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My dog Darby was the most loving and faithful dog a person could ever dream of. Darby was a Golden Retriever/German Shepherd mix. He had the markings of the German Shepherd but the hair length of a Golden. Darby was found trying to hide behind a mailbox post where he was dumped off by someone. My father brought him home and he became the family "outside" dog. This didn't last long as I demanded he be MY dog and come in the house. I was only 17 at the time and a pretty demanding teenager. Darby had a nervous bladder that almost earned him the right to stay outside for good, but I worked with him all the time to try to get him past his fears. When I moved out on my own, got married and divorced, Darby always remained faithful to me. He was always there to share a tear or even share some ice cream. Then along came Chance, whom would eventually be Darby's best buddy and "brother" in the dog world. Chance came to live with me in 1995 and was a challenge from the get go. Darby was almost 9 years old, but had the heart and desire of a 3 year old puppy, so he and Chance got along very well. He showed Chance the ropes and the two of them were inseparable. In 1998 I adopted yet another dog, his name is Jazper. Jazper was 4 months old and weighed 50 pounds. He was a German Shepherd mix (I am not sure what he is mixed with, possibly a Shetland Pony) and a big OX!! One late morning I had just finished with my "therapy bath", as I was recovering from a total knee reconstruction, when I heard a horrid yelping coming from the bedroom. My first thought was that one of them had been rough-housing too much and got jolted by one of the others. When the yelping didn't stop, I went to the bedroom to see Darby sitting on the floor, yelping in pain and his right front leg was grossly deformed at the humerus! From what I could tell by where he was located in the bedroom, I believe that Jazper probably jumped off the bed and landed right on his leg. I am a Paramedic, so my first thought was to lay him down and try to help splint the leg. That idea got me bitten. I couldn't pick him up and put him in the car as I couldn't even walk without crutches myself. I called my boyfriend home from work, it's amazing he even understood a word I said, because I was hysterical. We loaded up Darby, I held traction on the leg, and off we went on the 30 minute trip to the vet. We arrived at the vet's office and they were waiting for Darby. See, everyone at that office loved my dog just about as much as I did. He was just that kind of a dog! Well, my vet informed me that he couldn't fix the leg in his office and Darby would have to proceed to a veterinary hospital in Ft. Wayne, IN. He gave Darby pain medication and off we went to Ft. Wayne. The veterinary hospital was wonderful. They explained that to fix Darby's leg, he would either need a bone plate or screws, it would all depend on how the bone broke. They were going to sedate him, take him to X-ray and then the doctor would call me in the morning to explain which surgery would be required. WOW, I wanted it done right then, but I understood the reason for waiting until morning. They splinted Darby's leg to his body, which provided a lot more comfort for him, and I got to sit with him for a while. I am sure you can figure that I didn't get a really good nights sleep. I called the veterinary hospital 2 times during the night and both times they assured me that Darby was comfortable and he has wagged his tail practically every time someone went even remotely near his cage! The phone rang around 9 a.m. and the veterinarian stated that there was some suspicious "cloudiness" on the X-ray near Darby's shoulder. They were suspecting bone cancer and wanted permission to do a bone marrow biopsy. I was not at all prepared for this information. I was prepared to say, "do whatever surgery needs to be done, don't worry about the cost, I will figure out a way to pay for it". So I told them to go ahead with the biopsy. The biopsy came back positive. My dog had Osteosarcoma. My world was spinning. My best buddy had cancer. The hospital let me take him home with his leg splinted while I made my decision on what needed to be done. I had a wonderful weekend with my dog with "3 legs" as his leg was splinted to his body. He got around wonderfully, so I decided to just amputate the leg. They said
they needed to find out if the cancer had spread, which it had. They told
me that amputating the leg would give Darby about 6 months to live. They
actually said that the break wasn't because of the cancer, it was below
the site and it was a Godsend that the leg had been injured because they
were able to find the cancer soon enough and prolong his life. They said
if it had gone undetected until he started to limp, he may have only had
a few months to live at that point. Darby got his leg amputated and did wonderfully with 3 legs for the rest of his life. I opted to not do chemotherapy, as I see what it does to humans and I didn't want my dog to go through that just because I wanted him here on earth with me for a few months more. Darby lived almost 6 months to the day. The last week was very hard, because I knew what had to be done. No matter how much I rationalized that euthanasia was the best thing for him, I couldn't imagine not having my best buddy around. I decided to have him "put to sleep" on a Saturday, which was during my 4 days off cycle, so I would have time to gather myself and be able to go back to work. The vet suggested that I bring Chance along for the euthanasia, because if I left with Darby and didn't return with him, Chance may not understand why Darby was no longer around. When Saturday came, my boyfriend and I loaded Darby and Chance into the car. Darby had a rough time the night before as he had lost the function of his bowels and bladder. We stopped at the store and got the dogs each a beef jerky and Darby sat right up and ate the beef jerky like there was nothing wrong! This was so hard on me! Was I making the right decision?? We arrived at the vet's office and everyone was crying. They all knew Darby and everyone was going to miss him very much. We took Darby into the room and Dr. Lon's explained to me what would happen and how long it would take. Every single person in that office came in and hugged my dog and told him good bye. As I held Darby, she injected the solution and he took one last breath and it was over. Just like that, my best buddy was gone. Chance jumped up on the table edge and just looked at Darby. Chance then
sat down on the floor and I swear, he hung his head like he knew what
just happened. The whole office was still crying. I know that it was the
right thing to do for Darby and I know he is in Heaven taking care of
everyone up there, just like he took care of me on earth. Chance is
doing well today. He is a momma's boy and I absolutely dread the day that
I have to go through this again. But, for what it's worth, I would never
change anything in the world for the time I had with Darby. The only
advice I can give anyone who has gone through this or is about to go through
this is... if you have another pet living with you, take them to the vet
if you have to euthanize their "friend", because I honestly
believe it helped my dog understand why his "friend" is no longer
with us. Dogs understand more then we humans give them credit for. Also,
if you have a family pet that is suffering, end their life with some dignity,
don't let them suffer because you are going to have a broken heart when
they are gone. It is more humane this way, even though it is hard on you.
I know how hard it is because this all happened in 1998 and I still have
Darby's dog tag on my keychain. I still cry when I think about him, as
I cried while writing this to you. Jenni Foust Related Reading Osteosarcoma
- Lotsie's Story Canine
Osteosarcoma and the Irish Setter
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