Hi everyone!! My name is Mattie. My person, Bob, decided to help me out by having my canine appendicular proximal ulnar osteosarcoma (front right limb) addressed with amputation for pain relief and has decided to opt for followup chemo to extend my disease free interval (DFI) and median survival time. Bob's a pretty good guy. I'm glad that he's my person.

My name is Mattie, but I can probably count on one paw the number of times that Bob has called me Mattie. He always calls me "Baby Doll". He loves me very much. Sometimes, when he greets me, he says "Hey!! Baby Doll!! Hey, Beautiful!!". I really like that.

We've had a good time together since we met in 2009. I was born in 2002. Bob and I have enjoyed steak cooked on the grill and baked potatoes with worcestershire sauce. Bob eats a couple of bites and then I know the next bite is mine. He cuts me a good piece of steak and baked potato and I eat it right off of the fork. We enjoy tuna fish, too. At first I had a hard time understanding how to eat off of the fork we shared. I would try to lick the tuna and it would go everywhere. Bob was patient though, and I got the hang of it. He says I now have good "fork technique".

My other person is Bob's Mom, Nana. I think her name is Lynn. She had a hemorrhagic stroke in 2009 and she now lives in Bob's house so he can take care of her. I really like Nana. She's always good to me. When Bob goes to work in the morning I like to go lay in Nana's bedroom so I can be close to her. She always tells me "Good Morning!" and she really loves me, just like Bob does. I'm a pretty lucky pup, if you ask me.

I developed a limp favoring my front right leg earlier this year. Bob noticed it and knew that sometimes hardwood floors can be tough with nail length, so he trimmed my nails and I was better for a week or two. The limp came back and Bob trimmed my nails again. I was good for a little while, then the limp came back. Bob checked my nails and noticed that the nails weren't touching the floor when I was standing up. He scheduled an appointment for me at Gray's Creek Animal Hospital for Saturday morning.

I've seen Doctor Hill before. He's a nice doctor. He watched me walk and told Bob that he would keep me and take x-rays so he could check out the injury to see if it might be a fracture of soft tissue. Bob called Dr. Hill later that morning and Dr. Hill told Bob that it looked like I had bone cancer in my leg.

I don't know what might have gone through Bob's head, but I'll bet he was most worried about my comfort. He has always been so caring for me and I'm glad he's my person. I think he might have thought that he'd put me down so that I wouldn't hurt any more. I was in a lot of pain from the bone cancer, but I'm pretty stoic and don't show it. I think Bob researched and found out how much pain I was in though. He's so good to me. I didn't want him to worry about me.

I stayed with Dr. Hill Saturday and Sunday night. They gave me some good pain medication and I was feeling better. I was glad I got to stay with Dr. Hill so that they could give me the pain meds and monitor me to make sure I wasn't hurting like I was. I think Bob did the right thing leaving me there for the weekend. I knew that he wanted me to feel better and that Dr. Hill's office was the best place for the pain med administration at that point.

Bob did a lot of reading that weekend. He figured out that amputation would eliminate all of the horrible pain I was in, even though I never told him I was hurting. I didn't want him to worry. He found several websites and discussions regarding amputation and followup chemo. Bob cold called vets in the area and a couple said that they always refer chemo to the NC State University veterinary oncology department. I knew Bob was worried about me. He's a great person to have. Bob said that he cold called one other place in Fayetteville, Northgate Animal Hospital on Ramsey Street. He asked if they did chemo and the girl on the phone said "Yes, we do chemo. In fact, I think the doctor that does it is still here today. Let me see if I can reach him." And the best thing that has ever happened happened just then. A very nice doctor that I really like, Dale Brown, talked to Bob. Bob told him about me being at Gray's Creek Animal Hospital and asked about chemo. Bob read a lot. I'm glad he found all of the information he did. A lot of his searches ended up with posts on this website. This is a really great place and I'm glad I'm posting on this very site now. This is a great place.

I'm a lucky pup. Apparently Dr. Hill knows the Browns (Dale is the younger Brown, he graduated with a DVM and joined his dad's practice at Northgate). Dr. Hill called Dr. Dale Brown and then Dr. Hill called Bob. Dr. Hill said that it might be best if Dr. Dale Brown handle the amputation and the followup chemo. Dr. Hill told Bob that they'd transport me to Northgate. Bob hung up the phone, Google-mapped Northgate and hauled across town to Northgate to set up his account with them.

I rode in a truck with a nice guy that transported me from Dr. Hill's office. I was on some good pain meds, so the guy let me sit in the front seat with him. He's a nice guy. We got to Northgate and we were waiting our turn for me to get admitted. The front door opened and I saw Bob walk in. He walked toward the desk to give them our information and there was already someone at the desk, so he waited patiently. I was looking right at him. He glanced over and saw me. He ran over, dropped his wallet and vaccine history somewhere in the middle of the lobby floor and I was glad to see him. He said "Hey!! Baby Doll!! Hey Beautiful!!!" I choked myself a little bit on the leash trying to greet him.

We saw Dr. Dale Brown. He's a really nice doctor. We like him a lot. Dr. Brown showed Bob the films from Dr. Hill's office and they talked about the proximal ulnar osteosarcoma that I had. I stayed with Dr. Brown and they did a complete blood chemistry and other tests on me. On Wednesday afternoon Dr. Dale Brown took me to surgery and did the amputation. He's a very professional doctor. I didn't feel any pain and I know that  Bob respects him a lot.

Bob left work early on Friday to pick me up. Bob was in the lobby when I hopped in. Bob greeted me with "Hey!! Baby Doll!!! Hey Beautiful!!!!" I love it when he greets me like that. Bob told me later that when he came to pick me up, he told the desk tech girl that he was here to pick me up, and the desk girl said "Aaaaaawwwwwww.......we love Mattie." Bob told them that I have that effect on people.

I hopped out the door but couldn't walk any more, so Bob picked me up and carried me to the car. He had the top down and one of my blankets in the rear seat so he could put me in there. Then he got in the car, put the top up and we drove home. He told me how much he loved me and reached back to pet me. He didn't have to tell me how much he loved me. I already knew.

It took me a while to get used to the tripawd thing, but I'm getting the hang of it. I'm so glad that I have this extra chance for time. I love Bob very much and he loves me, too. I know that because I've heard him tell me, "I love you more than anything else in the world." He's a pretty good guy. I'm glad he's my person.

This is my intro for now. I'm kind of long winded so I'll stop here. Tomorrow Bob is going to talk to Dr. Dale Brown about my chemo options. I think Bob will make the right choice for me. I just hope he knows that I love him at least as much as he loves me. I know he loves me very much.

We'll update later. Bob and Dr. Dale Brown will make good choices. Bob has already looked at NIH veterinary studies on single agent carboplatin versus dual agent carboplatin and doxorubicin and other things, too, like my presurgical serum alkaline phosphatase. I think they'll come up with a good single or dual agent therapy. I know that they are both rooting for me and I love them very much.

I'm a tripawd!!!!!! And I'm still here!!!!!!!! Cancer is a word, not a sentence. Never say never. Never give up. Every day is a lifetime. Believe in me. I'm a doggie!!!! Doggies RULE!!!!!! Tripawds RULE!!!!!!!!!!!