As we approach our one year ampuversary, I wanted to take the time to document our tripawd story about our spunky girl Kash, our 8 year old Rottweiler.  This site was tremendously help for us in making a decision, hearing stories, researching a new diet, and learning general info about the terrible disease, osteosarcoma.  Our story is long, but I decided to post it in its entirety in case anyone finds it helpful.

IT ALL STARTED WITH A LIMP…

Shortly after her 7^th birthday, during the last week of April 2011, we noticed a slight limp in her front right leg.  Now this wasn’t so out of the ordinary for Kash, as she already had been through 2 ACL tears which resulted in knee surgeries for both her hind legs.  So a limp here and there wasn’t so concerning at the time and thus we attributed it to a slight tweak which in the past had corrected itself in a week’s time.  But this was different, and a week later it seemed worse, so we took her to the vet on May 1^st.  She was diagnosed with a sprain and we were given Carprofen (anti-inflammatory) for the pain. 

The meds must have helped and for a week she seemed to be getting better, but the following week brought more limping and she just didn’t seem herself.  We went back for a visit on May 11^th and took X-rays, but the vet didn’t see anything and sent us home with more meds for the pain.  On May 13^th she got extremely sick (diarrhea and bleeding from her rectum).  We called the vet and she recommended we send the X-rays out to a specialist for another look. On May 19^th, we got the preliminary diagnosis, our worst fear – bone cancer. 

THE DIAGNOSIS AND BIG DECISION…

To be sure, they sent us to a pet hospital that was better equipped to handle these cases, and after reviewing the X-rays they confirmed the diagnosis, osteosarcoma.  They went over our options with us and further explained the disease making sure we realized that (a) this cancer is very painful (b) whatever the decision, we should make it quickly (c) even if we amputate, it likely already metastasized and it’s not a cure but should extend her life a little. 

Oh the agony….without a doubt this was the hardest decision we ever had to make as a married couple.  Also, I should note that this decision was made even more difficult being that she has two artificial hind legs (could her legs handle the extra pressure?), and on top of that the X-rays showed signs of arthritis in her good front leg.  Without a crystal ball, it’s so hard to make the call, and initially we weren’t on the same page.  The days that followed were painful for all of us as we weighed our options.  At this point Kash would whimper throughout the night in pain (even with more meds -Tramadol), and she would frequently find a hiding spot and lay down, a bad sign for sure.  It all came to a head one day when we came home to find her hiding behind the shower curtain in the bath tub.  We tried to help her up but she was stuck and in immense pain – moving her meant hurting her.  Seeing her suffering like that was gut-wrenching…we all cried.   

We didn’t want to make the “selfish decision” whichever one that was, but we weren’t ready to say goodbye anytime soon.  So after a lot of soul-searching and researching, we decided to press on with the surgery only (no chemo/radiation).  Her front right leg was amputated on May 26^th, 2011.

AMPUTATION AND RECOVERY…

The day that followed was tough, not knowing how she was doing.  They called and said surgery went well, but they also said she wouldn’t eat, so they encouraged us to pick her up a little sooner in hopes she would eat with us.  We arrived at the hospital for pick-up and while in the waiting room, we heard the most excruciating, awful sound behind closed doors – sounded like a donkey was being attacked.  We came to find out later, this was the sound of our Kash screaming while they changed out her bandage.  Awful!  When she came out, she was happy to see us, and we helped her get to the car with the support of a towel under her body. 

Now, the following week was sort of a blur of a nightmare for all of us.  Kash was extremely vocal and would cry throughout the whole night.  In hindsight, it’s hard to tell if this was truly pain or if this was a result of all the meds she was on, as I’ve heard moaning can be a side effect.  Nonetheless, we couldn’t stomach her being in pain and night after night we would take turns sleeping on the floor with her, trying to comfort her. Also, she was not eating and not recovering as fast as many of the stories we had read.  At this point we were really questioning whether or not we made the right decision.

Near the end of the first week, she popped up on her own for the first time and bolted down the hallway.  She was a bit wobbly and still learning how to walk, but we were proud parents and happy to see the progress.  Even with continual progress, week 2 was still rough and she was still vocal periodically and not eating that much.    

After 2 weeks had passed, things started looking up (slowly, but surely).  She was starting to get her appetite back (with a new anti-cancer diet now too), walking better, and acting more like herself.  The only bummer was that we took her back to the hospital to get her stitches removed and unfortunately some time later we noticed that they had accidentally left some stitches in.  We had to take her back to remove the final few, which were harder to remove because by now fur was starting to grow in and she had gained more weight.  We could hear that awful donkey scream behind closed doors when they held her down to take them out (horrible!).  We promised her at that time – no more hospital visits! 

In time, she was back to her spunky self again, eating better than ever (she likes her new food), and seemed to adjust pretty quickly to life as a tripawd. 

As a side note, we found yet another stitch weeks later that they forgot about.  But we decided to leave it, as it doesn’t seem to bother her and we refuse to take her back or attempt to remove it ourselves.

LIFE AS A TRIPAWD…

Now I’m not sure of the exact statistics, but being that she’s going on a year post amputation and has yet to show any signs of slowing down, she is a miracle in our eyes.  Especially since we turned down chemo/radiation, she has far surpassed the life expectancies we read about for this disease and elected treatment.

For maintenance we have kept her on a low dose of Carprofen everyday to help with arthritis, and continue with our anti-cancer diet which we prepare every morning.  Basically we make her an egg scramble, with beef and/or chicken, spinach, carrots or green beans, and a scoop of brown rice.  To that, we mix in some California Natural chicken wet food, NuPro supplement, fish oil, and Essiac tea. In the early weeks we also added shark cartilage to her meals and gave her a daily snack of blended cottage cheese and flaxseed oil.  For treats, we use Dogswell Happy Hips Chicken Breast strips with added glucosamine & chondroitin.

It’s amazing how once they get through the agonizing recovery process, they really do adjust quickly to their new stature.  She still runs, jumps, cuts, turns, all the things she did before, but we just don’t go on long walks like we used to.  But she still goes to the park and gets out for 2 to 3 short walks a day.  We spoil her as much as we can, and she is one happy dog. She loves life and not a day goes by now that we aren’t grateful we made the decision we made. We hope her luck continues throughout the remainder of 2012 (and beyond if we’re super lucky). 

Happy 8^th birthday and 1 year ampuversery Kash!  You are a fighter!

And thank you Tripawds.com for providing a forum to talk about this stuff!