Hi All,

Here we are now 4 weeks from Wrigley's amputation and she continues to amaze us with her adaptability to life as a tripawd. Life has returned to almost normal for her as she can now even go down a few stairs which makes potty breaks much easier for everyone. We did receive a second around of results from the removed limb and of course they remained inconclusive. In a last ditch hail mary we decided to test a pee sample on the off chance that it would come back positive for a fungal infection which could have explained the lameness but alas that came back negative (as expected). So we remain in a state of uncertainty as of today however there is no doubt that regardless of the cause, amputation was the right decision to alleviate pain and remove a dying and weakening bone. Our vet team continues to investigate possible causes and while osteosarcoma is still a possibility, as of today there is little evidence of active cancer and a new cause is being investigated... a blood clot. While not as "sexy" a threat as cancer, blood clots can be extremely serious especially if they break off and move which can cause heart attack or stroke with little or no warning. We are certainly not out of the woods yet however we continue to enjoy the time we have with our baby as we let our vet team continue to investigate what occurred and how to use that information to give us the most "bonus time" possible. As always, thank you all for your support and prayers and we hope that chronicling our journey can serve as a road map for anyone coming behind us. We hope to update you all again once we know more. 

Hi All,

I have good news and I have some not so good news I wanted to share with you all. The good news is that we are now more than 5 months post amputation and Wrigley has been a complete champ at living as a tripawd. She actually starred in the local high school production of Legally Blonde as Paulette's dog Rufus (even though shes not a boy dog) and got some of the loudest applause of anyone. We've enjoyed all this bonus time with her but the not so good news is that it may be coming to a close. As many of you know, the vets were unable to find any cancer cells during the first amputation and surmised that the cause of her lameness may have been a blood clot in the bone which was causing necrosis and extreme pain. Today Wrigley started behaving exactly as she did the first time around this time with her back right leg (first time was front right). She is scheduled to go back to the vets office tomorrow for some testing but we are somewhat confident that we may be facing a similar diagnosis. Unfortunately she seems to be in quite a bit of pain and a life with nothing on the right side is probably not realistic. I don't know that I'm ready to say goodbye yet but I may not have a choice. It is horrible to face this possibility when mentally and mostly physically she appears pretty normal. I know we made the right call the first time around in amputation and I hope I have the courage to make the right call this time before she suffers. Bringing home my two bulldogs nearly 8 years ago was the first major adult couple thing my wife and I did and they are honestly our furry children (we don't have any non-furry ones yet). I have trouble keeping composure just thinking about life without them but I know that a time will come when I'll have to do the right thing for them even if it tears me apart. I can still vividly remember how devastating it was for my Dad growing up to have to say goodbye to our family dog and I think that's why I'm so scared to think about going through that myself. I really thought we would have more time and maybe we will but eventually this is a reality we will have to face. As always, thank you all for your support, thoughts, and prayers on this journey with us.

-Ryan