Hi,

I usually am not on the forums, but I have a blog (And Toto, too).  So, I just wanted to take a moment to share my story about fighting hemangiosarcoma with those of you who may not be familiar.  I will try to give an abbreviated version, but there are more details on my blog. 🙂

I have three dogs and one cat.  My dog Toto was a stay who showed up at our house one hot summer day.  He never left.  Around the end of August, Toto started limping.  We figured that he had hurt his leg or paw, and we gave him a few days to recover.  Instead of feeling better, Toto started to do worse.  He was limping, not eating, and in pain.  We brought him to the vet.  I was sure he had lyme disease.  I didn't think it could possibly be cancer (he is a young dog!).  After x-rays, our worst fear was realized.  The vet thought that Toto had osteosarcoma.  After a few agonizing days, we decided to amputate his leg and start chemotherapy through a research study at the University of Illinois.

After the amputation Toto was pretty sad looking.  He wouldn't stand for a few days and it was heartbreaking to see.  Finally he got the hang of hopping around and was doing better.  Then, he got an infection in his incision.  This was a big setback.  The vet had to go back and re-stitch up the incision and put him on heavy duty antibiotics.  After this, though, Toto started doing really well.  His incision healed up, he was no longer in pain, he was eating like crazy, and he learned to get around on three legs. 

After the amputation, we had a biopsy done.  The results were hard to hear.  It wasn't osteosarcoma, it was hemangiosarcoma.  This is an extremely rare cancer of the blood cells.  It was pretty much the worst case scenario.  Hemangiosarcoma is even more aggressive than osteosarcoma and it because it is in the blood, it spreads very quickly.  Furthermore, because it wasn't osteosarcoma, we couldn't do chemotherapy through U of I.  After much research, we decided against doing chemotherapy. 

So far, this story sounds pretty depressing, but now for the good part!  It has been over three months since Toto was diagnosed with cancer and he is doing really well!  I can't believe how he has adjusted to having only three legs.  It is not even an issue.  I seriously believe that Toto is faster now than he was on four legs.  He can play with us (and the kids and the other animals) without being in any pain.  He cuddles with us again (he couldn't before the amputation because his leg was so painful to the touch).  He still eats great.  He is really happy. 

When we thought he had osteosarcoma, we were devastated that Toto may only have a year or two, at the most, to live.  When we found out it was hemangiosarcoma, we realized that his time with us would be much shorter.  We have learned to be thankful for every day with Toto...  every walk, every trip, every nap on the couch. 

When we took in Toto as a stray, we thought we were doing him this big favor.  I can honestly say now that we are the ones who are blessed by having Toto here, and we are very grateful for that.  🙂

I hope our story can help others who are going through this difficult journey.

Kristin and Toto