Hello friends! 

Firstly thank you so much for this entire community and safe space. I think I've been scrolling here almost every single day since mid February when we brought Arwen to her vet appointment. It has been such a huge help during the roller coaster of emotions this last month has been. 

A little about Arwen:

We adopted Arwen through an incredible rescue here in Ontario and we wholeheartedly believe she is the epitome of "who rescued who?" because our lives were changed for the better that day in such an inexplicable way. I don't think I'll ever be able to explain in words how she truly saved my life (and for my husband as well). She loves to be outside, play at the park, chase squirrels and is a BIG fan of cheese. When we adopted her, my husband was bringing her to work (he owned a gym) often and from then on her friend circle has only gotten bigger haha. Because of her two dominant breeds we put A LOT of work in with her from the moment she came home - 3 levels of training that we always continued with and a lot of varied socialization. We think that effort in combination with her naturally gentle and sweet personality is what resulted in Arwen becoming our soul dog. We try to bring her anywhere and everywhere we go that is dog friendly, spend a lot of time outside and even took her on a cross province road trip to the Rockies back in 2021. One of many of our favourite memories so far with Arwen.

In 2021 Arwen's sister Rogue (my soul kitty) passed from mammary cancer (she had lived a good year after original diagnosis) and I was just not mentally ready for another pet at the time. Then in 2022, amongst the wreckage of other life circumstances resulting from the effects of the Pandemic, Arwen got into an accident at the park that resulted in her needing to get a TPLO surgery. The surgical, rehab and our home vet as a team helped make the recovery process smooth and strong. Unfortunately 6 months later her other knee went and she underwent another TPLO surgery. We were blessed again that her recovery was smooth. Arwen is one strong and resilient pup! 🙂 Soon she was back in action, running around and adventuring. 

Diagnosis 

After a rough few years and a lot of hard work to get back on our feet, we decided it was time for another kitty adoption. So on family day weekend (we live in Canada) we brought home Arwen's new little brother - Pippin! It was that same weekend we brought him home that we noticed Arwen limping a tiny bit. Later that Sunday night we noticed a bump that appeared to be around her ankle. We did an online vet appointment since it was a holiday our clinic was closed. But as soon as it opened we brought her in for an in person appointment (we LOVE our home clinic and trust them so much) and that's when the vet felt the lump and told us what we may need to be prepared for as a diagnosis - osteosarcoma.

Unfortunately the x-rays showed the lesion in her front leg, no metastasis in the lungs (thank goodness)! We had about a whole week full of tears and confusion and heartbreak. But then we decided that dogs are SO in tune with our emotions and feelings it wouldn't be fair to Arwen to just be moping around all the time. So long story short we decided to be strong (just like Arwen!) and keep our spirits up as best as possible while we met the oncologist and surgeon. During the time of waiting for appointments Arwen had SOOOO many visitors come over to see and cuddle her (she has LOTs of friends being a gym dog haha). 

On March 12th, Arwen had the amputation procedure and everything went smoothly with the surgery itself. The first couple of nights at home were a bit rough but she started ambulating very well and VERY quickly. We are so proud of her and her recovery so far. She's already back to her regular self and got the okay to jump back on our bed (her favourite spot at home) since getting her stitches out last week. 

Next steps are deciding to book the chemo appointment and starting that process. We are very thankful that this month we were able to join the Tripawds monthly call and chat with so many incredible people that have gone through or are going through the same thing. It's so beautiful to know that there are such good people out there that love their pets just as much as we do. Arwen is truly our life and as if we didn't already feel that everyday is a gift with her, we are feeling that now more than ever knowing that our time will likely be even more limited with her. In that call we shared how we were very overwhelmed and having a hard time with the decision to do or not do chemo and the support provided in that call was incredible. We are also very lucky to have so many supportive people in our lives that have been impacted by Arwen and love her just as much as we do (there's only been a couple people that tried to sway our decision to fight for her and I have many colourful not-so-nice words to send their way haha). 

Right now she is pain free, wagging her tail, eating well and being her normal sweet self and for that we are incredibly grateful. We are also very thankful for the fact that her and her new kitty brother get along so well! He's truly been such a bright light for all of us in this stressful time. 

The road ahead is definitely still feeling quite scary, and our emotions are still very up and down everyday... but ultimately we just want to make sure Arwen is living her best life everyday regardless of a time frame. She will be celebrating her 6th birthday in a couple of weeks and we can't wait to spoil her and make it an extra special day. 

p.s we signed up for the virtual race and can't wait to participate!