He's heeeeeeeere!

This morning when the docs called, they told me that Arlie was already walking around and even trying to run a bit. I tried to act all cool and calm but then started telling them that I just knew he would be their star pupil and although I know they take care of a lot of animals, it was ok to say that Arlie was their favorite. I mean...it's true so they might as well just admit it. Not like it would shock me.

Greg and I were pretty nervous to pick him up. We were worried he would be so angry and hurt that we would do this to him. Here's the first time we saw him:

 

 

As you can see, Arlie is still getting used to being a tripawed pup. Greg is all ready to bring a bed to the main level of the house so that Arlie doesn't have to worry about steps and to make his recovery easier.

Arlie with his ice pack on his shoulder with Daddy giving him love love

Tomorrow I'll continue to take more video of day 2 of his "ampuversary". Get ready to be amazed!

Surgery went as expected

Dr. Taylor called us around 5pm to let us know that Arlie's amputation was successful and that he was a very strong guy. They are sending the arm to the lab (ew...I know) for tests to determine what stage the cancer is.

Yes, I said cancer. There was no sign on the biopsy of infection so now almost all signs are pointing to osteo. My poor little guy.

It's now 8:47 and I have called the docs once already (hey..they told me I could call them as much as I want to check on him---I'm THAT parent). They told me that he is on an IV narcotic to take away any pain so that he can sleep.

Next blog update...PICKUP!!!!!!!!

Tri-pawd

Last night Greg and I had such a hard time sleeping. Everytime I closed my eyes I saw Arlie's CT in my head and when I would actually fall asleep, I dreamt of Arlie guarding his right side.

We arrived at the clinic at 7:30 and met with Dr. Taylor. He showed the CT scan to us once again and it proved that we are doing the right thing by Arlie. In just one week, his bone has almost disintegrated on the inside and he has a hairline fracture. One week!!! I don't know how he was still hobbling around let alone jumping off our bed just this morning. He's amazing.

Dr. Taylor told us what to expect with the amputation and...you would have been proud...but Greg and I kept it together (mostly). We felt we needed to be strong for Arlie because he's scared enough. Before the limb amputation, they will do a biopsy to see:

a) What kind of cancer it is. Although it is mostly osteo there may be 2 others that disguise themselves as osteo and aren't AS aggressive (i.e. we may get 2 years with him instead of 1)
b) It's a serious bone infection in which case they would do aggressive treatments in trying to save the limb.

Dr. Taylor told us to expect a diagnosis of osteo though. I said there might be a chance it's something else? And he looked at me and said, "Yes, but I think you are leading towards an osteo diagnosis. Stats show this is the most common types of cancers." 

You know the movie Dumb and Dumber? The scene when Jim Carrey is trying to get a date with Lauren Holly's character? He's asking for his chances and says, "Like one in a hundred?" and she says, "More like one in a million." A big smile comes on his face and he says, "So you're saying I have a chance!!!!"

Here it is for your viewing pleasure.

I'm Jim Carrey's character and the doc is Lauren Holly's. Let's root for a bone infection! Come on bone infection!!!!!!

It's 12:30EST and they expect to start the procedure in the next hour. The whole thing takes about 90 minutes plus the anesthesia process. We hope to pick him up tomorrow by 1:00.

We are anxiously sitting by the phone willing it to ring. Now, I'm like a high school girl waiting to be asked to the prom. I'm checking to make sure the phone is charged and works. Calling it from Greg's phone to make sure the ringer is on and loud. RING!!!!!

About to be brought back. He's so brave.

Bring it Dr. Taylor!!!

Love and paws,
Andrea, Greg, and Arlie

CT Scan complete! Amputation scheduled.

Last I posted, Arlie was going into his CT scan in which we would find out if the cancer had metastisized. Well, that particular CT machine broke. So that included another day of waiting. Then today Dr. Manley (Arlie's oncologist) called to say that another center here in the DC area had an opening for a CT scan! I loaded 2 kids and a dog into my swagger wagon and off to the Hope Center I went.

It was there I met Dr. Monaco (not like the country....more like Mo-knock-oh) who was his surgeon performing the CT scan. I filled him in on the situation and off Arlie went to the depths of the clinic to have his insides photographed.

The CT showed that the cancer had not metastisized to his lungs (woot woot!!!). Unfortunately this cancer is really horrible and the cells are most likely already in Arlie's body. So there's no cure.

Tomorrow, we are dropping Arlie off at 7:30 am to talk to the surgeon (Dr. Taylor) about the amputation. Arlie will then have his surgery in the afternoon and the doctor said that they will keep him overnight.

We also had a chance to speak with anther vet at the Hope Center for a third opinion. Funny story is that his kids go to preschool with my kids! This doctor said just what I needed to make this surgery and the upcoming chemo worth it. I can have another year with my sweet schnoodle bug. I'll take it.

We have struggled with this decision but today Arlie showed signs that he is in terrible pain. He is guarding his right side and has a pronounced limp. He's not running to meet us at the door anymore and is hesitant about going up the stairs. It's time to make his pain go away.

I found this video online about a Rottweiler who also faced osteo. Check out how amazing he is on three legs. Everyone is talking about how incredible he is but they haven't met my Arlie Barley!!!!!

Kids knew Arlie had a boo boo so they wanted to make him as comfortable as possible

Seriously the best dog ever

Pillow Pet

Arlie was a bull for Halloween. He was a trooper.

Say what????? Osteosarcoma????


After we dropped Arlie off to get his CT scan the kids had some questions. It went a little something like this:

J-"Mommy, where's Arlie going?"
Me-"He's going to have a picture of his bone"
J-"Why?"
Me-"His bone has a bad boo boo and the doctors need to see what's wrong"
G-"Why?"
Me-"The doctors need to know so that we know how to make Arlie feel better"
J-"I know what will make him feel better....if I can get dessert"

So J got his dessert and that means....Arlie Bear will feel better.

A little history of the schnoo

Arlie is coming out of the airplane the day we got him! You don't know this, but he was barking away and letting everyone know he was there!

 

Here's the schnoo before we got him. The pic is turned around but you get the gist, he's a little fluff ball of sweetness.

Proud mama

Daddy reading the "instruction manuel" from the breeders.

Arlie showing the mailman whose in charge

That's right, we enrolled him in puppy preschool. Here's Arlie checking out some friends

Rawr!!!

 

Loving the outdoors. He's such a boy. Loves to get dirty.

Arlie and Daddy working hard on Greg's thesis

Schnoodle nose

Arlie's first birthday party!!!! In this pic with him are Cooper (his BFF) and Lucy (his girly)

Happy Birthday Arlie! You are ONE!!!

Arlie and his BFF have no shame

Arlie was used in my classroom during Reading Week. That's right, even schnoodles like to learn a thing or two!

"That can't be....he's only 7!"

Hi. This is Arlie. Actually, his full name is Arlington Bear Hayken but most of you know him as Arlie or Arlie Bear or even Arlie Barley....you get the gist...he has a lot of names.

His story begins the day after Thanksgiving on Nov 23, 2012. He had been limping for a week and Greg and I thought Arlie had sprained or pulled something jumping off the bed or chasing squirrels (his favorite past time). When we walked into the vets office, his limp miraculously disappeared and I thought we were golden. Dr. Bruzzese (our wonderful vet...I'm letting you know his name as I think I will be talking about him a lot on here) did an exam and ordered an xray.

As we waited for the results, I still assumed that the vet would say it was a pulled muscle. When he walked in the room, his face told a different story.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news", he said, "Arlie has bone cancer." I just sat there...stunned...and when I asked what that meant Dr. B explained that the life expectancy of a dog with osteosarcoma is about 4-5 months. At that moment, I completely lost it. How could MY active 7 year old mixed breed get this??? Can it be cured??? What will I tell the kids??? Is he in pain??? Did Dr. B make a mistake???

It was then that Dr. B said, "Andrea, I'm not telling you there is a slight chance that Arlie has bone cancer. I'm telling you there's a high chance he has bone cancer." 

I took Arlie home that night and Greg and I spent the rest of the Thanksgiving weekend, hugging Arlie and crying. Everything that we read said that this bone disease is a death sentence and we would be lucky to have him in our lives much longer.

 I had looked up the stages of grief:
1) Denial
2) Anger
3) Bargaining
4) Depression
5) Acceptance

This seems about par as I spent the whole weekend saying, "No no...they messed up the xrays. It was a different dog. Arlie's so young, he just turned 7 last weekend. He's a mixed breed. It's an infection....not cancer." I guess you can say I'm in the denial phase.

After a horrible weekend of waiting for the oncologist to open, we got an appointment this morning. Again, I expected her to say that this was in fact NOT a malignant tumor but a benign tumor. This was all a big mistake. Unfortunately she told us the tumor is quite large and has done quite a bit of damage to Arlie's bone. We decided to do a CT scan to see exactly how far the cancer has invaded our little schnoodle and so we can get options.

Options:
1) It is in his lungs already in which case we make him as comfortable and happy as we can and shower him with even more love until we don't see the Arlie bear in the big brown eyes that we know.

2) It is not in his lungs and we amputate the arm which will take his pain away. Dogs are able to recover quickly from this major surgery and we have no doubt that OUR Arlie is such a fighter and will do just fine.

3) We amputate and do chemo. You are probably thinking chemo on a dog is the same as chemo on a human. It's not. It's such a low dose that it does not kill the cancer. Instead, it slows the rate of the spread to hopefully get us another year with our puppy. Again, it will not cure Arlie. It will just prolong his life and maintain his quality of life that we know he has. It won't make him sick. It will just maintain the same quality of life for a bit longer and we will have our Arlie what we hope a few months more.

Second stage....Anger....I'm SO angry. WHY my dog???? Why a dog that is so good and so kind and loves his family SO much??????

I know you are probably thinking...why are they doing this to themselves. Why do chemo for just a year. The answer is simple...he is our first child. He was there for us through moves, having children, loss of grandparents, first days of school, kissing the tears and boo boos away and never has asked for anything in return. He puts his paw on us, looks us in the eye, and makes us feel better. He's our Arlie.

Once we hear from the doctor with the CT results I will post again. In the meantime, thank you for your support and Arlie says, "Woof".

Love and paws,
Andrea, Greg, and Arlie