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