Update on Oscar

Before Oscar’s surgery last Thursday, the surgical team did one last chest x-ray and found several metastases, and small tumors in Oscar’s chest and lungs. We decided to bring Oscar home and not put him through the ordeal and recovery from surgery.

Surgery Day for Oscar

Cape Cod 061

This is Oscar, he is five years old, and today he is going in to have his right front leg removed.  Oscar was diagnosed 2 1/2 years ago with Canine Osteosarcoma at Tufts Veterinary Hospital in Grafton, MA, after developing a severe limp and swelling above his right wrist.   At the time, the vets at Tufts wanted to amputate Oscar’s leg and begin chemotherapy immediately.  They said that the treatment would give Oscar another year, maybe 18 months.   After getting his prognosis and treatment, we met with our veterinarian and decided that we would not pursue the course of treatment and keep Oscar as comfortable as possible.  Over the next couple of months, Oscar became lame and began to lose weight.   We were getting to the point of having to make some dire decisions regarding Oscar and were very concerned about his pain and suffering.  But then, miraculously, Oscar began putting on weight, eating more, and putting weight back on his right leg.  The swelling went down, and Oscar has been thriving for the past couple of years.  His chest x-rays and blood work have been clear, needless to say, we have witnessed a miracle.  He has had a couple of flare-ups but each time he bounced back.  However, over the last couple of weeks the growth on his leg has doubled and he is in pain.  We decided that he is not going to bounce back and wanted to end his pain once and for all.   I wanted to start a blog/diary for Oscar so his circle of friends can track his recovery from the amputation.  We love you Oscar and we know you are going to do great today.