There's so much information on this site, it's a bit overwhelming, but it's nice to have so many stories from others who are going through similar things with their pets.  Thank you for sharing you stories.

My story is long and upsetting, so if anyone is considering amputation, and you need to know what ask about beforehand, please use our experience for your benefit.

Two weeks ago, our beautiful 8 year old female greyhound/wolfhound mix was running in the back yard when she suddenly started yelping out in pain.  She came to the back door hopping, not putting any weight on her hind left leg.  My daughter is actually a vet up in Denver (about an hour from us), and we sent her a picture of the leg, which was starting to swell.  She said it was most likely broken.  Ripley is accident prone, so we just figured it would just be a quick ER visit with a cast and a cone and we'd be home for a late dinner...we were wrong.

The x-rays revealed that she had developed an osteosarcoma in her ankle and the bone has just crumpled in that area.  There was no chance it could heal, so we were faced with the decision to either amputate or euthanize.  Knowing that it was cancer, and with the doctor saying that she sees this a lot and most dogs only live 3 or 4 months after the amputation, my husband and I were leaning toward euthanizing. However, we got our daughter on the phone after sending her the x-rays, and she was really hopeful that the cancer would be treatable and she could potentially live a long time with an amputation.  She had us go online and watch videos of greyhounds that were living a full life with an amputation.  We decided to do a chest x-ray to see if any tumors were iin her lungs yet, but they were clear, so we went forward with the amputation.

This was an emergency hospital, and I don't think they do a lot of amputations there.  The doctor who gave us the news about the osteosarcoma told us that their board certified surgeon was off the next day, but she could handle it herself because she had done "so many amputations she couldn't remember the number".  Unfortunately, our daughter was headed out of town on a flight to North Carolina the next day, or we might have had more options through some of her network of friends.  However, this would have required Ripley to go a whole night and an hour car drive with a broken leg.  We didn't want to make her wait in pain for any longer, so we decided to go ahead with them and signed all the forms.

We got regular updates from the hospital doctors on staff.  Ripley came through the surgery fine, but they were having trouble keeping her pain under control.  They put her on a fentanyl drip, which caused her to not want to eat much at all.  I was relieved that the hospital was taking care of that, because we didn't feel equipped to take care of a 60 pound dog in pain on our own.  However, I was anxious to get her home as soon as they could get her onto oral pain meds.

We were all set to pick her up on Saturday evening when we got the go ahead from the doctor.  However, after we arrived, we were quickly ushered into a private room and the doctor came in to tell us that they didn't think she should come home with us yet because Ripley's incision had just started leaking lots of fluids in the last 30 mins.  We got our daughter on the phone again, and she asked if they had given her aminocapoic acid at the beginning of the surgery to prevent this.  She said they hadn't, but they were giving it to her now.  She apologized that they hadn't thought of it before.  We were so sad to be leaving her for another night at the hospital, but we felt like we had no choice.

The next day was Mother's Day, and I wanted to go get Ripley first thing in the morning, but the doctor said that Ripley was not doing very well.  She was still leaking a lot of fluid and she had extensive bruising that they needed to keep an eye on.  Then they suggested that she should stay with them for another 2 days and sent us a huge estimate for what this would cost...about double what we had already agreed to pay!  We wouldn't agree to it, but they said they would at least start her on a protein infusion that would probably help slow the leakage.  Our daughter said this was what Ripley needed and what would actually help now.  She told us to go get her and start feeding her LOTS OF PROTEIN, as much chicken and eggs as she wanted.  When she was on the fentanyl drip, she had no appetite and nobody was making her eat, so her body had no protien to start repairing itself with.

That afternoon, we told the doctors to get Ripley ready because we were coming to get her right away.  When we arrived, they made us sign an "Against Medical Advisory" form, which scared me so much, but our daughter kept reassuring us that she would be better off at home.  They brought Ripley out to us and she was SO happy, but she looked terrible!  Her chest was completely red from bruising and the incision was dripping pink fluid non-stop.  Her other hind leg was badly swollen with edema. 

It was really scary taking her home, especially after they made us sign the AMA, but we got her settled and gave her as much water as she wanted and lots of cooked chicken.  Like magic, the fluid completely stopped leaking the next morning!!  She was eating well and drinking lots of water, going outside for the bathroom with no accidents.  She was so glad to be back home and she was getting the attention she needed.

The quantity of pills I had to shove into her throat every 8 -12 hours was overwhelming. We put cold compresses on her 3 times a day to help relieve the redness and edema.  The swelling around the stitches was quite alarming to me.  It looked like big fleshy bubbles around each stitch.  My daughter said not to worry about it, but we are at two weeks today, and I was ready for my daughter to come remove the stitches for us.  However, now there is a lot of black tissue (scabbing) all around the stitches.  My daughter said that it's due to the sutures being pulled too tight and the skin around the incision started dying.  She is coming down tomorrow to "debride" the incision and clean all that dead tissue off.  Ripley will have to keep them on longer (about a week).

Honestly, I think the hospital did the best they could do, but with all the activity going on there (with it being an ER), they were not able to give Ripley the attention she really needed while she was recovering.  They should have started the aminocapoic acid before the surgery began, they should have made sure she ate food high in protein regularly, and they should have gotten her up and moving more often.  She had terrible sores on her elbow and side from rubbing against the kennel she was recuperating in.  Those still aren't completely healed.

I'm so impressed that Ripley is moving about so well.  We got her the Ruffwear harness that Jerry and Renee recommended, and it has been a LIFESAVER.  We help her get up, if she needs, and it's so nice to have a handle on her when she goes up and down steps to go outside.  She is doing great.  I can tell she wants to go on her daily walk again, and it's so hard to tell her no.  There's just no way she could go that far yet, but I know she'll get there.  Tonight, we feel comfortable letting her sleep upstairs in our room with us, so we can all be together again...no more sleeping on the couch (we were taking turns, and it was brutal).

By the way, we did call CSU Fort Collins (my daughter's alma mater) because they have some clinical trials that we might have qualified for, but it turned out that they require that their teaching hospital does the amputation in house.  That was disappointing.  Even if we had known that, it would not have been easy for Ripley...we would have had to take her for a 3 hour drive with a broken leg, and I don't know if they could have even done it that day or if it would have included overnight hospitalization. It would definitely be a great option for folks who live closer to that area.

I'll keep posting after the stitches are finally removed...hopefully in another week.  The physical therapy can't begin until then, and we are waiting on the histology from the amputated leg before our oncology appointment on June 10th.  I'm very curious to hear what the oncologist has to stay about her prospects.

I'm sorry this was so long, but I hope it is helpful to someone.

Chandra