I am not quite sure what to do with my dog and thought maybe writing about it would help and who knows maybe one of you has some good advice.
Ill get this out of the way first. I love my dog just as much as any person and a lot more than most people. Money is somewhat of an issue(bad timing) but I am not going to make any choice based on money for him. I work so that I can enjoy my life and do things that I like and bring me joy. My dog is on the top of that list so I would rather have him around than a new car or whatever else I would spend the money on.
My dog is 11 years old and is a breed that should live to 15-20. He seems healthy and really happy. He tore his ACL over a year ago and we got it fixed right away. The recovery was rough but he was fine for a couple months. After a couple months he started dragging his foot just slightly when walking but not when running or playing. We thought it was tied to surgery. After we took him in he was misdiagnosed with lots and lots of stuff. It was a roller coaster of telling us things from he is going to die soon to its fine back and forth for months.
We finally ponied up and did CT scans and MRIs see what was going on. The were leaning towards being a slipped disk that was pinching nerves and causing problems but after and research decided it was a weird and rare type of tumor growing into his spinal cord. By this point he was paralyzed in his back legs and not walking on his own and in a lot of pain.
We were about to put him down but talked to the cancer specialist at Colorado State to get their opinion. Our local vet felt like he could remove it but it would grow back and recovery would be rough. Colorado state told us if we removed it and did radiation treatment he had a high chance of recovery ~90%.
We took him in for surgery right away at that point. Recovery was actually not bad at all. He did really well and was back to walking in a couple days which shocked us and the vet a bit.
We had the tumor looked at but it was a grade 3 tumor and one that didnt respond as well to radiation but CSU still felt good about radiation treatments and thought that would get rid of the cancer there but would have a 50/50 chance of spreading. If it spread then we could do chemo and he could be okay for a couple years. Chemo in dogs is not as harsh and the side effects are low.
So we did another CT scan and MRI to see if the cancer spread and to help get images for the radiation treatment (20 treatments across a month). During this evaluation at CSU we discovered a heart problem that he has probably had most his life and a slipped disk that does not seem to be causing pain or other issues but could in the future. They tested his heart more and thought it was fine for radiation treatment (they go under anesthesia which is the issue with the heart).
So we took him in for radiation treatment since they felt good about it and felt even more confident of him recovering to live 3+ years. Today the decided that maybe the heart is more of a concern and we should put in a pace maker before and let him recover then start the radiation. Or they could just do the radiation and run the risk of his heart quitting during the procedures. If that happened they would use a defibrillator but his heart might not start back up. His heart did stop during his spinal cord surgery but they felt it was due to stress of working inside the spinal cord. He had CPR obviously lived.
So here is the question. I have 3 options that all kind of suck.
1:
Pay all the money and do all the procedures including the pace maker. If we do this it is so harsh on him and I dont want my dog suffering. I want him alive but not if he isnt happy which so far he has been except right before the tumor removal when we had made arrangements to put him down. The pace maker buys dogs 5+ years with his type of heart thing. But we might do all of this and the cancer spreads aggressively and he passes away in a few months and has to endure all theses treatments. But if everything goes well and nothing spreads they feel he could live 5 years. He looks and acts young.
2:
Do the radiation and dont put in the pace maker. This is the option I have been leaning towards but if he dies under anesthesia I wont forgive myself for not just doing the pace maker. But he could be fine or he could have a heart problem and we could put in a pace maker then.
3:
Stop everything. He can walk now and is happy. Maybe the cancer does not come back (very very unlikely without radiation killing microscopic cancer cells around the tumor site). Maybe his heart is fine for awhile, its never been an issue outside of the surgery. He runs and exercises and has never shown any signs of a heart problem. Maybe the cancer does not spread, that is a 50/50 chance. But most likely anywhere from 3-9 months the tumor grows back and we can see the signs with a dragging leg that will get worse and we will enjoy our time with him until his pain level goes up or he is not happy enough.
There are a ton more details but I think this long ramble give you an idea. I didn't edit this so feel free to ask for clarification or more details if you care. I understand most people would not have gone this far already. Most people dont care about their dog as much, cant afford the procedures or just understand that dogs lives can be short and dont really want to do much for their health when they get older.
If you are a dog lover and maybe understand slightly what we are going though some feedback would be great.
Ill get this out of the way first. I love my dog just as much as any person and a lot more than most people. Money is somewhat of an issue(bad timing) but I am not going to make any choice based on money for him. I work so that I can enjoy my life and do things that I like and bring me joy. My dog is on the top of that list so I would rather have him around than a new car or whatever else I would spend the money on.
My dog is 11 years old and is a breed that should live to 15-20. He seems healthy and really happy. He tore his ACL over a year ago and we got it fixed right away. The recovery was rough but he was fine for a couple months. After a couple months he started dragging his foot just slightly when walking but not when running or playing. We thought it was tied to surgery. After we took him in he was misdiagnosed with lots and lots of stuff. It was a roller coaster of telling us things from he is going to die soon to its fine back and forth for months.
We finally ponied up and did CT scans and MRIs see what was going on. The were leaning towards being a slipped disk that was pinching nerves and causing problems but after and research decided it was a weird and rare type of tumor growing into his spinal cord. By this point he was paralyzed in his back legs and not walking on his own and in a lot of pain.
We were about to put him down but talked to the cancer specialist at Colorado State to get their opinion. Our local vet felt like he could remove it but it would grow back and recovery would be rough. Colorado state told us if we removed it and did radiation treatment he had a high chance of recovery ~90%.
We took him in for surgery right away at that point. Recovery was actually not bad at all. He did really well and was back to walking in a couple days which shocked us and the vet a bit.
We had the tumor looked at but it was a grade 3 tumor and one that didnt respond as well to radiation but CSU still felt good about radiation treatments and thought that would get rid of the cancer there but would have a 50/50 chance of spreading. If it spread then we could do chemo and he could be okay for a couple years. Chemo in dogs is not as harsh and the side effects are low.
So we did another CT scan and MRI to see if the cancer spread and to help get images for the radiation treatment (20 treatments across a month). During this evaluation at CSU we discovered a heart problem that he has probably had most his life and a slipped disk that does not seem to be causing pain or other issues but could in the future. They tested his heart more and thought it was fine for radiation treatment (they go under anesthesia which is the issue with the heart).
So we took him in for radiation treatment since they felt good about it and felt even more confident of him recovering to live 3+ years. Today the decided that maybe the heart is more of a concern and we should put in a pace maker before and let him recover then start the radiation. Or they could just do the radiation and run the risk of his heart quitting during the procedures. If that happened they would use a defibrillator but his heart might not start back up. His heart did stop during his spinal cord surgery but they felt it was due to stress of working inside the spinal cord. He had CPR obviously lived.
So here is the question. I have 3 options that all kind of suck.
1:
Pay all the money and do all the procedures including the pace maker. If we do this it is so harsh on him and I dont want my dog suffering. I want him alive but not if he isnt happy which so far he has been except right before the tumor removal when we had made arrangements to put him down. The pace maker buys dogs 5+ years with his type of heart thing. But we might do all of this and the cancer spreads aggressively and he passes away in a few months and has to endure all theses treatments. But if everything goes well and nothing spreads they feel he could live 5 years. He looks and acts young.
2:
Do the radiation and dont put in the pace maker. This is the option I have been leaning towards but if he dies under anesthesia I wont forgive myself for not just doing the pace maker. But he could be fine or he could have a heart problem and we could put in a pace maker then.
3:
Stop everything. He can walk now and is happy. Maybe the cancer does not come back (very very unlikely without radiation killing microscopic cancer cells around the tumor site). Maybe his heart is fine for awhile, its never been an issue outside of the surgery. He runs and exercises and has never shown any signs of a heart problem. Maybe the cancer does not spread, that is a 50/50 chance. But most likely anywhere from 3-9 months the tumor grows back and we can see the signs with a dragging leg that will get worse and we will enjoy our time with him until his pain level goes up or he is not happy enough.
There are a ton more details but I think this long ramble give you an idea. I didn't edit this so feel free to ask for clarification or more details if you care. I understand most people would not have gone this far already. Most people dont care about their dog as much, cant afford the procedures or just understand that dogs lives can be short and dont really want to do much for their health when they get older.
If you are a dog lover and maybe understand slightly what we are going though some feedback would be great.
