8 years ago my Partner adopted the sweetest, most lovable, PitBull in the world. When She brought him home you could count every rib, he was missing a toe nail and was scared to death. Ace showed many signs of abuse. He flinched at everything, would pee himself when people came over and was scared of his own shadow. He quickly learned that Denna and I would never hurt him and that he was now in a safe loving place. He gained weight, the toe nail grew back and the life of spoiled Pit Bull was in full force. Ace went from living on the streets to having Serta and Tempurpedic beds in all his favorite rooms ( bedroom, living room, and basement). Life was great, until Jan 16th. It was a Tuesday night, we were all in the kitchen when I noticed a golfball size lump on his right front leg. By Friday Jan 19th we had him in to the vet to be evaluated. They aspirated the mass and it was confirmed by an oncologist that it showed cancerous cells. We traveled to University of Illinois to see the Oncologist and see what type of cancer we were dealing with. On Jan 31st Ace was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. We had 3 options, pain control, palliative care and radiation, or leg amputation. We were told that with palliative care and radiation we could expect 3-4 months with him, amputation up to 1 year, and pain control 1-2 months. Going from happy healthy dog to finding out they have cancer and will die in a very short time is SHOCKING! Honestly it was hard to process and we left saying we couldn’t possibly remove his leg and that we would just give him the best life possible over the next two months. This is the decision you decide when in shock. The thing about osteosarcoma is that it is very painful, the dog limps, and is only give a few months because of the pain, but Ace wasn’t in any pain, which made deciding palliative care an easy decision ( at the time). Ace shortly after being diagnosed by U of I stared showing signs of pain and limping in his leg. We immediately got him on pain medicine and our hearts were broken. The pain meds helped tremendously and the limp went away, but our struggle of what to do next STAYED.
We talked at length and decided to perform the radiation treatments to help reduce the pain, but we knew this was a short term fix, and that the tremendous pain would return. We were still at the point of no amputation. Not out of vanity, we just didn’t want to put Ace through that. Then we started googling three legged dogs, three legged older dogs, and I found Tripawds. After reading peoples stories we had a different outlook on amputation.
The thing is, being told that amputation will only give you 1 more year with your dog doesn’t sound like much, but 1 year is a long time, its 7 years for dogs :), and it would be 1 year of quality time and that is what matters most to us. On Feb 16th Ace had his right leg and scapula removed. He is two days out and continues to get better every minute. I wont lie, this has been hard, but I know it will be worth it. I am one of those people that believe everything happens for a reason, and that Denna went to the ACE hardware store( hence the name) 8 years ago for a reason, and that Ace was meant for us. Maybe he wasn’t abandoned and thrown out by his original owners? Maybe, just maybe, he ran away…ran to us!
More on his journey to follow…#cancersucks
