He was only 8 weeks old when we got this bundle of joy from a breeder in West Virginia. We had just lost our old German Shepherd Louis and by accident ran over the advertisement in the newspaper.
My husband and I went to the place and not only brought home the puppie, we also adopted an older white shepherd in need of a good home. We named them Snow and Balou.
At first it seemed impossible to have the older dog to accept the puppie, but within a couple of weeks, these 2 became best friends. Sharing their meals, sleeping and playing together.
Simply these two had searched and found one another. We noticed the first signs of Balou’s lameness in February of 2004. We had been to the beach in Florida and walked for miles every day with Snow and Balou. At this point we thought he had just strained his leg and within a couple of days the lameness had disappeared again. We encountered no more problems in 2004, however just to be on the safe side, an x/ray was taken in September 2004 which showed part of the shoulder and elbow region. It was assumed that the pain was
located somewhere in this area.
In 2005 we had no trouble of any lameness til the beginning of December. He started to show a slight limp at first and within a couple of days it really seemed to get worst. I took him to the hospital and another x/ray was taken of the left front leg revealing slight changes to the joint just above the paw. Still at this point the Doctor wasn’t too concerned, however mentioned the word bone cancer the first time. I was totally in denial when I heard the possible prognosis and went home with my dog and several pills of Rimadyl.
A week later I still had a lame dog and at this point a swelling became present on the joint area. My husband and I went back to the vet and again another x/ray was taken. This time he was was almost 99% certain, that we were dealing with cancer. A bone biopsy was taken the day after and send in for evaluation. Three days later our worst fears were confirmed. High Grade Osteosarcoma. The worst possible diagnosis especially in a young dog. The prognosis was very poor , since this kind of cancer (90% of the time of diagnosis) it has already spread.
We took Balou to Blacksburg for a second opinion. The only way of giving him some more pain free month was an amputation followed by Chemo Therapy. We went through all other options and within a week of the diagnosis, we went ahead and had his front leg amputated.
This was not an easy decision, since Balou was quite a big dog.(91 pounds)However he already couldn’t bear anymore weight on the front leg and was already humbling around on three legs. The procedure went very smooth and within a day, Balou went outside on his own and took care of his business. Within 8 – 10 days he was as comfortable on 3 legs as he used to be on 4. The stitches were removed after 10 days and our spirits were high with hope.
We started the first Chemo 14 days after surgery and repeated it every 3 weeks for a total of 4 Chemos. He never got sick or showed any signs of discomfort during the administration or even a few days after the treatment. He was full of himself and ran through the woods with my other dogs like nothing ever happened. It was like we had won the battle against cancer. He even started to go swimming again as soon as the weather was warm enough to play his favorite game
of fetching sticks and balls.
About 3 weeks ago things started to go downhill. Balou came down with a really high fever and was rushed to the vet. At first he tested positive to the antibodies of Lime disease. So immediately he was put on the appropriate medication of Antibiotics. However we never seemed to really get control over the fever attacks even after we switched his medication several times. At this point (about a week after the first sign of fever), we took an x/ray of his chest. Even though he didn’t show the typical signs of lung cancer, a shadow in his lung area was present. A week later another x/ray was taken and the truth couldn’t be denied anymore. He had lung cancer. We slowly started to go downhill, at first he wouldn’t want to come with us in the woods anymore,however he liked swimming in the lake everyday. He still would play with his favorite toy and make it squeak for hours a day.
His appetite was good, until a week ago.
We started cooking Chicken and rice and vegetables for him. He would eat all of it and then even that meal didn’t appeal to him anymore. On Saturday (june 10th 2006) he was laying on his sofa and looked at us with these big eyes as if he was asking us what was wrong with him. It tore our hearts apart to look at him this way and I remembered how my old German Shepherd looked at me with these eyes full of questions and I wasn’t able to let go of him. I’ve kept Louis alive for too long, always hoping he would pull through one more time. I made a promise to myself to never to this again and to be strong for my friends and hoping to make the right decisions for them. For this is what friends are for.
The vet came the next day to our house around 1PM Nicos and I had a beautiful morning with Balou and he seemed to be much better than the day before. He went swimming and ate a big London Broil for breakfast. This is when it gets really hard. You are looking at this animal that still seems to have so much life left in him and you are questioning your decision. I came so close to cancel the appointment for that day, but then I didn’t. His breathing was hard and at night he would get up several times to find a comfortable position to lay down. Laying on his side made breathing harder, I guess, and so he would mostly lay on his stomach. There was this fear in me and in my husband, that his lungs would fill up with water and he would suffocate to death in the middle of the night. The thought of that scarred both of us. Where would we take him to get immediate help when that situation would occur. It was not fair to him to let it go that far. I wanted Balou to go with dignity and so he was put asleep at around 1:30 PM on Sunday june 11th of 2006. It was very peacefully done on our front porch, with a beautiful blue sky and a nice breeze blowing around him. He was sedated at first and after 15 minutes when he was deep asleep the injection was given. He had his head in my lap and one paw on his favorite toy.
This is how he left this world.
It is needles to say how both of us are hurting at this time. We have been through it several times and we have probably many more to go, as we still have 8 dogs. However each time it’s like the first time. You can only learn a little bit each time and hope that you did right thing for your pet. We are grieving right now and shedding our tears over his grave. It will get better day by day but, right now however, I would do anything to have him back….
Thank you for the short time you gave us,
which filled our hearts with a lifetime of memories,
| Martina Roebuck + Nicos Afedulidis |