Staffyluv Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 Good luck with Sophie today CnR. I hope her blood tests are all OK. If she is anything like Ollie, he loves turkey mince with mashed zucchini and sweet potato at the moment. He also gets other types of mince - chicken, veal, roo (all human grade and when I have the extra funds, organic)... He does like other veges too but seems to prefer these two at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allerzeit Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 Thinking of you and Sophie today, Anne - fingers and paws crossed for positive news Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavNrott Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Thanks Oonga, Staffyluv and Allerzeit for thinking of us. I'm very nervous and apprehensive about the oncology visit today. I think panic stricken would be a better description. I know Sophie has gone downhill in the last week or so and I'm not expecting a good report like she had at the last visit. Our consult is at 2pm. Oonga the tumour in her mouth has grown rapidly. It's a bit like an open wound in that the food seems to sting when she eats so I have to spoon feed her making sure I place the food on the good side of her mouth, away from the tumour. If I didn't spoon feed her the pain would prevent her from eating even though her appetite and interest in food is good. At least that's what I think is happening. It could be that the tumour is so painful to the touch even with soft food. Whatever it is she hasn't been able to eat unaided in the last week. She can drink without problems. She can eat half a chicken frame, she chews it on her good side so at least she is getting some bone. Staffyluv I will try the diet you recommended. Sophie loves those vegies too. Do you cook the meat or mix the cooked vegies with raw mince? All the meat I feed her is minced, either beef or chicken. I give her the beef raw but cook the chicken mince. Though she's always been BARF fed I'm a bit worried now about raw. Maybe her system can't cope with the normal bacteria in raw meat. She eats human grade meat. I'm going to make the trip to Macro to get organic meat and vegies for her but I hate leaving her for too long in case she takes a turn for the worse. Trace, please keep those fingers and paws crossed. Sophie needs all the positive, healing thoughts she can get. She's a bit depressed today too which is not like her at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chell Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 ZednQ, Im so sorry for your loss, my thoughts are with you at this heartbreaking time. Angels are always among us here on earth, they come at a time when we need them most and bring us such happiness and joy,but sadly heaven must take them back before we are ever ready to say goodbye. Your boy Zed was one of those angels but now he has his wings and will be forever with you, not even heavan can take his spirit that is etched in your heart forever. CavNrott, hoping that your apt goes well today, will be thinking of you. Sending you lots of love and strength for you and your precious girl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staffyluv Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 CnR, I cook all of Ollies meat - no raw. He just stopped eating raw one day a few years back and I have been cooking for him ever since. What about yoghurt and manuka honey - they both have good bacteria in them, maybe you could use the honey on her tumour? I use if for Ollie as he has some stomach ulceration from the chemo that has never really healed. But when he is on the honey, he really does much better, his stomach does not seem to be so reactive to food. Hope it all went well Jodie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiahzen Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 cavNrott... How did you go today?? I hope everything is ok, you know i'm here if you need anything... ZnQ.. I hope that you are holding up ok.. Hugs to you all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kadbury Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 :rolleyes: Run free beautiful Zed........my heart is breaking for you and I can't find words at the moment. Love and Hugd Kay xxxxxxoooooo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavNrott Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 CnR, I cook all of Ollies meat - no raw. He just stopped eating raw one day a few years back and I have been cooking for him ever since.What about yoghurt and manuka honey - they both have good bacteria in them, maybe you could use the honey on her tumour? I use if for Ollie as he has some stomach ulceration from the chemo that has never really healed. But when he is on the honey, he really does much better, his stomach does not seem to be so reactive to food. Hope it all went well Jodie Thanks Jodie, I have been giving all my dogs active Manuka honey 10+ and live culture yoghurt in goats milk as a nightcap at bedtime for years. Sophie suddenly refused the Manuka honey and the natural yoghurt. I asked a dietitian why this would be and was told that in the stomach, the honey turns to acid. Cancer needs acid to survive and that I should be guided by what Sophie and that I need to feed her an alkaline diet. So exit Manuka honey for her but all the other dogs still have it. Sophie has never refused any food in her life but she won't take that mix now. She will eat live culture yoghurt in either vanilla or box honey flavour but won't take it with Manuka honey. I have a product here where I put three drops of the stuff in water it turns the water alkaline. So she now gets full fat live yoghurt and goats milk with alkaline water added. I also add 15ml of Aloe Vera and Manuka honey mix that I buy at the health food store. She takes this without a problem. I guess she doesn't taste it in the goats milk. She takes 400mg of Doxycycline a day so I doubt any bacteria could survive with that high dose of antibotics. I hope the live yoghurt allows the good bacteria to survive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavNrott Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Thanks for asking BluePoppy. Amazingly the oncol consult went very well. I felt negative about going there today, I expected bad news but it was all good. Sophie had a full blood examination and she is well within the normal range for a healthy dog in all areas. I was amazed as was the oncologist. They said Sophie is doing much better than expected. I mentioned I didn't expect she would still be with me for this long. They said they didn't either. So this amazing, wonderful dog has lived beyond all our expectations. How lucky am I? Her urine test was below the normal range and they are keeping it for 24 hours and doing more tests It was explained but I didn't take it all in. I know one of the drugs she is on has a side effect of bladder problems. They said whatever it is I'm doing, to keep doing it because it's working. I suspect it's their metronomic therapy that's keeping Sophie alive and fit rather than anything I'm doing. There are no changes in her drug regime but for me to give pain relief when I think it's needed. They've given me extra Tramadol. It was suggested not to debulk the tumour even though it's growing quickly unless I'm prepared to go the whole hog and have a most of her right mandible removed at the same time. My answer to that is a firm NO. Metastasis has probably already happened so I wont put Sophie through major surgery and another GA to have her go down in short time with a malignancy in another part of her body. They don't know if they get clear margins on the excised bone in surgery until pathology results are in anyway. If the margins were not clear I would've put Sophie through all that pain for nothing. For now, all is well and she goes back in 3 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allerzeit Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Sophie had a full blood examination and she is well within the normal range for a healthy dog in all areas. I was amazed as was the oncologist. They said Sophie is doing much better than expected. EXCELLENT!!! :rolleyes: I'm so pleased for you and for Sophie! Keep on keeping on my girl! Anne - I've not heard of metronomic therapy before - can you tell me what it is? I'm very interested to learn more, because you are obviously doing something very right for Sophie :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dellahar Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Good to hear the positive results you must be doing somthing right CNR. Hugs to Sophie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiahzen Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Glad to hear CnR.... Way to go Sophie :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelissaS Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Just wanted to send some postive thoughts out to you and all your beautiful rottys. I don't post much but I am on DOL daily and check this thread. Sending hugs and good thoughts out to you and your beautiful rottys. So so sorry about beautiful Zed. CavNrott I am glad that Sophie is doing well and being strong. Cheers :rolleyes: Melissa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavNrott Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Anne - I've not heard of metronomic therapy before - can you tell me what it is? I'm very interested to learn more, because you are obviously doing something very right for Sophie :rolleyes: Anyone not interested in osteosarcoma, please skim over this post because it will bore you witless. Allerzeit I'm not certain if all metronomic protocol is the same or whether it is tailored to the type of cancer or to a particular patient. With Sophie she takes a combination of different drugs. I think all up there's about 7 of them. One of them is a chemotherapy drug which she has every 48 hours and that's taken with a diuretic to flush it out of her system within the 48 hours. That's the one I suspect causes bladder problems. I have to use latex gloves to handle this drug. (except when I spilled a couple on the floor today and had to rush to find them and pick them up before the dogs got them) Another drug is to build and strengthen bone to prevent pathological fracture of diseased bone that often happens with osteosarcoma. That's given on an empty stomach early in the morning. A couple of hours later with breakfast she takes two strong antibiotics with an anti nausea tablet along with Piroxicam for pain. Piroxicam is also said to slow the progression of the disease. I think this is only expected if it's used in conjuction with the other drugs. About 1/2 an hour before her dinner she has another anti nausea tablet along with Tramadol for pain. At dinner time she has two antibiotic tablets and a vitamin tablet. I can give her Tramadol for pain at any time but I'm keeping her on a maintenance dose because I'll need to step it up as time goes on. She seems to be pain free on the maintenance dose...if I think she has pain I give her another Tramadol with her yoghurt/goats milk at night. She drinks Nobles bottled water and I add AlkaLife drops to make sure the water is alkaline. I also add the alkaline water to all her meals. That's basically all Sophie's routine is At the beginning there were two other drugs as well as the 7 she currently on but they've now been dropped, thank goodness. I'ts not quite as confusing now I'm into the swing of what's supposed to happen and when. I have changed her diet to an alkaline cancer starving diet so she's eating totally different food to the BARF diet she's grown up on. She has no grains at all and I stay clear of carbs and sugars. It's mostly protein and fats. There is rigmarole about cleaning up poop, any vomit and pee but no need for me to explain unless someone wants to know Something is working for Sophie so I'll keep on with it. She was only expected to live for a couple of weeks at the most and here she is 2 months later, strong and good spirits. This dog is really something. I always knew she was special. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jed Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 ZedNQ - so sorry. Run free, good boy. CnR - that's good news. Am sending good vibes Sopie's way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stolzseinrotts Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 (edited) ZedNQ so sorry to hear about Zed, RIP and be forever free Edited February 29, 2008 by Stolzseinrotts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stolzseinrotts Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 cavNrott, so very glad to hear about Sophies continued good news. And thank you for sharing the above information, very very interesting reading. Fingers crossed for the future with Sophie, Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staffyluv Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Glad to hear good news for you and Sophie CnR. The metronomic protocol sounds like it may be tailored to the dog and the prgression of the disease (based on what I just read in your post). Ollie had a similar protocol (different drugs - diff cancer, some had to be handled with gloves and some were by canula) but we still had to give some on an empty stomach, some after food, some before bed etc... Well, whatever you are doing, you are doing it right - keep up the great work and give the girl a hug from me. Jodie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandydog Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Was reading this thread past midnight last night and crying my eyes out, an absolute mess, couldn't let OH hear me tho. I can fee the pain you're all going thru as I lost my German shep. at only 5 to cancer and that was 15 years ago and my heart still breaks for him. I'm so sorry that Zed was taken so young ZedNQ what a beautiful looking dog from his photo sometimes life is so unfair and it's beyond our comprehension to understand why this happens, I'm sure he's having a great time over the bridge now he's free of pain, please look after yourself. Hugs to you CnR for what you and your OH are going thru with dear Sophie, my heart goes out to you, a big big hug to Sophie. I wonder if you have heard of the herb Essiac, when I thought my Lab might have a tumour I scoured the websites and found one on "dogs with cancer" and there was an article on Essiac, its not a cure of course but I believe it helps with their well-being, in Sydney you can buy it from Newton's Pharmacy in York Steet, they're a long established herbalist, there's also a wonderful story about "Magic" a German Shep who had cancer and his brave battle and extended life through the herbal diet they put him on, I hope it will give you some comfort when you feel down. My prayers are for you and Sophie, may she still continue to enjoy life for a good while yet, its good that you take her out when she wants to go for a mooch around, as long as they are able they should be allowed to, they'll let you know when they don't feel like it, there's nothing like a good mooch, roll, and pee outside to lift their spirits. Hugs also to Ollie, and to all the rotty babies and their owners who are doing it tough at the moment, our thoughts and prayers are with you all ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
griff Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 (edited) that's better news , ((( hugs )) to Sophie Edited February 29, 2008 by griff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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