- Hello All.
This is Ellie;
Ellie is a 7 year old pit mix with the energy of a seven week old puppy. She has a heart of gold, and a tongue that will never be tired of giving kisses. She loves to run, jump and play with her brother and sister, two Siberian huskies. Unfortunately, she began to favor her back L leg in October of 2016, so we took her to the vet to have her checked out.
Initial checkup of the leg didn’t bring too much concern to the doctor, as she had other fatty lumps on her body. When the doctor told me that this lump, Small at the time, didn’t feel the same, he said we should consider getting a biopsy of it. I agreed.
The results came back good and bad. It wasn’t obvious that it was cancer, but the doctor said that he couldn’t tell exactly WHAT it was. He said we should look into removing the lump, and sending it off to the lab.
The holidays came and went, and the beginning of the year is a very busy time for me, so we delayed the surgery until April 2017. Since we were unable to determine if there was more than one mass on the leg, because it was on both sides of the tarsals, the vet went in from both sides of the leg during surgery. Once he was in there, he determined that it was one mass, and that it was wrapped around her flexor tendons and he was not able to remove all of the mass. A few days later, which seemed like a lifetime, Ellie’s results were in.
She was diagnosed with a soft tissue sarcoma on her back left leg (grade 1). I felt my heart drop. My baby had cancer.
The doctor advised me that there was a 15% chance that this type of cancer would spread, and that it was looking good, because it was an isolated situation. He then stated that the next best step would be to look at the options for next steps. Then he dropped the ‘A’ bomb: Amputation.
I was floored.
I decided I wanted different options, because I was convinced that this doctor was crazy and there must be something else we could do. We went to a specialist oncologist in our area. Same prognosis. She did suggest the option of electrochemotherapy and radiation, and suggested a highly reputable place in the east bay. So we took their next available appointment, and were feeling hopeful.
Sage centers in Concord, CA was where we were referred, and they looked at Ellie and decided that given the location of the mass, electrochemotherapy would not be a curative option. With electrochemotherapy, there is scarring and shrinkage of the shin in the treated area. Because Ellie’s mass was on both sides of the leg they would need to perform the treatment all around the leg. The shrinkage and tightening of the skin in that area would most likely cause a rubber band effect causing her to inevitably lose the foot anyway. At this point, radiation was also ruled out. It looked as if amputation was our only option.
It was now July 2017, and we had made the decision to go forward with the amputation at Sage Centers, and needed to have preoperative screenings done prior to her surgery. This was a lot of blood work, an ultrasound and X-rays. I brought her in one Thursday morning, and then met a friend in Oakland for lunch. I was advised that I would receive a call from the doctor after the initial tests were complete. In the middle of my sandwich, the phone rang.
Mom the other line, Dr. Christensen began saying how well Ellie did, and how sweet she was, and then dropped another guy wrencher on me. They’d found a lump in her spleen. I am now feeling like a guilty mom. I’m thinking to myself that I waited too long and her cancer had spread.
I gave her permission to do a needle biopsy of the mass. At this point, this whole thing has been an emotional rollercoaster. Every time I feel like I am ready to take the leap and perform this surgery, something comes up. I try to be strong.
The results come back as a fatty tissue mass, and she lets me know that these things are extremely common. A little relief there. Additionally, all of her other blood work came back perfect.
Next steps are to schedule the leg amputation, and a splenectomy.
I scheduled the surgery, and then was hit with another life changer, we had to move. The reason wasn’t bad, and the outcome has been one of the best decisions we have made. Ellie and I moved in with my significant other, and she was blessed with a lovely brother and sister and a papa bear who loves her like she is his own.
We decided to hold off on the surgery for as long as we could. With the move, and the adjustments involved with that, there was a lot going on in life. The doctors told me it wasn’t a mad rush, but that there was cause for concern regarding the mass growing and bursting on the leg, and same with the lump in the spleen.
October 2017, the leg mass had returned, and was now larger than before the initial surgery. It was time to revisit the doctor and determine our options. We took her to Central Animal Hopsiatl in Petaluma, CA as we had a really good experience with them the year prior when getting our multiple “second opinions”. Dr. Helms was our preferred doctor, so we got in to see him as soon as possible. I asked him if he thought it was possible to go back in and remove more of them up, instead of the leg. Because of the scar tissue already present from the first surgery, she wasn’t a good candidate.
I had to think about this all over again.
During my “thinking time” our other pup, Arya, had begun limping, and turns out she had pulled her ACL and had to have surgery. Ellie’s procedure would have to wait. After a few months of Arya’s healing, we had decided to move forward with Ellie’s amputation.
She had her pre operative screenings, and all came back perfect, and she was ready to go under the knife.
Two days ago, 2/15/18, Ellie had her procedure. Dr. Helms DVM at Central Animal Hospital, in Petaluma, CA performed a mid femoral amputation of her back left leg and Ellie was back home the same day of surgery.
It is not the prettiest sight to see, but we’re happy we went through with it. More updates to come!
To be continued…
