I have had a few requests for an update and I selfishly ignored them for a couple years. At first, because it was just too painful. And then, because it had been so long that I just figured it was too late to bother. But recently, I received another request for an update with some very kind words and I realized that I should, and more importantly, felt that I could actually bring Mack’s story to an end.
At the time of the last update, Mack was one-year post-op and doing great. All exams and blood work looked clear and he was our happy, fun-loving boy. About six months later, summer came and with it, Mack’s favorite pastime … hanging out poolside with the family. We have a Baja shelf (basically a shallow ledge) that Mack loved to climb in and out of repeatedly. Stubbornly, he refused to use the step and would instead strain to pull himself up to the side (around a foot depth). We tried to intervene and move him to the the steps and even tried re-training him to use the steps with a few treats. But, he would still do his own thing. We believe it was the combo of the strain of climbing out of the pool along with the climbing up to his favorite spot on the couch (even with the use of a special “handicap” platform that my husband built) that finally stressed his knee too much. The ligament tore and he could no longer put any pressure on his remaining back leg.
We took him to the orthopedic surgeon who had done the original amputation and were assured that it could be stabilized. It was a tough call, because the recovery would be so tough with no ability to stand on his own for over a month. But our only other options were to euthanize (and he was a young dog) or to let him drag himself with his front paws (but his shoulders were already showing signs of weakening due to the build of a bulldog and his amputation). So we decided to stabilize his knee.
We had a full blood work up done pre-op and everything looked perfect. Literally, perfect. Blood panels of a healthy dog. Surgery was a success. As usual, our stubborn bulldog fought back to independence in two months. We all breathed a sigh of relief and life returned to normal.
That December, however, we left on a family vacation for 10 days prior to Christmas. We had a housesitter stay to tend our zoo (2 dogs, 5 cats). Reports from her indicated all was well. Dogs eating and playing normal. Until the day before our return, when she told us that Mack was coughing. Since we’d be home the next evening, we waited. Upon our return, we knew he was sick and called to take him to the vet. What my husband suspected (and I’m sure many of you veterans to the site can probably guess) was that the cancer had not only returned, but entered the lungs. This was confirmed with an x-ray, which showed numerous, large tumors covering both lungs.
The vet wouldn’t even let us leave the clinic with him. She brought in another vet who agreed that we either euthanize immediately or put him directly into the car to see the oncologist. By this time, the kids were hysterical and we were just shell-shocked. No one could explain quite how his blood panels, only six months prior had been so perfect. And we were blaming ourselves for not having done an x-ray prior to surgery. And we were all crying. We did have the vet call the oncologist, but based on the call and two vets’ opinions on the lung x-ray, the oncologist told us that his gut instinct was that we couldn’t save him.
Sadly, we had him put down. Less than 15 hours after our return from vacation. Three days before Christmas. Hopefully, you can understand why I couldn’t bring myself to update. It took a long, long time to move forward without our Mack. I share now as a reminder to never take anything for granted. I still cry thinking of the knee surgery and LONG recovery that my baby went through just six months before losing him. Yes, we thought (as did the vets) that it was clearly a torn ligament issue. And yes, his blood panels looked perfect. But with his history, we should have asked for a chest x-ray. Had we done so, we most likely would have seen tumors. It may or may not have been treatable. But, I would have never put him through a surgery and lengthy recovery had we only known that he’d only have a few months. Hindsight, as they say. The oncologist assured us that we may not have seen any tumors at the time. He claimed the cancer could have come back fast and hard. He assured us that sometimes cancer does that. But, we’ll never know. And we’ll always miss our Mack.