in january of 2010, we noticed (quite by accident) that the ‘wrist’ of gayle’s right leg seemed slighly swollen. at first we thought spider bite, etc, but it didn’t go down. there was no pain associated, so it didn’t seem like a ‘big deal’.
our vet (and we LOVE our vet team at Bluegrass Animal Hospital in Knoxville) decided it was a bigger deal, and did a needle biopsy. there were a few broken spindle cells, but, it wasn’t clear what was going on. gayle went under the knife to do a biopsy (i was allowed to be with her the whole time, which was conforting to both of us) – the tumor wasn’t large, but it was very deep.
the results from this indicated soft tissue sarcoma, high grade. we went to the local vet school for further tests, etc. no visible tumors elsewhere, with ultrasound, xray, etc. gayle’s right front leg was removed on february 17th.
looking back, we probably should have kept all the procedures with our vets, but so much happened so fast…it seemed like the vet school was the best answer. we had a few complications/issues but all is better now so i’ll not go into bashing mode here. this is my only comment – when people or animals go to a ‘teaching hospital’, i get the idea that any outcome is a ‘learning experience’. i just don’t feel they have a focus on the best for the patient in all aspects. that’s just me. anyway, gayle came home thursday february 18th, our beautiful tripawd sister.
Hi Gayle,
So glad you’re doing well now! My dog had a high grade soft tissue sarcoma, too…on her left rear knee. Not many dogs that I know of on Tripawds that have STS…typically it’s OSA.
Interesting comments about teaching hospitals….will keep that in the back of my mind..
Tracy, Maggie’s Mom
Hey Gayle,
No “shouldding” all over yourself now OK? No regrets, remember that.
But I do kinda get what you’re saying about vet teaching hospitals. While we think they are the best when it comes to technologies and treatments and such, you just don’t have that kind of rapport there that you do with a family vet that you have gotten to know. I had my surgery done at UC Davis in California and it was great. The nice thing is that all of those super smart students will one day go into practice themselves and be compassionate family vets to other animals.
It’s easy to second-guess our decisions, that’s for sure, but I think we make the best ones we can at the moment. It’s hard to be clear-headed when the world is topsy-turvy but the important thing is that Gayle is doing well now. She is indeed beautiful!