HELP - My best friend has osteosarcoma

[abbiesdogs]

I'm sure all of us non os owners, I will for sure, will keep Nina and Sophie in our thoughts and prayers, I for one think about all you rottie moms going through this painfull time.
Sending lots of hugs.

Abbie

[Ninasmom]

The one thing that has kept me sane through all of this is the amazing support this thread has held. Whether it is a bad day or a vet issue or a medication issue or diet... it's all in this thread. I don't think I could avoid coming to this thread daily. The support of everyone is what is needed; no one else knows what we have gone through unless they have had an OS dog.

[caseygina]

Absolutely, I agree with you. It's been a little over three weeks since Riley is gone, and I still come back every couple of days to see how everyone else is doing. Others can offer sympathy, but unless you have actually gone through it, you have no idea how it is. I had commented to my husband once about all the posts and support, saying, "these people don't even know us or Riley from the person on the street, but the fact that they are praying for us and offering up this amazing support for someone they have never even met is awesome." It really makes you have confidence and hope that there are still good people out there...it's because we have/had the love of wonderful dogs:):)

[aprillovesherdogs]

It amazes me too how much support is here. When my Matty died of OS it was like a huge warm hug when I joined this thread. Even though it appears that my Ansel doesn't have OS (fingers always crossed) I hate to leave this thread because of all of you.

Laurie, I am truly so sad to hear of your loss. I am so happy that you cared for him so lovingly. You are a wonderful person in my book.

Nina and Sophie are topping my prayer list this week.

take care all.

[Anne]

I agree this thread is a wonderful support for those of us living with our much loved osteosarcoma dogs. The information and experiences shared in here is invaluable. I discuss much of the medication and diet information in here with Sophie's oncologist.

It's heartbreaking to hear of another of our canine friends we've come to know in this thread losing their fight with this disease. It's as if we know eachother well and have lost one of our own. We share a common and very sad bond.

Thanks to the people here who come in to offer encouragement and support, it helps so much and my deepest sympathy goes to those who have recently lost their dogs to this awful disease.

[AngelBunny]

I've owned Rotties as my exclusive breed of dog since 1984 and have lost all of them (with the exception of one) to various types of cancer. This includes one foster. I lost my first Rottie, Otto, my AngelBunny Spot Dog, to osteo. I look at our two current girls (8-ish and 9-ish yo) and wonder. They're both rescues and we know nothing about their history. The only characteristics the previous dogs shared was that they were all Rotties.

Cancer is the scourge of this breed. My heart breaks for the people whose dogs have cancer. I am so sorry they are walking the same sad path I walked.

Hugs to all of you.

[Anne]

Just wondering how all our sick dogs are doing and I would like to keep this thread going.

Ninasmom, how is Nina going?

Sophie sees the oncologist on Thursday so hoping for a good report. Though her oral tumour is bleeding from time to time she is still happy is doing well.

[jlaack]

Sophie sees the oncologist on Thursday so hoping for a good report. Though her oral tumour is bleeding from time to time she is still happy is doing well.

I'm glad to hear Sophie is doing well for the most part. What caused the bleeding? Is it just an iritation? Let us know how Thursday goes. Hopefully the news will be good news. Is she still swimming and taking a walks? I know you had a concern about Parvo in your area but hopefully she is living life to the fullest.

We've started to see some lumps developing on Harley. They are on the skin, so definitely not OS. He has a lot of fatty tumors and those don't concern me, but these are quite different. About the size of a pencil eraser. I first saw one on his back leg about a week ago. This weekend I found two more on his legs, one on his nose (which I initially thought was a tick until I shaved the hair around it) and one really close to his eye. I am hoping it is nothing but am still going to have him looked at. We took a mini vacation last weekend with friends and family and he had a blast with all the attention. Everytime someone else arrived he got super excited all over again.

Keep us posted and I am wishing well for the fellow Rotties now facing OS. You are all in our thoughts.

[lucasmom]

Ann-
I am so glad that Sophie is still doing well. I am still thinking and praying for your Sophie and Nina. It is so sad that all of the OS dogs that were alive when I started this thread back in March are now in Heaven. Your Sophie and Nina are survivors! I am very happy that you still have more time with your girls.

I am very lonely without Lucas. I am keeping busy with work, family, and going to grad school. I find that I am very tired all of the time and I am sure that I am somewhat depressed. Hopefully things will get better as time passes. The emptiness is hard to deal with.

Let's all continue to stay in touch to support both Sophie and Nina! Laurie

[Anne]

jlaack. Sophie has a couple of lumps as you describe too. She has one just above her elbow that's been there for a while. She had an arthroscopy a couple of years ago and the vet thinks that lump is the legacy of that so we're not worried about that one. She has one on her rib cage and the onco aspirated it, it's a lipoma.

Since the last onco visit 3 weeks ago she's developed a new small, hard one exactly as you describe on the outside of her thigh that doesn't appear to be attached.

With the bleeding of the mouth tumor(we spell tumor as tumour and I keep forgetting to omit the u when I post on here) this apparently happens as the tumor grows. The onco wasn't too concerned about it when she saw her last time. She said it relieves pressure and sheds dead cells. It bleeds just a little maybe twice a day.

I don't take her swimming anymore, I'm a bit worried about manky water getting in her mouth but she does have a run in the park every second day. Her energy level isn't what it was so we no longer go every day. It's winter here now so the parvo isn't such an issue. Sophie is on a heavy dose of daily antibiotics so she would be protected against most things she may pick up from the environment.

I'm about to drive her to the park now. I'm sure she can read my mind because she's getting excited and ready to go.

[Anne]

Originally Posted by lucasmom

Ann-
I am so glad that Sophie is still doing well. I am still thinking and praying for your Sophie and Nina. It is so sad that all of the OS dogs that were alive when I started this thread back in March are now in Heaven. Your Sophie and Nina are survivors! I am very happy that you still have more time with your girls.

I am very lonely without Lucas. I am keeping busy with work, family, and going to grad school. I find that I am very tired all of the time and I am sure that I am somewhat depressed. Hopefully things will get better as time passes. The emptiness is hard to deal with.

Let's all continue to stay in touch to support both Sophie and Nina! Laurie

Thanks for your support Laurie. I think about you many times every day and hope you are coping ok. I'm sure you're depressed and lonely without your beloved Lucas. It's part of the heart breaking grieving process.

It does seem Nina and Sophie are the only two of our osteosarcoma dogs still with us. What a horrible disease this is.

I am forever grateful for the time Sophie and I have together. Her continuing survival has the oncologists quite amazed too. She's in decline but still happy and enjoying life.

[Ninasmom]

Nina's doing well! On Sunday, my husband gave her a bath, which I think for the first time in her life, she enjoyed. Florida in June is brutal, so being wet and fluffy must feel good. The previcox seems to be doing it's thing - she's not appearing as 'drugged up' as she did on the rimadyl/tramadol cocktail - so we're still in the watch and wait mode. She's playful and upbeat. Now that it's summer and I'm off for the next three months it may be tougher for her, I think. She was able to conserve her energy until we came home. Now with me around all day, she just gets wiped out because of the whole 'rottweiler must follow human' thing. But I've been telling her to go to her bed when I see her getting tired and she goes, takes a nap and comes back.

[aprillovesherdogs]

Hi all.
My Ansel is hanging in there. He had a bad couple of days because he was not taking his meds. His appetite is still normal but he caught on to the cheeseball trick. I wasn't keeping a close eye on him and he was spitting his pills out. I now hand feed him the treats loaded with pills and he is doing better. He had a few nights of whiny on and off sleep but now is sleeping fine again. He just has trouble walking. His back end is very weak. He can still toilet himself ok (no more leg lifting) and get out without hands on support. I follow him around though just to help prevent falls. His 11th birthday will be officially July . I am sure he was probably born in mid to late June but I just chose July 1 for documentations sake. Everyone has always teased him about being such a lazy dog. Even as a youngster, he was very subdued. I think that is why he has lived a long life. With him not being able to get around good now, it is no big deal to him. After his two ACL repairs in 2000/2001, he did great and didn't have any problems until the week Matty died. Now it all seems to have caught up with him.

I sat outside with him yesterday and couldn't hold back the tears. I know it won't be long, before he's gone too. The daily stress of doing all the meds, watching him closely and just trying to absorb every feel, expression and smell of him is exhausting me. I feel so guilty sometimes when I pray that he will pass quietly in his sleep soon so that this heartbreaking time will end and I can start to recover. But when I look at that beautiful face I can't bear the thought of not seeing him. He is everything that is perfect and wonderful to me. He was my rock when I went through some terrible times in my life but I am never reminded of them when I look at him. All I see are the road trips he and I would make, trips to the local beach, the walks, etc. When it was just the two of us, we had some super times. We have still had them since the husband and kids and other dogs came along, but my fondest memories are of the two of us.

I hope this has been a week of healing of hearts for you Laurie and Marley. Sharing your losses with us has been such a help to me. Thank you.

Take care all and please keep Ansel in your thoughts.

April

[Marley55]

Hello All,
I am glad to hear Sophie, Nina and Ansel are still doing as well as can be expected. I stop by and check on everyone now and then, but it has been so painful for me I had to stop reading the threads for a bit because I would end up in tears for hours.

April, I totally understand you saying you are exhausted from the daily care, meds, etc etc.

I did not realize until after we let Jaxx go just how tired I really was. I have been sick non-stop for the past 2 weeks and when I finally broke down and saw the DR he looked at me with amazement after I finished spilling out everything that had happened. I too prayed that Jaxx would pass in his sleep and then felt guilt for doing so. Then I tried to convince myself that it would be so much better then taking him to be PTS but myself was not buying that either. So much stress and heartbreak all in such a short time frame just wore me down.

I miss him so much every day and probably 1,000 times a day I tell myself he is in a better place and is not in any pain, but then sneaky selfish voice pops up and says " I WANT HIM HERE WITH ME". Mark is a firefighter/medic and was recently on a call where several children were badly hurt and burned. As he was trying to work through that and seeing the dept. physiologist he mentioned how hurt he was by what happened to Jaxx. She told him that the loss of a pet was the 3rd most traumatic event in our lives after death of a family member and divorce and that she offers pet grief counseling on a regular basis. I suppose in an odd way that may me feeling so bad a bit more bearable, since at times I felt almost irrational

Please hug Ansel, Sophie and Nina for me and know that they will be in great company when they are ready to make the journey.
I hold you all in my thoughts and prayers.

Take care
Marley

[Anne]

I want to say a huge thank you to the people who have lost their dogs to this horrible disease for continuing to support us in this thread. It must be so very painful for you to come in here whilst you are grieving and feeling an enormous sense of loss. Please know how much I appreciate your genuine concern and kindness in being here for us.

Sophie had her first restless night last night. She sleeps on my bed and didn't sleep well. She's not her usual happy, energetic self today. We see the oncologist in two days time and I'm not optimistic of the results of her tests.

She never whines but is very lethargic today which isn't like her. She seems to be uncomfortable so I'll increase her pain meds. I've not seen her like this before. She still has a healthy appetite so hopefully she's just tired from her restless night and her trip to the park yesterday.

I guess we all hope that our very sick dogs will go gently and painlessly to sleep of their own accord. Unfortunately this rarely happens and we need to make the heartbreaking decision to end their pain and let them go in peace.

I think it's the stress of caring for our dogs that's so exhausting and the frustration of knowing no matter what we do we can't make them better. Though we wouldn't have it any other way than to keep them alive as long as they are enjoying life it takes it's toll on us too. I know whatever pain I'm going through is insignificant in comparison to what Sophie is going through. I'll fight alongside her as long as she is willing to fight her cancer.
She will let me know when she's ready to go and I will listen to her.