Location: Orcas Island

Hi, this is our 5 year old golden retriever, Samwise.

We took him to the vet on March 16th because he was limping on his right front leg for a month without it getting better.  We thought he had a sprain, and the vet gave him anti-inflammatory pills and sent us home asking us to call in 10 days if it wasn't better.

Well, it got worse, so we had the leg x-rayed on March 24th and found a bone tumor in the distal radius (front right leg at the first bend spot). We were scared, but uninformed, and therefore didn't know what to expect from a bone tumor. The vet said that he needed to send the x-ray off to the radiologist… so we waited.

While we waited we researched online everyday and we have found many helpful sites including — http://www.tripawds.com and http://www.marv…..et.com/htm…..rcoma.html

On March 30th we got the results back from the radiologist and though it did not confirm Osteosarcoma they said it most likely was.  They recommended a biopsy and at this point we had done so much research that we thought maybe it was a possibility that Samwise had Valley Fever because we were in Southern California working for 2 months a few months back.

We went to the vet on March 31st to get the biopsy.  The vet did a blood and tissue biopsy instead of a bone biopsy which I wish we never did because the results came back inconclusive and it was very painful for Samwise. The vet said we could do another biopsy, where they saw a piece of the bone off and we wait 10 days for results, but we opted to not do this.  At this point we were ready for amputation.  We knew that whatever the results were that the end result would still end with leg amputation because of all of our research.  The longer we prolonged the worse off Samwise could be if the maybe-cancer was spreading.

On April 1st Sam had his leg amputated. The vet gave us a quote of $1,500 and he promised that no matter what, we wouldn't spend a dime more.  He included another x-ray the day he was admited to see much the tumor had grown in 1 week, amputation, over-night stay, bone biopsy after the leg was removed, a suspisious lump taken off his back left leg while he was down and all medication and follow up visits.

We decided against chemotherapy.

On April 2nd we brought him home and he was very happy to see us.  He walked up stairs and everything on day 2.  He was drugged up a bit and passed out when we got home.  For 2 weeks we kept him on limited movement with pain pills, anti-inflammatory pills and antibiotics twice a day.

April 16th he had his stiches taken out, and he had already been playing like he was 100% better… so we took him swimming that same day!  He just got in the water a little, but he did swim!

On April 17th we got the results back from the bone biopsy confirming Canine Osteosarcoma so we made a good decision taking the leg off as soon as possible. That same day I took this video of Samwise and our puppy Juno playing at the lake and at home.  This is day 17 after surgery, and he is doing amazingly well! One day at a time!

Watch his videos on YouTube.       

Visit my YouTube channel for more video's and pictures http://www.yout…..r/sbcake28

Let us know what you think.

Thank you for your kind posts. The dog life vest is a fantastic idea, and one we have already been thinking about.  Samwise loves to swim… so we bought him a vest yesterday online.  I'll share pics later of him using it.  :)

I made a new YouTube video to share with people on what to expect the first 2 weeks after amputation. 

Enjoy!

I am so sorry that you have had the schock of such a terrible diagnosis- but so happy that you found us. I have a Golden also – Ember was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in November and had a rear leg amputation the day after Thanksgiving. She is doing great – although she did not recover as fast as Samwise seems to be doing. Fanstastic! (I love the name Samwise)

Jane and Ember

I'm not actually Jody (mom of Lily the tripawd). I'm Clay, her husband.

I feel I love you even though I've never met you because:

1) You have a tripawd

2) His name is Samwise – my favorite character of any book, ever

3) You live on Orcas Island; bicycled there years ago when I was in the San Juans – wow

Question: When Sam came home from the vet, did he say, "Well, I'm back"?

Clay

Samwise Goldeneyes – doing great 8 months later after front leg amputation (bone cancer).

We were nervous how he would do on 3 legs in the snow and ice, but he maneuvers better then we anticipated. He is consistently exceeding our expectations.

We cherish every moment he is with us – happily wagging and playing with his puppy!! It's all about "Quality not Quantity" and we live by those words every day!!

Here are some short video clips of him playing in the snow.