Bone Cancer (osteosarcoma) Amputation

[Guest ChasesMum]

YAY!

 

cherish every day! Those tripod roaches are sooo wonderful! remember to catch it on your camera!

[Guest golden]

I am new to this site. I have read many of the posts and I would like your opinion. I have a beautiful 9 1/2 year old greyhound that we have had since she was 2 yrs old. Her name is Design. She had started limping a few weeks ago and the vet thought it was an injury to her knee. She did not get better with meds. Yesterday, xrays revealed that she has bone cancer in her left hind leg called osteosarcoma. It basically eats the bone from the inside out. The only cure is amputation of the leg. Chest xrays revealed that it had not spread to her lungs. Would any of you put your greyhound through this? She has 6 to 9 months of suffering ahead if we do not do it. I am leaning toward doing it. Have any of you experienced this type of thing? Thanks so much for your help.

 

Designs Mom.

 

Our 10 YO golden retriever was diagnosed with ostersarcoma 21/2 years ago. Similar to your situation, he was limping slightly and it was originally thought he had bruised it playing. When it persisted for a few weeks he was given more xrays and they found the cancer. Amputation was one of the alternatives we were given. I had serious reservations about until I found several forums from other dog owners who had this surgery performed and their dogs were doing well.

 

It was the best decision we ever made. The surgery and chemo were very successful. He was running within 24 hrs of surgery and swimming (his favorite thing next to eating) within 2 weeks. For the first 3 months post surgery he underwent chemo treatments every 3 weeks and never showed any signs of pain or discomfort. Sadly, 11 months later xrays showed that the cancer had spread to his lungs even though he didn't show any signs of slowing down. ASbout 2 months later he suddenly had trouble getting up and walking. We took him back to the hospital the next day and they said it had spread to his spine. We knew the time had come. We had always agreed that it was about quality of life and that as hard as it would be we would do what was right for AJ. In all he had about 3 bad days.

 

This surgery gave AJ and us another wonderful year together. If faced with this again I would not hesitate to do the same thing.

 

Good luck with your decision>

[Guest Designsmom]

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll248/d...om/DSCN1102.jpg

 

The three legged roach!

 

I just posted a kinda half three legged roach. Design is feeling great. She jumped up on our bed this morning, first time since the surgery. I took her for a little walk and she actually walked very well, full of energy, walked fast. I was afraid to take her further because I never know how long that back leg will go until it wears out. She is a very happy pup. I hope we have her for another couple of years but I cherish each day she is with us and feeling well. We are not going to do chemo at this point. Thanks so much for the support on Greytalk. I would not have made it without all of you.

[Guest GreytMuse]

Oh, Designsmom, what an awesome photo! Thank you so much for sharing, you all have been in my thoughts.

 

And welcome to GreyTalk, Golden, glad to have you here!

[RobinM]

This is an amazing story. Bless her heart.