I know there are bound to be serious animal lovers here, including those who love doggies. My dear friend , Carrie needs a helping hand. Her canine daughter, Tinkerbell, has gotten cancer :( It was found during a routine wellness screening, so she has been asymptomatic. So far Tink is still acting ok, but her spleen has been removed and was cancerous, she is undergoing chemotherapy, the dog version. Doctors aren't 100% certain it is going to spread, but this type of cancer usually spreads - however they normally don't catch it this early. So far she is on Immugen, Oncosupport powder, and I think she'll be adding Agaricus soon. These are not cheap, but Carrie's doing the best she can. If anyone knows where to get a deal on these things, please email. If you can spare even a dollar, please consider donating a bit to the Tinkerbell fund.
Tink lives with her Mom, her brother Starbreaker, and sister kitty Skippy near Seattle Washington.
Carrie has not asked me to do this, she may actually kick my ass when she finds out, but I'm sure sending her some loving support will make her get over it. If you would like to see more pictures of Tinkerbell and read more about her, please visit Carrie's myspace blog. As you can tell, Carrie has an unsinkable sense of humor, even throughout this difficult ordeal,
Gina
What's been going on:
8-9
Yay! Good news from Carrie:
...Tink has arthritis. Well, that or a reasonable facsimile thereof. Now before the whole liver function thing, her vet and I were discussing that she was "slowing down". Well, fine, and she was a little stiff after sitting on the couch for long periods, but then, so am I, so no big. And, because of her limping on that one paw, the vet gave her an NSAID to try for a week to see if her paw would get better. It was really cheap, too, and I got a BRAND NEW DOG out of the deal! No shit, she actually ran to the back door and outside when I got home, muscled past Star to watch me make dinner and then did the happy dance before I put it down for her to eat. Very cool. She seems perkier, too!
8-9
More information from Carrie about Tink's condition:
As a result of a routine wellness visit, and
while chasing something else, they found cancer on Tink's spleen. They removed
the spleen. The type of cancer that it is usually spreads, but they aren't 100%
sure 'cause they NEVER catch it this early. What's more, doggie chemo is nothing
like people chemo. Marketing research indicated that they may as well not bother
because nobody sane would put a pet through what human cancer patients endure.
So, basically, since she's not feeling or acting sick, there's a very real
chance that there are few or no hystiocytes in her system, and that they really
can be killed with a little chemo. Moreover, that chemo should only make her
oogy for about 10% or less of the time she's on it, and it will likely give her
3-5 additional months of symptom free (read: feeling fine and normal) lifespan,
may give her up to 10, and has a real chance of actually achieving remission.
Diet has been proven by traditional medicine to have a profound impact on a
cancer patient's overall health (i.e. immune system).
8-8
Thank you very much
to everyone!
I just got the call from the vet. Her blood counts are good, and they want a
recheck in 10 days. They've just given her pain killers for the limp for now,
and they'll review it at the next blood draw -- it doesn't look like a break or
anything that would warrant an x-ray. We'll just wait and see how quickly she
bounces back at this point. She still thinks the new food is the answer to
everything!
8-6
Tink goes to the vet Wednesday morning, and has a blood test to see how she's
faring with the chemo, and they look at her foot. Foot? Yes -- foot. She just
started limping on Friday morning, completely out of the blue, and I can't find
a problem. Apparently, Miss Tinkey has also learned the old adage, "you know you
are old when you start to injure yourself in your sleep." We are prolly lookin'
at sedation and X-rays given how she feels about the vet.
Other than that, she's doing pretty good, but sleeping A LOT, and she did have
some diarrhea on Friday and Saturday. It's so weird to give your dog two pills
and realize the consequences a week later. If this lasts very long, I'm not sure
we'll be doing a whole lot of chemo. I certainly don't want her last few months
to be one big long episode of tired and miserable. She was, at least, happy
before. We'll see, though, 'cause I also want to, at least, give her a chance.
8-5
The pretty princess is asleep behind me. Now that the kids have woken me up at
7something on a Sunday morning to go outside and eat, they're noting how early
it is and think they should sleep. Go figure. The chemo has finally started to
affect her, and if it makes her feel like this all the time, I'm going to have
to figure something else out, 'cause I'm not OK with her being this tired. But
the doctors say that it's only temporary, and that doggie chemo takes into
account that people won't typically make their dogs feel like crap on purpose,
regardless of the reason. At least there's some hope for her, however small.
Well, and she still likes the food.
(Tinkerbell's food has been boiled chicken breast lately, real chicken!, brown rice, or sweet potatoes or green beans - I hope Carrie is eating as well as Tink is!)