our road with canine osteosarcoma and amputation

Saturday March 12, 2011 – The Evening of Pure Horror!

I went out on the back deck that evening and Duke came out with me as usual.  Maddy, the dog behind us & Duke got each other rowled up and Duke started running around the yard.  And as quick as it had started, it ended.  Duke let out a larger than life yelp and continued yelping as I saw him come around the corner limping.  It was so loud.  I immediately thought he had stepped on a piece of glass or got something stuck to his paw.  My husband ran out to help me check him out.  He was somewhat nipping at us in a way he had never done when in pain as I was trying to inspect his back right foot/leg.  I had our youngest son, Brayten, run in & grab a sheet to “sling” him.  Duke has always been a bit of a drama king so we spent about 5 minutes seeing if maybe he’d come around and put some weight on that hind leg but that was not happening!  Any type of weight or movement he would yelp so sadly.  I pulled the car all the way up into the yard right by the front door and my husband and I slung him through the house & into the car.  He truly seemed to know we were going for help.  Off to the ER we went. 

I truly believed when walking into the ER that night that he had sprained his foot or something of the sort….OH HOW I WISH!

We were able to assist Duke in getting him back into the ER and the techs were so wonderful.  They somehow got him to lay down on his left side without him yelping.   He accepted their help and was smelling the air as my husband and I walked out of the room hopeful we’d be going home soon with a brace or wrap for his “sprained” foot. 

The Veterinarian called us into a patient room to make sure we approved x-rays of the leg….of course!  hurry up already!  She did happen to mention osteosomething, pathological, tumors, large breeds….yeah whatever.   Just get the x-rays we were ready to get things movin’ & get home.

About 45 minutes later our life changed.  The results were in & yes, a tumor (osteosarcoma) had weakend the bone in his right rear leg enough that it had fractured…completely shattered.  And not only that but there was no “fixing” it with a plate because the deteriorated bone could not hold a plate.  The leg would have to come off.  But first things first, they had to go back in & get x-rays of the chest to see if this osteocrap was going to show up in there (and she said if that’s the case, she would put her own child down @ that point). 

Good news…..no masses in the chest that the x-ray could see.  However, osteosarcoma is probably there but that it’s microscopic at this point. 

She told us the plan of  a table meeting all the doctors would do the next day (Sunday) and the amputation would occur on Monday.  Yes, Duke would stay in the hospital with them where they would keep him comfy (w/ drugs he isn’t able to get here @ home).  She offered to let us see him before we left but we decided not to as we did not want him to think he was going to be able to come home with us. 

The next couple of days were weird to say the least.  I had too much time to clean & my house was too clean.  I’m used to having a 160+ lb great dane running my household.  But all in all our spirits were good.  We were & still are hopeful.  We were quite okay with having a tripawd cause at least we’d have our Duker home!