Super Stu!

You may have met our boy “Super Stu!” In his previous blogs. He is our beautiful Bernese/Rottweiler cross and he is now 7 1/2 years old. He joined our family in 2015, when he was 5 years old and we hoped to spend another 5 good years with this beautiful, smart & loyal companion.

The decisions that have had to be made on behalf of our gentle giant have been both painful and taxing on us all, but we believe that we have made and will continue to make, the right choices for him. Our fears, doubts and concerns will be a thing of the past once we can get our boy through this very difficult journey to becoming a Tripawd Hero!

Here is Stewie’s story from the point when we found out that he had Osteosarcoma…

Diagnosis > Prognosis.

Wednesday, July 5th
We took Stewie into the vets to see why he was limping for the last two weeks & progressively getting worse.
Dr. Bill noticed a swelling in his front left forepaw. An X-ray showed that Stewie has Osteosarcoma in the largest bone in his forearm. We could see it plain as day on the film. A section of the bone was essentially shattered! So very painful!

He told us that this disease in incurable and if we don’t amputate, then we will have to euthanize in 4-6 weeks due to the massive pain that he will be in!
Our first reaction was, God no, we can’t take his leg off! We were sent home with lots of pain medication to see him through, basically putting him into palliative care!
Of course when we got home, we were still in shock and were trying to come to terms with the fact that we only had a few weeks left with our boy! We then started our research and discovered (just as Dr. Bill had said) that if we amputate, Stewie’s pain will be gone, 100%! Plus, we would more than likely have him around for another 4-6 months, before the disease mastized to his lungs.
If we choose chemotherapy on top of that we MAY (or may not) give Stewie another year, possibly 2.
We decided that the next day, we would get an X-ray of Stewie’s lungs & make our next decision from there.

 

Thursday, July 6th
Stewie can no longer put any weight on his leg. We can now see the very subtle signs that indicate the pain that he is in. We have also discovered that dogs are exceedingly good at hiding their pain. An instinctual habit that keeps them from being left behind by the pack. We were more determined than ever!
We were blessed with a clear picture of both of Stewie Lungs. We decided right there and then to schedule Stewie for his surgery and when that is over with and his stitches come out, he will start his Chemo. A minimum of 4 sessions…  a maximum of 6.
Stewie’s amputation surgery is scheduled for Monday, July 10th.

 

Friday, July 7th
Stewie seams to be handling his medications. They appear to be relaxing him and keeping him relatively comfortable.

We are trying to stay strong for him and not show him that we are distressed, but it is super hard not to cry when we think of the future that is in store for him!

Saturday, July 8th
Today we had a party and a friend brought her dog over. We had planned on keeping Stewie in the house, but he was getting too stressed out at being left alone inside the house. We brought him out to meet his new friend and both dogs did great. They really wanted to play together and it was a bit of a chore to get them to finally kick back and relax. To say the least we all had a busy day and Stewie was exhausted, but our boy got to hang out like a normal member of the family, so I was happy about that.

Sunday, July 9th
We spoiled our boy rotten today. He had whatever he wanted. We tried however to leave him in the basement, when we went down to the beach, but he was not going to be left behind! So he and I trudged slowly down to the dock, me supporting Stewie with his harness. Big job, but we got there. He was just happy to be with us!
On a whim, we decided to go out for an hour on the Toaster. Just as we were heading off, his favourite person, Anne showed up. Perfect timing! Stewie thoroughly enjoyed his day out!
For supper Stewie had steamed cod & kibble. He got a really good brushing from Mum, thoroughly soaking up the attention!

Tomorrow is going to be a big day and a new beginning for all of us…

Watch for the continuation of Stewie’s journey into becoming a Tripawd Hero.

Super Stu!