I am sorry to read of Eloise's diagnosis. She has had her amputation so thank goodness that painful leg is gone,  I can't offer any advice as we haven't had to deal with mets yet, but I wanted to let you no we are here for you.  Wishing the best for a speedy recovery.

Jo Ann & Tasha

Hugapitbull, I like that cancer sucks society label, it fits well here!!! Erica, our first x-ray with Gus showed clear lungs, but about 7 weeks later we saw 3 spots. at the time we first found his cancer the vet thought we caught it early, we did the amputation and all was going really well, then he started getting a lump on his neck so I took him back in and thats when we found the mets. I decided to not do chemo since Gus was such an active guy and with the thought we had caught it early I didn't want him to have to deal with side effect if he had them. Once he healed from the surgery he was as good as new, but we found the cancer was way more aggresive than we ever thought and lost him July 26, we did the surgery april 7, so we didn't have him near as long as hoped, but the fact that he had a great life after surgery without having to deal with any side effects of chemo was my goal, and we achieved that. I don't regret not doing it one bit. I did try the metronomic therapy after we found the mets which we used cytoxin, doxyciline, mushrooms and prednisone and he didn't have any reactions to those drugs, but I can't say if they helped or not. Chemo can be quite expensive, and I have seen posts where people have stopped after only 1 or 2 treatments because of the reactions it causes. Make a decision you can live with and have no regrets with, second guessing will tear you up. Good luck, you found a great place to be going down this crappy road, Spirit Gus and Dan 

Hi Erica – we were in your situation just a little over a month ago with our 10-year old shep/lab mix Kobe, except that Kobe has had his rear leg amputated. They found his lung mets the day we went in to get his stiches out and consulting with our vets decided not to do chemo. Like you (and really everyone that I've read about on these boards) our focus was/is to keep Kobe out of pain and happy and this seemed to be the best decision for us. We currently have Kobe on Rimadyl and we are giving him K9 Immunity and a few homeopathic supplements (which I don't have the name of with me at work). We also switched his food to Orijen that we supplement with various proteins (chicken, turkey) or vegetables.

Kobe is doing really well right now – I don't know if what we are doing is helping that but I at least feel good knowing it isn't hurting. This is all pretty new to us so I don't have a lot of answers, just what we are doing. I go through periods of information overload and guilt because I don't know if I'm doing enough/the right thing/the wrong thing..but in the end my husband and I just decided that as long as whatever we do is done because we want the best for Kobe than that is the best we can do.

We'll be thinking of you as Eloise recovers from her surgery!!

Bethany and Kobe

Thanks so much everyone for all your kind words and advice!  Eloise is the type of dog that when we went for walks just around the block, I would get stopped at least once by someone remarking about what an interesting dog she is. 

She comes home later this afternoon(I've got her comfy space all ready for her) and, of course, I am so anxious so trying to keep busy with my 2 girls all day.  There is a lot of information out there and I appreciate you all setting me in the right direction.  It can be overwhelming!  But you are all right in that, until we get a confirmed diagnosis, we may just be spinning our wheels trying to figure things out. 

Thanks again so much and I'll be sure to keep you all updated.

Erica

Welcome Eloise and family,

Justa hearty welcome to you, as I have no experience similar to yours.

How exciting to have her coming home, don't expect too much at first, the pain meds and left over anesthesia can sometimes make for a pretty dopey puppy. But as the days pass you will see your girl come back. Just try to focus on this step- the coming home- then move on to the next. Most of all, shower her with love and enjoy her homecoming!!

Happy hopping Eloise,

Spirit Angel JD's mom

I don't have experience with mets, but there is another dog on this site Fortis who is living life to the fullest even after lung met diagnosis. It does not signal the end, but rather reinforce the idea that it is important to treasure every day with them!!!

Here is a link to his blog regarding the lung met update: Fortis

-Chloe's mom