Hi everyone!. Sorry it took us so long to let you know about Rosie.  We had a very tough decision to make last Thursday.  They also found a large 6" tumor on Rosie's liver.  It is a solid mass that has more benign properties than malignant.  But it is a carcenoma,  but they said it should come out.  It is very slow growing and not anything to do with the cancer in her leg.  A totally seperate growth,  but it is technically cancer, but they said contained.  There is very good prognosis for dogs with this kind of tumor just to cut it out. 

We wouldn't hesitate to amputate her leg if there wasn't this other option available to us here in Gainesville, FL at the University of FL.  So we had to decide if we still wanted to do the limb sparring treatment for Rosie and now the expense of the liver tumor too.  Our Dr. at Gainesville, Dr. Bacon, in Oncology at the University of Florida is in our opinion the best dog Oncologist Dr.  He is so patient and so informative, he and the intern Dr. took so much time with us explaining.  So different than the regular Vet office visit.

Rosie qualified for the "SRS" Stereotactic Radiation treatment, and we didn't want to give that up even though she is faced with a 2nd surgery now.  So at our greater expense we decided to go ahead and try to save the leg.  It is still the Gold Standard as Dr. Bacon said to do Amputation for this Oesteosarcoma,  but she has a very good chance of doing well with the SRS treatment;  as nothing had metastesized to her body yet.  The liver tumor is a completely different thing it is not metastatic from her leg.  They did the "SRS" (Stereotactic Radiation Treatment)  on Friday.  It went very well,  we picked her up Saturday a.m.  she was very tired, but is now able to walk around on 4 legs and not dragging the 4th.  She still limps.  He said in time that limp may improve. Some dogs loose their limp completely, some always have a slight limp.   She doesn't seem to be in pain.  She just moves carefully with her little limp .  It is not a lame lim, she is walking and using the leg.   She went further out in the yard to walk.  It is amazing.  It was a gamble, that is exactly what it is a gamble, as the leg can break.  It does become more brittle, and you have to deal with that if that happens. There has only been @ 100 dogs that have had this treatment.  1/3 have breakage 2/3 do well.  We are hoping Rosie is in the 2/3 portion.  It is a gamble.  There are no gurantees.  It was a gamble we decided to take as we thought it would be easier for her to recover on 4 legs from her next surgery this week. 

If we went with Amputation they would have taken off the leg and zipped open her belly and taken the LIver tumor all at once.  Poor baby would have had 2 huge incisions. I just couldn't do that to her all at once.  I hope we made the right decision, so far so good she is walking with a limp, but not dragging the leg.  We just hope she doesn't break it.  It does make you nervous.  But she mostly sleeps around the house anyway. 

We truly appreciate all your inputs on amputation, it has helped us to accept it as a loving treatment for our dogs in pain.  We love Rosie so much and would do anything for her.  People who don't understand amputation need to come here to this website and learn what a 2nd chance on life it gives to all our dogs.  If Rosie ends up breaking  her leg we will have to amputate too.  If anyone out there wants to know more about "SRS" treatment please don't hesitate to contact me.  We are taking it one day at a time and hope she does well with the treatment.  It has the same rate of success for remission of cancer  as amputation.  The cancer does come back eventually just as with amputation from metastisis in the blood stream, it will pop up again somewhere in the future.  We hope very latter.

By the way the University of Florida is the only place in the country that has this "SRS" treatment.  There is a radiation treatment in the Colorado University but it is different than what they do here in Gainesville.  In Colorado they do 3 radiation treatments to treat.  At Gainesville it is 1 mega dose.   They actually take the dog accross the street to Shanes Hospital to the Brain Institute, the same machine that is used on people.  The man who invented it is Dr. Frank Bova.  he is the one that does the actual SRS radition treatment.  Dr. Bacon does the prep before and after.  They have to put pins in the leg to guide the treatment.  It is quite a science to it.  It costs with hospital stay and treatement @ $7000  Just for everyone's info if there is anyone out there who wants to know.

Thank you again everyone for all the support, your support was what helped us thru this process.  It has been so difficult.

Best to All

Sandy and Tim - Rosie's mom and dad

Dear Tripawd Friends:

Rosie is doing fine.  Thank you for your best wishes.  Rosie had surgery yesterday for Liver Tumor that was a carcenoma but hopefully contained.  It was a large mass.  We almost didn't go thru with the surgery, when dropping her off Tuesday we discovered it was a bit more risky of a surgery than we had thought.  But the Dr. was confident it would go well as he has done so many of them.   Upon surgery the 6″ mass turned out to be much larger, it was very large and had started to rott inside her.  So he said it was very good that they removed it as it would have poisoned her and killed her very soon.  It was very large and pressing down on other organs, they removed it and the gall blader and I think a small bit of the liver too.  We stayed there all day to make sure she made it thru and she did!!! to our joy.  And she is recovering good they said this a.m.  we pick her up tomorrow or Saturday.  Gainesville has been wonderful!  If anyone lives near Gainesville, Florida and you have a sick pet.  This is the place to go they are the only Animal Hospital around.  There were people there from all over Florida and even from out of state.  They have the leading technology in the country for many treatments for animals. 

We met so many people with dogs of all breeds there with Oesteosarcoma in their legs.  Many of them were going to have to amputate, we told them to go online with Tripawds and how much it helped us.  Our Doctor said the Gold Standard for OAS is still amputation.  As it is the most available treatment.  We were in the situation where we had the option to do the limb sparring “SRS” radiation treatment.  And so far she is walking stronger every day.  It is amazing.  She still has a little limp but Dr. says she's not in pain as she is wanting to walk more and more.  Her leg can still break if we're not careful.  So it is a gamble.  But we are happy so far with the results. 

She has been thru a lot this past week.  Hope the worst is behind us.  We met so many people at Gainesville who feel the same way we do about our pet.  She is a part of our family, and it helped us to know we're not crazy for doing all this for our Rosie.

Thank YOu!

Rosie's Mom

Rosie is home!!! She is perky and happy. I picked her up Friday afternoon only 2 days after her Liver Surgery and she is walking and eating and excited to be home. She had her toy in her mouth and wants to eat. She was very tired after the 2 hr drive home. But this a.m. she is good. She is tolerating the pain meds and antibiotics well so far. The delayed chemo for 10 days since she had this 2nd surgery to give her a chance to build back up. But they said her blood work was good. Liver enzymes still not back to normal but he hopes to see that improve after the liver settles down since the surgery. She is a strong girl. All the people at Gainesville UF know her now. When I call they say OH ROSIE! they all love Rosie up there. People I didn't even know said oh your Rosie's mom. So she must have made quite an impression as she spent the better part of 2 weeks there. 

It is really good to have our little girl home.  She will have 4 treatments of Carboplatin Chemo.  First time will be in 1 1/2 weeks when she gets her stitches out on her belly from the Liver Surgery. 

Thanks again for all your support.  Rosie still has a little limp in her leg.  She may always have that, but she is definintely walking more than she was and not dragging her leg as she was.  She was walking more now than she was 4 days ago.  The Dr's were pleased with her progress. 

It is an expensive option.  It is not cheap to get the SRS treatment.  But if you want to do a limb sparring treatment it may be an option for you if the limb qualifies.  They have to do tests on your dog's leg to see if it has enough bone left to do limb sparring.  She had to have CAT Scan to see.  They won't do it unless they think your dog's leg qualifies.  Anyway hope this might help anyone who is wondering about it. 

Take Care!

Rosie's Mom