So it begins…

February 18, 2021, a date I dreaded.  The date we got the word that our beautiful Great Pyrenees, Ellie, just 7 1/2 years old, was given a diagnosis of probable osteosarcoma of the left distal tibia.  The day when a new journey began and we would learn how great Ellie could be.

Our lifetime journey actually began, though, on the evening of August 6, 2013…the date of Ellie’s birth.  We are a small show kennel and Ellie’s mom, Luna, was gifting us with our first homebred litter.  Ellie was the 6th of 9 siblings, the first and smallest of 3 girls, all but one of which were born not only in our home but on our bed!!!  Ellie was nicknamed “Jitter” as she was the active puppy.

Luckily, Ellie turned out to be the best of the lot for “show” purposes as she, early on, chose my daughter as her person.  My daughter, Lauren, and Ellie, Ch Chadensall Acres the Book Thief, had great fun in the show ring.  The won several Best Junior Handler awards, including Lauren’s 5th Best Junior Award at the Great Pyrenees Club of America’s National Specialty show in 2016.  That same year Ellie became our first homebred champion and defeated 2 National Specialty winners in the process.  But, I think my favorite memory of Ellie’s show career was in the Owner Handler Best in Show ring in Wheatland, Ill, in 2016…she came trotting around the ring with this huge smile on her face…thoroughly enjoying herself and the attention she was getting on her way to winning Owner Handled Reserve Best in Show.

In December 2016 Ellie delivered 13 beautiful puppies.  She became ill after the babies were born, but battled back and all survived.  Ellie can boast of 2 grand champion children and a Canadian National Champion…Ellie also has 25 grandchildren!!!

Through all of her challenges and adventures, Ellie’s favorite activity seemed to be playing the role of house dog and companion.  She loves to cuddle on the couch, tear through the yard, and bark at the window.  All things that I noticed had started to change over the month prior to diagnosis.  Since Ellie’s mother had died of throat cancer and an uncle had died of a brain tumor, both around the age of 8 years old, I was worried that something might happen to her.  So I did take note when she began cuddling more, running a bit less, and barking as much but not jumping to it as quickly.  Was hoping it was just age.

But, on Saturday, 2/6/21, she started limping.  I noted a swelling above her left hock.  We took her to the vet’s on Monday 2/8/21.  He thought Ellie had lyme disease.  I asked about a tumor, but the vet felt it very low on his differential.  Blood work was done and Ellie was put on antibiotics.  The blood work came back normal and negative for lyme disease.  Next was the xray on 2/18/21.  I knew before I even saw the vet’s face.

What next???  An acquaintances’ girl had gotten into a new treatment trial.  So, I started investigating, hoping we could find something that might help Ellie live longer and better.  Also touched base with an oncologist and got a surgical consult while waiting to hear from the trials.  Luckily, her chest xray was negative for metastasis.  The surgeon was hopeful that if we chose amputation Ellie would do well.

At the same time, we heard from the trial in Virginia.  We brought Ellie down for the consult and she was accepted into the trial.  The trial has two parts:  an ultrasound treatment called histotripsy followed by limb amputation.  Soft tissue tumors in humans have been treated with Histotripsy.  Now hoping it will translate to treatment for bone tumors in animals and people.  The histotripsy ultrasound basically liquifies the tumor and, hopefully, stimulates the immune system to kill the cancer cells.  The hope is that this will present a limb sparring treatment in the future.  However, the dogs in the trial are required to undergo amputation.

Which brings us to today…Ellie had her amputation yesterday, 3/10/21…another day that changed us all and presented her 3rd great challenge.  She is doing well…but the journey has just begun.  We have chemotherapy to undergo and follow-up appointments once over the hump of surgery itself.  Praying our girl will handle this challenge in the manner she has handled all others and comes out on top.  More to come!!!