jerry said

Hi Jenny, welcome. Your future posts won't require moderation and will automatically appear.

First, congratulations on KICKING CANCER'S BUTT! You are a rock star, wow! I'm so very sorry you're dealing with it now in Snowhite but your experience with this disease will help you be stronger and better than you ever though possible with whatever comes next for you and Snowhite.

When it comes to any kind of medical procedure, doctors will usually want the patient to go through the least invasive route first, which is likely whey they don't want you to jump to amputation (and that's similar to why it's so controversial when women want to have a radical mastectomy when they discover they have the breast cancer gene...many docs are still opposed to that).

Have you asked them what are the chances of the tumor recurring? What are the percentages they are discussing? And what would a chemo/radiation therapy program look like for her?

The thing to remember is that dogs handle chemo much differently than humans--better. I'm sure the vets told you this, and although you've been through the hell that chemo is, I know it's difficult to believe that, but most dogs do far better than anyone expects. That's because of the smaller dosages they are given since their bodies can't tolerate as much as a human's can. The whole point of veterinary chemo in animals is to balance quality of life with managing the disease, hopefully eradicating it, but to ensure that the dog isn't miserable. And the thing about chemo is, you can always stop it, there's no rule saying that you have to keep going if Snowhite is unhappy.

This is a hard call. We always advocate following your gut instinct, which you are doing. But when it comes to something like this it's a matter of balancing the odds with your gut feeling. Maybe getting more information from the vet will help you feel better about what you decide. Either way, we're here to support you. Thank you for joining.

Hello and thank you for the wonderful welcome. To answer your questions the best option is radiation with 90% success, but i not only cant afford it i really dont want to put her thru that. next would be chemo but it will only slow down the cancer not get rid of it. The next option is a second surgery to "try" to get better margins which might get rid of it all, but if it doesnt work then the last option is amputation, which that is the route i want to take. With the second surgery they just tell me that they can try and that the cancer might or might not come back at all.

I do want to save her leg but i rather save her life with a more aggresive option with amputation. Im just in a crossroad Since i want to go with amputation but they want to leave it for last resort., and i dont see the logic in putting her thru another painful surgery if the outcome is uncertain. Id rather put her thru ONE painful surgery that will likely be curative since she has a grade 1 tumor.

To me that leg represents cancer and if i can get rid of the cancer with amputation ifeel that ultimately its will be the best option in the long run. But thank you so much for your advice.

elizabeth said
Its definitely a hard decision and I'm sorry you are having to go through it. I don't have much advice but I can tell you our story with STS. Four years ago I found a lump on my Jakes shoulder. It was biopsied and diagnosed a fatty lipoma. We were advised to leave it alone, there was no sense in removing it because sometimes dogs "just get those things" and it wasn't bothering him. Fast forward a couple of years, Jake was chasing a squirrel and started limping. For a few months he was treated for a sprain that wasn't healing. The vet thought to do another biopsy of the "fatty lipoma" which showed it was now cancerous, a grade 2 STS (nerve sheath tumor).

Two of the options we were given were radiation or removal. Like you, I just wanted it gone. He went into surgery, and they found it had grown down the leg (all the pre-op tests did not show this). His leg was removed and the tumor re-biopsied. It came back a grade 4. I was very glad to have it gone. Jake has since passed away, but not due to the NTS. He passed from another type of cancer which his onco said was really rare to have the two types in one pup. She was adamant they were not related. That being said, I would do it again in a heart beat. The STS's are considered locally invasive and slow growing, which is probably why they are leaning towards a less aggressive approach. If I were you I would do as much research as possible so you can make the most informed decision. If you decide amputation is the route you want to take, I would stick to your guns with them. 

Please keep us updated! 

{Hugs}

Elizabeth thank you so very much for your advice and the story on your journey with Jake, I really appreciate it, it has helped me not feel so guilty on the decision to amputate snowhite's leg.

I have done tons of research and most of the stories of STS I find is that after many unsuccessful surgeries and sometimes with radiation the cancer ended coming back anyways and sometimes it came back more aggressive than the first. I know not everyone's cancer is the same but I just want to give my snowhite a better quality of life and not put her thru surgery after surgery when the end result is going to be amputation.

The truth is  none of us can say for certain if the cancer will come back and we cant control when it comes back. I want to go the the more aggressive route because im also scared since her cancer is grade 1 that if it comes back again it could be a higher grade and I don't want to go with the "lets wait and see what happens" route that the doctors want me to take.  

I just want to do what's right for snowhite . I feel in my heart that amputation is the right way to go and its whats best for snowhite. I know with my decision she's not only going to be cancer free but  she is going to be a happy and beautiful tripawd.  🙂