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Hi
everybody
Today
is a great day, it is Sherryl’s 12 years birthday. Always a great day with a
pyr, but with Sherryl I had not expected her to live that long, as she was
diagnosed with cancer in her mouth 3½ years ago, and given a maximum of 6 month
to live. I have written about it before, so some of you may have remember her
story, but I hope that maybe her story will give a bit of hope to someone, that
even with cancer things may turn out better than expected. When Sherryl was 8 years old, I saw a very
little growth in the front of her mouth, like a little matchstick sticking out
of the gums above the front teeth. At first I was not much worried, it was
very small and old dogs can get growth in their mouths, but I did not like
the colour – bright angry red – and neither did the vet when I took her in to
check on it. So he made an biopsy that showed that it was cancer, and that it
had spread in her upper jaw - behind her teeth in the roof of her mouth. There was nothing to do,
“take her home and give her a good
time”, was the advice of the vet, who said that 6 month was the most I could hope for. When I managed to find
something on the net, the articles said 3 to 5 month, so I can not accuse my vet
of being unduly pessimistic. I did the only thing I could think of at the
time, gave her some supplement to improve her immune system and hope she would
fight it of for as long as possible, but in the beginning it grew alarmingly
fast, the visible part doubling every week. But the miracle happened the growth
slowed down and eventually stopped completely. I wrote to one of the lists about her a year
after the diagnoses, and some of you kindly advised on medicine / supplement
that might help. I did read up on
your suggestions, but things were going so well, that I decided to leave well
alone. And today she is
12 years. When you look at her, you can see that the muzzle is bigger (both
longer and broader) in the left side
of her head where the growth is, but otherwise there is nothing to see,
the angry red colouring has disappeared, so the growth is just black like the
rest of the gums. Somehow it does
not look so scary like that, and I have long ago stopped worrying that she will
die of the cancer. My vet tells me it should not be possible, but it is one time when he is happy to be
proved wrong. I think the
legs will let her down in the end. She has arthritis and is on Metacam to keep
her painfree. Her daily morning walk is very short and very slow now, but she
still insist on it. At home she is still happy and bright, does her share of
guarding house and garden against dangerous hares in the field around us and
cats, bikers, tractors, other dogs, etc. that dares to pass by on the road. She
also tries to play with the younger dogs, but she is not very good at any
more. Sorry to have been rambling on for so long, but
I guess you can all understand how I feel. Lene Nielsen, Denmark sandybear@myinternet.dk http://sandybear.hjem.wanadoo.dk |