Little Lena’s kidneys continued to cause problems and over the next 10 days she ended up having two more three-day stays on fluids trying to stabilize her system. By the end of that third stay with the vet we realized the problems with her kidneys would not allow for additional rounds of chemo and her overall prognosis, therefore, was not very good. Honestly, her prognosis was perfectly awful. She was spending more time with the vet than with us — not how we wanted her to spend what would be her last days. We had a tough decision to make. THE decision. One of the worst decisions you’ll ever be faced with, and it begins with the question: Who are we doing this for, her or us? She was not happy. She was scared (hated the vet’s office). She was suffering. She wasn’t getting better, and likely wouldn’t. We could no longer say we were doing this for her. So after watching our little girl go through absolute hell, after spending countless sleepless nights on the floor with her, we decided to let her go. At this point, she had been at the vet for three days and we didn’t want to send her out like that. So we called to make the arrangements for later that day but we sprung her around noon. We spent the next four hours saying goodbye the best way we knew how: we took her to get a burger and soft-serve ice cream, took her to the beach where she could bark at the gulls (one of her favorite past times though, heartbreakingly, she didn’t seem very interested this time), we loved on her and tried very hard to convince ourselves that we were doing the right thing. I don’t know how successful we were. As hard as that was, the hardest part later (and still is) would be questioning whether we had made the right choice in electing the surgery in the first place. It’s easy for everyone reading this to say reassuring things like, “you gave her a fighting chance” and “you couldn’t have known how it would turn out”, etc. But none of that really helps silence the cries of pain I still hear in the quiet of the night. What I’ve learned over the years is that there is no right or wrong answer to that question. Each case is unique. I’m sure eventually my heart won’t ache when I look at pictures of Lena, and I won’t feel guilty for the pain we put her through. Maybe. So I took little solace in that moment when I found myself on the floor with her once more, this time in the vet’s office, rubbing her ears and whispering, “It’s ok, it’s not your fight anymore,” while she drifted off to sleep and finally found peace.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8
I’m so sorry for your loss. I have been following Lena’s story since the very beginning, hoping for a happy ending. You both have been wading through choppy, unpredictable unchartered waters and did the best you possibly could with the circumstances you were dealt with day after day. She’s not suffering anymore. Try not to think of the final days when she’s had so many, many more happy ones, I’m sure. What a sweetheart Lena is.
Thank you for Lenas story!im having a problems with my Beijing and im so broken hearted and confused. but thank you .
I came across Lena’s story when I Googled “greyhound limping intermittently” I am so sorry for your loss. My grey is laying beside me right now and I feel so grateful for that. She is coming up to 10 years old and has an intermittent limp that our vet has put down to an old soft tissue injury. NSAID’s do seem to help- but having read your post I think I should get a second opinion.
Your descriptions of Lena’s dramatics are very reminiscent of my girl’s. All greyhounds are drama queens but don’t we just love them!
Beautiful girl, run free at Rainbow Bridge
I’m so sorry for your loss. I have two greys and two galgos; my girl, Mingo, who is 10, has corns on both rear paws and even after hulling them, she has started to favor her rear right leg. She’s limping badly. I’ll be calling my vet tomorrow for X-rays. She had X-rays several years ago but it turned out to be the corns. I’m very worried, and more so after reading about your sweet girl, Lena. Hugs to you both. RIP, Lena, and run free at the Bridge.
Thank you for sharing your story, it really hit home. I am sitting here with my 9 year old greyhound who 10 days ago suffered a compound fracture of his femur. He had surgery where a plate and screws were inserted to hold the bone in place. During the procedure the surgeon took a bone biopsy and sent it for examination. Yesterday evening I received the news that results came back positive. When I first spoke with the surgeon he suspected that bone cancer was a possibility and knowing that greyhounds are prone osteosarcoma I was not surprised by the biopsy results. But like you I had hoped for the best. We have decided that we will let our boy live his time left without any further medical procedures. He will be with us as long he is not in pain. Right now is doing okay a has slight limp from the surgery. We know we will not have long with him; but, we will cherish everyday. When we see he is experiencing pain we will let him go. As hard as it will be to say goodbye we will not let him suffer. The most difficult part of having pets is knowing when it is time to let them go. Creek will take a piece of out hearts with him and we will have the memories of a wonderful companion
We sent our 12 year old boy Indy across the rainbow bridge this morning. He developed a limp and his leg swelled and got infected within a short period. His hips were failing too, so tripod not an option. Farewell sweet Indy, and thanks to USA Defenders of Greyhounds where we got him 10 years ago, and the greyhound specialists at Howell Avenue pet hospital in Cincinnati.
I read all of Lena’s story with tears in my eyes. I am owned by an 8-year old former racer named Duke, and he’s just started to have a pretty steady limp on his right side. When I checked his foot pads for corns, he didn’t react, just licked my hand as I was checking his foot. No whimpering, no “screaming” – I think I’d have a heart attack and die on the spot – and now we just are waiting for his vet appointment. I pray it’s not osteosarcoma – I don’t think I could take an amputation. Thank you for all the details about Lena and for being so honest about your and Lena’s experience.
Peace and blessings to you.
After reading this story, I just lost it and bawled my eyes out. Why are these beautiful creatures handed such horrific health issues? Here it is April 2020. 7 years ago April 1st we lost a young female greyhound to nasal cancer. Nothing really could be done but to make her comfortable yet she suffered. After one radiation treatment, we had to let her go. Then 3 years ago April 20th we lost her brother to what I think was lymphoma. He declined rapidly and that morning he died in my arms after taking two gasps and watching his eyes roll back. We never got a positive diagnoses but he had a huge mass in front of his heart, could have been a ruptured aortic aneurism? we will never know. Now here I sit with their surviving sister soon to be 11 in June. In the last two years she has had four surgeries to remove soft cell sarcomas grades 1-3. Two on her lower right eyelid, a huge 4cm one below the angle of the mandible below the salivary gland and just 2 weeks ago the newest one off the bridge of her nose with sutures still in.
Prior to this surgery she had chest xrays that showed two masses in the apex of both lungs, an ultrasound that showed a strange bridge through the center of her bladder while the bladder itself looked fine and the spleen showed nodules. Mind you’ll the before was done just 6 months ago and NONE of this was present. These damn STS just pop up over night. I told the Vet I also noticed that her lower legs looked swollen. Not edema of soft tissue but the bone. They failed to take more xrays. I suspect either Hypertrophic Osteopathy ,lymphedema or worse case osteosarcoma. Its mainly both rear legs from the ankle to the paw. Massage shows enlargement, hardness and warmth yet no pain. She also had a cardio exam which only showed two minor valve leaks otherwise her heart was in great shape and not laboring, no congestive heart failure and that cardio Dr felt her legs were not swollen. We have a local Vet appt April 18th where I want leg xrays and oncology eval the 20th. I am hoping for the best but expecting the worst. I just learned her littermate died of osteosarcoma front leg back in 2017 age 8 so not good news there. She still hops in and out of the van, walks with no visible lameness, eats, drinks , squats, gets up and down, traverses steps. I fear I will be told she’s full of cancer. I guess April just is not a month for our dogs here. My heart is very heavy right now with anticipatory grief. My research brought me to the above story. RIP sweet girl, I wish it wasn’t so.