Greta's change in plans

So, Greta was supposed to have limb sparing surgery this past Thursday.  10:30 Wednesday night we cancelled it.  At 8 o'clock that evening I got a phone call from the surgeon.  He wanted to review drop off procedures and the potential risks with me.  Well, he squeezed in the list of risks two new ones!!!  If either occured they would have to do immediate on the spot amputation of her leg.  There would be no way to know until they were past the point of no return and havd cut through muscle, tendon, and bone.  if the cancer had broken through her wrist cartiledge or ife her third metacarpal broke when inserting the screw, they would amputate.  How did this come up for the first f-ing time 12 hours before surgery?  I'm pretty pissed that we wasted an entire week more than necessary to begin her treatments.  If he had told me this the week before, she'd already have gotten the care she needs!

This was never and acceptable option for us.  Dogs carry 60% of their weight on their front legs.  We have a 147 pound girl over here.  There's no way we could do that to her.  That would not have resulted in the quality of life we want to preserve for her.  After lots and lots of tears, we decided that for her sake, we had to cancel it. 

Our new plan includes radiation treatments starting tomorrow.  This will be accompanied by bisphosphorate treatments (basically like that Boniva osteoporosis medicine form women) to strengthen her bones.  I'm hopefully that when Jamie talks to the radiologist tomorrow we can find out if we can incorporate chemotherapy in her treatment plan, too.  Very likely this new plan will not give her as prolonged of a life as the limb sparing and chemo.  With surgery and chemo we were hopefully looking at another 1-2 years potentially.  Radiation should give her (hopefully) about 6 months with much less pain.  We still have to worry about her breaking her wrist.  If that happens, our options would be amputation or saying I love you one last time.  The thought of that makes my heart hurt so much. 

For now, just like when I was gearing up for ivfs and fets, we're doing everything humanly possible to help her, praying our hearts out, and just taking it day by day (and enjoying each moment with our gentle giant).  We'll have more of a clear plan after tomorrow, but tomorrow will certainly be her first round of radiation.  Thoughts and prayers are always appreciated!