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