Hello, just wanted to introduce ourselves... 

Zoey, our 11 year old lab mix recently became one of the newest members to this group after having a front left limb amputation. About mid-October we noticed Zoey was limping on her front left leg, and after a few weeks of taking it easy and giving her joint supplements, it didn't improve so our primary care vet did an Xray. She couldn't really say for sure what was going on but suspected bone cancer. Fast forward only a few days and a tumor started emerging on her shoulder blade. The tumor grew at warp speed and from the time we initially saw the vet to 11 days later it was the size of a baseball. Our primary care vet recommended an Oncologist at that point if we were going to try and have a chance at treating it. 

We were so lucky to get into an Onc only days later (due to a cancellation and being willing to drive 1.5 hours away) and they confirmed that it did look like sarcoma, but they couldn't be sure what type and couldn't do a biopsy. They did so a needle aspirate but advised us it would probably be inconclusive and to prepare to an amputation because that was most likely the only way they could get it all. 

We took her on a last minute trip to the beach, did a lot of crying (and soul searching) and by the time the weekend was over the tumor had almost doubled in size and she was in such bad shape I thought she might die before we even had a chance to do the surgery. So when they called to let us know the needle aspirate was inconclusive we knew our only option was surgery asap. We were very lucky they had another cancellation the very next morning so we had basically no time to process it and just trusted our intuition that this was the right choice.

The surgery went as well as it could have - they did the amputation, also taking the scapula and some lymph nodes. My husband was in denial that they were really amputating so that was hard but I had already spent the entire weekend on this site and came to terms with it as best as I could.

Her surgery was on 11/16 and she has been home since the 18th. She's doing really well all things considered. The first couple days were rough - seeing her without a leg and the incision was huge, not to mention her being so tired and just really sad. I definitely questioned our decision the first couple days, but she was making small improvements day by day so I kept holding onto that. This past weekend she really turned the corner and is back to herself, begging for treats, following me everywhere, and trying to do things that she should not be doing. 🙂 I'm a helicopter (dog)mom and have been keeping her from doing too much but it's so amazing to see her smiling again and acting like her old self.  

Zoey has always been such a special girl, her rescue story is incredible and she has beat the odds once already when she was 9, undergoing a dangerous emergency splenectomy, only to find that tumor was benign. Sadly, this time the biopsy came back and her tumor was Osteosarcoma. We will see the Onc again on 12/6 to get her staples removed and talk next steps for treatment. I know it's an aggressive cancer and we won't have forever with her, but we are really just going to enjoy this bonus time that we have thanks to amazing veterinary care and modern medicine. 

I've been lurking on here for the past few weeks and this site has been a lifeline for me, so thank you for existing!