I'm finally getting around to providing an update-sorry for the delay.  This is a continuation of a thread from the "Diagnosis" section-please go there for the beginning of this story:

http://tripawds.....foundland/

Bandit has had a very healthy life-no issues at all to speak of until mid-December...started with a small limp around the house. Not alarming as we have (2) Newfoundlands that still play pretty hard (for 3 minutes anyway :)). Assumed it would improve, but after a few days it was getting worse.  Our vet had warned about arthritis, and Rimadyl may be needed at some point-so I took him to the vet assuming it was time. She asked to do a quick x-Ray "just to see"-of course we agreed-she came back about 10 minutes later with the news-pretty obvious Osteosarcoma on his upper front right leg.  The vet went to school at CSU and recommended we take him up there if we wanted the best diagnosis.

We got him up there the first week of January (getting an appt, especially around the Holidays was challenging). and had 3 options, well 4 I guess-do nothing, palliative, amputation, or SRT.  He needed further tests and x-rays to determine if he was a candidate for SRT, or even amputation.  Those tests came back as positive as they could be-he was good candidate for either treatment option. After a lot of reading and discussion we opted for SRT.  Due to his size (160+) and our home (3 stories, steps everywhere) I was concerned about how amputation would work realistically.  The Doctors assured us that he could handle it, but they also thought SRT could/would be a good path for him.  

Over these weeks he was put on a regimen of Gabapentin and Rimadyl to alleviate the discomfort he was having.  He was still limping, but the meds seemed to have him in a pretty good spot. Our biggest concern became keeping him from doing the things he has always done that put him in danger from impact on that front leg (jumping on and off our bed, out of the truck, and collisions with our other Newf).

The following week (mid January 2018) he was scheduled for 3 consecutive days of SRT treatments plus his first (of 4) Carboplatin treatment. We live about 90 minutes from CSU and could have brought him home each day, and taken him back each morning-which is what I really wanted to do.  Unfortunately he really hates riding in the car, and that creates as much stress and anything else-so we decided to leave him at CSU from Tuesday morning to Thursday afternoon. CSU couldn't have been better-we received a call every morning and afternoon with updates.  Due to his size a "regular" dog cage wasn't going to work for him-they tried to explain the room he ended up in-kinda sounded like a horse stall...LOL.

Admittedly I was scared to death when I went to pick him up from CSU (and when I took him in).  So much unknown, scary diagnosis, etc.  Amazingly the doors open and he is dragging his handler across the floor...tail up wagging, no limp I could see...I was really surprised.  Must have been adrenaline and excitement as when I got him to the truck I could tell he was still pretty sedated. It was quite a chore getting him in there, but it got done-he slept the whole way home.

Also-while I was there to pick him up, they gave me a tour of the facilities, the "SRT machine", the control center, and the computer room and staff that create each and every "program" for every animal's treatment.  The facility and doctors are AMAZING. We're lucky to live close enough in a time like this.

So he has just had 3 days of radiation on his upper front leg-the bone has been impacted and weakened by the procedure (although they do use some sort of bone hardening injection to aid this)-all we want to do is get him home, to rest, and to keep any impacts from occurring.  Not trying to put him "in a bubble", but just keep him safe from major impacts. We have an SUV, and the tailgate is even with our front porch-we back right up to the front door-it's literally 2 paces out the back of the SUV, and into the open front door-he's done it a lot of times.  Tonight, however, he was sedated and disoriented-I open the lift gate, he walks out of the truck, doesn't realize where he is-runs, and jumps off the porch, and takes off down the driveway-OMG.  He doesn't go far, he walks back, and goes inside-but not exactly what we were looking for.  Of course, to top it off, later than evening he wandered upstairs-we found him up in our bed, had to get him down from there without impact.  What a day....

The next morning he gets up and is limping badly-far worse than before the treatment. I know he's been through a lot. not sure what meds have worn off, but hoping for the best.  A few days go by and there is not improvement, it seems to get worse-and I start thinking back through all of the things that happened when we came home, since we have been home, etc.  I've pretty much convinced myself that the bone had fractured.  He needed a follow up blood test at our local vet the following Wednesday, so I had them do an x-ray as well to see if the bone was fractured.  We also increased the meds to alleviate his discomfort-this is something I really did not want to do, I'm not looking for an overly medicated dog to keep this manageable. This is not how we want this to be. Anyway-the x-ray-x-rays aren't great, aren't terribly clear, but there is no obvious fracture.  They took a few views and we looked through all of them.  There could be something minor, but nothing obvious. A feel a little better, but we do not have definitive proof either way, so I'm still very concerned.

Another few days go by, and his discomfort seems to be improving-but still not where we would like it to be.  His next Carboplatin is still 10 days away (once every 3 weeks for a total of 4 treatments). We continue the meds, and he continues to improve day by day. I'm not thrilled with all the meds he's on, but we seem to have found a balance where he is getting around fine, in great spirits, tail up all the time, eating, etc.

On February 8th we go back for his second Carboplatin treatment. Surprisingly he is in and out of there in barely 2 hours.  He's a bit tired, but all seemed to go well.  After the SRT/first carboplatin they had given us meds for Diarrhea, or lack of appetite. Neither of those things happened, but we had the meds on hand just in case.  After this second treatment he stopped eating, wouldn't eat a thing for day and a half-so we gave him a dose of that medication.  He was getting around great and we cut his other meds in half...going in the right direction.He went 2 or 3 days without eating, or barely eating-and we had some confusion about which meds, when...etc.  To make things more confusing our other Newf gets diarrhea probably due to all the stress.

Anyway-if I have thoroughly confused you yet-Bandit started eating again, our other Newf has come around, and through it all we stopped giving Bandit all meds-accidentally.  The last 2 weeks have been fantastic in every way-Bandit is off meds, has no discomfort, is in great spirits, going on walks every day.

2 more Carboplatins to go-next week and 3 weeks later and his treatment will be complete.  Thereafter will be chest x-rays every +/- 6 weeks to keep an eye on that.  We do our best to keep impacts away, but he is pretty much back to where he was-but we have convinced him to stay off our bed.

Who knows what the future holds-but we are very happy with the results.  We know that could change quickly, but are hoping for the best.  Here we are 60 days after diagnosis and his condition has improved tremendously, is comfortable, and in great spirits.

I'll update periodically as we go forward....