Polo became a Tripawd last year in late September when his left front leg was amputated due to osteosarcoma.  When Polo was diagnosed, we found wonderful support in the Tripawds community.  Many of you expressed loving thoughts and gave us excellent advice.    

We decided back then to follow one course of action, which for us was low dose chemo, continue doing everything normally, and hope for the best.  We decided against radiation and heavy chemo and told the doc we didn’t want to know everything.  We also decided that we would end the fight when Polo could no longer do, or lost interest in the things he loves to do.  We adopted Polo from a rescue organization when he was a young adult so we don’t know his actual birth date but he was over 10 years old.  We feel that’s pretty close his natural lifetime for which we are thankful.

Polo recovered from surgery quickly and we have been so very proud of him during the last 10 months.  No one told him he had cancer or lost a leg so he pressed on like a champ from day one.  We walked regularly, he played catch and tug of war with his brothers, and he loved being outside.  Polo never had a side effect or a bad day until this 4^th of July when he suffered a mild seizure.  We discovered lung mets the next day upon visiting our doctor.  He thought that perhaps a traveling particle from one of the mets caused the seizure.  We discussed epilepsy but didn’t focus on it.  He told us that his condition would decline soon.

Early on, we promised Polo that we’d do our best to prevent him from suffering.  That turned out to be very tough because he didn’t show pain and would have done anything we asked him to do. 

Over the next few weeks his health did decline.  His breathing became progressively worse—either extremely rapid or shallow, he was coughing more and more, and we could hear his lungs wheezing.  Some nights we thought he wouldn’t make it until morning but he would rebound.  He stopped eating and lost interest in his toys and things.  Last week we decided that if he worsened over the weekend, we would end the fight.  The weekend was very difficult and we decided it was time.  He rallied Monday morning and we considered postponing but then realized that any improvement would be brief.  We accepted it as a blessing. 

Polo would have toughed it out longer, maybe a week or two but he was suffering and we couldn’t bear watching him break down.  We could see the difference in his eyes—he was holding out for us, which made the decision very tough.  The only thing that sparked his attention was one of us entered or leaving the room.

We are agonizing over our decision—not whether it was the right or wrong thing to do but that Polo would have continued until he absolutely couldn’t.  It would have been easier if he weren’t so tough—but that’s why he was the Big Dog.  He absolutely didn’t lose the fight—he kicked cancers tail, we just decided it was time to stop fighting.   

We love and miss Polo very much.

Thank you all for your support and kindness, 

Mike and Jenny Jones, and Polo’s brothers Pete and Rocco