Our Old Gal’s a Good Candidate for Amputation

The following week, (last week of May) I met with the surgeon. After reviewing the x-rays, but without the bone biopsy, he thought it was very likely synovial cell sarcoma, and that Daisy was a good candidate to be an amputee. I walked into the office thinking we were just going to schedule a biopsy to confirm the diagnosis and pain remedies for whatever time she had left, and went home with a renewed sense of hope… and anxiety.  He thought with amputation, she could live on average year to eighteen months, assuming the diagnosis was confirmed, which would bring her to the ripe old age of 13, pretty good for a Golden.  Without it, probably six months in pain, although managed. She’d get to a point where she wouldn’t be able to put weight on that leg and be hopping on three.  He reiterated what I’d heard from others that dogs do really well with three legs, even older ones and thought that given that her chest scans looked good, her bloodwork was ok, and her other joints didn’t seem to have any issues, she’d do well as a tripawd (although he didn’t use this term!). He said he’d want to get an x-ray of the other shoulder before surgery just to be sure.  He also mentioned some other tests that we could do to confirm both diagnosis and that the cancer hadn’t spread, but together they were almost as much as amputation surgery.  We knew she was in pain, the bone had been eaten away significantly by the tumor, the tumor was fairly large and had been there a while, and the vet had a  90% comfort level that it was synovial cell sarcoma.

Like any dog parent, I went home and started googling and found the Tripawds community.  It was so helpful to find people who were weighing this decision as well for a variety of conditions.  I felt a whirlwind of emotions from guilt for wanting her to live longer, sadness that she was in pain and not able to live comfortably, anxiety thinking about what recovery might be like and how we could afford it, and finally hope for the full life she could live when she recovered from surgery.

I called on an old friend who’d worked with hundreds of shelter animals in rural Indiana. I asked whether she’d had experience with leg amputation, and of course she had been through it with dogs on several occasions.  She reassured me that even older dogs tend to adapt and do well as amputees. She said she wouldn’t sugar coat it. Recovery would be rough and the first two weeks are a major adjustment. But after that, she said they’re out of pain and usually do really well. Assuming she was otherwise healthy, she thought Daisy would be 100% in about three months.  Most importantly, she suggested that I not focus on the near term pain. I had to focus on the long term quality of life and life expectancy.  She said ‘of course she’ll be in pain, she just had her leg amputated! But be patient, and she will do just fine.’

After consulting with both of our veterinarians who agreed Daisy’s prognosis post amputation was relatively good and she could handle the surgery, I nervously made the call to schedule the surgery. We opted not to do the more invasive bone biopsy in advance as it would put her through yet another round of anesthesia, and more than likely the leg would need to come off anyway. I also didn’t want to lose time, knowing it was spreading. In the days prior, Daisy had trouble getting going in the morning and hobbled to her bed at night.  She had moments where she’d run across the house or jump up on visitors and I was reminded that  her spirit hadn’t given up despite her bum leg.  She really seemed normal except for her limp. She even asked to go on her walk every night, which of course we didn’t entertain. In a way, she reassured me that we were doing the right thing.