10.27.15

Baloo’s Bare Necessities

Posted in Uncategorized tagged AmputationocadiaLabradorocadiaStoryocadiaSurgeryocadiaSwimocadiaTripawdocadiaUC DavisocadiaVeterinary at 12:08 am by eborzage

In tough times, most of us realize that the bare necessities are really just health and happiness, and where it’s not that I need it for myself so much, I do for my dogs. And let’s face it – if my dogs have health, that means I have happiness.

I’m certain many of us have found Tripawds seeking information in the wake of a diagnosis that’s left us responsible to make choices on behalf of our sweet companions. Gauging the amount of fight on behalf of someone who cannot comprehend their future is an overwhelming responsibility. Digging deep to choose a standard of care that puts them first as final thanks for their lifetime of putting you first.

I’m one of four on a team doing that for our ninety pound yellow Labrador, Baloo. We first noticed an inconsistent limp a couple of weeks ago when fall arrived, but with his 11^th birthday just past on 9/19, I hoped for arthritis.

My mom found the limp reminiscent of the onset of osteosarcoma in our black lab Gus twelve years prior, so despite glowing results from complete blood workup during the removal of a questionable (but benign) mass two weeks earlier, we requested x-rays. You know what they say about Mom being right.

Our vet’s preliminary findings were good when she called on October 14th with the good news.  Baloo had become a bit of a mascot for the vet clinic over the years, and she was eager to call. Her follow-up call was less welcome – almost undetectable, but with magnification, the abnormality was there.

I knew our family would not be eager to consider amputation because we had felt like it was a lot to put our pup through for what felt like our own benefit – having him around longer. But a few years ago I had been an active with a Lab Rescue group, and at times experience as a Board member required me to make medical decisions for dozens of dogs, typically sick or injured, which I always did as if they were my own, trying to do in each case what seemed best for the dog. I knew from my volunteer work with labs that there are some amazing success stories, and that Baloo wasn’t ready to be written off just because he’d reached a ripe old age for a big lab.

The first thing I tried to do was accept that he had cancer would ultimately be fatal, whether we had a few weeks or a few years. We went swimming daily rather than worrying about potential ear infections, and decided to continue swim daily (his favorite!) until he no longer wanted to go. There was no other way to spoil him, because he has everything else exactly the way he’d want it. Our number one concern was making certain that Baloo was comfortable. Gus had been through a rapid decline, eventually breaking his leg when the tumor grew, and it was agonizing for all of us.

The next day I reached out to a friend from high school who I knew is doing his veterinary residency at UC Davis, which is about two hours from home. I was hoping he’d recommend an oncologist, but with his help, we were also connected to an appointment at Davis six days later on 10/21.  Having a plan to get help lifted our spirits, which clearly lifted Baloo’s spirits too.

Meeting with the oncologist resident at UCD was incredible. She was energetic and gave us hope. In fact, she was so encouraging that by the end of the visit my mom was on board with considering amputation, and once mom and I were on board, and together we were able to share information that made my Dad and brother excited about the benefits. The beautiful thing about UC Davis is that it is a teaching hospital, so they’re cutting edge.  The current standards of care were explained and a few additional tests were performed the same day to both confirm the diagnosis, and to help determine our path forward.

The tests did not reveal other major issues. Considering all the aspects of his health, along with his puppy-spirit, all four of us agreed to go with the recommended amputation of his left front leg, and to undergo chemotherapy. While the bonus is that this may also prolong Baloo’s life, the immediate benefit is that his pain will be gone once he recovers from surgery, and we are so thrilled to imagine our boy feeling better. His decline in the last week has been marked.

My brother flew home from Los Angeles last Thursday to see him, and after watching him walk, commented that he was already a three-legged dog, which is quite true.

This weekend Baloo and my other old-man-black lab Maverick swam and fetched, and Baloo was clearly happy to have his four humans in one place! In fact, the only one of us missing from the 2010 photo below is Truman in the middle.

UC Davis has him on their surgery schedule this week, so my mom and brother drove him there today. He cries non-stop when even one of us is away from home, so tonight will be tough for us all.  I am grateful Baloo has a guardian angel at UCD looking out for him this week, and hopefully even assisting with his surgery. Baloo gave him a kiss when they met today, which is an honor our pup bestows sparingly, so he liked his new friend! And it was reassuring to have someone close to us assure us that Baloo is in good hands.

And we are all greatly looking forward to the day we can return to the water, so Baloo can swim again, which is definitely our post-surgery goal.

While we waited for Baloo at UCD last week I pulled up videos of tripawd dogs, which helped us prepare to decide on Baloo’s behalf to lose a limb. I’m not a blogger typically, but I thought that I would add Baloo’s story with the hopes that it could help someone in the future.

In the middle of all the uncertainty of this process, and the facts, figures, and science, there is one indisputable piece of information – Baloo’s life was dedicated to making my family happy from the moment he picked me out and left his brothers and sisters to crawl into my lap when he was a puppy.  It would be a disservice to the joyous way he lived to spend any portion of his last days being sad.

As our wild-eyed Baloo would wish you and yours, forget about your worries and your strife!

 

 

 

 

 

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