Surgery…The day life changed

Once the decision was made for Jacskon to have his rear right leg amputated I knew I had made the right decision. The day before his surgery I decided to take Jackson swimming for maybe his last time in awhile.  I was cautious knowing he wasn’t putting any weight at all in his rear leg. On that special day he looked at me with such joy in his eyes & I knew he was thanking me for one last swim.

So on Monday Sept. 21st I decided to have the surgery at the hospital where my friend worked in the ER knowing that he’d be in great hands.  My friend Judy decided to come with me that day to be a support & because she was with me on the day that I adopted Jackson 10 1/2 years ago (he held a special place in her heart, too). I thought I was being strong (not crying), yet as soon as the vet tech whisked Jackson away without even a look back I knew I was in trouble. I went to the front desk & proceeded to give the girl behind the counter Jackson’s food with instructions of how to give it to him and as soon as I did I started bawling & apologizing for being emotional, so much for being strong! She took my arm & said you don’t need to apologize it’s ok to be upset.

Now came the waiting game, it wasn’t until later that afternoon that I heard from the surgeon that everything had gone alright & she got most of the margins without having to remove part of his pelvis. She noted that she’s glad we hadn’t done the biopsy as his leg was broken!! I still can’t believe Jacskon had been hopping around with a broken leg the week before surgery, such a strong & courageous boy.  Also she noted that the bone didn’t look like “normal” Osteosarcoma (similar to the opinion from my vet of the X-ray), so once again I had the hope that it wasn’t cancer after all!  Jackson was to stay at the hospital for 1-2 days for observation post surgery & this would become the longest two days of waiting for me & my family. Luckily I had my inside vet friends who gave me periodic updates & a photo of Jackson that made all the waiting worth it in the end, knowing he was in good hands getting better!