I had posted at the beginning of May about our 10 year old Basenji who was diagonosed with synovial sarcoma in his elbow.

He underwent amputation surgery and seemed to be in a great deal of pain. So much pain that I asked for another fentanyl patch but that just seemed to make him more miserable.

At about 14 days post-op though we started to have some good days. He was getting around and getting excited about things that used to excite him. He was laying on his wound. His wound was healing well and I could touch it without it seeming to bother him. We were all so excited about how much better he was getting, but he was still on tramadol (sp?) and codeine. He was accepting visitors and starting some of his old behaviors such as greeting us at the door.

Then his pain increased again and it was an effort to move again. I called the vet and they attributed it to the amputation. A few days later I said called the vet again to ask for an apointment because things just weren't getting better and he seemed to be having trouble peeing.

At the vet's he tried to pee on the floor but it took a great effort to pee a few drops. The vet did some kind of bladder and anal exam and determined that nothing was blocking the urethra. The vet was able to collect enough pee to send to the lab. We put Luigi on prednisone while we waited for the lab results. He perked up and began to be his new post-op good self.

Then the vet called to switch him to an anti-inflammatory that has the side-effect of shrinking bladder tumors without the increase in thirst, but we had to taper off the prednisone and then clear it from his body for 3 days. I really wasn't looking forward to that -- I was hoping it wouldn't be too painful for him.

Luigi was uncomfortable for the last 1 1/2 days without prednisone. I was counting down the hours until I could switch him to the new medicine. Finally, it was time to switch him to the new medicine. He didn't improve like he did right away with the prednisone. I called the vet -- how many days until we should see an improvement? 2-3 days.

By the 2nd day on the new medication he barely would leave his bed and when he did it was with great effort. We realized he was leaking pee. I did give him a bath and cleaned all of his bedding knowing how much he must hate being in a pee-filled bed. Basenjis are a fastidious breed.

By the 3rd night I barely got any sleep because he was so thirsty. I didn't know a Basenji could drink that much. Then I realized he was peeing in his bed and only get up every hour to drink a lot of water. I wondered if his kidneys were going. he was very sick. I laid with him a lot that night and sroked him and loved him up even more.

The next day I called the vet knowing we were coming to the end. The vet said the lab report said that he had a second cancer of the bladder -- not a mastisized cancer, but an entirely different cancer. The vet said we were running out of options and he wasn't sure we could even make him comfortable any more.

So we picked up the girls from school and told them what was happening. they picked beautiful flowers -- especially the lavendar azaleas --from the garden and laid them around him on the bed and said their good byes. They went to the neighbors while my husband and I waited for the vet to arrive.

Luigi did get a little snarky when the vet walked in the door -- I think he had had enough of that guy and was doubly indignant that the vet was on his territory. But our vet was very good with us an Luigi and it all went very well.

Luigi died in my arms with my husband stroking him.

I miss him terribly. He was so full of personality.

Here are a few things.... trying to barge out the gate whenever we'd leave - being a legendary nut case in the back of the dog walker's truck - stealing prociutto wrapped cantaloupe during a dinner party - getting a squirrel tooth stuck in his nose - catching a lot of squirrels - stealing food from people's pockets at the dog park - chasing my friend's cat off a second story porch - chewing through 8 seat belts - licking the milk that collected behind my napping babies' with the softest tongue - climbing under the covers to sleep with his people - What a character!

the actual amputation went very well and he adjusted quickly. He was largly healed from that 12 days post-op. But the other cancer took over after that.

Thank you so much for this tripawd community. It really helped as I was making the decision and during the first post-op week when it was hard.

Thanks for listening,

Kelly in Seattle