My beautiful dog Brandy has osteosarcoma, cancer of the bone affecting the spine. The vet removed the mass as much as possible to stabilize the metal implant on the 3rd week of January 2011. I took her to the oncologist last Thursday for an evaluation. The prognosis is not good. There is no cure, and the average time is 5 months with chemotherapy.
I am very sad, very sad, but still hopeful. The cancer has not spread to her chest, which is good news. The best treatment right now is also taking medication to strengthen her spine using an osteoporosis drug called Pamidromac and Chemo for 8 treatments, at 3 weeks per treatment. Without this treatment, the survival rate is 1-2 months until the cancer progress and causes pain, pathologic fracture of neurologic problems.
Today, I have walked her 4 times and tried not to be out of the house longer than 2-3 hours. She needs to be walked every 3 hours. Her diarrhea has subsided. She loved the steak that I cooked for her. Every morning and night, I would give her pain killers with peanut butter. I don’t know if she feels the pain, it certainly does not look like it because she is comfortable. Her comforter is washed, and more of her bedding will be cleaned tomorrow.
I brought her beef bones and will cook them tomorrow. These are the things that I can do to make a difference in her life.
You might wonder why I am writing this blog. One reason is to describe my feelings about this process as I watch a beautiful animal go through this process; the other reason is that it is very painful to keep these thoughts to myself. My husband feels the same about her…
As I document my 5 months with Brandy, I will tell you a love story of how she came to our lives…
My thoughts are with you.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are making the most of every minute and I'm sure Brandy is feeling like a princess right now.