I am devastated. Our active, happy, 1 1/2 year old pup had a limp in early July and I took him to the vet thinking at worst he had a broken leg or tendon tear. After all he is a pup who I swear did parkour in our house when our backs were turned.  Oh how wrong I was. The x-rays showed a massive cloudy area on his right lower leg.  Working in the (human) medical profession, my heart sank. I knew it was cancer.

He got a biopsy that week and the results were definitely cancer but inconclusive as to what type. It could have been osteosarcoma or liposarcoma.  Either way the leg had to go if he had any chance.  We scheduled his amputation for the following week.  

The first couple of days after amputation he was energetic and we couldn't keep him down. We had to re-visit the vet to get his bandages fixed as they kept falling off because he was too active.  We thought that things were going well.  About 2 weeks after surgery he started to get lethargic and depressed.  The vet who did the surgery got the results from the tests done on the leg.  It was osteosarcoma and suggested the option to start on chemo.  We decided we wanted to do chemo.  He was only 1 1/2 yrs old, we wanted to give him every advantage possible. However, we wanted to get a consult with a veterinary oncologist.  I have seen interesting results with chemotherapy and immunotherapy and I wanted to know if that was an option.  I knew that the regular internal medicine doctor at the place that did his surgery would just go with the standard protocol and I wanted options if they were available.  

We just got back from the veterinary oncologist who was wonderful, despite having to give us horrible news.  He knew something wasn't adding up. Chewie was originally energetic and happy after the surgery and should be getting more energy not less.  Even though his X-rays were not more than 2 weeks old (from his amputation) he decided to do another X-ray and ultrasound of his abdomen since his appetite was off.  

The cancer had spread. Not one organ in his abdomen was normal. Everything had a lump. One of his kidneys had a 10 cm tumor. How could all of that fit in his little 40lb frame?!  His chest X-rays which were normal 2 weeks ago now showed fluid in his lungs.  The vet said that even though he is not in pain now, he doesn't have much longer before he will be.  He estimated a week.

I am just left stunned that all of this happened so quickly. I am second guessing whether we should have even gotten his leg amputated because I wonder if the tumors in his abdomen were there all along. In one month we went from a goofy bouncy dog to learning he is terminal.  

Even though I am sobbing from the news, the best thing I think we did was go to the oncologist. He took the time to really figure things out when things weren't adding up.  He did his best to be kind but direct that chemo was not going to help Chewie now and that he didn't want to give me false hope. Even though he wasn't crying I could tell by the change in his voice that he was deeply effected too. If we had just gone with the recommendation by the place that did his surgery to start his chemo we would have been doing chemo for no real benefit.  

According the oncologists, puppies and young dogs who get cancer often have the worst prognosis. He doesn't see puppies with cancer all that often. He said maybe 1 every 5 yrs but unfortunately the cancer is usually more aggressive with young dogs.  

We are going to take a few days to spoil Chewie, explain things to our kids, and say our goodbyes. Most of all we don't want Chewie to suffer. I am just still left in shock at how fast everything has gone.