Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Objectionable?

I'm a bit perturbed that someone has flagged this blog as having objectionable content. It's a blog dedicated to a dog and his battle with cancer. Upsetting maybe, but objectionable or questionable...NO!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Week 8 - Update

Many changes have occurred this past week. First, Dozer is no longer taking Neoplasene. It's been a week since he's had any. It really didn't seem to be helping so my husband and I decided to discontinue it.

We also took him for a second opinion with a veterinarian that practices both eastern and western medicine. She advised against amputation at this time and agreed with our Neoplasene decision. Actually, she attributed a lot of the pain to the Neoplasene injection. If you feel where the injection was given you can feel a hard lump, which she thinks is scar tissue from the Neoplasene which could be causing the discomfort. I'm not saying that I don't believe in the effectiveness of Neoplasene as I've read many encouraging success stories, but unfortunately it's not the ideal treatment for Dozer and his type of cancer. One thing for sure is that I wouldn't have injected him with Neoplasene again. I would have considered the topical, but not the injection. Actually, I was a bit relieved that she didn't suggest a second injection. I really thought that Neoplasene was going to be the miracle we were looking for. Now I'm not so sure where we stand. :( Hopefully, we can still get him through this.

We've also taken him off the CAS immune support and the digestive enzymes. And we are going to change the Chinese herbs that he's taking. We have yet to start the herbs at this time as they are being ordered. I will explain more once he starts taking them.

Dozer is also starting acupuncture therapy and had his first treatment two days ago. He'll continue with it every two weeks. He was a very good boy...No surprise! He was even given a stuffed toy to take home with him. He killed it the same day, but I plan to sew it's head back on for him.

His diet will remain cooked meat and veggies, but no chicken or fish as he was previously allowed as they are considered "hot" foods and can contribute to the growth of the cancer.

One other thing is that since he's no longer taking the Neoplasene he can use pain medications other than Turbutrol. Neoplasene works by the process of inflammation. The tumor becomes inflamed and then begins to slough off. Therefore, a patient taking Neoplasene can not take drugs that have anti-inflammatory agents in it since it will counter act the effect of the Neoplasene. Turbutrol is a non anti-inflammatory pain medication, which was doing very little to help ease his pain. So now he's now taking Duramax once daily.