Hi Randy, Maya and family. We are so sorry to hear about the diagnosis but glad you found us. 

You are so very fortunate to be working with CSU, they are the BEST and world-famous for their treatments. See all of our CSU articles for more details.

Not every treatment is right for every dog, or every person's budget. Each situation is so different and there are no right or wrong answers. I do have some thoughts for you though:

Do we take her to CSU animal cancer center, where they can do a procedure called “Stereotactic Radiotherapy. This would save the leg, alleviate pain and at an average give her 1 more year, roughly ($10,000).

Again, every situation is different. This is a good option for some dogs like Hazel who are not good candidates for amputation. So is palliative care. What did they say about Maya being able to cope with being a Tripawd? Sounds like she's strong and healthy otherwise?

not put her through the trauma of the amputation and ruled out the CSU treatment because of some of the side-affects we heard of 

What are your main concerns? And what did you hear about side effects, for which treatment? Just curious.

 we pretty much have decided to go the amputation/radiation route – SOON. 

Great that you've decided. Now are you sure they are doing radiation and amputation? Usually it's amputation and chemotherapy. Radiation is typically done for palliative care, but there could be something I'm missing here.

So I’m not asking to debate this decision (especially during this HARD time) with anyone but would like to hear back on how after an amputation from Bone Cancer went for you and your 4 legged family member.

You'll see here that the vast majority of dogs do great on three legs. And some osteosarcoma patients will not make it to that prognosis, some will go way beyond. Our Jerry lived two years after amputation, and we opted out of chemotherapy. You'll see that even when dogs don't live up to the prognosis, the majority of members who took our quality of life survey said they would do amputation again because it gave their dog an excellent, pain-free life for whatever time they had left together.

Another thing to consider: the prognosis given for osteosarcoma is just an educated guess based on studies.  Everyone gets the same numbers and as humans we are so obsessed with the concept of time. But dogs are not. Also, those studies didn't include Maya. She is her own girl and on her own timeline. All she wants is to be with you, her favorite people, and not have pain. She doesn't count days, she doesn't know the difference between a week or a month or a year. She just wants to enjoy life with you. Cancer can play mean or it can be nice, you just don't know what will happen. All you can do is enjoy every day to the fullest with your pup. It's a great lesson in life, really. We call this learning to Be More Dog .

I hope this helps! Stay tuned for feedback from others.