Letters of support

I feel the same way with Dux.  I initially thought amputation was "barbaric", but
he was only using 3 legs anyway!  Both Dr. Waters and the surgeon in Scottsdale
told me that removing the cancerous leg would make him more "streamlined" as the
cancerous leg was heavy, painful, and in his way.

Its very common in humans.  In fact, when people have swollen hands and feet, and
other medical problems have been ruled out, there is usually a lung tumour
involved.  Dux's HO was diagnosed over the phone by Dr. Waters.  Dux's feet had
just started to swell, I noticed it, but I don't think anyone else did.  I
mentioned it to Dr. Waters one day and he told me to immediately get Dux in and
get x-rays of his feet and legs and that they would see changes on the bone.  I
took him in, my vet didn't see anything.  Two weeks later I took him back as his
legs were more swollen and there were the changes!  HO occurs in human patients
as well.  I spoke with the head nurse at UCLA who works for the Surgery
Department Chairman, who is an oncologist.  She said that people told her the
pain from HO was similar to shin splints.  And once the lung tumour is removed,
the HO disappears.

Now this is the part that every person should know.  If your dog has bone cancer
and has survived more than a year and has no lung lesion, or even if the lung
lesion is very small, they can remove that lesion and the dog will basically go
into remission.  There have been reports of dogs surviving an average of 21
months!  There are stringent criteria for this, actually 3 criteria the dog must
meet:  1) survival of at least one year, 2) lung tumour does not double in size in
40 days, 3) CAT scan confirms no other lung lesions.  Dux met the first two
criteria, but upon CATscan they found a bone lesion on his breastbone.  I don't
know how many people AREN'T aware of the fact that a lung tumour does not mean the
end of the world for those dogs that have survived more than a year.  I certainly
didn't!  As Hannah said, get a second opinion.  And become informed, read all you
can, talk to as many people as you can.

Well said Hannah.  How could I forget that part, about fighting?  I fought with
everything I had. The minute I received the diagnosis of cancer, I called Dux's
breeder.  She put me in touch with Marina Zacharius in Oregon who monitored Dux's
blood work and adjusted his supplements.  Through her, I learned about feeding raw
and cutting back on carbs as carbs feed the cancer.  I tracked down Dr. Waters
through a friend who happened to mention only his first name and that he was
"somewhere in the midwest".  I opted not to do chemo, but used Dr. Waters'
protocol with an anti-angiogenesis drug.  I was determined that if this "invader"
was going to take us down, it was going to take us down fighting.  I feel very
lucky indeed to have had access to such great veterinary surgeons - Dr. Gilson,
in Scottsdale, whose words gave me courage: "make a decision, don't look back,
and together we'll give it 200%"; Dr. Waters, who predicted everything that would
happen with Dux, spent many hours on the phone with me, and wonders why rotties
think they are a giant breed dog (bone cancer is more prevalent in large and
giant breed dogs).

And please pass the word about Dr. Waters' study so someday rotties and their
owners will not have to endure the pain and heartache of cancer!

Judi Becker

Dogs are amazing, how easily they adapt to life's problems.

> I do need to know from those of you that have gone through an
> amputation with their Rotties, what to expect.  What will she be
> like at first?

I took the day off and took Dux into the vets for the amputation.  Of
course, I was a nervous wreck, hoping I was doing the right thing.  They
had an emergency that morning so Dux didn't go until the afternoon and
wasn't done until early evening.  The vet told me that he would be
pretty much out of it and they wanted to keep him calm.  I had to go to
work, out of town, so Mark went to see him the next morning and he was
alert and wiggling his stump.  Not only alert, he had kept the entire
night staff entertained by "singing and howling".  He was ready to come
home the second day, but we waited until the 3rd day to pick him up,
only because I was still out of town, and I wanted to be there when we
picked him up.  He came zipping out into the waiting room, the vet tech
actually had to tell him to "slow down".  He jumped into the car (and
actually I have a sports utility vehicle, so higher off the ground for
him!).   Of course, he was bald halfway up his body (depends on where
they amputate, they had to go into Dux's hip socket).  I was scared to
death, that I wouldn't be able to handle seeing him, but I swallowed my
nervousness, and decided that I had to be strong for Dux.  I think
seeing how well HE got around, inspired me to do all I could for him!
And when I saw him come zipping around the corner from the back room of
the vet's, I was so relieved that I DID do the right thing!

> What precautions should I take?

Medical wise or otherwise?  I'm not sure what you mean.  My surgeon put
Dux on pain medicine BEFORE the amputation.  They said that studies have
shown that animals and people have LESS pain from surgery if they start
on pain medicine before the surgery.

> How will she go potty?

Like she always does!  She'll probably hunker closer to the ground.  It
sounds like her other leg is good and strong, but you might notice that
at first it is wobbly, remember she is adjusting to not having that bad
leg there.  Dux's other leg was good and strong within a week.

> What kind of pain will she be in?

I was surprised that Dux showed no pain whatsoever!  I gave the
prescribed pain medicine and was worried that I hadn't been given enough
but he never showed that he was suffering.  And believe me, I knew when
he was suffering, as 2 days before his scheduled amputation, I was
giving him morphine injections.

> Will there be phantom pains?

I don't know.  I don't think anyone knows, unless you speak to a person
who has had an amputation.

> Will I regret doing this at first?

I didn't!  Not at all!  Dux was getting around SO well, that I kicked
myself for not doing it sooner!  And to think I was so worried if I was
doing the right thing.

> I need to prepare myself, and my husband for everything. We are
> already going to
> rip out all our landscaping so I can back my Blazer up to the
> front veranda. She will walk out the front door, straight into
> the truck.

Well, Diana, you can do anything you wish to your landscaping <BG>, but
you might want to see how she is when you bring her home!!  As I said,
Dux jumped right into the vehicle!

> The Grump is not ready for the Bridge yet...

Sure as heck doesn't sound like she is.  What a trooper!
 
 

--
Judi Becker

Oh, my, I can relate.  I know you didn't ask my opinion, but you were there
for me through Hannah's cancer and death and I hope I can be there for you
and Grump.  My gut is telling to scream out to you..."run, get that
cancerous leg amputated."  I don't think that is selfish.  I think that is
buying her the chance to fight if she wants to fight this.  When the time
came with Hannah....I knew (as much as I didn't want to know) that it was
time.  Not because she was suffering but because she looked at me and "told"
me it was time.  She didn't want to fight anymore.

I think that Sheena isn't at that place and when she is, you will know
without any question in your heart or mind.  Let me know if there is
anything I can do.  My thoughts are with you, your husband and Grump.

P.S. One thing I am thankful for is that I took video tape of Hannah just
being Hannah.  It was and is comforting as I could enjoy the moments without
being afraid that I would forget.  I caught myself wanting to burn every
image into my brain!!!
--
Megan Eibs, Animal Behavior Consultant

http://members.tripod.com/~ezgaitn/tc.html

Anne

b & b and the girls:

there is everything I went thru w/Sturm and you will see a pic of her the day
she came home.  it is depressing to look at BUT I did that to help anyone
that has to go thru this.  And I will tell you this I would not change what I
did for her.  I would do it all over again and again.  Diana IF you need me
please let me know.
HUGS ALWAYS

"Enjoy today as thou it is your last ~ for today is the memories of tomorrow"

Dear Diana,
    I was very upset when I heard the news last night about Sheena.  It hurt me to my heart and then under those circumstances.  I just
kept seeing myself holding that got damn vet a gun point to make him work on your girl.  We are all praying for you and I hope that if you
have any thing that would like to talk about while you're grieving; you know we are here for you.  You have been a good friend to my mom
and I appreciate that.  Feel free to contact me at your leisure.
Fondly,
Clay Fonvielle and the Y2K Dream Team Apocalypse and Nandi

Here I am bawling at work once again.  Your words just bring the tears and
pain forward for me.  I am so sorry you are suffering like this and I wish
I could be closer to give you a hug and help to ease maybe some of your pain.
<snip>

>ever imagined. I guess I have my grief, Frank's grief (he is
>devastated), and Damian's grief as well. My poor Damian is lost
>without her. Sheena was his guide, and window to the hearing
>world. He has no idea of what is going on now, and is very
>distressed about Sheena being gone. He always would look at her
>to see what was going on. I never realized how much he depended
>on her.<snip>

When I brought Gypsy's body home from the Vets in Edmonton last September,
she was in the back seat of my extended cab truck.  I drove into the yard
and went in the house to let the dogs out.  I let my Dal out first and he
jumped into the truck and smelled Gypsy a bit and then jumped out, He sort
of knew as he has experienced the loss of 2 other rotties in his 9 1/2 yrs
with me.  So I put Pete back in the house and brought Kevlar out.  Well
Kevlar would not go into the truck, he was whining and shaking all over his
whole body,  He eventually went in and he licked Gypsy's muzzle and smelled
and licked every inch of her.  His grief for her lasted for a long long
time.  I was very surprised as he was so young and didn't know Gypsy as
long a Pete did, but he was just so sad.

One night about 1 week after Gypsy was gone Kevlar went into the spare room
and started to cry.  Up on the dresser was a bunch of stuffed animals.
Gypsy would go into this room all the time and whine and cry to have her
stuffies, but Kevlar never even bothered.  Yet all of a sudden he had to
have them.  Now ain't that strange....Gypsy reaching out to him from the
grave or just he sensed her in those stuffies, I don't know.  If Damien was
as close to Sheena as it appears my Kevlar was to Gypsy then you will
notice a marked difference in him for a while.  Kevlar is now past his
grieving and has moved on, I however have not :(
 

Donna Holloway
[email protected]

BACK