Argos and his bone cancer diagnosis

It all started about 2 days after we arrived home from vacation…Argos began limping…the first thought was “did we exercise him too much after being boarded during our vacation? – after all he is my jogging/walking buddy”… “did he pull a muscle going up/down the stairs or bounding 100 mph around the yard in his excitement to be home?”.  We investigated, feeling his leg, looking for a pull-away reaction or a growl/wince, a bump…nothing… We were never prepared for what unfolded.  After a couple of days, the limping did not go away, first signs of swelling on his front lower leg, clearly it is time to go to the vet. X-rays it is.  Ok, still no worries, hopefully not a hairline fracture.  A call comes later that night from the vet – “there is shading on his leg, we would like to do another x-ray on a different machine and sedate him for the x-ray”.  So what does this mean we ask…and the thousand pounds of bricks comes crashing down on us out of nowhere shading might be a tumor which might be cancer….whoa! where did this come from as a possibility? So my husband takes Argos to get x-rays on the “big” machine, yep it’s a tumor, by noontime, Argos is off to the specialist for a biopsy of the tumor.  Of course, we ask, what are our options? They all are terrible, except for one – amputation of the leg and he gets to live and continue to be our loving gentle giant.  Now we wait 7 day long impatient panicked days for the results.  In the meantime, a million emotions and questions and run through our mind.  “How could this happen? – we rescued him – wasn’t his life hard enough already?”, “Why our Argos”, “Does his size matter, he is over 150 pounds?”.  It takes awhile for the emotions to get in check (well as best as possible)– we have to be the pack leader and lead on.  We begin the internet search in search of knowledge ..we find a mastiff with 3 legs Tazzie..what a relief…it is possible for a giant breed!  We find www.tripawds.com, extremely helpful and encouraging.

So you guessed it by now, the biopsy can back as bone cancer, which we have come to learn is very painful.  Only positive aspect is that it is early stages. Now the denial, had to be faced.  Since we already knew the options and only one was possible. After checking accreditations, asking a million and one questions of the vet specialist, we made the appointment for amputation. In the meantime, we had spent  hours on the phone with everyone we knew were dog lovers (and would understand)  and of course, our friends at SCAR http://www.nyanimalrescue.org/   and Charles Henderson Animal Rescue https://sites.google.com/site/charleshendersonanimalrescue/ .  We sought advice from those that have seen the best and worst of animal situations.  During our volunteer days at SCAR, we had walked a Butterbean (a tri-paw) many of times – but that pit bull was only 50-60 pounds.  I remember the adorable teacup Pomeranian in a wheelchair (just a few pounds).  Even after seeing Tazzie, the fact that 60% of his body weight would be on one leg, we were extremely nervous.  Stomach churning, out of options, time to bring him in for the appointment/surgery.  This was probably the most overwhelming experience we have ever gone through.  We had downloaded Three Legs & a Spare.  This was an extremely informative and helpful read.  I have to admit, I went through a box of tissues and my eyes were swollen from the tears by the time I was half way through.  Tears of joy for the fearlessness of the tri-paws and tears of sorrow for the shortness of time left with their human pawrents.  After the surgery, that evening the vet gave us a ring to say all went well (one hurdle down).  Argos stayed at the 24 hour surgical center for 3 nights.  Time to pick him up finally.  The emotions are now running high, I kept reminding myself – be the pack leader, be the pack leader. Was I going to cry when I saw my baby? You betcha I was – but I kept it all inside until later for his benefit.  I put on the brave face, I was truly excited to see him.   I know I should be relieved he doesn’t have the pain of the bone cancer he so bravely hid from us, but he must be in pain now??  What a shock to see him all wrapped up in the compression bandages around his chest/midsection, ugh!  You can never prepare yourself to see your loved one looking all bandaged up, with a safely collar on and hopping along.  Getting into the truck was scary, the vet team helped up get him in comfortably onto his fluffy bed, whew, that was stomach churning.  Getting him out of the truck and into the house another scary task. We certainly didn’t want to hurt him.  All went well.  Now its time to google the meds.  Yes, truly worry warts we are!  Next up, the textbook case behaviors..refusing to eat his food – gotta take your meds with food buddy…cheese didn’t work, his favorite kong liver pate didn’t work.  I hate to admit it, but the pot roast did.  We cut slices of the pot roast and made holes in the meat and stuffed the meds, one by one into each bite.  We were totally on edge with this.  Argo’s rarely if ever ate table food.  Is this going to make his stomach upset, what if he vomits?  We had to take the chance and it worked. The panting was a bit much to get used to (even when we were expecting it).  During his sleep it was very disturbing.  That night into the next day he was out of it – zonked out tired.  His compress bandage had slide down to his mid section by the middle of the night – panic and concern all at once when I saw the stitches!!  Time to call the vet– keep it clean – and we could bring Argos in to get the compression bandage changed.  Thank goodness for 24 hour drug stores.  We got sterile bandages and covered up his stitches so if he rolled over or leaned on something we didn’t have to worry about germs.  I gave him my ASCPA t-short to wear and we were in business.  The next day comes, I never realized how hard it is to hide the fear and terror from a loved one.  I certainly didn’t want him to know how afraid I was of getting him in and out of the truck (afraid I would hurt him).  I had seen the stitches and I cried on the inside and later, when I was not near him the crocodile tears lasted forever and ever.  Off we went.  We waited patiently in the waiting area.  There he is… our big boy.  This time a  different set up with the compression bandage- much shorter and covered the wounds. 

That night at 2am, I heard the most heart wrenching crys come from him.  He was sleeping and howling.  Panic stricken, and freaking out on the inside we gently wake him.  He stop and seems ok, a bit groggy.  2 hours later the same.  Now what do we do?  Are the pain meds working? He goes back to sleep and seems fine.  We figure doggy mares? We call the vet and it seems like it is a possibility, or he rolled on his surgery site – keep an eye on it.  By mid afternoon, we are worried again, a new occurrence has developed.  Argos wet his bed – first time ever.  He had been brave and went outside to relieve himself a few times already – he even got up by himself when he was thirsty for water.  He was laying on the bed, just listless.  Oh my – what now?  Goggle has been my friend through this entire occurrence, but of course another call to the vet.  Out to the pet store for wee wee pads.  That night only one terrifying howl.  (one is better than two).  He stopped wetting as well.  Day 3 home turns out to be a great day for him.  He is laying by the front door watching everything going on outside.  We BBQ for lunch and he is in his usual spot – by the back sliding glass door watch us.  All good signs.  He is still now eating his food – we are onto chicken cooked for him.  Boy this will be a fun habit to break. The night goes smoothly, no howls, we are headed in the right direction.  Day 4 is his first bowl movement since he has been home and we are delighted.  Great way to start the day!!