Kent,

I am so sorry to hear about Onyx. It is so extremely similar to my current situation, and I hope my reply helps you to feel a bit more comfortable.

My 8.5 year old Rottweiler Mischa (who is about 90lbs) was just diagnosed on 4/24 with osteosarcoma in her back left leg. She is a registered therapy dog and the dog love of my life...so, I opted to waste no time, and we had her leg fully amputated from the hip last Wednesday, 4/27. They kept her hospitalized for 2 days, and when I brought her home, I was more of a mess than she was. It is truly incredible how adaptive dogs are, and it made my heart feel more at ease seeing how well she had adapted to her 3 legs in a matter of days.

The first night was rough, as it was the first day off of IV pain meds, and she was struggling to get comfortable...but we are now 10 days post-op, and you would think that she had been on 3 legs for years. She is healing beautifully and seems to be experiencing minimal pain. Any pain I think she is experiencing is from her back right leg working harder than it ever has before. I can only imagine that she is sore from basically doing leg day at the gym nonstop, every day for the last 10 days...but she is being an incredible trooper!

Are you considering chemo? We are waiting for the all clear from the surgeon on Wednesday, and hopefully we can start chemo on Friday. Our oncologist was very reassuring that with amputation and chemo, she thinks Mischa should have a strong fighting chance. She said we caught the osteosarcoma pretty early, thank goodness.

Anyway, hang in there  Onyx will do GREAT! My heart will be with you all on the 12th, and I hope your baby girl recovers as well as my Mischa has.

All the best,

Joy and Mischa in Texas

Your story is all too familiar around here.  You definitely have found the right place!

Donna

Murphy had originally started limping in October, 2012, but we didn't suspect cancer until February 2013.  Then he had his biopsy, waited for results (which were inconclusive) and then more x-rays which showed the tumor growing.  By the time he finally had his surgery in April 2013, he had been limping for about 5 months.  The lymph node they removed at the time of surgery was positive, so it had spread to the nearby lymph nodes (his chest x-rays were clear).  I think his surgery was about $4500.  His final diagnosis was histiocytic sarcoma, which is a different type of bone cancer.  We did do chemo - he had 6 doses of CCNU, which is a pill and was about $350/treatment.  Plus he had to take denamarin every day to protect his liver, have blood work the week of chemo & a week later (at our regular vet so we didn't have to drive so far).  When he finished his chemo, they found what they suspected was another tumor on his left shoulder blade.  They tried to biopsy it, but didn't get anything.  They've watched it on x-rays and it hasn't grown.  He has a couple of lumps on his chest, probably lymph nodes, but I haven't had them checked out.  His prognosis was 12-18 months "if we were lucky," and it's been 3 years.  So at this point we figure that we're not going to put him through anything more, and he's doing so well!  He runs, barks, eats and is just such a happy dog

So yes, it can spread, but there's no way to know how fast.  And even if it does, it doesn't mean that it's the end.  A day or 2 shouldn't change anything, but there are no guarantees here.  Are you wanting to make sure your mom gets to see Onyx before she has surgery?  Or to make sure she's there to help after?  Onyx will probably stay overnight at the vet (most stay at least 1 night).  Then she'll come home.  The first 2 weeks are the hardest, but it will get better.

Donna