FourIsCompany
Member
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2007
- Messages
- 119
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- 16
I'm just posting this as a way of letting my friends here (old and new) know about Mia. We found out last week that she has osteosarcoma in her upper mouth (maxilla)... By the time we discovered it, it was a large tumor involving the roof of her mouth, some of her front teeth and up into her sinuses. It came on SO fast that we didn't even notice until it started spreading through her front teeth.
Our options are to have her whole upper muzzle removed, with some reconstruction of the sinuses, followed by radiation and chemo... or to just keep her comfortable until she lets us know that her quality of life isn't good anymore. We have decided against surgery, because even after surgery, the recurrence rate is 83%-100%, and only gives a little more time.
This is a painful cancer, so we have her on pain meds and are feeding her soft food, which she had a little difficulty eating this morning for the first time. Otherwise, we're making her as comfortable as possible, and doing all the things she loves. I don't know if we have days, weeks or months, so it's a one-day-at-a-time proposition and every day is a heartbreaking challenge for me and my husband.
She still enjoys going out for "play" morning and night. She mostly just walks around and wags her tail, but she does get excited about going out, so we are using that to gauge our decision. She is 11 years old and has bad hips, so, even though she was an athlete in her youth, she's slowed down a lot in the past few years.
Your thoughts and prayers are appreciated.
Our options are to have her whole upper muzzle removed, with some reconstruction of the sinuses, followed by radiation and chemo... or to just keep her comfortable until she lets us know that her quality of life isn't good anymore. We have decided against surgery, because even after surgery, the recurrence rate is 83%-100%, and only gives a little more time.
This is a painful cancer, so we have her on pain meds and are feeding her soft food, which she had a little difficulty eating this morning for the first time. Otherwise, we're making her as comfortable as possible, and doing all the things she loves. I don't know if we have days, weeks or months, so it's a one-day-at-a-time proposition and every day is a heartbreaking challenge for me and my husband.
She still enjoys going out for "play" morning and night. She mostly just walks around and wags her tail, but she does get excited about going out, so we are using that to gauge our decision. She is 11 years old and has bad hips, so, even though she was an athlete in her youth, she's slowed down a lot in the past few years.
Your thoughts and prayers are appreciated.
You're doing exactly what I would do in that situation - there's no way I could put my dog through that kind of surgery, especially with such a poor prognosis. You definitely have her best interests in mind. ((HUGS))
