When you’re growing up, you always wonder, you’re always asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Well, I certainly never thought I’d grow up to get eventually get married, get divorced, and be on my own. I left him, and I knew it was the right decision when I missed our two year old dog MUCH more than I missed my ex-husband. It took me several years, but I was able to move to a house with a huge yard for MY new dog, which I’d been aching for.
I rescued Gerry from Texas, where some good ‘ol boys tried to train him to hunt. Once he failed, and apparently failed again, they pretty much left him to die. I don’t know how, or why, but am only glad that they DID release him to a veterinarian. He weighed 38 pounds and was full of heart worms, not to mention scars. It took him four months to recuperate, and his foster mom almost didn’t let him go, but luckily for me she did. We rescued each other! Gerry has been with me for five years now and every moment has been filled with love, laughter, tail wags, coffee kisses, road trips, and hikes. We’ve done as much as we can, except swim. I believe I have the only lab in the world that HATES the water!
A month ago Gerry slipped going up some stairs, and so when he started limping I thought that it was related to the fall. Two weeks ago my neighbor (thank goodness) noticed he had a lump on his front left paw. It was too far from the time he fell, and the limping was going away so I took him for a routine x-ray. {Note to self: never call for x-ray results while you’re on lunch at work…there are 24 third graders waiting for you to pick them up.} That was a Monday.
I rushed home from work that day so I could speak with my vet face to face. He was 75% sure it was osteosarcoma, and told me about having a biopsy of the area. This test wouldn’t be conclusive, and would possibly break Gerry’s foot, as the area looked very compromised. Talk about your heart breaking and then breaking again. I was so torn, but decided to get his front left leg amputated without an aspiration or biopsy. That was Saturday of the same week. I picked him up Monday and took four days off from work.
Today, exactly 2 weeks from the x-ray date, I got the results that confirmed my vet was 100% correct. While I’m glad I didn’t put him through the pain of the biopsy, I didn’t know what to hope for. In a week his sutures come out and we meet the oncologist.
I’m just going to keep breathing and loving my boy.
You made a courageous and correct decision about Gerry’s left front leg. I hope the oncologist offers positive news and a solid plan for Gerry to heal. Our girl is missing her right front leg and we’ve found it’s true when they say “It’s better to hop through life on 3 legs than to limp on 4.” Best of luck to Gerry and yourself.
Thank you SO much. It didn’t feel courageous afterwards, but I couldn’t put him through both tests, not to mention the idea of pain I didn’t know about with his limping. I guess, as with every dog, you just have to KNOW yours, to understand him/her. It’s a sadness to “meet” people this way, but it’s also felt like a blessing for me. MY own mind gets far too cluttered! We’re only a week or so into this HUGE change to our lives, and I too hope this Monday’s consultation will surprise me with positivity. Thank you.
Well, you’re off to a good start, you just need to add some chocolate!
You’ve come to the best place for all of the support, guidance, shoulders to cry on, people to laugh with that you could ever need! This is the place with people who have been there, done that. So many of us have had babies that lost their leg due to cancer, but some it’s been to injury or birth defect. But however it happens, the surgery, the pain, the worry is all the same.
Here’s to moving forward!
Donna
Best of luck to you and Gerry! Recovery is hard, but I never regretted the decision to amputate or the quality time I spent with Otis after he recovered.
Good to hear you’re living life in the moment right now, keeping breathing and loving Gerry is the best thing you could be doing! And eating chocolate of course!
Hoping recovery stays on track for Gerry and the oncologist has positive news.
As I’m finding out right now, recovery is a challenging time filled with up’s and down’s, especially when there is only a small time between the diagnosis and the amputation!
Good luck, keep moving forward.
Katie & Meg
Yay Danielle! You mastered the blog! I’m glad you have a little peace of mind with hearing the diagnosis. Although it’s never one you WANT to hear. You’re part of an awesome family now, who knows exactly what you’re going through. It was nice chatting with you this morning, maybe we’ll meet in chat again some evening. Keep us posted on how it goes, and give that beautiful boy of yours a hug from us.
Paula and Nitro