Hi everyone,

My 4.5yr old great dane x rottie x boxer goes in for surgery on Monday (we live in Melbourne, Australia) to have her right hind leg removed. She was in at the vets (where i work) on Thursday to undergo what we thought was going to be a TWO but upon getting the xrays they found an anomaly in he bone, so we went ahead that day with a bone biopsy. The following night we got the news back that it is osteosarcoma. This all came as a complete shock and was not what we had been expecting at all. But i instantly told the vet i wanted the amputation done as soon as possible. Basically all Thursday and Friday i spent the day balling my eyes out expecting the worst and researching what i could, which is what bought me here.

Already even just from a small amount of being on this site i have found so much hope and useful information that it made it so much easier to come to terms with what has to happen to my girl. It's really encouraging seeing stories of bigger dogs coping really well as tripawds and seeing the stories of dogs that survive for years after amputation due to their loving owners and their amazing spirit that is unwilling to give in to such a horrible disease.

I have a great amount of fear for what the next few days, weeks and months hold in store for Molly and I, but I'm certain that she will cope really well with being a tripawd.

The concerns to begin with are the surgery itself, although i know i have a fantastic surgeon and really great vet/nurse team on board it will always be scary to have one of my pups undergo anything this major.

How she will initially cope with the first few days after surgery (and how i will cope with it as well)

How she will go with my 2 other dogs (a boisterous lab and a lab x kelpie)

Where we go from there, do we follow up with chemo (if we can afford it), how she would cope with that or whether we try something else

Oh and she is having a mid-femoral amputation, does anyone have any experience with this does it pose any problems or additional obstacles?

I will keep you posted on how she goes and i hope to hear many more inspirational stories and useful advice too.

Thank you all for making this easier already and giving me hope for my baby girl.

Amy and Molly