Well, today we took Chloe to the vet to have her leg checked out. She was not walking on it much and I was having to carry her outside to go potty. We knew she wasn't feeling well since she kept leaving the room and heading for her bed in our bedroom. That is not like her. So this morning I called and made her an appointment.
When we went to the assigned room, the nurse asked a few questions like what we feed her and if she was being treated for heart worm disease and fleas. She took her temperature and said it was normal. Then the doctor came in. He was one I hadn't seen there before. The hospital has a team of veterinarians and I suspect he is fairly new there. We have been taking Chloe there since we moved to this town in 2002. At that time she had to have bladder surgery to remove bladder stones. She was only 2 at the time and they were amazed that such a young dog had stones. They told us that was something usually older dogs got. Anyway, the doctor checked her leg and asked us what had happened. We told him she jumps down off the sofa and off hubby's recliner all the time and since her front legs are so short she sometimes injures them. We've tried to keep her from jumping down but sometimes she is quicker than we are and before we know it she is down. From time to time she limps around for a day or two and then she is okay. He said to put her down so he could watch how she acted when she walked. Of course when he called her to him, she looked at him as if to say "yeah, right!" So I walked over by him and called her to me. Not a limp in sight. Hubby and I looked at each other and said we couldn't believe it. The doctor chalked it up to adrenaline and said he would like to take an xray to rule out a broken bone. We agreed and he whisked her out the door and we sat there and waited. About 10 minutes went by and he brought her back and said he'd be right back after he checked the films.
When he came in he said, "well, it's not a broken bone but I have some bad news for you." He proceeded to put the two xrays in the viewer on the wall. He said he was concerned because the bone in her leg was bowed and also because at the joint where it joined her foot, I guess it's her ankle, the edge of the film looked like it was kind of scalloped and not a smooth line. He said it looked like cancer or a bone infection. We were stunned. We just sat there and listened in a sense of shock from that point on. He suggested putting her on aggressive antibiotics for a couple of weeks and some anti-inflammatory for pain and then check to see if there was improvement. If not he suggested taking a biopsy and possibly amputating her leg and having chemotherapy. Then he said she probably would only last another 6 or 8 months at that time. And if we did nothing it would probably be only 2 months. We couldn't believe what he was saying. I kept waiting for him to say something like, "you've just been punked!" He kept saying he was sorry for having to give us bad news. He suggested having a specialist check the xrays to confirm or deny his diagnosis. We agreed again.
He left the room again and returned with the meds for her. He said he would call us as soon as he heard from the specialist. We just are overwhelmed. Hubby said he didn't even want to consider amputation and chemo was not a good option either if it was only going to extend her life by a few months. I think its an infection only how does one get an infection in the bone? She hasn't had an injury or anything. So I would sure appreciate some prayers for our little girl. She is like the child we never had together. We each have grown children from a previous marriage but she is our child together. I am going to think positively and pray for a miracle outcome myself. Here we were just trying to rule out a broken leg and this is not what we expected at all.
