Cancer paranoia lingers

You know that paranoid feeling you get whenever your tripawd has anything wrong with it – the sinking “oh god the cancers back/spread/worse” feeling? Well, turns out that feeling extends to other dogs!

Last night Tim & I got home after work, came in to find waggly bums of excitement. Straight away I noticed Dotti, our non-tripawd dog, was limping on her back leg. Luckily, she was already booked into the vets for her annual vaccinations/check up. We did a quick check of her leg and off we went to the clinic.

On the way there we were discussing what she must have done – fell down the stairs, twisted awkwardly, fallen off something etc, followed by jokes about her not having a tumour like Meg did.

“No, well we could see the tumour in Meg’s leg, if it was going to be cancer it would be osteosarcoma” I said, without even thinking, because you know, light hearted joking talk about cancer becomes ok post cancer? But then it hit me. What if it is osteosarcoma, or some other cancer like that. It wouldn’t be. She just has a minor injury. Its fine. So what if it sounds like all the stories you read on tripawds? There are thousands of stories about dogs limping who don’t have cancer!

So I was subtly a mess all the way to the vets, who said it was probably just strain and gave her anti-inflams, but that paranoia is still lingering in the back of my mind. The sooner Dotti starts showing improvement the better!

7 thoughts on “Cancer paranoia lingers”

  1. About 1 1/2 yrs ago, Cassie had a weird bump on her back foot that sort of looked like a black pimple, but I couldn’t squeeze anything out of it. I posted in forums “what do mast cell tumors look like?” because I was convinced that that was what she had. I started researching and wondered how I was going to deal with 2 tripawds. You can imagine the relief I felt when the pathology came back that it was an “abnormal growth of normal cells.” whew!!!
    So yep, we get it!
    Hugs to you!
    Donna

  2. Dealing with the same thing with Kylie right now. She JUST got a clean bill of health including clear chest x ray & full bloodwork end of May, yet now she’s been limping & instantly I’ve been worrying and crying that the cancer is back somewhere else! We likely just went too far & she overdid it on our walk or pulled something or strained something. Vet put her on Tramadol to see if she improves. So yes, I get it too!! Hard to stay hopeful with their history though. You always wonder & worry. I hope Dotti is back to herself asap.
    Chris & Kylie xo

    1. Oh no! Its always when everything seems to be going well that it crashes down! I hope Kylie is fine and is just dealing with a sprain too xx

  3. We are all with you. I am continually watching Gator for the slightest sign that something might be wrong. Did he cough? Is he limping? About the only time I am not worried is when he is sleeping upside down with all four paws up in the air. 😀

    1. Oh it is such a blessing when they’re asleep and happy and nothing is wrong! I hope Gator is doing great!

  4. DOTTI! STOP SCARING YOUR HUMAN!! 🙂 This is quite the stunt to pull just so you can get more attention!!

    I think it’s working!!

    Remember, sometimes a hiccup is just a hiccup and a lump is just a lump! And a lump is just from a strain or overdoing or tweaking wrong!

    Higs to you!

    Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!

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