Back in May 2013 my husband and I noticed that out oldest Golden Retriever, Bailey, was limping and his right wrist was swollen. We took him to our vet to get it checked out. Our vet explained that with his age, 9 1/2, and where it’s located that it could be bone cancer. But since we told him that we just noticed it our vet said Bailey probably hurt himself and prescribed anti-inflammatory medicine.
A month later Bailey was still limping on and off and his wrist still swollen so we took him back to our vet. This time the vet took x-rays and when he became back into the exam room his whole demeanor changed. He said, “Walk with me.” The vet showed us the x-rays and pointed out the cyst on Bailey’s wrist. He said it didn’t look aggressive but wanted a radiologist to look at it just to be sure. The next day our vet called to tell us the radiologist confirmed his findings that it wasn’t aggressive. He said it is probably just a bone cyst and referred us to an orthopedic surgeon.
We made a consultation appointment with the surgeon. He looked over the x-rays and said that it could be a cyst since it didn’t look aggressive and that Bailey seemed to be walking fine and wasn’t in pain, but he wanted to do a biopsy just to be sure. We scheduled the biopsy appointment for the following morning.
On June 24th we heard the worse news ever…..the surgeon called to inform us that Bailey has osteosarcoma. I barely heard what else the surgeon was trying to tell me. When I got off the phone I just started crying. How could this be? My handsome boy who I had since he was a puppy has cancer.
I knew I had to make a big decision concerning his quality of life. Well after thinking long and hard, doing research and even consulting with an oncologist I finally made my decision. I have to do what is best for him so that he has the best quality of life. I decided to go with amputating his front right leg to remove the source of the cancer. However, I decided against chemo because there is no guarantee it will increase his longevity and the treatments will definitely impact his quality of life which is of the utmost importance to me.
Bailey and family, thanks for joining us here (you posted on Facebook yesterday or so, right?). We’re sorry you got the bad news but as you can see, you are in great company and will have all of us here to help you along as you learn to have a great life on three legs.
Chemo isn’t for everyone. I didn’t do it and I made it two years! It’s a personal decision and we will all support you no matter what kind of treatments or no treatments you decide on.
Keep blogging, we look forward to following along with your Tripawd journey.
Yes, I posted a picture of Bailey at day 5 post-surgery. Thank you for your support. This week is tough for me. I know it will take him a couple of weeks to recover but I hate seeing him like this. He still eats and drinks but he doesn’t seem to want to get up to do it. We have to coax/force him to. Is this normal?