Hi, this forum was very helpful in the days leading up to the decision to amputate my poor Stanley's leg six weeks ago, so thank you- just reading all the advice and shared stories was so helpful. 

Unfortunately, it doesn't feel right now like like the amputation bought us much time and I'm hoping to get some advice, or maybe find someone who has been through the specific thing I'm going through, because I can't find any examples similar to Stanley's situation, and I can't tell if my vet is doing the right things or not. i've now spent close to 20 grand on vet bills over the past two years and I just can't afford the 3000$ the oncologist staging would cost to get another opinion. 

Stanley's paw troubles started in December 2020, when I noticed a funny limp. The vet told me he had torn a nail out and it had become infected. Fine, we took him in for cleanup and bandaged it up for a little while and so on, and got the all clear and moved on. I did notice that the toe seemed to have lost its hair, but the vet didn't seem concerned after a routine checkup a little while later, so I didn't think much of it until August of 2021 when we noticed that the "bald" toe was getting bigger and starting to crack and bleed and scab. uhoh. we tool him back to the vet, and the lump was removed and biopsied, along with a second smaller lump from the same arm. It came back as mast cell tumours. the one on his foot was incompletely excised and likely to recurr. we let him heal up, but by end of september we ended up amputating the digit. By christmas we were noticing something was growing back in the area, and that he had a few new small tumours on his body, and we started to look for a second opinion, got on a waiting list for an oncologist, but by the time we got in to see them his whole paw was a battered mess from the tumour and he was in so much pain. We had the oncology consult which started out helpful, but we don't have pet insurance and were already suffering financially pretty severely from a combination of Stanley's situation, the pandemic, and my having suffered a nasty injury and had to be off work for three months. they essentially quoted us a minimum of 10 grand for staging, and amputation, and that didn't even cover other care. My regular vet, who did not refer us to the oncologist at any point, told me that he could get all the same testing done for me and he could arrange for a specialist to take care of the surgeries for us for half that, and being kind of desperate, I went that route, but honestly don't think he did actually do all the same tests. there's never been an ultrasound, and he claims there's no sign of there being any spread to the organs or in the blood but I'm not sure how he knows. He also removed a large tumour from Stanley's rump the week before the amputation while taking blood samples and biopsies, and two weeks ago he removed four small tumours from his head and neck since stanley had to be sedated for an enema. However Stanley now has a dozen tumours all over his back and hind quarters, and one very nasty one right next to his bum, which i suspect is contributing to the trouble pooping. His appetite is fine, but he's definitely loosing weight and vomiting more than I'd like. 

We tried Benadryl, but can't afford chemo, and I don't think steroids are an option for stanley because he has a heart condition. We've spent close to 20 grand, with the help of my family, but just can't afford much more, and I'm at a bit of a loss. 

My poor guy has now had 6 surgeries, and I still don't really understand what kind of cancer he actually has or where its originating from, or really what to do but wait for another tumour to become so painful that none of us can bear it anymore. has anyone been through anything like this? I should mention that the tumour on his foot came back as a lymphosarcoma prior to the amputation, but that wasn't explained to me very well either. some of the tumours are mast cell tumours, but some are lymphosarcoma?