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Our Porsche

  • Thread starter opentrackerSteve
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opentrackerSteve

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image.jpg last Thu, Oct 30 our German Shepherd, Porsche fell at home. She'll be 14 in late February.

We took her to the vet on Halloween and he gave her a steroid for inflammation. He had noticed her right rear knee was swollen. No improvement over the weekend so my wife took her to the vet today for X-Rays.
The x-Rays confirmed her leg is broken. Vet states it might be bone cancer. I have some literature and the x-rays to review. biopsy would require general anethestia and he states at her age, she might not make it out of it. Removal of the leg is also risky For some reason, he thinks it may never heal. Porsche is not exhibiting any pain or suffering. We have some research to do and some soul searching to do on how we proceed. Her will to live and the interaction she has with us is making this tough - she's still got it all together upstairs. When my wife got home, she was of course in tears. Porsche just sat there with the look on her face to my wife as if she was saying 'What's the matter?' I'll keep you all posted. Prayers accepted.
 
How about a second opinion? I'd have a hard time giving up on her when she still has a lot of love to give. My best wishes coming your way.
 
Iam going to call the Vet and find out what the risks are associated with conducting a Biopsy. Our path forward will be dramatically different depending upon whether the break is due to bone cancer or not.

Once we have the risks associated with the biopsy understood, we can the make a decision to conduct it or not and then whether to basically hospice her or seek treatment of the break........
 
Having just been through losing our oldest dog (13 years old), you have my prayers. It's something that's never an easy decision on what to do. Hoping to get a little smile, the new puppy we got isn't named Porsche...she's (a) Shelby!
 
IMG_1377.JPG We have an appointment with the Oncologist tomorrow morning at 11am. Meeting is to discuss the situation, treatment options, risks associated with each option and for the Doctor to see our dog.

Today my wife indicated she's moving around and being a lot more active at home. She moved across the family room throw rug today and also was very very alert..... Update tomorrow sometime.
 
IMG_1381.JPG Just got back from the Oncologist.

She pointed out where the fracture is and the abnormality in the femur. It's a clear fracture across the bone and the bone thickness varies up and down the femur, which is a clear indication something is abnormal.

We have a family meeting this evening with my wife, our son and I to determine our next move.

Options are:

1) provide drugs to a point where we euthanise the dog (Vet told us she's currently in pain)
2a) schedule amptutation. During prep they do a chest x-ray - if the x-ray indicates serious metastization (cancer has already spread to lungs), move to step 1
2b) x-ray is clean and amptutation is conducted. She'll be at the hospital for 3 days and we'll have to care for her for about 2 or 3 weeks. Then stitches are removed
3) (optional) - if we choose, we can conduct kemo - every 3 weeks for 6 treatments. This may provide up to another 6 months to a year of quality of life.

If we have the amptutation done and do not do the kemo, vet gives her 6 months to a year max before cancer spreads to her lungs.

So the trade is to balance the quality of life she'll have with the risks associated with amptutation.

I am purposely keeping cost out this I really want to focus on her trade space, not ours....

So, we have some tough decisions to make. Surgery would occur on Tuesday at the earliest. In the meantime, we've got some additional pain meds for her.
 
So sorry, Steve. Been there myself. Trust that whatever you decide will be the right thing to do.
 
Well, today we take Porsche to the Vet for chest x-rays, and x-rays of her left rear leg (to verify it too does not have bone cancer). Our appointment with the Vet and the results of her x-rays will determine what we decide to do with her: 1) Put her out of her pain and continued suffering, or 2) Remove her right leg and work with her to provide another 6 to 12 months of quality time here with us and on the planet.

If the x-rays come out ok and the Vet recommends based upon his experience and facts, to proceed, Porsche will have her left rear leg amputated tomorrow.

I've had some time to reflect upon the great times that this animal has provided to our families' life and all the things we gave up to spend time with her, knowing that she's given back much more than she's taken. I truly feel blessed to have stumbled across this great gift that has been bestowed upon us.

I'll post updates as time permits.

Here's a picture of Porsche (in the foreground) and her younger brother, Staark taken back in 2012 (Staark passed in late Nov 2013).

IMG-20120406-00117.jpg
 
Steve:

Very sad news. Been there more than once. It doesn't get any easier. Thoughts and prayers going your way.

Warm regards, Jeff
 
Today was a good day.

This afternoon, my wife and I headed to the vet's clinic to meet with the surgeon, have the surgeon conduct an examination (physical) and have chest x-rays done. This was to determine if Porsche was a good candidate for amputation.

The surgeon explained the situation (which we were aware of) and had a short physical exam where the surgeon inspected her gums, her legs and took her temperature, heart rate, etc. Then they proceeded to sedate Porsche and took her to have the blood work drawn up and do chest x-rays and an ultrasound of her abdomen.

It took about two hours for all of that to get done. The results were all positive. Chest x-ray was clear as well as the abdominal scan. Porsche also walked with aid of a sling on her abdomen. I also will note my wife freaked out this morning when she was home with her and she looked over to see Porsche standing on 3 legs on her own. These are all very good indicators.

She is exhausted and sleepy due to the sedative. I am doubtful she'll eat tonight.

Tomorrow morning, no food and we need to be at the medical clinic at 8am for surgery prep. They will have one last check of the blood panel as a precaution and then amputate her right rear leg.

She'll stay at the clinic until Saturday and we'll get a call tomorrow and be able to visit her on Friday.

Thanks to all for your prayers. They are working..... :):):):):):):):):):):):):)
 
Steve - going through these things with our animals is always a tough thing to handle. I am happy to hear that things are looking up and just wanted to reassure you that three-legged dogs get along just fine. I had a large (130lb) lab that lost its back right leg due to an injury. He lived many a happy years with just three legs and learned to run again even. Best wishes for you, your family and Porshe!
 
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