All you need is LOVE!

Sarge 8

This Handsome boy is 8 months post cancer diagnosis!  Yesterday offered a wonderful early Valentines gift.  Sarge had gained a much needed 10 lbs!  Sarge had shown concerning weight loss the last 3 visits, while receiving carboplatin treatments, so his veterinarian (Dr. Heintz) wanted us to keep a close eye on that.  With the help of the things he loves; peanut butter, scrambled eggs and lots of chicken to go on his grain free food, we packed the pounds on.   He is now a perfect 90 lbs!  The vet could not have been more pleased with his progress and said he looked amazing!  Sarge is always excited to go to the vet hospital and just loves everyone there.  His attitude has been stellar throughout this entire process.  Sarge has always had a gentle, loving, calm demeanor, and a contagiously brilliant personality.   Obviously a result of lots of love and effective training by Mom… Ok, in reality, probably his Mastiff/Boxer genetics.  Sarge greets everyone in the office, then lays down next to Dr. Heintz and allows him to preform whatever needs to be done that day.

Dr Heintz said that even though we have completed the 6 scheduled chemo treatments back in December, he recommends that we revisit chemo about every 3 months as maintenance.  Sarge did not tolerate the adriamycin, so we opted to utilize single drug regimen. Due to the fact sarge tolerates carboplatin so well, we do not have fear in continuing to do this and hope it will prolong his healthy, happy, fire pit loving, cancer-free days.

I know these days wont last for ever, and I am fully aware that Osteosarcoma returns, but for now, we are basking in the reality that he is pain-free, loving life, spreading his crazy perfect love to everyone he meets and filling the role of being his Mommies very best friend!  My life will just not be the same with out my pawsome canine son.

I love you and am so very proud of your brave warrior spirit and lack of fear in the face of this often terrifying process.  You are an inspiration to anyone facing life struggles.

On Valentines day we will spend the day basking in the unseasonably spectacular 75 degree weather, before the cold front and snow hits on Monday.

 Here is to another day of celebrating LIFE!

A life filled with unconditional LOVE!

 All you need is LOVE!

Sarge8

Author: c1nicolei

Sarge has been the the love of my life since we rescued him in 2007. He was thought to be a carcass on the side of the road in our community park. As I walked over to look at the pitiful dead dog, I soon realized he was still breathing, barely. We rushed him to the vet and although severely malnourished and in a terrible state, with TLC he miraculously pulled through. Snap shot ahead to 6/2014, we decide to go outside to play fetch, he was so excited and full of energy, doing his typical bouncy boxer pelvic shuffle. He took a nasty tumble and the sounds that followed was nothing short of heart piercing. My heart stopped, because I knew it was bad, very bad. I am a PA, not a veterinarian, but I knew instantly the leg was broken badly. I splinted him and rushed him to the vet. What initially was going to be an orthopedic surgery to repair a broken radius and ulna, quickly turned into, "Your dog sustained a pathological cancer, we think he has osteosarcoma". I could not even hear what I was being told. How could this seemingly happy, healthy, FULL of life dog have CANCER?? The BX confirmed my worst fears. This whole process took over a week. In that time I researched every aspect of canine osteosarcoma I could find and I had already made up my mind, we were going to fight this, not for me, but I knew he was not done living!!! Making the decision to amputate was not one taken lightly. We ensured there were no macro mets and that his blood work looked stable. I also decided if we amputated we would also do chemo. Sarge had his leg amputated 2 days ago and I am amazed at his hour by hour improvement. We start chemo in 2 weeks. I will keep everyone updated and love reading stories on here that give me hope that he will be able to be a happy, pain free normal Sarge!!! This is when we joined TRIPAWDS! What a wonderful, reassuring supportive community! I love you TRIPAWDS!

8 thoughts on “All you need is LOVE!”

  1. Yay Sarge! I didn’t realize (or had forgotten) that he and Nitro had their surgeries about the same time…Nitro is a couple weeks past the 8 month mark. So happy for you both that things are going well.
    Here’s to many hugs and adventures to come!

    Paula and Nitro

    1. So happy for Nitro. It did not seem that long to me, but the Vet looked up the date of the fracture and sure enough, 8 months. It took forever to get BX and subsequent amputation. I think it was almost 3 weeks. Usually that time goes very fast, but for us it seemed to crawl!

      Battle on Nitro!!!

    2. We need to get Nitro and Sarge together! Weekend road trip? Where are you all located? We are in Edmond Oklahoma. If you are on FB look me up Candie Barnthouse.

  2. Congratulations, Sarge! Johnnie is also 90 lb, and in a week will complete 9 months post-amp. We also did 6 rounds of carboplatin, Johnnie also a front-amp.
    Could you give more details on this revisit on the chemo after 3 months? sounds like good common sense to prevent mets.

    Daniela

    1. Sarges Vet admitted there is not extensive statistics to show the long term benefit of using Carbo as a maintenance, but as Osteosarcoma is sure to return, he feels it makes sense and is worth trying. Sarge tolerates it so well, it makes sense to me too. I think the numbers are NOT there statistically for several reasons. 1, many owners cannot afford the long term continuation of chemo, so there are not high numbers to look look at statistically and 2, many dogs don’t live long past the regular carbo regimen, if they finish it at all. Of course my heart is filled with hope that he can be a leader in this “trial” and we will keep updates. Have you watched the videos on Sarges blog where Dr. Heintz explains the chemo process? Very informational.

      Best of luck to your baby and battle on!!! I worried about having a large dog and him learning to get around on 3 legs. It was a transition but Sarge has adjusted perfectly, and acts like he doesn’t miss the leg at all.

  3. He is very handsome and so strong looking. I love his profile. I hope he beats this cancer for many more months to come.

    Kerren and Tri-kitty Mona

  4. Oh man this is BIG NEWS! I’m sorry I just now saw it but hey what better way to keep the pawty rolling right? CONGRATS on your pawesome new physique (dang I didn’t think you could get MORE handsome, Sarge!) and giving the ol’ heave-ho to cancer, you really are a role model of HOPE!

    Super duper congrats to the entire pack, thanks for the great update.

    P.S. Still haven’t forgotten about posting those great chemo videos, it’s in the queue for our Downloads blog.

    P.P.S. I would love to find out how the maintenance chemo goes. I’m curious, what about metronomics? Are you considering that at all or is he already on it? Forgive me if I missed that if you are using it.

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