SaltyDog

Hi Lisa, Wow! What a coincidence. We are actually off to VACC with Thabo literally as I type this. We have a midday appointment for Thabo to start chemo and auranofin! We have fingers crossed he will do very well with the chemo and that we will see some good results with the auranofin. He has been absolutely amazing so far. His recovery has been quick and he is so happy and fully of life. Just like he used to be. I won't lie, the first two days were tough. But he was on good pain killers and got past that so well. Now he is just back to being an amazing, happy, energetic dog. We are very realistic regarding his survival time, but we are so glad we made the choice to save him and not give up. Even the past week has made it worth it, to see him happy and back to normal. We hope we get a lot more time with him, but we cherish every minute we have with him and we know his love of life is still there...making the tough operation he went through worth it. To be totally honest, I think it was probably harder on us then it was on him. He bounced back so well...

Hi guys, Has anybody had any experience with eastern medicine vets in Victoria? I have been to Anne Neville in bentleigh before...and had a good experience. But would like to hear of any others or any stories or thoughts based around this? We have a dog who has just had an amputation due to osteosarcoma and is starting chemo soon...and we wanted to use eastern meds in conjunction with conventional medication.

Just an update guys....picked Thabo up from the vet. Op all went very well, and was basically the perfect results. Tumour has totally been removed, and we have him booked in for chemo in a couple of weeks. He seems amazingly bright and happy...which is great news. He is a bit dopey due to the morphine, but that's to be expected. Besides that, so far so good!

Yeah, he got through yesterday all ok. Was extremely traumatic for us all at home and dropping him at the clinic was awful, he was probably zonked out most of the day so was probably an easy day for him. Although today is obviously going to be tougher for him, but he had an epidural, and is on an IV morphine drip, so hopefully he is quite comfortable considering. The op went very well and no further signs of a spread, so good news there again. He also got through it all with flying colors. We are now ready for the next stage, of getting him back to the bright, happy boy we know and love...which is going to be hard work for him, and for us to I suppose. But we think he is worth the fight and his quality of life is worth us going through all this...in a lot of respects, the PTS option was probably easier on us all...but if we can get even 6 months of good time with him, it's worth it, and I think he wants to fight on...everybody can see it in his eyes.

Hi guys, Figured I would start a new topic here to follow on from my last. Which was regarding my boy Thabo who has just been diagnosed with what is nearly certainly osteosarcoma. Post is here - http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/254824-ostisarcoma-amputation/ I was just wondering if anybody can share some actual experiences with amputation surgery, recovery times and how the dog copes? I have heard some very positive stories so far!

Yeah, we lost Jake after a horrendous 12 month battle. He was PTS in October 2012. Just over 12 months ago and here we go again. I'm feeling more positive about this fight though, as there seems there are things we can do this time to help Thabo fight. Where as last time we had no diagnosis and no choice but guessing. If eventually turned out to be cancer but was only the last day or so it got diagnosed. Which was incredibly hard.

He has been getting around for almost a week now on 3 legs. The first vet we saw misdiagnosed his break as a sprain, and sent us home with NASAIDS. WHich didn't help, and we went back to another vet when nothing had changed 2 days later. He was diagnosed with the break officially yesterday but has been hobbling for a few days prior to that and even given the pain he must feel when moving, doing amazingly well. He quite literally just leapt through our garden bed when he went for a wee as we headed to bed just now...so he is already finding his feet, so to speak. I have weighed a lot of options, good, bad, for, against and all that. Our vet seems very positive and our boy is very happy, strong, brave and courageous...most importantly, I don't think he is ready to give up yet. I work from home, and spend 90% of my time with him...I think I'm very in tune with him and I just don't think he wants to give up either. As I said earlier, when I made the PTS decision with his brother....I beleive he told me in his own way that he was tired and didn't want to fight anymore. I just don't see it with Thabo. Me working from home also means I can spend a lot of time helping him get past his surgery...and making sure he is happy. Our vet has also said he thinks the tumor is quite early stages. He said most times he sees osteosarcoma, it's well advanced and much larger and more wide spread in the bone. Fortunately Thabo has has a break, which may very well be from a bad fall or knock, and potentially broken a healthy bone anyway, but which has allowed us to pick up on it 1-3 months earlier then normal. So he as much as the break is where the tumor lies, it's been a blessing in disguise that it's allowed us to diagnose him before he really started showing signs. The clear lungs also support this, and whilst I understand how osteosarcoma works and that is 99.999% likely it's already in his blood...hopefully we can get another 12 months with him and cherish his life and make him as happy as we can. I will post a pic tomorrow...I've been on my iphone and I can't see how to post a pic on here?? So I'll try on my pc.

We had a very good chat with out vet today, and had lung X-rays done, which came up clear. We have him booked for surgery Monday, obviously pending us making a decision over the weekend and being sure. The vet has told us he thinks at least 12 months with him, and 95% of that will be happy, quality time. He has also said it will most likely go to the lungs and that it will be quite quick when the time comes... We have also been told by a couple of specialists we have spoken to today, that there isn't much point doing surgery with no chemo...so we will opt for both. We are leaving towards surgery as he just seems so happy and wanting to fight...despite the discomfort of a broken leg and the pain of the tumor. If we can remove that, and get him past the 1-3 weeks of post op recovery, we can have another 12 or so months with our boy and prepare ourselves mentally for what is to come. We realise part of our decision is selfish...but when I made the PTS call on my other boy Jake, I could tell he wanted to give up by the look in his beautiful eyes...Thabo just doesn't seem to have that look, and his eyes tell me he wants to go on, just as much as we want him too. So we are ready to fight this and give him all the love and care he needs to get throught surgery and spend a quality 12 months with him. We are also currently investigating Chinese medicine, which we did with Jake and believed he got benefit from it. Even if we can prolong the cancer growth for a few months, it will be worth it we think. We still haven't 100% made a call either way, but we certainly feel surgery and fighting the brave fight with him is the best option.

We just spoke to Melbourne Uni specialist and are going in for some chest X-rays shortly...which, if it's spread will make our decision process more simplified. If it hasn't, we are weighing up the decision for surgery. But his broken leg, which is a pathological break, is like a ticking time bomb. He seems fairly happy at the moment but he HAS to be in pain...the vets have said the pathological break is less painful then a normal break, and he is in pain killers but even so it must be hurting like hell. So we need to make a decision ASAP.

He has been very happy up to date. Looking back, he has slowed down and slept a lot...but not really noticeably, and we had chalked it down to him getting older...and he has put on about 4kg from his peak weight...which would slow him down. Even now, he doesn't seem to be distressed. He is on pain killers until we come to a decision...but too look at him, he seems happy. Eating, drinking wagging his tail when we pat him. All in all, he seems happy. It's just blown us out of the water have to make a decision on what is basically a healthy dog...and to hear his best case is 12-18 months, is just mind blowing given the lack of symptoms before this.

Thing that sucks is that when I have needed courage over the last 11 years...it has actually come from him. Now I feel like I don't have him to prop me up and that is so, so, so tough and lonely.

Thank you so much everybody. It's amazing how much support can help in times like this...just knowing other people feel the pain and have been there before is an amazing boost. It's such an up and down ride. Tears and sobbing one minute and then feeling positive the next. I just spent 10 Mins out in the garden and when I came in the old boy was waiting for me on his bed, bright and alert and wagging his tail like mad....broken leg and all. He is incredibly brave and courageous. Such a hard choice when you see him like that. I wish I could have some of his courage myself.

Thanks guys And thanks spotted devil that advice. It's very true and an excellent point. I think the hard bit now is to actually be rational and think like that. The shock of it all has really knocked me and I am really struggling to gather myself back together.

Has anybody out there had experience with amputation of an older dog? That is one of the things that is holding us up too, if his age is going to make his recovery too hard. He is mental sharp as a tac, and physically good in every other way besides this p***k of a disease...it's such a hard choice.

It is a terribly tough journey. It's made worse by the fact he has a broken leg, and we don't have the choice of palliative care...we can let him suffer on and it's either amputate or make the tough choice. I wish we had more time to decide...I just am not ready to make this decision and 15 hours ago, my worst case was to have pins put on a possible broken leg...now this. It's such a raw slap in the face shock, yet I am trying to be strong and rational at the same time to do what's best for my old boy. People keep telling me that I'll know what's right ...but I really don't and that terrifies me.