It's hard to believe one week ago I was physically ill after making the decision to have Jake's Right hind leg amputated.

But 6 days post op he is doing great!

  Jake is a 7 &1/2 year old chocolate lab. He lives in our crazy house with his sister Logan( 7 year old yellow lab) and brother Toby (7 month old black lab). His people are myself, my husband and two daughters 15 and 20.

At age 4 &1/4 Jake developed a mass on his lower right hind leg. Our vet debulked and biopsied it. It turned out to be a grade 2 mast cell tumor. Exploring the options we found an oncology center approximately 100 miles away. After the initial consult our course of treatment was another more extensive debulking and daily radiation treatments for 3 weeks.  Jake did well for 4 years!  The week preceding Memorial day 2014 I noticed a small growth in the same area. The plan was to see our vet on Tuesday following the holiday weekend. By Saturday the area began to swell and Jake was limping. Sunday I brought him to our local animal hospital (because these things always happen on weekends and holidays). He was examined, needle biopsied and sent home on pain medication, antibiotics and benadryl.  The following day(Holiday) his right hind leg and foot had doubled in size. His foot was so swollen that the toes were pointing upward and oozing. Again back to the hospital. We waited 8 hours to be seen. During that time Jake sat outside with us (standing room only), and greeted all visitors as if he were the ambassador to the hospital. He was kept over night and treated to decrease the swelling.  We brought him home on Tuesday and set up an appointment for a spleen and live biopsy to rule out metastasis.

CXR, labs and biopsies ruled out mets. After weighing the options my task was to convince my family that amputation was the best course of treatment. That's where I first found Tripawds!!! I would like to thank you all...this web site helped a lot. Well- my husband was wavering, my 20 year old daughter was all for amputation, and my 15 year old informed me that she would not live in this house if I did such a thing. Too bad so sad - get over yourself kid!

Jake had his surgery last Saturday 6/14/14. We didn't visit him because he can be rather anxious and having to leave him after a visit I felt would be too traumatic ( not sure if for me or him lol)  Sunday 6/15/14 he walked and was progressing as they though he should.  In a nice way they suggested that I take him home, because he whines (whistles) a lot. Being a nurse I wanted to be sure that he could at least pee on his own and take enough sustenance to support him.  We (my husband and I) went to pick him up on Monday 6/16/14. When pulling in to the hospital entrance, we could see Jake standing at the screen door- That made me feel better!  We brought him home and stood vigil for 3 days and nights. Each day he did better and better. Last night we decided that he was good enough not to have a private nurse at his side and he slept ion the living room as he was normally accustomed. This am as my alarm clock went off, I heard Jake get up and whistle as he waited for me at the bottom of the stairs. Music to my ears! He circled around me and followed me through the house.  Our house has resumed some sort of normalcy and all involved are relieved to conclude that we made the right decision. As for the 15 year old... she has begun to call him nubby and takes great pleasure in scratching his shaved back. As for Jake he has the glimmer in his eyes, and is slowly resuming his usual goofy self.  I know the haul is not over. But... another great hurdle has been jumped. Keep the stories coming they have been a great source of reference and inspiration. Victoria and Sebastian reached out and were very helpful!

Fondly,

Jakes Mom aka Laurie