Live footage of Phoenix, AKA “The Protector”
https://www.facebook.com/corrie.moore/videos/10207572813419889/
Meet Phoenix, he’s a 93lb, 12.5 year old Rottweiler / German Shepard mix. The most protective yet gentle dog I’ve ever had – super sensitive too.
Phoenix lost his left front arm Tuesday to an extremely aggressive soft tissue sarcoma. We tried treating this thing for several years to no avail. With each debulking surgery (3 in total) the mass grew back larger and quicker with each surgery. Considering his age, and the aggressiveness of the mass, we were faced with 3 options: Debulking surgery again, and adding Electrochemotherapy, debulking with Metronomic chemo, or amputation. Apparently, the drug used for Electrochemotherapy has been on back-order forever, and indefinitely, so really not an option. The success rate for Metronomic chemo was 54%, so again not really an option for us. As a rule, and in line with my lean toward natural healing, I’m slightly opposed to chemo in general, but definitely found myself researching and considering it. I would do anything to keep my guy healthy, happy, and living well, even if it meant going against my own personal views of ‘medicine’ and treatment. The key was to educate myself on the options, and apply that to “who he is,” the holistic him if you will (mind, body, spirit). Given our options, amputation was the clear decision, albeit a very difficult one for a big older guy.
So here we are, 3 days in. The first night I slept on a pallet next to him on the floor – perhaps the worst night of sleep in my entire life. Night 2, proved to be much better as we moved him to our bedroom to join the rest of his pack. I’m seeing progress with each day in terms of his strength and alertness, but he’s still very confused about his legs. Do they work? Are they gone too? Now, in saying that, his confusion of leg function only seems to happen when we sling him to assist him with going outside. I left the house for 45 minutes yesterday and when I returned home he was standing in the middle of the room with the most bewildered look on his face 🙁 no telling how long he’d been there, but his legs were clearly working then 🙂
Today, we slid him out on his bed to his ‘spot’ AKA his command post – the front gate. You should know, Phoenix’s job and nickname is “The Protector” so this felt really good for him. He got to bark and snarl at the same neighborhood dogs and mailman that he does each and every day. Same dogs, same mail guy, same vicious bark and snarl, only this time with 3 legs.
I know that he will keep progressing as he has a ‘job’ to do around here. He’s not ready to turn that over to his younger brother who is 1/2 his age and full of energy. Nope, it’s his job to protect our family and he will continue to do so on 3 legs. We love this guy, our Gentle Giant, so much.
It’s been quite emotional the past few days, but I know our boy will pull through like the warrior he is!
