The journey has begun…

Our sweet Mona, an eight year old Golden Doodle on December 9, 2015.  Little did we know that in less than 1 month, she’d suffer a pathologic fracture of her right forepaw…and get the dreaded diagnosis of osteosarcoma.

Mona is an emotional support service dog and has been an amazing comfort for many through life’s most difficult challenges.  Now, cruelly, it would be her turn to face hardship.

Here she is with the pretty pink cast (but really clumsy) she was fitted with, after undergoing a total battery of radiographs, which revealed no metastasis in lungs, limbs, or spine.  We also learned her hips (no dysplasia) and knees (very minor arthritis) and remaining forelimb were all quite sound.

Nevertheless, we wrestled with the emotions of the only treatment available to spare her quality of life.  The fracture would never heal, and despite the brave and happy face Mona kept, the peg-leg cast couldn’t stay for long.

Here she is today, home less than 36 hours after surgery.  She’s a bit unsteady, owing to the drugs and the loss of her right-side counterbalance, but she’s resting comfortably, drinking and enduring short walks outside for bathroom breaks.

An uncertain night ahead and we’re not sure where all this leads, but my prayer is that she’s up and mobile/agile is short order.  And back to her full “Mona-self” very soon.

And we pray we made the right choice for one of God’s very special creatures.