Hobo started to limp around August 2012, he was put on pain meds and rest and was better for about 3 weeks. Then we found ourselves back at the vet, taking x-rays, getting more pain meds and hearing alot of, ” since he’s a younger dog I don’t think it’s anything to worry about”. We splinted his leg for 8 weeks to let a believed torn tendon or ligament heal.. He was less than thrilled.
The time finally came to take the splint off and he was okay for about two days. Then that same limp was right back and we where right back at the vet. We had sent xrays to many specialist and 3 out of 4 said they saw nothing wrong… the 4th said he saw a small spot in his wrist.. I was devastated then, being a vet assistant for a few years before this I knew what that meant, I wanted to do a biopsy and find out what it was. I was assured because of his age and 3 others didn’t see it, there was nothing to worry about ( talk about being given some false hope). The vet talked about doing some rehab work and so we did, along with hundreds of dollars worth of supplements. They were helping or so we thought, until we left for a trip and came home to a Hobo with a wrist the size of a baseball… I was done with this vet and I loaded Hobo up, made the 3 hour drive to Colorado Springs to met the best ortho Dr in the state. He looked at Hobo 30 sec before telling me it was a tumor, but we would need to confirmed with x-rays. He pulled them up on the screen and before he could say anything I completely lost it.. I knew what that was, I knew I’d watched some many dogs die from this cancer and I knew I would loose my baby to this.
We made an appointment to have his leg amputated that next Monday and made the drive home. This was the longest, most painful and uneasy feeling riding home of my life. Half way home Alex tells me to stop crying, he’s our Hobo and he’s a fighter, he doesn’t care what you’ve seen happen to them at work, he doesn’t care what his chance are and he will be fine. All words I needed to hear.
The three days before his surgery all I could focus on was how am I going to be able to bare seeing my boy with out a leg…( funny thing, now I think it would be weird if it was there!). This thought lead me to Google, which lead me to this wonderful website, all these people who where doing it! They were living with these three legged, cancer butt kicking dogs! This site gave us hope! This site gave me the courage to go pick my Hobo up from the vet, hug him and take him home without any problem! It made me thankful to have him with him still and it made me realize that Alex was right, screw what the numbers says, Hobo will do this his way and surprise us all!
We spent extra time loving on him the night before surgery and told him how strong he was, how much we loved him and how we were all fighting for him.
I made these for everyone to keep on them the day of the surgery and him to wear on his collar before and after surgery.
He came home and adjusted so well! His momma dog was so happy to have him home.
A few weeks later we started chemo and we felt like we were on top of this thing! Hobo loved his car rides with just me and him to Colorado State Vet Hospital.
Until two weeks ago when I received even more bad news… Chest X-rays where showing lung mets. The hospital gave me several options.. I took my boy home and waited the long 4 hours for Alex to get home to break this news to him.. He wanted answers I couldn’t give him.. what do we do next? how much time do we have if we don’t do anything? What’s the best thing for Hobo? We researched and talked to vet friends and finally decided to do another kind of IV Chemo.. We will do two rounds of this and take X-rays again. As we enter this part of our journey I take comfort in knowing I have great people to turn to and who are like minded here and in my life. I hope that I forever keep Hobo’s best interest at heart and that I don’t dwell on how much time we may or may not have left. I don’t know what will happen, I don’t know if I can get ahead of this thing, I don’t have all the answers but I do know that Hobo is not worried about it and all I need to do is enjoy my time with him.