Hi Tripawds…
This is the first time posting here .
My name is Terry and my fiance Allison and I got the most devastating news last week , that our beautiful Alaskan Malamute , “Mya” was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in the shoulder of her right front leg. 5 weeks ago she was running around with “Macleod” our male , like a freight train , they have actually knocked us over if we didn’t see them coming and get out of the way in time. 4 weeks ago she had a hard time getting up off the floor for a treat , and from that day forward it seemed to get worse each day. After a few days of no apparent recovery we took her to our vet, and there was no evident sign of pain by manipulating the joints in that leg so we tried some pain meds and a joint lubrication med as well. This helped somewhat but by the end of that week it seemed to be getting worse. We booked an Xray and discovered she had some signs of arthritis in the elbow joint of the front leg, she was limping but not yet vocalizing her pain. We started her on a more advanced joint medication, and that also seemed to help. We booked another Xray for the following Tuesday, but on Friday July 22 Allison called me at work and told me Mya was having a bad day and crying a lot . I made a call to the vet and she perscribed Tramadol and said if she was still crying by the morning to bring her in on saturday for the Xray, the tramadol settled her down, so we waited for the day that wasn’t so hectic at the vet to minimize Mya’s stress about the whole procedure (Xray req. sedation etc.). The Xray showed a large tumor at the shoulder Joint , so we made an appointment with a specalist referred by our vet and brought Mya in for a consult . They looked at the Xrays we brought with us and did an exam of her other legs and a CT scan as well as blood work. We got the results this morning and she is strong and healthy enough for surgery and there is no visable evidence of spread to heart and lungs. Today we shed tears of joy that we will still have ” Mrs. kisses ” { she cant hold her licker } around for a while longer to bring us smiles and relentless kisses…
One thing I have learned about this whole event is that dogs are very strong and have a high tolerance for pain and if they are hurting , by the time it gets unbearable enough to vocalize their pain it is already bad. Our dogs will muscle through pain that would stop us in our tracks, so if you notice your pet in distress even a little have them looked at by your vet !!! If your dog hates going to the vet , they will get over it likley as soon as you pick them up. Dogs live in the moment … Thats why we have decided to go ahead with the amputation surgery next week. This is the hardest descision we have ever had to make and reading the posts here and talking with others who have had to deal with this has made our choice a lot easier to swallow.
Remember that early detection is the best protection…
I will post again soon.
Terry , Allison, Mya, Macleod.
Mya
Macleod
Mya saying “not a chance buster”
