My Greyhound Ham Just Came Thru Leg Amputation For Cancer

[Guest valtoy]

Ham was limping most of the month of July and X-rays showed bone cancer in his left front leg. He was in more and more pain and on pain pills. I finally made the decision to let them take his leg last Wednesday and so far, it looks like I made the right decision. He was up and walking a few hours after surgery (as he was actually only using 3 legs for most of the month when his leg hurt) He came home the very next morning and seemed comfortable. He was hopping on 3 legs pretty well. He became quite anxious and was pacing and breathing heavily Saturday and his good front leg was very swollen with fluid. The hospital told me to remove his pain patch a day early as it might be overdosing him. I removed it and in 24 hours, his fluid retention was gone, he was back to normal and he seemed like his doggie self again. He doesn't seem to be in any pain anymore, but he is on Metacam, an anti-inflammitory and antibiotics. I have not decided yet if I want to put him thru Chemo, but I want him to have as much time as he can get. He is only 9 years old and otherwise in perfect health and eats good. I had a ramp built out the backdoor so he can easily walk in and out as I had steps all over my house. So far, so good. I would love to hear if anyone chose to NOT do the chemo after surgery or if they did do chemo and how it turned out.

 

Valerie

a new Member

Ham's web page

[Guest greydogluvr]

You have come to the right place for support and infinite wisdom. Best of luck and big hugs to you and your precious boy. He is gorgeous!!!!

 

BTW search osteosarcoma on this site for info

Edited August 11, 2008 by greydogluvr

[Shaysmom]

Hi and welcome! Wishing a speedy recovery to your sweet boy, Ham.

[3greys2cats]

Wishing you good healing thoughts.

[CaliforniaGreys]

You will find a lot of experience here. I have no experience with this, but I would just like to wish you and your boy the best. Sounds like he's doing well, and thank God for that.

[iluvgreys]

Glad to hear your boy is doing so well post surgery! You might want to join the Circle of Grey yahoo group as the members have a lot of experience with osteo and chemo issues.

[carronstar]

I have no advice but am sending lots of gentle hugs and good thoughts to beautiful Ham.

[Aerosmom]

I agree that Circle of Grey is a great support group with great advice. My five-year-old Snickers had a front leg amputation and I went the chemo route. She didn't have too bad of a reaction to the chemo and it does greatly increase their chances of long(er) term survival. Unfortunately she collapsed and lost her ability to breath independently while waiting at the vet for her fourth chemo treatment. The specialty hospital never explained what happened, but my local vet suggested that with such an abrupt event that it could have been a blood clot. Who knows.

 

If I had to do it all over again, I'd still opt for the chemo.

 

Dr. Cuoto at Ohio State University should be able to steer you in the right direction too. Someone here should have his contact info handy.

 

I hope Ham is doing well and has a quick recovery and you have many many more days together.

[ozgirl2]

Definitely contact Dr. Cuoto!! He's a great guy and loves greys! He also ALWAYS returns emails or calls!!! We all love him here!

[Guest Vinnie]

Dr. Cuoto is greyt and will get you all sorts of info on chemo and what he would think works best. Our Angel Vinnie was part of his cancer study and received some of the chemo treatment through him and another one that our oncologist wanted to use in conjunction with the one the Dr. Cuoto sent.

 

We also did amputation and chemo for Vinnie, unfortunately, his osteo was extremely aggressive and we had to let him go around his 3rd chemo - however - that is not the norm! They believe that because Vinnie was a puppy (diagnosed at 11 months and we gently walked him to the bridge on his 14 month birthday) it really "fed" the cancer, it seemed as fast as he was growing, so was the cancer, that's the easiest way to describe it.

 

Good to hear that Ham is doing well and so glad that you found us here. You may also want to read the links in this same topic on Asia from Madeara - this is the link here:

 

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php?act=Se...ult_type=topics

 

to her recent posts, many of them about osteo, what to expect, the choices, and how she is currently doing - she just went through everything that you are going through and she just brought Asia home after her amputation last week as well. If you have any questions or worries, just post them here and you should get pretty fast replies. And since you are new you won't be able to send pm's yet, so feel free to send an email to us if we can help and it is not something that you want to post - bobcatproduction@comcast.net - also, here is Vinnie's page from his amputation - http://s292.photobucket.com/albums/mm16/bo...product/vinnie/ - if you want to look.

 

Welcome to GT - will keep you in our thoughts and prayers. Scritches to the very handsome Ham. His surgery area looks very good.

Edited August 11, 2008 by Vinnie

[Madeara]

Do the chemo, give him a chance. Asia lost her left front leg last tuesday and will start the chemo next week. I thought the same as you but after speaking with Dr Couto I want the chemo.

[patricia]

Welcome to GT. Ham is SO handsome...such a brave boy. I agree...Please contact Dr. Couto and join the yahoo group Circle of Grey. Please hug Ham for me.

[Guest LolasMom]

You've already been given the best advice I could ever think of so I justed wanted to say welcome and what a beautiful boy Ham is!

[Guest argolola]

I will pray for your little sweetie.

[Guest MorganKonaAlex]

I've been through it with 2 of my greys. The statistics for median survival is:

- 5 months with amputation alone

- 12-14 months with amputation and chemo

 

I'm not trying to influence you one way or the other; it's a personal decision. I would recommend talking with a Vet Oncologist to get the current info though.

[Neighsayer]

Welcome. Hope all goes well for your boy. Dogs seem to do better with chemo than people do. Read the stories here. Many members have been in your situation. Good luck!

[Guest jerrybird]

Having three-or-four legs doesn't matter to Ham and I'm glad he's doing so well. This is the best place to talk to other people sharing this awful experience. You will find support and advice from so many great people. Welcome and I hope Ham continues to heal well.

[Guest whatahound]

Welcome, you will find tons of support here. Healing thoughts to Ham. He's very handsome.

[Guest valtoy]

Thanks for all the support. Ham seems to be quite "moody" for a dog. Yesterday he was very active and today rather lazy and not wanting to get up and walk that much. He did finally take a longer walk than usual, to his favorite place, so I guess he is bouncing back, but has good and bad days. He has always been a bit "wild and wacky", with mood swings, so I guess with this stress, he is more strange than usual.

 

Valerie

[MerlinsMum]

Valerie, I have not been through amputation and chemo with any dog of mine but I wish you the very best. Sending lots of good thoughts your way and healing thoughts for your beautiful boy. He's so handsome! I hope he heals fast. You've definitely come to the right place... lots of people with experience of this here, sadly and a caring community.

 

Hugs to you both

 

... And welcome to GT!

[4greyhounds]

Sending lots of Prayers and white light and lots of Hugs!!!! Welcome to GT!

[Guest greytfulhounds]

[Guest paulamariez]

I will keep your precious Ham in my prayers for a full and complete recovery! Tiger, Bueller and Domino are sending Ham some get well doggie kisses too! What a brave boy Ham is!

[Guest CyndiW]

Sounds like Ham is well on his way to recovery. He is extremely handsome!! I chose to go the chemo route in addition to amputation with my Odysseus. He was 7.5 at the time of dx and otherwise in perfect health. He sailed through chemo and gained all of his weight/muscle (that he had lost prior to the dx of cancer) back before the end of chemo. He had 4 rounds (2 different kinds that rotated). He had some nausea/vomiting/diarrhea with one of them but nothing major and it only lasted about 24 hours. He had them 3 weeks apart. Once his chemo treatments were over, he was free to live his life the way he wanted (like a party animal!). He lived a year from the time he first started limping and 7 months after all his treatments were over. That was in 2003 and I think they have come along way in terms of which chemos are more effective for osteo even in the past 5 years. I would definitely consult with Dr. Couto at OSU if you choose to go that route. I also think he offers free and/or discounted chemo to retired racers. Not sure how that works - if he sends it to your vet or what but it might be worth checking in to. IMO you made the right decision to have the amputation because it immediately gets rid of the bone tumor pain which is unbearable even with pain meds. However, you know your boy best and what he can handle as far as vet offices, needles, traveling, strangers, etc. It is a very personal decision between only you and your boy and you should feel comfortable with whatever decision you make. A nice thing about chemo too is that if you decide to do it and then after a treatment or 2, you change your mind for any reason then you can always stop. My point being that it doesn't have to be as simple and do chemo or don't - there is also that gray area of try it, see how it goes, continue, or stop - whatever you feel comfortable with. Keep us posted on how Ham is doing and welcome to greytalk!!

Edited August 12, 2008 by CyndiW

[Guest tennesseegrey]

I went through amputation and chemo with my Rosie. She tolerated every dose of chemo very well and lived about a year post diagnosis. I felt very fortunate to have her another year. My second boy Caesar was just diagnosed as well. I'm not sure if I'll be able to amputate, but I'm definitely going the chemo route again.

 

I wish you and Ham all the best for a speedy recovery.