More on Bosco

Today I took Bosco to a neurosurgeon in Gaithersburg. I really felt like I was at the right place, they really have their act together there. After the exam, the vet said he did not think it was Degenerative Mylopathy, his concern was cancer. He wanted to do chest and abdomen x-rays mostly due to the fact that Bosco has lost about 6 pounds in just 4 months. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it is. Bosco has basically stayed within a pound or 2 of his weight since he was 2 years old. He did not have to be sedated for the x-rays, and it only took about 15 minutes. The news was good, no signs of cancer in the lungs.

The next most likely scenario was that Bosco had a bone infection. Evidently they are very common in older German Shepherds. This would be very treatable with antibiotics. Due to the weight loss, the vet said this was a very good possibility. The draw back? A $2500 CAT scan and a spinal tap. With the possibility that it was something as simple as an infection I had to pursue the CAT scan and tap.

Many hours later I am told that its not an infection. There is some sort of "massive" mass "severely" compressing Bosco's spinal cord. The neurologist be lives its a disk either ruptured or herniated, the radiologist believes its a tumor. The neurologist wants to do surgery, if its a disk problem the chances of a full recovery are 75%, if its a tumor then its a 6-12 month life expectancy. The surgery would cost around $6000.

This is tough news to hear, Bosco has been my partner for more than 10 years, one side of me hates for it to come down to a situation where its just about the money. The other side of me realizes that he's 12 years old and really doesn't deserve to be put through a very serious surgery that one expert believes is not going to have a good outcome.

Eric and I are choosing to see how Bosco responds to steroids. The vet says that if its a disk there is a possibility that it will shrink with steroids. If there is no change then we know its a tumor and surgery would have been for nothing. There is a pretty significant risk to using the steroids. Evidently the pain medicine he's been on for years for his arthritis can cause serious GI problems when mixed with steroids. The vet says that since we don't want to go the surgery route, we have to give Bosco the chance that the steroids will work even with the potential of danger.

I am so thankful to be surrounded by friends and family that care so much for Bosco and his family. Thanks for all of your support.