A Dreaded Diagnosis and the Decision to Amputate

Hello all and welcome to the story and journey of Finn the Great Dane and his fight against osteosarcoma.

Finn is a 6-year old, 160-pound Great Dane who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in his front left leg on March 13, 2020. Our vet explained that typically they would amputate the leg; however, due to his size, Finn was not a good candidate. Devastated by the news and accepting the fact we had no choice but to treat him only with palliative care, we started him on gabapentin (pain), carprofen (anti-inflammatory) and alendronate (bone strengthening). I tried to keep his routine the same, taking him on his daily walks but limiting his back yard zoomies with his sister so he didn’t injure his leg. It was clear, however, two weeks later that the tumor and pain were progressing quicker than we could have ever imagined. Finn developed a limp and the tumor got bigger and bigger. I went back to our vet and we started him on tramadol (pain) as well. This helped for maybe another week and a half.

During this time, I really started to question everything and became desperate for other palliative care options. I knew we had a choice to make as time with our beloved pup was running out; I decided it was time to get a second opinion. I researched and scheduled an appointment with a well-reviewed local oncologist for April 14. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the appointment was difficult as I had to stay in the car the entire time. The doctor, however, came out four or five times to talk to me which was awesome. She wanted to do x-rays of his lungs to confirm they were clear, but after her assessment of him, her suggestion was to absolutely amputate and subsequently do chemotherapy. He was in serious pain, she said, and we needed to remove that source of pain.

My heart broke. Firstly, we had already written off amputation as an option, so getting into that mindset again was hard. And second, I felt so guilty we had waited so long to get another opinion and kept him in pain.

Once home, my husband and I talked about it all night and scanned the internet for some kind of sign. We wanted desperately to give this full-of-life boy more time. It was really after reading many success stories with dogs even bigger than Finn within the Tripawds community that gave us the strength to make the decision to amputate.

The oncologist sent her report to our regular vet and we scheduled amputation for the next Monday (April 20).