What has happened to Buster – part 2

As it turns out, canine nerve sheath tumor cancer is terrible. The problem, first and foremost, is how long it usually takes to figure out that’s what it is. It’s harder to pick up on scans, and may not form a bulge or mass that’s outwardly detectable. On top of that, it can be trickier to remove and treat than some other tumors because, at the name suggests, there is a proliferation of cancerous cells up and down the nerves. Luckily, Buster’s tumor appears to have been relatively local and not metastasized, and to date his lungs look clear.

The wait from the date of diagnosis to make sure, after more scans that it hadn’t spread, was terrible. If it had spread there might not have been much point in treatment. But after a brief scare that he might also have spleen cancer (it was instead a benign mass), he was good to go for treatment.

So one month ago he had his right forelimb amputation. I know that a lot of people struggle with the decision to amputate. I was devastated to do it. I was horrified. But given his diagnosis, I didn’t really find it a hard decision, and the tripawds site helped me a lot. So did talking to a couple of co-workers who I found out also had 3 legged dogs.

I won’t rehash all the last month of recovery, because so many other people have said on the tripawds site how that goes. Buster had been limping for so long that after a really bad first couple days of pain (and medication adjustments), and another pretty rough week after that, he was doing fantastically on three legs. At one month out, he can go around two city blocks, jump on and off the sofa, and run up the stairs with no problem (I still don’t let him go down, I carry him).

And that brings us to the present. Starting Monday July 2, I’ll start the post-amputation phase of his treatment, which is “definitive” (fingers crossed) radiation therapy, that with any luck will knock out the tumor for good. This was the hard decision. It will involve about 18 (!!!) sessions of radiation over 4 weeks, with anesthesia each time. I really struggled with whether to do this or do a much shorter “palliative” course of radiation, which would have had less certain prospects. Right after the surgery I thought there was no way I could put him through it, and I thought for sure I wouldn’t. But he recovered so well that I decided, well, maybe he can do this.

I worry about the side effects, I worry about the disruption to my job, I worry about whether I’m insane to do this. But I am lucky to have the resources to do this and a job that at the moment is flexible enough to allow me to work remotely for a month while I deal with this.

I just want to do the best thing I can for my buddy, who I’ve had for 10 years and I love dearly. So we’ll see how it goes. I ultimately decided I wanted my awesome little dog to have a chance at enjoying his golden years, and hopefully beat this thing and that’s what we’re going to try. Anybody could make a different decision for themselves and their dog and have that be completely the right decision. I’ll try to keep posting along the way so that maybe others can hear about what this course of treatment is like and what side effects might be like.

Wish us luck!