Berlin was amputated one year ago, today. Let me be the first to tell you, this is where I hoped we would be right now.
It was the week from hell, Berlin was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, aggressive at that, and amputated within a week. I can’t count on 2 hands the number of times we took him to the vet in that timeframe. From the time he started limping, it only took a few weeks for the cancer to make it so bad that he couldn’t walk on his leg. He was suffering, and I was suffering watching him in pain.
”it’s okay buddy, we’re gonna take it off. Is that okay?” He looked at me every time I asked him like he understood.
Our friends and family had helped us pull together the money to save Berlins life and take his leg. I cannot thank anyone who helped or supported us enough.
June 5 my heart was in my stomach as I dropped off Berlin for his amputation. He was so excited for the car ride and I felt so guilty dropping him off at the vet to take his arm, he really just had no idea. I have to say, this whole process was much harder for me than it was for him.
I picked him up the next day and he was still a little drugged up but he was excited to go home. The vet helped get him out to the car, and we put him in the car as a tripawd for the first time.
Adjusting at home wasn’t hard for Berlin. I got potty pads so he didn’t have to go outside, and he only used it once. By the day after surgery Berlin was insisting he could go outside. So outside we went. Berlin walked around the apartment building by day 2-3. Ten days later, we walked to the pizza shop and he played fetch for the first time. TEN days. He gave me a high five. He was gonna be just fine. I felt it then, and every day since.
A few weeks later, I was walking Berlin through town, and through all the stares, we saw another tripawd! Her name is Josie, she’s a Bernese mountain dog missing the same leg as Berlin. After talking with her human, I learned that they lost their leg from the same thing at the same age. Josie is a few years past the one year the doctors gave her. Yeah, Berlin really will be okay.
At a little over a month, Berlin was back up to full speed. Running next to me riding my bike, playing fetch forever, Berlin felt much better.
we got care packages from friends and family I can’t thank you all enough again for helping care for my boy.
Over this past year, we’ve moved, gone on a lot of walks, started running together, visited the fire station, registering to be a therapy dog, so many things. Berlin finished his chemo treatments and handled it so well. I’m so proud that he’s my dog. His vet and nurses signed a bandana for him to wear when he was finished! So cute and very much appreciated.
If you’ve read this far, thank you. And if you’re going through anything like this, it’ll get better. Believe in yourself and your dog and love them so hard.
There’s been lots of days that I was scared, I thought about losing my best friend and I wasn’t ready to handle that. I knew all I could do was just keep going, keep Berlin happy and I knew he could win this fight.
There was a lot of things about having a tripawd I didn’t think of, like how much people might stare or make comments under their breath – “he has three legs”. My favorite way to respond is – “well you only have two.” I’ve been feeling like there’s some way we could make a difference in the way people see tripawds. I signed up to volunteer us as a therapy team. Berlin has a test to pass and I have some more paperwork to fill out, but Berlin is going to be a therapy dog. We can use this platform to show kids and adults in our community that a tripawd is no different than a dog with four legs, and more often than not, the tripawd is faster. We can also teach kids that anything is possible, even if you’re “different”. Having a tripawd has taught me that being “different” is all relative, anyway.
Here we are, after a whole year. Berlin and I are going on a long hike this week, and he’s going to eat ice cream for dinner tonight. I am so proud of my tripawd dog and he shows me every day how much he loves life.
Thank you for coming with us on this journey, we’re not done yet.