Duke

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to y’all that our Duke is the best dog we could have asked for.  We love him dearly so the past few weeks have trying to say the least….

Andrew and I can home from school/work one day to find Duke’s right hock (rear leg) was extremely swollen.  He was fine though.  Happy as a clam and excited to see us.  Of course I was freaking out though.  Which again shouldn’t come as a surprise.  And I get that my husband is only a vet student and not a veterinary yet but I still expect him to answer all of my questions about Duke, unfair? Maybe…Anyway the joint was hot and swollen but other than that Duke was normal. Duke was fine.  We took him in to the clinic the next day just to see what was going on.  Our first thought was that he just injured it while chasing a mongoose or something.  So we took him and the doctor wanted to keep him for some x-rays and to collect some fluid from around the joint.  Duke went home with us that afternoon and we patiently waited to hear back from pathology the following week to see if there were any abnormal looking cells in his joint fluid.

The next week came and all we knew from pathology was that the test was there were some “suspicious-looking cells” and they needed to take a biopsy from the joint area.  They did tell us though that there was a possibility of a synovial cell sarcoma, aka cancer of the joint fluid.  But my thoughts were no, that wasn’t it; it couldn’t be, no way.  

So Duke went back a few days later for a biopsy.  The biopsy procedure was normal and routine.  Duke was able to come home that evening and he again like always was happy as a clam. 

Bad dog! Duke pulled out a few of his stitches the next day so we had to take him back to get a few staples put in. And because he was a bad dog he had to wear a cone around his head to prevent him from reaching his stitches for several days.  I kept calling him my flower.  He looked like a giant flower.  Duke didn’t know what do with the cone.  I felt bad for laughing, but it was funny.  He would just walk into furniture or run into us and then not know what to do! Bless his heart!

The results….cancer.  Duke has cancer. The doctor called and told us the news.  Duke has cancer.  I was heartbroken and it took my breath away.  They confirmed that the swelling around Duke’s joint was in fact a synovial cell sarcoma.  My heart sank.  I kept biting my lip until I was off the phone with the doctor and then the tears came.  I couldn’t control them and all I wanted was to be with Duke and Andrew. I couldn’t wait to get home just to squeeze him and hold him. I just love him so much and he is the greatest dog.  He is perfect for us.  I honestly never thought it would be cancer.  I mean I know it was a possibility but I never truly thought that would be the result.  I was so angry and didn’t find this situation fair.  Why my dog? Why cancer? Why now? What’s next? Has is spread? The biggest question and most important question. Has the cancer spread?

All Andrew and I did when we got home was hold Duke and love on him.  Andrew might not admit so I will just go ahead and tell you; he cried too, it’s true.   But as far as Duke goes…he just wanted to know why I was squeezing him so hard.  He was fine.  Duke was running, playing and chasing mongeese.  For Duke, today was just a normal typical day in the life of Duke.  Outwardly nothing was wrong.  He was in no pain and all was completely and utterly the same Duke he has always been.  He was fine.  Duke was still just the happiest dog I knew.

Has it spread? The question was still hanging.  We had to find out right away if the cancer had spread.  The first places that we had to check were his lungs and liver.  That would be where the cancer metastasized (fancy doctor term for spreading to the rest of the body) first.  So we did.  Back to clinic Duke went for the like the 5^th time in a few week period.  They needed to do a chest x-ray and ultrasound his abdomen.  Again Duke is still fine.  He is still happy and normal.  There doesn’t appear to be anything wrong with him.  So we kept praying and hoping that the cancer had not spread.  Please don’t let it spread.

It hasn’t spread!  Thank God the cancer has not spread! Duke doesn’t have cancer anyway else in his body.  Oh happy happy day.  But what’s next? He still has cancer though.  We still have to get rid of the cancer. We have been talking to Andrew’s Dad this whole time about Duke and he has been an incredible help.  We found so much comfort in talking to his Dad and getting guidance from him (Thank you!)  We now needed to know our options.  Was chemotherapy an option? Amputation? What?

Amputation is our only option.  Well that’s not entirely true.  If we decide to do nothing, wait until eventually the cancer spreads and he becomes sick with no other options but to put him down (i.e. 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, maybe even 2 years down the road), he would have all 4 legs and be “normal” for the rest of his happy life. Or we could remove his affected leg and cure him of cancer.  We picked the second one.  It is 100 % curable if we amputate his leg.  Don’t get me wrong we are beyond excited and grateful that the cancer did not spread but we still have had a hard time with the decision.

So that’s that.  Duke has cancer, he is fine and we are amputating his leg.  We are so very blessed and happy to know the cancer is only in his leg and that we get to keep duke for the rest of his nice long life. Our sweet sweet Duke will have 3 legs “My little tripod.”  We just pray that Duke continues to be the same dog that he is today.  We want to still see him swim, run on the beach, go for boat rides, jump into bed, chase mongeese and still be the happiest dog I’ve ever known.  We just want his leg to go and not his spirit and tenacity for living the great doggie life that he does.   Our hearts are heavy but we know we are making the best decision for our Duke.

Andrew keeps asking if we will get 25% OFF discounts on baths now since he will only have 3 legs? I yell at him when he makes jokes like that! Oh and y’all can look forward to Duke being a pirate with a peg leg for Halloween. 

Cone Head!

Handsome Boy!

Happy Dog!

Resting with Nevi

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."

- Unknown