He does EVERYTHING he used to do except that his hour long walks are now about 15-20 minutes long in the cooler weather (sometimes even a half hour) and not so much in the heat/humidity though. He chases his tail (yes with 3 legs), beats up on his younger brother, chases the ball, chews his sticks and runs after deer. I can send you pictures if you would like so you can see...my email is hkourcklas@comcast.net. Let me know.

He used to jump in and out of the SUV, but we won't let him do that anymore...we don't want him snapping that front leg. He can climb the stairs, jump up for his favorite treat and jump up on the couch for a lazy afternoon nap. I hope this answers your question.

YOU WILL BE AMAZED...Bailey will recover quickly, but we need to prepare you for the first couple weeks of recovery after amputation (if you go that route), because they are emotional and stressful and can be difficult...but almost like clockwork, once the 2 weeks were over and zeus got his stitches out and his bandage off - he was his old self...

Paws crossed today...please keep us posted.

Hugs,

Heather

HI Ahsley,

Wrigley's cancer was diagnosed in December2008.  Wrigley was a 60 pound German Shepherd mix. Her Osteosarcoma was located on her scapula. (She had been limping since November and we too went the route of pulled muscle, strain etc before the final diagnosis) . Our surgeon had done some sort of biopsy prior to amputation to determine it was cancer ( although I don't believe it was the painful bone biopspy that has been described and recommended doing after the amputation. After amputation the bone was sent in for a full biopsy ) . At that time her lungs were clear so we went ahead with the amputation. Her doctor was very supportive and felt she would be a great candidate for ampuation and most of all it would relieve her from her pain right away. By the time  he discovered this he could also feel the tumor slighty in the "shoulder" area just with his hands. She was a left front amputee on Dec. 22. After those 2 weeks of recovery from hell,  she was back to her same ole self again ( just a little slower sometimes) We started chemo about 3 weeks after the amputation. She had 2 rounds ( 1 carboplatin and 1 doxorubicin) and was due for her third when her xray showed the cancer had spread to the lungs. This was in Februrary 2009. At that point we tried some alternative medicine such as herbs and accupressure. By the end of March, it is suspected the cancer had spread to her brain/base of her spine because she developed a slight tlit to her head and she got to the point where she could not walk her balance was so bad and then she could not even support herself at all. At this time she never showed any outward signs of the cancer in her lungs.

So in answer to your question, yes we did experience the cancer in the bone higher up. Other than her lungs, I have no idea if it was somewhere else already in her body.

As I posted before though, even though she only lived 3 months after our diagnosis, it was the best three months of quality life for her. She was never in pain until the very end. She did everything she ever did before in that time. She lived a very happy happy life from Jan to March and we got to share that with her for that time. That for us was worth everything.

I know this is such a difficult time for you. Please keep asking all the questions you want- we are all here to help you through this.  Follow your heart and Bailey's lead and you will know what to do.

Keeping you in our thoughts and prayers.

Hi Ashley - i don't enough about the various types of bone cancer and where they are/what makes them aggressive, but logic tells me that unless they do a biopsy, the won't really be able to tell for certain. So I guess you'll know early next week? We didn't do a bone biopsy when we were diagnosing...we did an aspiration to confirm the cancer cells, but it wasn't until the biopsy results came back (post amputation biopsy) that we knew for certain that it was OS. Zeus' cancer was in this wrist.

We are praying extra hard for your sweet baby - I hope you get some rest tonight...I know it's hard, but I found out the hard way that the best way to get through this is to be as rested as possible.

We'll check in tomorrow...

xoxo

Heather and Zeus

baileysmom said:

because Bailey is a large breed dog and amputation isnt what he would recommend because it would be hard for her to get around

Hi Ashley

Just on the subject of large breed dog...Cemil is an Anatolian Shepherd, 156# going into surgery, 148# afterward; he lost a little down to 142, and then gained a little back up to about 148...and he gets around fine.  He has to rest a lot--spends much of a day resting, but when it's time to play, he's right there.  I have 3 other dogs; 2 of them, Mujde age 5 and Radzi age 4, still act like puppies when they play (with Cemil).  Alle, the other one, is going to be 14 in a couple weeks.  She just watches and barks at them.

Look at some of the videos.  Large breed dogs do fine.

Mary

PS Our vet was 99% sure it was bone cancer from the x-ray, and the biopsy after surgery confirmed it.  His was closer to the shoulder, left front.

In our case, no matter what the tumor turned out to be, the first step to contain it would be amputation...it was amputation no matter what it was.  So just to speed things up, we did the surgery and our surgeon sent the tumor and lymph node to diagnostics for testing.  Because of the location of Jack's tumor, he was a candidate for limb-sparing surgery, but if we had gone that route, little spidery cancer cells would still be in his leg waiting to grow back into a tumor.  I just wanted the present cancer cells GONE asap.

Same here.  The doctor said that she was 99% sure and showed me the x-ray and why she was so sure, and said it would be better to do the biopsy after the amputation, to spare pain and extra expense.  She was right in her diagnosis and Cemil only had one painful procedure.