Hi all, wanted to start off by saying what a wonderful community this is. Got rid of a lot of our apprehensions before putting our dog through amputation. This forum has been an invaluable resource and I hope our dogs story may also help somebody some day. 

Our dog Tyson is an 8 year old male Saint Bernard and was unfortunately diagnosed with osteosarcoma three weeks ago. He’s always been a happy and healthy dog. He did have hip dysplasia as a pup which we operated on when he was about a year old. His gait wasn’t the best post surgery but he was happy and was pain free and loved his walks. We started to notice a limp out of the blue towards the end of January and took him to the vet immediately. They suspected a sprain and even did an X-ray and the doc said there may be signs of osteoporosis and to keep an eye on him and bring him back if it doesn’t improve. Fast forward another month and a half, he initially did get better on meds (painkillers in hindsight) but then was back to the same limp if not worse. We did a CT scan and the vet called us back to tell us it looked like cancer. It was one of the most surreal things to hear and our entire family was just completely in shock and anguish. When we went to pick him up the doctor told us amputation was the only option, I remember the words coming out of his mouth and I was just waiting for what seemed like an eternity for him to say we could try something else but those words never came. 

Frantically googling led me here and I’m so glad I found tripawds because it put all of us at a bit more ease doing the surgery. The biopsy confirmed it was osteosarcoma and the CT scans of the chest seemed to be normal. We also did an ultrasound of his abdomen and everything seemed normal except for his spleen which was non homogenous.  We ended up amputating his right hind leg exactly a week after finding out on the 30th of April. The oncologist recommended an FNAC of the spleen but as this would require him to be put under anaesthesia we did not do this as yet given he just finished surgery and is quite uneasy still. We visited him right after surgery but he was out cold however he seemed to be trying to walk on his own later in the day. We went back again the next day and he was just crying the whole time which was  really difficult to watch. The vet kept him for a week and we tried to see him as much as we could without causing him too much separation anxiety. He seemed to be doing better each day. We finally brought him home on Friday the 7th (5 days ago) and he seemed more at ease and wanted to move around quite a lot which was good. We used a harness to help him up the first few days and to support him while walking in the garden outside. The last three days he’s been able to move around completely on his own without any trouble which has been very reassuring for us. Our worst fear was because he was so large (65 kilos/145 lbs pre op) it would be very difficult for him to walk on his own but he seems to be doing extremely well in that regard. 

What has been a quite unsettling is he seems to be getting very restless after taking his meds. We’ve noticed it usually starts about an hour or so after he takes his meds and he cannot find a comfortable spot to sit and this is much more pronounced at night. It’s difficult to see because his breathing becomes very fast paced and heavy and this goes on for many hours. I was sitting next to him two days ago while this was happening and he kept putting his paw on me and crying and I was rubbing his belly to try and calm him down. He then started to lick his wound from the pain and I moved my hands away because I know he might get a bit snappy if I try to touch him while doing that. Unfortunately when he turned around the first thing he saw was my hand in the air and went straight for it. The bite was very painful but I feel terrible because he was very very upset after realising what he did. While he has been great in terms of being able to get around on his own after surgery he has been on edge at certain times of the day especially after the meds. We are all also a bit on edge as he gets very restless and snappy at times. He would do anything for food but is quite disinterested now. He prefers lying outside most of the day/night which was not really the case before (we did put down a lot of carpet to make it easier for him to get around). It was quite easy to coax him into coming back inside with food earlier but now he just won't budge.

The meds he was/is on I’m listing below, he had a UTI when they discharged him so there are meds prescribed for that as well. 

• Cefpodoxime- 200mg (1.5-0-1.5) wf/af for 5 days
• Panta d. 40mg (1.5-0- 0) before food for 3 days
• Relaxyzyme (1-0-1) wf/af for 5 days
• Tramadol- 100mg one tab as an sos
• Ocaxin - 12 ml twice a day for 1 month
• Minipress- 5 mg (2.5 25) wf/af for 4 days

concern 2: for uti

• Urosupport (2-0-1) wf/af for 2 weeks

He had a slightly red paw when he came home from the vet which turned swollen the next day so we had to take him back two days later. They said it was eczema and  had become infected. They asked us to remove the Relaxyzyme and added Rutazor twice a day for 10 days. 

After communicating with the vet about how restless he was getting they switched the meds again to:

• Tramadol 100mg (2-0-2) for 3 days
• Trazadone 50mg (2-0-2) for 3 days
• Rutazor (1-0-1) for 3 days
• Continue with Ocaxin
• Continue with Urosupport

He still seems extremely restless even with the new meds and we have not given him Trazadone after the first night which was yesterday as we had read about possible concerns with mixing Tramadol and Trazadone. I’ve noticed he’s started to chew on things from time to time which he didn’t do before as well (anxiety?). 

Our main worry is that the vet and the oncologist I had spoken to recommended starting Carboplatin or at least trying a single dose to see how he does. Given his temperament lately we are not sure if putting him through chemo is the right choice at this time. He is scheduled to get his stitches removed tomorrow which is also when they wanted to start on the first dose of Carboplatin. We are thinking of not going through with it right away as it might be too stressful for him. We had also read about being careful on exposure to bodily fluids 48-72 hours post IV. We are worried that if he chooses to sleep in the garden (where he poops and pees) it would be pretty much impossible to force him back inside in those first 48-72 hours with how he is currently. 

It has been quite an emotional rollercoaster with many sleepless nights. While we’re happy he can move around on his own now, we are very unsure about chemotherapy and worried about his mental state. We were initially comfortable trying chemo but seeing him like this makes us think otherwise at least for now. We are getting him a mobility wheelchair so he can start going on his longer walks again. The walks were the highlight of his day so hopefully that lifts his spirits up a little.

Has anyone here had similar issues post operation? Our biggest fear is him becoming more distressed, anxious and aggressive by putting him through anything more. This is such a difficult choice to make and we just want him to live a happy life for whatever time he may have left.