Looking at her you’d never know.

The hardest part of all these decisions is looking at her now. Mia is the happiest we’ve seen her in a year, now that the tumor is gone from her leg & she’s healed. You’d never be able to tell from how she’s acting that she’s got cancer still lurking in that same spot. When the tests came back the first time, we were told to expect the tumor to come back. Expect it to be worse. Expect surgery multiple times unless we amputate. That the tests could  come back inconclusive or cancer free from her torso & it could still be there. There’s always a chance. Unless it’s blatant “CANCER HERE!” we’re looking at amputation. Well the tests came back inconclusive this time. She has a “normal amount of tumor-like activity for a dog her age, but they aren’t MCTs.” My husband & I were told we should go have her tested again for tests that are way out of our price range just to “be sure.” Which kind of ticks me off. We just spent our entire savings on tests that weren’t good enough? So here we are, looking at amputate anyways. Because if we don’t it WILL spread if it hasn’t already. Because if we don’t soon, who knows. I don’t want to risk waiting another month, or two, & having that tumor come back twice as big–which we were told was entirely likely. That this was a sleeping giant we prod with a stick by removing what they could. So instead of doing nothing, instead of waiting, we’re doing what we were first told was the right decision. We’re still going to amputate. Fact remains that she still has cancer in that leg. It could spread, & we don’t know how fast. We will do what we can if it shows up anywhere else.. but this is something we CAN do. As much as it makes me sick thinking about it, this is the right decision. She’s so happy, so full of life, so sweet.. I can’t risk losing her because we waited too long. I feel silly, but everyone we’ve talked to that knows her & has animals themselves said they’d do the same if it were their animal.   So. Amputation it is. Probably by the end of the month, we were scheduled to have her original stitches taken out Tuesday, but with this final decision they’re going to call us back to possibly change her appointment just to get it all done at once. I love her, & when I signed those adoption papers I meant I would do everything I could for her. This just happens to be a part of it.