuddling her every 5 minutes.

Bella had her first round of chemo last week and despite being tired on the day of the treatment has shown no signs of side effects which we are hoping continues.

Yesterday she made us all smile by running (and Bella never runs.. even with 4 legs) to greet us at the gate when we got home from a short outing.

Thanks again to everyone for your support in helping us through a difficult time. It's great to be able to share some good news for a change. Every day with Bella is a blessing, she continues to inspire us to live life to the fullest and celebrate what you have instead of dwelling on what you don't.

All the best,

Clair

I'm so happy to hear how well Bella is doing! They sure are amazing aren't they?  Please keep us posted on what I'm sure will be more success stories.

Thanks for sharing a great update. One of the things we try to tell people when they first come here is take a breath, its us humans that have all the anxiety, its just a bump in the road for these guys and your story proves it. Not saying its easy but your finding out how well these guys adjust. Love that picture, big dogs rule, Paws up, Spirit Gus and Dan

Thanks everyone for your lovely comments.

Miss Riley – Sleeping is something that Bella is very good at! For the first week or so we had her sleeping inside in the lounge room which is just outside our bedroom, she would wake up a few times a night and change sides to get comfortable. We were really surprised she was sleeping on her amputation side and a few times we thought she looked stuck but she wasn't. 

Bella is used to sleeping outside in her kennel on our front verandah so its hard to know what's normal, she may have always got up a few times during the night before the operation we just normally don't hear her. After a week we decided to let her sleep outside and get back in her normal routine, we had fenced in an area of our verandah about 10m long x 2m wide so we knew she was safe. Its summer here and the nights have been really warm and she seems to enjoy having that freedom and being out with her little brother.

It's so hard not to read into every little noise they make and every time they move we wonder what is wrong. I think we over analyse everything when they just really want to get back into their normal routine.