Albion's Page
Weight: 160
Breed: Mastiff
Age when diagnosed: 4
Tumors:
- Osteosarcoma in the
Front limb
Albion’s Story
Albion, our English Mastiff, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (bone cancer) on November 3, 2004, at the age of 4 yrs 10 mos. A few days prior, Albion had started limping on her right front leg. It looked swollen around the “wrist” area, so we limited her activity and ice packed it for a couple of days. But she wasn’t getting better so we took a trip to the vet. He immediately took x-rays and confirmed that she had osteosarcoma. My husband and I literally went into shock and just felt numb for the next few days. However, we kept our wits about us and two days after the diagnosis, we were at the Colorado State University Vet Teaching Hospital/Animal Cancer Center in Fort Collins, CO. Albion’s vet recommended we go there and there was no question that it was the best place to take her. Thank goodness we lived only 45 minutes away. They were very accommodating and were able to do chest x-rays at our first appointment. The x-rays showed no signs of lung metastasis which meant that the cancer hadn’t spread, so that was very good news. That put our minds somewhat at ease over the weekend. On Monday morning, November 8, we were back at CSU for a full body bone scan which would tell us if there was cancer in any other areas and it would help determine what our options would be regarding surgery. The bone scan was completely clear, so we discussed a relatively new procedure to remove the tumor called a Limb Spare. We spoke with Dr. Steve Withrow, the head of the CSU Animal Cancer Center who pioneered the procedure, and he felt that she was an excellent candidate for it. It was more expensive than amputation, but in Albion’s case, since she’d had problems with her back legs in the past, we felt that amputation would be difficult for her to handle, and we were prepared to do whatever was needed to help our girl.
On November 10, the surgery was performed by Dr. Withrow. He refers to the procedure as a “flip and nuke” which means that he cut the bone above the tumor, separated the bone from the leg while leaving the tendons/muscles attached, applied high amounts of radiation to the tumor, then placed the bone back in the leg and stabilized it with a metal plate and 14 screws. The surgery took 6 hours (the longest 6 hours of our lives!). But Albion came through it very well and we brought her home the following day. She is such a trooper! Three weeks after the surgery, she started chemo treatments. She had one treatment every three weeks for a total of six treatments, alternating Adriamycin and Carboplatin. She sailed through them with only minimal side effects.
On January 5, 2005, two weeks after her second chemo treatment, she started limping a lot more than usual and there was a significant bulge at the tumor site. So we immediately took her to CSU for x-rays. They showed that one of the screws had slipped due to a fracture at the tumor site. The only way to repair it was another surgery. We asked the surgeons (Dr. Withrow and Dr. Dernell) to do whatever was needed and when they got her into surgery, they discovered that there were actually four fractures around the tumor site. In order to stabilize her leg at this point, they removed the tumor completely, filled the resulting void with bone cement and put in an additional metal plate perpendicular to the first one, securing it with 18 more screws. They also had to fuse her wrist because the remaining bone and new bone cement alone wouldn’t be strong enough to support all 160 pounds of her. This “revision” surgery took 5 hours. Again, she did very well and came home the following day. (An interesting note about this surgery was that the doctors were able to take a sample of the cells in her leg and study them to find out if indeed the radiation from the first surgery had killed all the cancer cells. After over a week of studying them, it was determined that there were NO cancer cells left at the surgery site.) Once she had recovered from her surgeries, we decided to change her diet to an “anti-cancer” homemade diet which would be more beneficial with specific ingredients that have been shown to starve cancer cells. It’s a low carb, high fat diet consisting of boiled chicken, various pureed vegetables high in antioxidants, eggs, fish oil, garlic, and tofu. We also supplement with Hill’s N/D canned food, developed specifically for dogs with cancer.
We continued with her chemo treatments through March 2005. On March 21, 2005, she had her final treatment, and x-rays showed that she was completely clear of cancer! It was absolutely the best news we could hope for after an incredibly difficult few months.
In August 2005, she developed an infection in her cancer leg. We initially treated it with oral antibiotics, but when she wasn’t responding to them as well as expected, her oncologist recommended that we do some high intensity treatments to get it under control. They put a tourniquet on her leg, then injected antibiotics directly into the affected area of her leg while under anesthesia. She had one treatment per day for four days in a row. It seemed to get rid of the infection at first, but additional tests later on showed that the infection had actually attached itself to the metal plate in her leg. The only way to get rid of it completely would be to remove the plate which meant another major surgery. But her oncologist was just as reluctant as we were to put her through that again, so he prescribed oral antibiotics for her indefinitely. He felt that as long as she was responding well to them, we could manage the infection without surgery.
In November 2006, we noticed that some of the screws holding one of the metal plates in her leg had started to back out (not through the skin, but you could see and feel the screw heads). It required another surgery to replace 13 screws with some bigger ones. If it wasn’t repaired, the screws could have backed out enough to cause problems that might not be fixable. She came through the surgery with flying colors and made a full recovery.
Throughout all of this, she has tolerated everything amazingly well. She still wags her tail when we go back for checkups every three months. We knew she was special ever since she came to live with us at 9 weeks of age. And special doesn’t even begin to describe her. She’s one in a million and we are celebrating and enjoying life with her and her Mastiff brother, Theo. We have learned to appreciate every moment that we have with them. At the time of diagnosis, we were told that the odds were stacked against her because osteosarcoma is such an aggressive disease. But she’s beating the odds and we have faith that she will continue to do so. You just have to BELIEVE! But no matter what happens, we know that we have done everything we can to give her a happy life. And we know that we are truly blessed to have her and Theo with us each and every day.
Mastiff hugs & slobbers,
Karen, Adrian, Albion & Theo
Pictures
Our beautiful Albion
Jan 2004 after 2nd surgery
Albion contemplating the snowdrift
one of her favorite toys
Albion and Theo in Oregon