rashad

Thanks, Anne. Yes, I know and the question was mostly rhetorical, the rest an acknowledgement of my level of disorganization and wussiness. If I were to make an appointment just to get a prescription, it would cost me the difference anyway. Or so I convince myself. Sigh. Have a good weekend, it's already upon us here. Christmas Eve... And Jazzy's initial physio consultation at noon. At least it's not a chemo day. Cheers R

Whoa, asal ! My commiserations. Something I would not wish on anyone... ever! (and I know we are off-topic, but little-known conditions warrant as much airplay as they can get, right? ) Good decision to not do the surgery. When TN had me in its thrall, I too was tempted - but then I am a stroke survivor or part-thereof, ha ha ... and the artifacts my stroke left me with are enough to say ... voluntary facial paralysis... mmm... uh-huh...I'll pass, thanks v much. And sort of similar to you, after a couple of years of pretty much high frequency spikes of pain every day all day, it went into surprising (and welcome!) hibernation, to reappear once a year around October. When spring gets my sinuses on red-alert. Which my (very good) neurologist was sceptical about.... but hey. it's MY trigeminal nerve spiking into MY head ! I wish you the very best, and - fingers crossed - total freedom from it. It is a horrendous and debilitating condition. Oddly enough, mine stayed away this year, and I think its because of the weird extended winter we had in Melbourne. You ever want someone to talk through the pain with, who understands its infernal nature... message me and we can take it offline. Good luck. No... not just "good" ... but the very best of luck with it. (jeez, just thinking of those lightning strikes in my head makes my skin crawl. Was scared to laugh for two years, all those triggers... ) Take care, R

Thanks T , and right back at ya... as they say And while you have the gender wrong about me being a good mum, you are probably right. I always said (and still do) that I was/am a better mum than dad, ha ha. To all three species of my daughters: One human, one canine, one feline. Sewing tapes on ballet shoes? Easy. Teaching daughter to kick a footie? Sigh... not so much... But it worked. All three think I'm an OK dad. That'll do me fine. My vet comments are mostly tongue-in-cheek, all our vet nurses seem to file Jazzy and me under L for "lovely patient". Though.... yesterday I picked up a bottle of Meloxicam from my vet for $120, and did pause to wonder why. I buy my own meds from Chemist Warehouse, not from my doctor. So why do I buy my meds from the vet at a 100%+ markup? The same Meloxicam is available online (prescription required, of course) at $49... Thanks for the supportive words. I freely admit to being haunted by what I call the Carer's Burden - the constant anxiety that you are not doing enough - or that you are doing the wrong thing, making the wrong decisions. Often when in bed, with Jazz and Luna (my surly and introverted little moggie) snuggled up on either side of me, I tell them that they are probably reaping the rewards of a guilt that will always haunt me: That I did not pick up early enough on a chronic kidney condition with a beautiful little cat, Kiara, lost at three in 2017. Take care, have a happy path to Christmas. And stay cool. Melbourne's doing its usual thing, tapping us on the shoulder with an evil grin and and saying " Hey, remember how you were whingeing about the cold and rain? Well... I've got a little post-Christmas week surprise for you lot... " R

The "one last thing" done first, (no excuse required for a jazz-cuddle - which sounds like a dance step from the roaring twenties) - but she had probably already picked up on my mood: upbeat from your kind words. The neurologist will have a heap of data to work with. She's been CT'ed multiple times in the past few months (I mean Jazz, not the neurologist ;) While the first was of her head/jaw region, the last one was to assess if the cancer had metastasized, so was of the body But the neurologist may well need to buy a bottle or two of Grange for the New Year, so doubtless we will do another CT (and I gather they have a sparkly new MRI machine as well... gulp!) It's okay, I achieved a state of comfortable numbness when we passed $10,000... a few months ago. I'm a shining example of the principle that the less money you have, the easier it is to spend it (on the important things) When I build Utopia, first order of the day will be Medicare for Animals: They laugh, they love, they teach. they don't complain. What the heck more can you ask of a citizen... ? Take care, R

Thanks, T, all questions that are on high rotation through my head. The key differentiator from the spinal arthritis is that there's no pain in what we're seeing, the paw scraping/folding, lowered tail wag, the unsteady "sailor" gait, legs crossing over when she turns, and so on. It's every box ticked on the DM checklist. Sure, people will jump up and say "But dogs mask their pain really well" etc. This is different, I know that (thankfully) there isn't pain associated with her movement.' You live in a close-proximity, close-emotion relationship with someone - whatever species - for ten years, and if you cannot tell when they are in pain, you have the perceptive ability of a doorknob, or you are are an egomaniacal idiot, ha ha Not guilty on both charges. I'm convinced in myself that it is DM, but then as I always say: Married thirty years, divorced for twenty, one daughter: I'm probably a world expert on being wrong... So I'll let the neuros decide. But whether it is DM or another MND or whatever, the (metaphorical) walk looks the same. (The actual walk too) Re genetic test: I'm not sure that it is too relevant now. To me and Jazz anyway. Look at the studies and literature: They say, yes, genetic testing can tell you whether there is a likelihood of a dog developing DM. But.. if the test is clear, it does not rule out DM completely. Sometimes I think Jazz and I have spent too much time together... I suffer from something called trigeminal neuralgia, which is - like DM - a darned condition of exclusion. When they run out of tests, they shake their heads and say "ok, it must be TN". Doesn't really matter what they call it, especially when you're holding you head in agony in a darkened room listening to Spiegel Im Spiegel to try and quell the pain. Timeline? Spinal arthritis diagnosis was in May Cancer indication first detected late August, first biopsy early September, detailed CT and biopsy followed, mandibulectomy on 19th September. Resected jawbone biopsy confirmed the malignancy of the sarcoma, no metastasis. Metronomic chemo started November after the slow and painful recovery from the surgery. Meds: She has been on painkillers (Gabapentin) and antiinflammatory (Meloxicam) for the spinal arthritis since it was identified in May. Which has melded well with her Chemo regime: Cyclophosphamide, frusemide and meloxicam. No other meds, which I'm happy about. As stroke survivor I take 12 tablets every day and the constant concern about interactions is tiring. Glad I'm spared that with Jazz. And lastly, no. No discernible change in her DM symptoms with the chemo. If anything, the progression of the symptoms slowed a bit - but that is my very rough observational skills - and because it has been a gentle but clear degradation anyway, hard to judge. Thanks, R

I have contacted the breeder, but only to ask about a vet and bring her up to date with Jazzy's problems. We don't correspond much but she is more friend than just someone I bought Jazzy from. And yes, all the breed tests were done at the time, including whatever the genetic testing was available in 2012. The problem, Diva, is that Nature is not binary. And statistical anomalies - or variances - are a part of Life. It would be nice to say, "Hey, the SOD1 gene test was fine so it can't be DM! Great!" - but if you look at the literature, like the paper I posted earlier, I don't think it makes a huge difference whether it is DM or a spinal degenerative disease of the same ALS/MND family. Which could be the case, given its progression has been slower than DM is "typically". Tomaito - Tomahto ... Different roads, same unfortunate endpoint. Happening before my eyes and it is hard viewing.

You know Rebanne, I've had a blog about Jazzy's cancer on the drawing board for a couple of months. But things have moved so fast it's still "in the works". I want to publish it because when the diagnosis came in and I was told that she had to have the mandibulectomy, I went looking for information from owners about post-surgery experience and care... and found so very little online. Now, a couple of months in, I can understand the likely reason: exhaustion and worry, to the point of not wanting to think about it in the life-gaps. I was hoping to find advice from those who'd walked the road ahead of me. I still think it will help others, so I will do it - and now probably document Jazz's DM. Jazz turned ten on the 4th of December. On the whimsical notion that a dog year is seven human years, I have calculated that we will both be the same age around March of 2023. - Seventy two and change... Just my gathered and experiential knowledge below - and a lot of reading... I am merely an owner-layman whose dearest friend is in deep trouble, so I read and read and try to learn :- Canine oral cancer takes a few different forms. Again, an unfortunate predisposition amongst tollers to fibrosarcomas, which is what Jazz got. Or, more correctly, what got Jazz. Sigh. https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/oral-tumors-in-dogs-fibrosarcoma The cancer manifested as a swelling of Jazzy's gum, but problematically, all along her lower left jaw, from canine to molar. It can be in smaller areas, in which case the surgery would have been less drastic. My desperate wish that she could at least retain both lower canines so she could hold a ball in her mouth went unanswered. It looked pretty innocuous, like a swollen gum from a decayed tooth. A few weeks of X-rays, CT scans and oncologist appointments later, it was a fibrosarcoma. These are characterised as what they call biologically-aggressive, histologically-passive. In our language, it means that it invades the jawbone locally, but is slow to metastasize to other parts of the body. Small mercy, the latter - but the former made it a given that removing the cancer would require removing half her lower jawbone with gum and teeth. But the biologically-aggressive is what says that it will return, like General MacArthur... Even at that point it could have been a benign tumour, but the biopsy on the removed section showed that it was a malignant cancer. With the high likelihood that it will recur locally (in her jaw). The routine recommendation is that post-surgery, she undergo radiation to kill any remaining cancer cells and then ongoing chemo. I decided against the radiation. Might have been different if it were available in Melbourne and guaranteed to eradicate the cancer, but the sum total of putting her through the drive up to Sydney, strange accommodation, a week of radiation with the pretty painful after-effects of nuking her mouth - and about $17K in total... I balked at it and passed on radiation, went straight to chemo. So, to arrive at answering your question about Jazzy's meds: - Post-surgery - and for her background arthritis, she is on a painkiller (Gabapentin) and an anti-inflammatory (Meloxicam) - Chemotherapy: It's called metronomic therapy, which is low doses of medication, every alternate day, ongoing: 1 capsule of Cyclophosphamide, used in human chemo too, with two supporting meds on the same day: Fruseamide, a diuretic and Meloxicam, the anti-inflammatory she is on anyway. Ref here: https://www.thepetoncologist.com/blog/faqs-metronomic-chemotherapy-in-pets Apologies, I do have a tendency to rabbit on. I better stop. (And that was just about the cancer ) Thanks for your interest. R

Ha ha, my bad for not elaborating. I asked for that... But let me also condition this argument: On midnight June 16th 2006 Dr Google saved my life. I was tempted to get to bed to sleep off my developing stroke symptoms and he (She?) said to me "Don't be an idiot, call an ambulance. NOW!" ... which is why I am not writing this posthumously, sixteen years on. And why my left hand still works.... Sort of. So while I know all the dangers of the advice that the Great Unwashed take from blindly following YT and its social media ilk, I also know that the Internet is a gigantic library resource in the sky that can be used (intelligently!) for more than learning Dua Lipa's latest dance moves. The night that Jazz was diagnosed with oral cancer, Google Scholar gave me eight journal papers on Canine oral cancer and mandibulectomy and its prognosis, that I read in between crying jags. I already have a neurologist appointment lined up for Jazz (Unfortunately, a baaad time of the year for making appointments with vets. Their Tesla Model Ys are on holiday recharge already ;) And an initial physio consult. On Christmas Eve. But.. I so wish you were right and that my g-diagnosis is wrong. If ever in my life I would like to be proven wrong, it is now, about this. I wish my vet would spend more time looking at the Internet and YouTube and not being dogmatic (rueful pun totally intended) Yes, I wish this vet was not describing Jazzy's past few months.. Thanks for your input and care, guys. It's comforting to have the discussion, because when I sit back and pause, the world turns dark and the walls close in. R Canine_-degenerative-myelopathy-Tollers-copy.pdf

Hello all, I'm in a state of shock because a few days ago YouTube told me what my trusted vet has not diagnosed for many months - that my Jazzy has degenerative myelopathy (DM). It's my mistake that I confused "caring" with "competent" - and my poor dog is paying the price. Yes, it is a devastatingly incurable condition, but physio and some meds can slow the progress, or so I understand. Having lost trust in my current vet, I am now looking to change. And I think it makes sense for me to try and find a vet who has some familiarity with the breed. Are there any toller owners out there who can suggest a good vet? We are out east of Melbourne, in Vermont. But traveling a distance for proper care is a no-brainer. Thanks in advance (I have tried emailing a couple of breeders and the NSDTR club, but have had no response to my emails) PS: I should clarify my statements above: There are some very clear symptoms of DM, like decreasing strength in hind legs, paws dragging along the ground and folding backwards, inability to lift the tail in a normal "wag" position, legs crossing over when she walks or turns. all symptoms I pointed out to the vet. Jazz does have spinal arthritis, diagnosed in May, and the vet seems to have become fixated on the arthritis, insisting that the weakness was a reaction to her painkillers.

Hi, (Please feel free to direct me to a more appropriate forum section.) I need to take my dog up to Homebush in Sydney for radiation treatment for her cancer. From Oct 31 to Nov 6. It's a nightmare trying to find an AirBnB place nearby (pet friendly) because AirBnB let you specify a suburb and then pay it no attention, giving you results around 100km across. I'm wondering if someone here has an experience of a place - or knows someone who has gone through the same exercise? Or if you can suggest a way that I can find pet-frendly accommodation there. Thanks in advance ... or more correctly .. Thanks in desperation. Sigh. Rashad