@Eustacia - I was about 12 hours from beginning Librela for Ophelia but cancelled after seeing that FB page!  Horrifying!  It should only be considered as a an absolute last resort.  We did a steroid and hylouronic acid injection instead and it helped A LOT!  

Hi everyone.  I haven’t updated since Ophelia’s 10th birthday on February 12th, so figured today that i would come by an update her page.  Oh! and we just celebrated one year post diagnosis survival on June 15th!  It’ll be one year since amputation on Thursday.  SO proud of my girl!  🙂

Probably the main reason that I haven’t made time to update is what has transpired with Ophelia since her birthday.  The very next day, she had a PET-CT scan completed at the Colorado State University veterinarian hospital.  Unfortunately, the results of that scan were not good, which caused me to spend the next couple of weeks trying to figure out what treatments were possible for her.  I was also grieving and trying to spend every second with her for weeks. 

The PET scan revealed that Ophelia has several metastatic cancer lesions in various bones throughout her body. CSU recommended more rounds of chemo that they predicted would give her 4-6 months. They told me 2-3 months with no treatment.  Her oncologist, who she saw the following week, didn’t recommend that option because she didn’t think that it would help. She helped me look into a couple of immunotherapy options (immune checkpoint inhibitor, and Interleukins) both of which are being studied and even now being studied by ELIAS (the immunotherapy that Ophelia did receive right after amputation). Unfortunately, due to the fact that they are still so experimental, they just weren’t available for me to get my hands on. I even spoke the chief medical officer at ELIAS in my attempts.  

What we did do is put her on a combination therapy of sorafenib, Losartan and propranolol.  Sorafenib is a drug in the same class as Palladia but with a wider net of effectiveness.  It just hasn’t been studied on canine osteosarcoma.  She has been on this therapy along with the supplements that I’ve talked about before, since late February.  

In April, her mobility began to decrease significantly.  She had had a steroid type of injection on her left hip in January and that was beginning to wear off.  Her pain management vet did new x-rays on her hips and found that her arthritis/dysplasia had become much worse.  Her left hip was almost completely out of its joint.  We did another steroid inject a few weeks after the x-rays and it’s seemed to helped some.  

Unfortunately, Ophelia’s mobility is such now that she has a hard time getting up and walking on her own. I’ve been assisting her with harnesses since the end of April.  It’s not that she can’t walk, she is just an extreme risk to fall down. There is also a high risk of her hip joint coming completely out of its socket and a decent risk of a fracture due to the cancer that they found in the PET scan.  

We do not know of the cancer has progressed since it was found in February.  It’s now been 4 1/2 months since the scan and she hasn’t shown any symptoms or signs that it has (knock on wood).  Her oncologist seems surprised and calls it “stabilized” in her reports after Ophelia’s monthly checkups. Is it the Sorafenib/losartan/propranolol?  The immunotherapy that she received that SHOULD, theoretically, still be working inside her body, one or more of the supplements, or just pure luck?  No one knows. Her lungs remain clear (knock on wood). 

After days of trying to figure out a cart that would be big enough for Ophelia, and then figuring out how I’d transport that cart to places like the park or a hiking trail, I finally got one for her.  She’s not in love with it and seems to not understand why she has to stay in it, but she does seem to enjoy the activities once she is in it and we get going.  

i will say that she seems to be extremely happy (knock on wood). She wags her tail all of the time, is still excited to go with me whether it’s for an activity or just to be with me while i work.  That spark that i see in her eyes, that is Ophelia, is still there.  In fact, she’s even seemed to have improved over the past couple of weeks.  She has gotten up and walked when I’ve had my back turned (i won’t let her without my help if I’m watching) on a few occasions. She wants to live and still do the things that she loves.  She’s not ready to give up so i will continue to help her for as long as that is the case.  We are just taking it day by day and trying to enjoy every minute that she has left.  

I hope that everyone here is doing well.  As usual, I’m so proud of Ophelia so i have to share  some videos from the last four months.