One year ago this month, Heidi was diagnosed with Osteoscarcoma. The vet said that because of her young age and how quickly the tumor was growing, she would guess she had 4-6 months to live. (She wouldn’t live to see her 2nd birthday.) At the time, our family was in the process of moving out of the country. We were faced with some tough decisions. Do we put her down now or right before we leave? Do we attempt to transport her? If we do move her, will she die in transit? These were our options, as we could not afford chemo & were told chemo wasn’t really a good option for her. According to the vet, chemo might extend her life to a full year.
We took a wait and see stance. We put her on as much pain medication as we could and did eveything to keep her eating. Despite her pain, she remained a happy girl. Her tail never stopped wagging.
Her second birthday came and went, and we decided to move her across “the pond”. (We didn’t have the heart to put down such a happy puppy.) She made the trip and her tail was wagging as they took her off the plane. We got her registered at the vet and her tumor-stricken leg was removed a month after she got here.
One year post diagnosis (& 4 months post-amputation), she is enjoying her tripawd life (tail still wagging)! She still has osteoscarcoma and take her in every few months for chest x-rays to see if it’s spread. We know she is living on borrowed time, but that doesn’t stop us from enjoying every precious day we get to have her. She is a ray of light in our life and inspires us with her strength & happy demeanor.
We want her short life to have meaning, so we are curently in the process of getting her Canine Good Citizenship certified and into the Red Cross’s Pets and Wounded Warriors project. Who better to help wounded warriors than a Tripawd!
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This blog is about and for my Tripawd Heidi!