Story told by Keoma Collins

This is the story of Foreign, a half German and American breed Rottweiler. He is picture perfect as a Rottweiler should be. Wedged head and the whole nine.   

Foreign is near reaching his second year and from the day I got him and his brother, a new chapter in my life was opened. These are the first dogs I took responsibility for since moving to America . Having them brought me a sense of security. 

Like any other caring dog owner, I made sure all their shots were up to date.  But this last summer was not a good one when it came to my dogs.  Both of my Rottweilers got loose but one came back and Foreign didn't.  Seven days later, and a $1000 reward, I found Foreign back in the middle of a major parkway in Long Island N.Y.   

A month prior to his absence, Foreign started to grow a mass on his front elbow but knowing that his brother had something similar, I started to give Foreign the same pills.  I then took Foreign for an check up to see what other injuries he had sustained, because he was limping from the back limb. 

After a knee surgery to repair a torn ligament, the mass on his elbow only got bigger, even still taking the same antibiotics the vet recommended.  It was believed that the dog had a histiocytomic growth which will just go away after the pills take it's effect, but it didn't.  A biopsy was done and it came back as a "regular" symptom in big dogs.  I then took the dog to a specialist for further options in taking off the growth he developed on his elbow but nothing could be done about that particular situation until I do everything by the books.  Foreign's lymph node had gotten bigger within a 1 month span, and that had to be biopsy too to determined what exactly Foreign's case was.  Chest x-rays showed no signs of cancerous tissues spreading to his lungs or anything unusual when his operation was done to take out his lymph node. A week and half later, the result came back as Malignant Histiocytosis (MH).   

It didn't became clear to me what it was or how bad it is, but after reading some of the stories here, it all was clear.  Now as I sit here and type this story, I look at my dog in admiration, how I prayed for his safe return when he was lost, to dreaming about him scratching at my bedroom window.  How lucky I am to hold my dog once more but just to loose him to MH.  Only time will tell until he reached that point where I have to put him to sleep.

Naar onze Histio website in het Nederlands