May 8: Our dog, April, has had fibrosarcoma, a bone cancer in her jaw for the last 10 months. See my post from late July when I described her diagnosis. We had the lump on her upper jaw removed in July, and it didn’t start to come back until January. It’s been growing steadily for the last five months, and now it’s really starting to bother her. Chemotherapy and radiation aren’t effective treatments of fibrosarcoma. If her cancer had started on a limb, we would have had the limb amputated, but the only real treatment was to have her jaw amputated. And even then, the median life expectancy was only about 16 months after the surgery. So last summer we elected not to do the invasive (and gross) jaw removal surgery.
We’ve had our fingers crossed that the tumor would grow back slowly and would be something that didn’t bother her too much. April has been on prednisone and antibiotics for the last month to help with the side effects of the tumor. But this week, it has become clear to us that this isn’t a sustainable situation.
April is in pain, and she’s been bleeding a lot recently. We still don’t know when, but we have started talking to our vet about when to put her down.
This really breaks my heart, because she is such a good, loving, and joyful dog. I went through the hundreds of photos I have of her from over the last five years and compiled a retrospective album of April. I love how April’s joyful spirit shines through these photos. I also recently took some photos of April playing with our neighborhood dogs and some of her sitting on our lawn last night. She was very happy and rolling in the grass that night. See those photos in April’s April album.
From being a therapy dog at the Hospital in Michigan, to letting Andrew paw all over her to running her “crazies” around the yard, April has been a wonderful dog and family member. I’m hoping we don’t have to take any actions soon, but it is inevitable. I’ll let you know when there is news. In the meantime, feel free to come by (if you’re in the area) to
give April a hug.