“You chose to amputate the leg,” the oncology resident nodded. “It’s not an easy decision but, I think, the right one.”
Frankly, for me, the decision wasn’t a difficult one: Without amputation, this insidious cancer, osteosarcoma, would take Lucas in only a few months, if not weeks. With amputation, his prognosis expanded to around four months. With amputation plus chemo (a topic for another day), 50 percent of dogs make it a year and 25 percent hit two years.
Of course, we had an advantage. We were coming at this from an informed place. When Emmett had a nerve sheath tumor on his leg years ago, the oncologist recommended amputation. We dove into the research, spoke with vets, chatted on internet forums, and discovered a pretty resounding optimism: Dogs recover quickly from amputation and can live pretty-darn-awesome lives afterward. (Ultimately, the surgeon was able to excise the tumor with wide, clear margins, preserving Emmett’s leg.)
With Lucas, we found ourselves slogging and flying – all at once. We spotted a mild limp, a slight favoring of his front left, but he had been to doggy daycare that weekend. A sprain, perhaps? He limps often, so we thought we’d wait and see. We waited through the weekend, and it worsened. I called the vet, who saw him on Wednesday. She x-rayed it. Saw the cancer. The next Tuesday we were at the oncologist’s, and the following Wednesday the leg was gone.
Limp to amputation. Three weeks.
He came home after three days at the animal hospital. We had two bandage changes scheduled, then we needed to wait two weeks until his stitches came out. At the first change, she removed the fentanyl patch. What we didn’t know, and what we still didn’t know when I wrote the follow-up post, was that when the patch was removed, Lucas went into withdrawal. The frantic pacing, the wild eyes, the drooling, all of it, she chalked up to having that patch taken off. (Add this to the notebook-length list of Things I Wish I Would’ve Known.)
But, you know, all that research we did and all those anecdotes were correct: He bounced back. Quickly. He was on complete exercise restriction for those two weeks. Every time we looked away–after those horrible first few days, anyway–he was attempting to sneak off, climb up the couch, dig in the garden, anything he could get away with that he wasn’t supposed to be doing. The difficult part wasn’t the fact that he lost his leg. It wasn’t the fact that his movement was jerky and unstable and unbalanced. It wasn’t the fact that he went through moments of panic and pain and disorientation. Nope. The difficult part was keeping his fuzzy butt still for two straight weeks.
Thankfully, the stitches came out as scheduled, and the restriction was lifted. He had a few full days to be himself. He even started short walks up and down the block. Heck, a few times he dashed off in a run across the backyard to bark at something passing by our fence.
Throughout all of it, from spotting the initial limp until his first chemo treatment this week, we received one warning over and over again: Be prepared for behavioral changes.
Initially, I was nervous about how it would go with Emmett and Cooper, but that was totally unfounded. From the first moment Lucas came home from the hospital, they were like, “Oh, alright.” No biggie. Except one night. Neither John nor I saw it start, but Emmett and Cooper got into a Fight. Yep, with a capital F. We had to pull them apart. There was some blood. There was some fur flying. Thankfully, neither got hurt, and they were over it instantaneously. There’s been no recurrence, but I suspect that all of it–the weird schedules, the stress, the managing Lucas, the paying all our attention to Lucas, all of it–contributed to that single incident.
The other BIG change is that Lucas has become clingy. Now, for those of you with velcro dogs, this might sound strange. Lucas has never been like Emmett and Cooper who desperately need to be, basically, on top of us at all times. No, Lucas has always been independent. He’ll sleep downstairs while everyone else is upstairs. He’ll play in the yard by himself. He’ll pick a toy out of the box and chew peacefully on his bed while Emmett and Cooper trail me from room to room.
Not anymore. He’s usually right about here:
Or here:
Since he came home with us in 2007, he never once slept in bed with us. He spent the last few weeks sleeping right up close and snuggled with us.
The last change of note is that he seems to have some phantom pain. He’ll be lounging peacefully, then all of a sudden he YELPS! and shoots up and dashes off, like he’s been stung by a bee. After that happens, he’s disoriented for a bit, standing and staring at us with his tail tucked. It happened last night, and he spent about two hours just standing, staring, drooling, all with his tail tucked under his belly. It’s odd. It’s on my list of things to discuss with his vet next week.
As far as osteosarcomo and amputation go, that’s been our experience. I think I covered most of it, but please don’t hesitate to leave any specific questions in the comments. I’m happy to share what we’ve been going through in the hopes that it helps someone else. There have been a few life-saving products, too, which I’ll also cover (with a giveaway of something AMAZING) next week. He’s past his first chemo treatment, and I’m going to cover that–and add to the Things I Wish I Would’ve Known notebook–next week, as well.
In the meantime, please do let me know if you have any questions I can answer! And have a wonderful, fun-filled weekend with your pups!
Thank you for sharing. We all could be going through this at some time.
Gosh, I hope not, Kathy. But, for anyone who does have to, hopefully being armed with info can help.
I think posts like this are so helpful to others going through similar situations, and it’s why I decided to chronicle Boca’s eye issue in so much detail.
I’m sorry to hear that your boys had a fight – I think you’re right that all of the changes contributed. Boca grouched at Ruby a few times while she was serving her cone sentence, and I was worried that it would affect their dynamic permanently since it lasted so long, but they are right back to their sweet sisterhood now.
This is all so encouraging for Cooper, and for you – you’ve been in my thoughts a lot lately.
You know, I think that WE are affected much longer than they are with grouchiness and even fights. I always try to take that to heart.
Your posts about Boca were so thorough – I imagine anyone facing similar circumstances will be so grateful to have that high level of detail to reference! You did an amazing job with that series!
Just wanted to share with you that my friends’ Golden Retriever, Emma, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma about 3 years ago. Her leg was amputated as well, and she recovered fairly quickly. In fact, she was released to the regular vet as being in remission about 18 months later. Unfortunately, poor Emma had arthritis in the remaining rear leg and the NSAIDs they had to give her to relieve the pain damaged her kidneys to the point of acute renal failure. Emma was sent to the Rainbow Bridge last summer. I don’t know if Lucas has any arthritis or not; but I wanted to share this with you so you can research other means of pain relief for Lucas if the need arises.
BTW, Emma was my Shadow’s litter mate, so I have the vet check every little lump and bump to be on the safe side. I do it anyway; but with Shadow’s family history, and her getting older, I’m even more “paranoid” about it these days. So far, every lump I’ve ever found on her has been benign – thank God.
Continuing to keep Lucas in my prayers.
Thank you so much for the prayers and for the additional detail. That’s very helpful. In fact, the drug trial includes an NSAID on top of the chemo because it’s been shown to slow tumor growth; however, I don’t know if they’ll want him on it afterwards. Thanks for sharing your experience so I can ask the right questions!!
I discovered your blog about a year ago and to say I have been enthralled is a HUGE UNDERSTATEMENT. I am so sorry for what your family is going through (I lost 2 dogs and 1 cat to cancer) so I feel It with you. I have read all your old posts and It seems like you are my friend. But until now I haven’t commented on how much I appreciate what you do and how much I get from keeping up with you. Just realize that while you are on this crap roller coaster, I am there with you. Don’t worry about commenting, I just wanted to tell you.
Lots and lots of love,
MJ, Jackson, the current husband (he better come home w/ice cream), Leann the Greyhound, CC the faux Boxer and Momokitty
Oh, my goodness. Thank you so, so much for the very kind words. Truly, I’m so grateful. And I’m so thankful to have your kind words and thoughts – I really appreciate the time you took to comment! (And did the current husband come home with ice cream??? 🙂 )
Thanks for sharing this. When our Becca was diagnosed, amputation wasn’t an option – she was 11 and had a fused spine, so she wouldn’t have been able to walk if we amputated. We went with radiation and chemo. We didn’t have a good result from the chemo, so I’ll be interested in Lucas’s reaction. Interesting about the fentaynl patch – the same thing happened to our Sally when she had ACL surgery – we ended up back at the vet she was so weirded out.
Scary stuff, that fentanyl. It’s interesting to hear that you experienced that with Sally because, until this, I had never heard of dogs experiencing withdrawal. So sorry for what you went through with Becca. Gosh, we sure do the best we can, don’t we? She was so lucky to have you and be surrounded by love.
Thanks so much for sharing. I too have been following and learning, as 5 years ago we had a dog with lymphoma, and she was fine through the chemo and lived until the ripe age of 15.5 (she looks almost EXACTLY like Emmet, and one of our current dogs is a smaller version of Lucas; so funny). You probably have information overload by now, but I can give you a short list of holistic supplements that have worked for our dogs for natural calming, and for joint / arthritis pain if you need them.
Am sending an “e-card” to Lucas right now! (prolly check your spam folder)
I would LOVE to know your natural calming suggestion!! For the joints, he’s been 100% solid on DGP, and his oncologist cleared that, so we probably won’t be considering other options at this point. Thank you so, so much for the offer!
Off to check my spam folder!! 🙂
Ok, I’ll round that list up. And yes — your DGP supplement looks wonderful! Hope sweet Lucas “enjoyed” his get well c-card. 🙂 He probably would like a scratch and sniff virtual card or edible snail mail card better, but I couldn’t figure out how to program that technically … YET. Hope he and the other furballs continue to do well / better!
We pray that we never need to know all the information you’ve shared with us. Thanks!
Your Pals,
Murphy & Stanley
I do, too, guys! Thank you so much for the kind words!! So sorry I haven’t been by to visit you in a while. I’m FINALLY catching up, and you’re at the top of my list!!
Hi! I am so glad to see that Lucas is doing so well. By reading your posts, seems like the first few days were the hardest. They were definitely the hardest for my husband and I after having Sasha’s leg amputated. And like you, deciding on amputation was an easy decision. We too documented in our blog Sasha’s journey with OSA. Its definitely a trying journey, but isn’t it amazing to see them bounce back from such an invasive surgery?! They put us to shame, ha-ha.
Hugs to Lucas,and your other pooches. I look forward to reading new updates.
~Liliana
YES!! You know, I think a large part of it is the mental aspect – dogs, thankfully, don’t feel sorry for themselves or worry about looking different from everyone else – they just ARE! I think that helps with the recovery!
I’m so grateful you commented. I read through your posts a while ago and was so very sorry for your loss. I know time doesn’t make it any less painful – just different – but I really appreciate the reminder. I’m going to go through your archives before his next appointment to be better prepared. Thank you!
Wow Maggie. Your whirlwind of decisions and actions after Lucas’ diagnosis mirrors mine. I guess I didn’t realize it happened that fast too. But of course, it would have had to, wouldn’t it. What I did not know is that they told you to expect behavioral changes. Is that due to the amputations? The cancer and chemo? I was never told that, but Daisy’s surgery was not an amputation. What kind of behavioral changes did they say you should expect?
Daisy has become more clingy too. She is much more cuddly and wants to be near me more than she ever used to be. But, I think that is understandable after what our poor babies have been through. I wonder, are hyper vigilant like me now? Every change in behavior and every stomach upset causes me concern now.
I think dealing with poor Lucas’ phantom pain would be hard. How do you help a dog through that? How are you handling it?
Sorry for all the questions. I know how stressful it can be going through this. Hoping and praying the chemo goes well and Lucas surprises everyone with living longer than anyone expected. He is adorable.
Thank you so, so much, Mel. I know you did an amazing job with Daisy – the two of you are an inspiration!!
Let’s see if I can tackle your excellent questions:
I suspect the behavior changes are due to the significant change (re-learning how to walk, how to pee – he was a leg lifter, how to play with his brothers, etc.) and the associated frustrations. I know some dogs become aloof and others have sniped at or been sniped at by their housemates. I think, too, that the chemo makes him feel icky, which can compound it.
YES re: being hyper-vigilant. With all of them. If I wasn’t a helicopter mama before… 😉
The phantom pain. Sigh. It’s heartbreaking. Every time it happens, I feel a little more helpless because, truly, I am. So far we’ve just focused on comforting him. He’s so frantic afterward, but I’ve been holding him on my lap, which seems to settle him down (and totally numb my legs, but that’s irrelevant!) I’m doing much better with this than John is, I think because after I had my lymph node surgery, I had a lot of nerve damage. I know it’s not going to kill him, and it’ll lessen over time. I’m trying to focus on that and on comforting him, whereas John gets very upset.
Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers! I really hope I answered everything, but if I didn’t… you know where to find me!!
Great to hear how well Luke is doing. Hope he tolerates the chemo well My dog Little Ricky had chemo several years ago and didn’t have any problems with it until the last treatment and then the accumulated effects hit him and he got terribly sick. He had to spend the weekend at the vet’s on an IV because he couldn’t keep anything down and got very dehydrated.
Glad to hear Lucas is on the mend, you have really been through a lot, and thank you for sharing this painful and scary journey with the rest of us. The information is so important for all pet owners. I am keeping your family in my thoughts and have turned my niece on to your blog as she is a new dog owner. Thanks again for a great blog!
Thank you so much for sharing what you’re going through with Lucas. I can imagine it’s both painful and therapeutic to write about and my heart goes out to you and Lucas. I’m interested in what the vet might have to say about the phantom pain. I wonder if what Lucas is doing is a common behavior after amputations. As always, I’m sending you good thoughts.
Thanks for sharing this. Sometimes I think it is far harder on us, than it is on them.
As for the phantom pain, I’ll just share my experience. Delilah had similar ’bouts’ exhibiting the same type of behavior, the yelping the sudden bolting, the pacing, drooling non-responsiveness. This went on periodically for quite some time until we discovered she needed to lose a bit of weight because she had a pinched nerve or something similar. I’m not saying that’s what Lukey has, just sharing. I have a whole page about it on my blog and would happily share more if you thought it would help.