The surgeon at the clinic may be able to offer an informed opinion about Crystal but I would make sure they are available when you are coming in.  They get into hours-long surgeries and can't just step out for a consult.

On the other hand, oncologists see the dogs for a longer time after their surgeries and see which ones do okay longer-term.  Tate saw the surgeon once after his amp, to take the stitches out.  Really, it was the oncologist that assessed his suitability as a candidate…not that there was much of a question with Tate, he didn't have arthritis or anything.

Good luck!  Let us know how it goes!

Woo-hoo for good news! 

You're right, it's all part of the process.  Tomorrow morning will be jumble of emotions, too.  It's so hard to leave them, you just have to keep reminding yourself that you made the decision when you were in a more logical frame of mind!

Not to give you more things to think about, but we looked into radiation as an alternative to amputation.  It turned out we didn't have any problems that would suggest amputation was not the best treatment, so that's what we did.  But when we were looking into radiation we looked into both traditional radiation therapy – something like 21 treatments – and a newer, stronger/more targeted radiation therapy that they have been having some success with.  I believe the benefits were fewer treatments (and thus fewer anesthesias), as well as some indication that the radiation was more able to target the "bad" cells and spare the good ones.  I think I may have posted about about it – radiation would be in the title and it would be in June of 2010. 

They are doing a study on it at Colorado State Univ. and also in Florida.  We spoke with a vet a CSU (even though we live in NYC), and they were able to point out a local place that could do it.

The reason I raise this is that our regular oncologist didn't mention it, as they did not do it there.  PM me if you want more info and can't find it.

Good luck!!

yes, thanks, I could not for the life of me remember the word – losing my mind.  Stereotactic radiation, and sometimes it's called "cyber knife".  EVen though cyber knife more commonly refers to brain surgery, it turns out that is what it was  called when the folks at CSU referred us to a place on Long Island that could have done it.

The folks at CSU are doing research in efficacy of stereotactic radiation on OSA dogs – they are willing to discuss – might be worth a call to anyone going the radiation route for OSA

kazy55 said:

Hey Crystal's mom – either I'm a moron or our posts crossed – I didn't see that you had decided to do the surgery.  Which is what we decided too.  That's the best news, as the vets all told us that amputation was the "gold standard" of treatment.  Sorry for clogging up your reading with irrelevant radiation info after the fact – good luck!

Don't be sorry!  That information will definitely be useful for someone else who has to make that decision in the future.  Plus it's always good to know more.

Crystal's surgery went well today!  The surgeon said she can come home tomorrow if she can get up and move around a bit.  If not, she will be home Friday.  It's very quiet and uncomfortable here without her so I'm definitely looking forward to having her back.   I know this is just the beginning of the process but I want to thank everyone for their support and advice.  This community definitely makes dealing with her diagnosis a lot easier.  Also, I'd like to give a special thank you to OK Scout who is generously sending us Scout's harness. Crystal and I really appreciate it.

Christina