Cancer Treatment for sweet Tele
Donation protected
Meet Tele. One of the sweetest, most gentle and loving creatures on earth. Her soft fur matches her soft soul that brings a smile and joy to anyone that meets her. She likes to hike in the mountains, swim as much as possible and absolutely loves carrying a stuffed animal everywhere she goes. We brought her home at 8 weeks of age, and have enjoyed every single moment of the last 9 years with her.
Over the past year, Tele has had a limp that showed up occassionally after moderate activity. After countless visits to our regular vet and an orthopedic specialist, we were left with no answers to the continued limp.
In the first week of June 2015, the limp turned very severe basically overnight; Tele was literally moving only inches at a time and in obvious severe pain. Our local doctors were still shaking their heads with no answers, so we were sent to the CSU Animal Science Center in Fort Collins, CO. After a very intense review by the orthopedic specialists there, an orthopedic problem was ruled out and she was sent to Neurology for continued testing. After a battery of further tests, scans, x-rays and reviews the neurology department sadly told us that we will now be working with the Oncology department as they feared cancer was the culprit.
After a CT Scan and bone biopsy, it was determined that Tele's front left limb was consumed by Osteosarcoma more simply known as bone cancer. We were crushed and beyond heart broken as success stories with Osteosarcoma are not common. At this point, our options were a very expensive radiation therapy, amputation or to put her down.
We had already spent over $8,000 in tests and scans before any treatments started as finding the source of the problem takes a lot of work from a lot of different doctors & departments. (not to mention thousands of miles of travel expenses because the visits were all scheduled days and weeks apart nearly 4 hours from our home) Although many dogs do well with amputation, we knew Tele would not be a good candidate for it. We opted for the expensive Stereotactic Radiation Therapy (SRT) & chemotherapy to save her leg and her life. While she did well with the radiation treatment, the first round of chemo crushed her health and brought her white blood cell and platelet count to almost zero; she contracted pneumonia and had to be admitted to emergency 24 hour critical care for a few days in order to save her life.
Tele has had a very rough road over the last few months, but through the above mentioned treatments and the experts at CSU Animal Hospital, Tele is now in better health and has almost no limp. She still has a number of chemo treatments to go, but we are hoping for the best through continued care at the CSU hospital. While we are so thankful sweet Tele is doing better, her medical bills and treatments have added up to over $15,000; more than we could have ever imagined a dog's health care could cost. We appreciate any and all donations in the name of Tele.
No matter the outcome of our fundraising here, we hope to spread awareness to others to always pay attention to your pets. If you see a change in their behavior, habits or attitude please have it checked out immediately as you may only have a short window to save them.
Thank you for hearing Tele's story and love your furry friends every single day!
Over the past year, Tele has had a limp that showed up occassionally after moderate activity. After countless visits to our regular vet and an orthopedic specialist, we were left with no answers to the continued limp.
In the first week of June 2015, the limp turned very severe basically overnight; Tele was literally moving only inches at a time and in obvious severe pain. Our local doctors were still shaking their heads with no answers, so we were sent to the CSU Animal Science Center in Fort Collins, CO. After a very intense review by the orthopedic specialists there, an orthopedic problem was ruled out and she was sent to Neurology for continued testing. After a battery of further tests, scans, x-rays and reviews the neurology department sadly told us that we will now be working with the Oncology department as they feared cancer was the culprit.
After a CT Scan and bone biopsy, it was determined that Tele's front left limb was consumed by Osteosarcoma more simply known as bone cancer. We were crushed and beyond heart broken as success stories with Osteosarcoma are not common. At this point, our options were a very expensive radiation therapy, amputation or to put her down.
We had already spent over $8,000 in tests and scans before any treatments started as finding the source of the problem takes a lot of work from a lot of different doctors & departments. (not to mention thousands of miles of travel expenses because the visits were all scheduled days and weeks apart nearly 4 hours from our home) Although many dogs do well with amputation, we knew Tele would not be a good candidate for it. We opted for the expensive Stereotactic Radiation Therapy (SRT) & chemotherapy to save her leg and her life. While she did well with the radiation treatment, the first round of chemo crushed her health and brought her white blood cell and platelet count to almost zero; she contracted pneumonia and had to be admitted to emergency 24 hour critical care for a few days in order to save her life.
Tele has had a very rough road over the last few months, but through the above mentioned treatments and the experts at CSU Animal Hospital, Tele is now in better health and has almost no limp. She still has a number of chemo treatments to go, but we are hoping for the best through continued care at the CSU hospital. While we are so thankful sweet Tele is doing better, her medical bills and treatments have added up to over $15,000; more than we could have ever imagined a dog's health care could cost. We appreciate any and all donations in the name of Tele.
No matter the outcome of our fundraising here, we hope to spread awareness to others to always pay attention to your pets. If you see a change in their behavior, habits or attitude please have it checked out immediately as you may only have a short window to save them.
Thank you for hearing Tele's story and love your furry friends every single day!
Organizer
Kevin Olsen
Organizer
Steamboat Springs, CO