My wonderful yellow Lab Polly was diagnosed last March with canine hemangiosarcoma in her right front leg after her first surgery to remove and biopsy the growth below her elbow, that I found on her in January 2013.

As we descended into the cancer realm one again with her, ( she had a mast cell tumor caught early in 2011 at aged 6), I was devastated by this diagnosis. I had just lost my black Lab less than 2 years before from a ruptured splenic hemangiosarcoma, and she only lived 46 days after having her spleen removed.

Our surgeon recommended an oncologist, so we did and had initial comprehensive tests, ultrasounds, blood work, series of x-rays, and everything was clear in her body. We decided to pursue full bombarding chemo over the next 4-5 months, 12 rounds of combined doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide.

The first treatments were pure horror as she got so very, very sick from everything and ended up in the vet E.R. 2 times from severe vomiting, diarrhea, and dehydration. Between my regular vet, and oncologist vet, we had to come up with an extensive pro-active plan to ward off the extreme effects of chemo, and by the 3rd treatment, did have it managed pretty well.

After her chemo was finally over in late July, I was very happy, and her next round of comprehensive tests were once again, great. It was very short lived, however.....within 1 month of finishing chemo, I found another small growth in her right front leg once again.

The surgeon, oncologist, my husband and myself decided to do immediate surgery again to remove the tumor. This time, the small tumor turned out to be completely invasive of her entire leg, and the surgeon could not remove it all. Came back again as hemangiosarcoma, which I fully expected, but was still very upset. Once we got the 2nd definite diagnosis, she was back in asap to have her leg removed.

So on October 3rd, 2013, she became a 3-legged girl. She did extremely well with the surgery and bounced back immediately with learning her new life on 3 legs, she never missed a beat. Our surgeon was very happy to give us the news that absolutely no cancer cells were found in any of the huge amount of nodes, muscle and other tissue taken from her shoulder for biopsy after surgery.

We just reached the 3-month mark of her amputation on the 3rd of January, and she is going to her regular vet today for some needed blood work and Rabies vaccine that is due. We have had to do regular blood work on her, every 3 months or less since 2007 when she had just turned 3 years old and was stricken with Immune Mediated Thrombocytopenia. Almost lost her life to that, and took close to a year and a half to get her healthy again. She had only one or two downturns with diminished blood platelets but got her back on track with the drug of choice, pred.

So, as of right now, she seems to be doing well, and we will make a trip back to her oncologist for follow-up comprehensive exams soon. I was just wondering if anyone here has had to deal with this type of hemangiosarcoma?

I do realize that this can pop up again anywhere in her body, but we are just taking one day at a time and enjoying her doing well right now. Any help of other's experience of this would be helpful.

In a way, I just want to live in as much denial as I can while she is doing well, because my days are less stressful that way. Thanks so much for this great on-line group and forums, etc.

Bonnie Cullom