A very old stray {The Old Fella Story}

Dashonthedash wrote:
I know how fast cancer can spread. Please allow me to relate the story of Willow, my first rescue and the dog that started me on a lifelong love affair with greyhounds. She was 12 years old, and had been with my GSD Max and me for almost 10 years:

I was away on vacation, when I came home and discovered that Willow was having trouble with her mouth. It wasn't bleeding at that time, but it soon swelled up until her head was almost as big as Dash's is now. My vet was on vacation at the time, so a substitute vet looked at her. She diagnosed the problem as a couple of abscessed teeth, pulled them and gave me some antibiotics. The problem subsided for a couple days, then came back worse than ever. One week from the initial diagnosis, my own vet finally had a chance to look at her, and he immediately diagnosed it as lymphosarcoma. I made an appointment with the oncologist at CSU for the following Wednesday. By that time, she was having problems breathing, and they had to place her in a hyperbaric chamber. They gave me three choices: full chemotherapy, partial chemotherapy or immediate euthanasia. Because of her age, I opted for the partial (prednisone), which they said might give her 2 or 3 months. For the next few days, she improved dramatically, and was almost back to her normal self. Then, on Friday night, 9 days after starting treatment, she started throwing up blood. Saturday morning, I took her to the vet, ready for the worst. He decided to keep her overnight for observation. That night, he called me to let me know that Willow threw up some blood, went to sleep and passed away naturally. It was just over 3 weeks after the first symptoms and 2 weeks after the diagnosis of cancer.

Richard, it was Fella's time. Even had you treated the jaw, other complications would have quickly developed, and he would have continued to suffer. Cancer is a terrible disease, and can spread quickly even before it is discovered.

Thanks Gary. We know now that Old Fella had cancer before we left for the rally in Branson. Our vet here missed the diagnose, but had the cancer been discovered it wouldn't have made any difference in the outcome and most likely would have changed our plans about the rally. As it was Fella did fine on the trip there and back and then when we went to the specialist she determined there was cancer and suggested a full range of X-rays be done. That is when the cancer was discovered. It seemed it was all down hill from there and very fast. When Dr. Phillips told us that bone cancer was the most painful kind of cancer there was and how much Fella had suffered it was amazing how he had put up with it as he had. She said it was his determination to please that kept him going. The pain meds had helped, but he was still suffering a great deal. This made the decision easier.