Ok, so - as requested, let me bring you up to speed with Logan's situation.
Back in June, my husband found a large lump (looked kind of like a balloon-like growth) along his lower gum line. We took him to the vet a day or so later and just by watching the vet's face when she first looked at the lump, I knew it wasn't good news. Logan had a dental scheduled for the end of the month, but we moved it up and during the dental, the vet did a biopsy (Logan was "knocked out" for the dental, so this procedure was not painful for him - he was just a little sore afterward and was on some mild pain meds and canned food for a few days). The vet also took x-rays of Logan's jaw, and from just the x-rays, was able to make a pretty good assumption that the outcome didn't look good. The biopsy results came back a few days later, and just as we all suspected - cancer. Our vet explained to us that it was "osteosarcoma" which is bone cancer. He said that during the dental, there was so much jaw bone deterioration, that one of Logan's teeth actually just fell right out when the vet touched it! There are different forms of osteosarcoma, and I have many links and much more detail. Please let me know if you'd like me to go into more detail about the disease in one of my entries, or contact me directly and I can give you the info. Otherwise, I'll compile the info and post it here sometime this week.
Our vet also explained that Logan had most likely been at a minimum, "uncomfortable" for quite some time, and perhaps even in some pain due to the cancer in his jaw bone. He noticed during the dental that there was much more tartar build-up on Logan's left side compared to the right. This indicates that Logan had been chewing his food on only the left side of his mouth (the side w/out the tumor) for quite a while. This is just what is so amazing about dogs, especially labs. No whining, no lethargy, no refusal to go do things, still eating, etc. These dogs just want to please you and they live to do so!! They'll push through the pain just so they can be there for you, and you'll never ever know there's anything wrong.
So my husband and I started doing a lot of researching, mainly on the internet of course. That can be good and bad. I eventually had to force myself not to look online anymore just because I started thinking the worst which doesn't help the situation. Osteosarcoma is the most common cancer among dogs. It typically begins in the limbs, though - whereas Logan's began in his jaw(which is also common, but not as much as beginning in the legs). It is a fast-spreading, aggressive form of cancer and needs to be addressed quickly. Obviously, the earlier the detection of the disease, the better. Our vet referred us to an oncologist (at Georgia Vet Specialists in Sandy Springs, GA, http://www.gvsvet.com - if you want to know any info about this place - let me know).
A few days later we took Logan to see the oncologist. We had tried to prep ourselves for what he would tell us our next steps were (our general vet sort of already explained what the typical process is). The oncologist told us that one of Logan's lymph nodes was swollen, and that concerned him a bit, but "not to be alarmed" (gotta love hearing that 100 times throughout this whole ordeal). So, the doc took x-rays of Logan's lungs (this is typically the first place the cancer will metastasize/ spread to) - and thankfully, he didn't see any cancer in the area. However, it's prudent of us to keep in the back of our minds that it's possible that the cancer could already be in Logan's lungs, but just not showing up on the x-rays yet. But...so far, so good.
Then the doc took cells from Logan's lymph nodes to be tested. These results came back clear as well. There are many reasons the lymph nodes can become swollen, so there was no further concern at this point.
Next steps?? Aggressive surgery. We were told that Logan would need to receive a partial axial mandibulectomy (removal of the 1/2 of his lower jaw where the cancer has stemmed from).
Must go feed the "kids". Will post the "next chapter" later today!
Stay tuned...
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My dog just got diagnosed with osteosarcoma in the left side of her lower jaw too. Her mouth really smelled, it got swollen and she had to have one of her teeth taken out and a portion of her jaw under that tooth. It's a bit of relief to see that someone else is going through the same thing. I'm interested to see what a jaw prosthetic looks like. I don't want to remove the part of her jaw until we know how much cancer there is.
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