When I wrote my last post/entry, Liliana and I had just learned that our eleven year old American bulldog, Sasha, had a tumor on her right humerus. Our vet, Dr. N., and Dr. Clary, an orthopedic surgeon, agree that the tumor is likely the result of a type of bone cancer called osteosarcoma. After speaking with Dr. N., and doing extensive research on canine osteosarcoma, Liliana and I decided that the best course of action would be to amputate Sasha’s arm. We did not believe that Sasha was ready to leave her family yet. She is very healthy aside from the tumor, and she acts younger than her age. Immediate amputation of the affected arm was the advice given to Liliana and me by both, doctors N. and Clary. Their advice was consistent with the accepted course of action of all similar cases that I was able to read about on-line.
We brought Sasha into the vet’s office on Tuesday for some final X-Rays to make sure that the cancer had not visibly metastasized into her lungs, and to have a fentanyl patch applied to her neck for pain management. I was so happy to see that the radio-graphs showed no signs of additional cancer. Unfortunately, just because no tumors were visible in Sasha’s lungs, does not mean that they are in fact clean. Apparently, osteosarcoma does metastasize in 90% of all dogs that present with a tumor. I am just glad that the cancer has not progressed to the point where it is actually visible in her other organs. I will write more posts in the future to cover Sasha’s continued battle with osteosarcoma post amputation.