Waiting…

Well, last night I had some trouble getting to sleep. Basically, I was just plain sad. I even slept with my Tigger, a childhood stuffed leopard. I can't believe I just shared that… If you know me, then you know when Tigger comes out, it's serious business.

Adam and I got up early today and made a trip to the gym. These days, since it's so hot out, we can't run with Dixie. Plus we are in terrible shape! She knows running shoes means running. So we have to walk out in flip flops with our running shoes in hand. That way she doesn't get all upset. The first time we made a trip to the gym, she tried to dig out of the backyard and knocked over her water bowl. Dixie does not like being left at home when she thinks we are out having fun.

We did a light workout on the stationary bikes as I read Adam excerpts of Without Regret by Suan Neal. That book is awesome. It covers practically everything you need to know about canine amputation. I highly recommend it.


Got home, showered and prepared for a day at the Hattaways (where we are working from today, waiting for a call to pick her up). At home I moved the furniture around so we can get Dixie out the door easier for bathroom time. Dixie was a little anxious, probably because we were packing bags. She also knows bags mean a trip. Lucky for her, we aren't going anywhere for a while. We piled in the car and listened to In the Heights soundtrack and some Amos Lee—a few of my faves these days—on the 15 min drive to the vet.

At the vet, Dixie was a little nervous and shy. Every time she's there, she gets poked and prodded! But we signed the papes and she went off with Dr. Beth. They are amputating below the shoulder, so they are leaving the shoulder blade.

We will keep you updated. For now, we are waiting and relaxing (and working).

The diagnosis that changed our lives

July brought the most expensive and tragic trip to the vet. Over the course of about 6 mos, Dixie had developed a larger tumor on her front left leg. The doctor advised us to remove it sooner than later. She was afraid the longer we waited, the more difficult it would be remove.

July 9, 2009
Dixie went in for surgery to remove the leg tumor and a small growth under her tail. We opted to not have a biopsy of either tumor, since we knew we couldn't afford chemo or radiation if they were cancer. Halfway through the surgery, I received a call from the vet's office. Dixie was doing well, but they wanted to let me know the surgery was taking longer than expected. I knew this was not good.

After the surgery was over, I received a call from the doctor herself. She said the tumor was embedded among the tendons and veins more than expected. She did her best, but could not remove all of it. She highly recommended we biopsy the tumor. I agreed.

Finally at 5pm, I was allowed to take Dixie home. She was not well. Confused and crying. Pretty much until bedtime, she was whiny and wouldn't let me leave her side. This was unusual since Dixie had always recovered easily and quickly from surgeries.

The next few weeks were interesting. Thankfully, Dixie was her normal self the next day. I counted about 34 stitches on her leg. The leg had a lot of fluid and drainage. (see below) After many visits to the vet for draining, cut up socks to cover the wound/catch the fluid and lots of touch up cleaning on the carpet, she was finally cleared to get her stitches out.


We found out about 3 days after the surgery that the big leg tumor was indeed cancer—a grade I soft-tissue sarcoma (only 5-10% chance of metastisizing). I don't know why, but from the moment I dropped her off for surgery, I had amputation in mind. Of course I didn't even know she had cancer. I guess it was like a premonition of what was to come.

The vet recommended we amputate the leg to “increase her chances of a disease-free life;” and the sooner the better. Either that, or let it be. It would grow back, and no-one knows how fast. I expect it would quickly, since it grew fast the first time. When she starts having pain, we would maintain it with meds. I just couldn't imagine that. She's an active dog. Dixie LOVES running, hiking, camping—being in the wilderness. I would hate to cut that short by having her all doped up on drugs.

hiking in Fossil Spring Wilderness Area

But I also wondered, If we amputate, are we being too aggressive? Besides a barely noticeable limp, Dixie was getting around great, running and jumping. I never noticed a change her in behavior. The cancer has such a low chance of spreading. Since Dixie uses her left leg with no problem, I'm concerned she'll have a harder time recovering.

After some debate, Adam and I have decided to amputate. Through all this, I'm proud of myself and Adam for not being super emotional or worrying about her being "handicapped." My biggest fear, personally though, is her recovery. I know she's strong, both in will and physically. I just don't want her to get frustrated. I want her to be happy.

Dixie is expensive.

So pretty much from day 1, Dixie has been an expensive dog when it comes to medical issues. She had an ear infection when I adopted her, one of many to come. Why she's prone to them, I do not know.

Next came surgery to remove a tumor on her shoulder (I think? hard to remember…). Then surgery to remove a tumor inside her mouth by her molars.

On her first camping trip, she punctured her chest on a stick or something. We didn't even notice it until we were giving her a bath and I felt something fleshy on her chest. Turns out she had a hole there! We whisked her off to the VCA Animal Hospital because our vet, Horizon Animal Hospital, wasn't open—curse of a holiday weekend.

Her trips to the vet after that were few and far between. Except that one day her left eye was draining and just did not look good. She had punctured her eyeball with what we guess is a thorn from our lemon tree. (see below)


Come March, I knew we had to make another trip to the vet soon, regarding the large tumor she was growing on her front left leg. What I didn't know was that tumor was going to change Dixie's and our lives forever.