Day 4 Post-Surgery, Original X-rays

We have set up a GoFundMe for Dino's veterinary expenses.

Hi everyone,

The response to the GoFundMe for Dino has absolutely blown Ben and I away. We are so grateful for everyone's generosity, and it has been a huge relief for us to see this support. The reduced financial stress is letting us focus on helping Dino and keeping ourselves more rested. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you.

Dino is much more mobile today! But he still needs rest -- the medications help with that, but I wish he could understand me when I say "you need to slow down." Haha. He just loves life so much. He's also starting to not want the cold compress so I've been chasing him around the house with it. He thinks he can get away, but underestimates how persistent I am.

Dino continues to wake up every hour overnight, and still needs a lot of help during the day, but I am glad to see he's being more of his independent self. The surgery site looks great, there is little bruising, and he is having regular bowel movements now.

We spent some time outside today and he really enjoyed watching the squirrels. Friends Sarah and John stopped by this evening and Dino was happy for the company. He spent some time laying with his head on John's lap, soaking up the attention.

Rolling in the cool grass.

Enjoying the sunshine on the deck.

Dino enoying his new shrimpy toy from friend Pegah.

I thought I would also share the original X-rays of Dino's rear legs. We got these X-rays because Dino had been limping for a couple of weeks. Our local vet thought Dino may have torn a ligament in his knee, so she was looking for soft tissue damage and was also going to do a manual examination of his leg. But I guess she didn't have to look very hard to see what was actually causing the problem. The left leg (image with the "L") has no cancer. You can see how the bone is smooth in density. The right leg (image with the "R") shows the osteosarcoma. The cloudiness in the top of the tibia is cancer. This was causing Dino a lot of pain and making the bone very fragile. The soft tissue was also very swollen near this knee. The vet also took images of his chest the same day, after seeing these images, to see if the cancer had spread in any detectable way. Osteosarcoma in dogs usually starts in leg joints (and sometimes the jaw) and then the next place tumours start to form is in the lungs, as cancer cells are carried there in the blood.

A clean X-ray of Dino's left knee.

The cancerous bone in the Dino's right knee. The top of the tibia is the bone affected, and the cloudiness indicates cancer.

The X-rays the doctor took of Dino's chest the same day showed no cancer spread, but she warned us that the X-ray can only detect relatively large tumours. This is why we went to the oncology department at the Toronto hospital to get a CT scan, which is much more sensitive. The CT scan was also clear, but I don't have those images to share, unfortunately.

Dino is currently napping next to me. I hope he is able to sleep through the night with fewer interruptions tonight, for his sake and ours. We are so very tired, but I think it is important to be right close to him to help him if needed. Plus, he is sneaky and knowing him he'd get his cone off and lick his stitches, and we can't have that.

Thanks again for reading, and I'll continue updating you all on Dino's progress as we go. The surgeon warned that things could get worse around day 5 before they get better, but with Dino's great progress so far, we are hopeful things will remain good.

-Megan, Ben, & Dino