My Angel..Lily Twinkle

Lily Twinkle lasted for nine months from the day of diagnosis for Lymphoma and was happy and pretty much healthy until I made the decision to take her to my vets.
Since my last blog in April, Lily Twinkle was amazing and every vet who met her couldn't believe she had lymphoma as she was bright and her coat and eyes shined. She was pretty much a normal dog healthwise except for the enlargement of her lymph nodes.
She stayed on a daily dose of 25mg steroids until she went and the side effects got less and less as the steroids got less effective. I had spoken to Prof David Argyle at the Dick Vet in Edinburgh but he felt there was a chance she would crash if I took her off steroids all together as it had happened to him before with a dog so I didn't want to take that chance.
I did mean to update Lily's progress in July but the time just flew in! With the help of CV247, holistic meds, natural herbal meds and nutritional therapy from raw food she led a healthy and happy life. She was a bit sluggish in July and I noticed she had some fluid on her hock as she hadnt wanted to walk that day so her circulation wasnt at its best. From that day on she got a walk twice a day which she loved after she got up and out the door. I also managed to get in touch with the physio at the Glasgow Vet School, Melanie. She showed me how to do a lymphatic massage to help boost lily's circulation and lymphatic drainage system. It really helped and she never had another odema after that.
I also couldn't have done such a good job with Lily's treatment without the help of my vets..ICR Butt and Partners...Sarah, Rory and the two Chris's who all had an open mind and knowledge that helped me be positive and productive.
Richard Allport was brilliant and so positive and full of ideas to help Lily and such an understanding of holistic meds and the importance of nutritional therapy. Prof David Argyle was so helpful and managed to fit me in for a consultation at a minutes notice as his oncology knowledge is amazing. Melanie the physio was so patient and kind is showing me how to help Lily with massage. It was great to have such a great support mechanism in place to help Lily and me!
Lily turned eight on 12 September 2011 and we had a wee party for her and I made a liver cake with cheese topping which she and all her friends loved. I was so delighted she'd made it to her eighth birthday as was sure she wouldn't make it past four months with Lymphoma.
At the beginning of October she had an infection that was treated with antibiotics and she was ok for a week then it came back and it was treated again and we decided that she would have to go on antibiotics permanently. It showed her immunity, that had done brilliantly for so long, was now starting to find it hard to keep infections at bay so that is the next protocol.
I got an appointment with Prof David Argyle on 18th October to see what advice he could give me. He was very pleased by how well Lily Twinkle looked and acted at having no chemo only natural treatment for nine months. He did however say that she was at the end of her illness and her liver and spleen were now involved as her tummy was still pot-bellied from the steroids depositing fat on her tummy but now it wasn't fat but organ enlargement.
She was healthy looking and happy and loving her food and her walks but her insides were telling a different story. I was glad I went to see David as I knew there was no-one more qualified with so much experience of Lymphoma to give me a true picture and he even said some of his patients don't do as well as Lily Twinkle has when on chemo.
He couldn't give me a timescale as look how well she had lasted beyond all the odds but I knew it was time.
I made an appointment at the vet on the 20th October and I spent two days going for walks, cuddles, pictures and giving her tasty things to eat, still raw meat but left out the veg. She went for her final walk and was slowing down but still managed a trot and a good sniff round the woods. At the vet she got chicken, corned beef and mature cheddar and then got a raw chicken leg to munch on while the blue jag went in her leg. She was ready and knew and she looked at me with happiness in her eyes while she chomped on her bone three times before she just went. She lay with her head on my lap with her tongue out one side and a chicken leg out of the other with her big soft head and looked so cute and peaceful.
I sat patting her for 40 mins in that position while chatting to the vet and my friend, it wasn't rushed and I feel I got to say my goodbyes and I knew that Lily Twinkle never suffered. She could have lasted another month or so but I was so worried her spleen would rupture or her liver would fail and I couldn't have forgiven myself if that had happened because I would have been keeping her alive for me not for Lily Twinkle.
I now have wonderful memories of a fantastic dog called Lily Twinkle who made everyone see her on the inside not the outside. She was a true pacifying kind dog whose calm nature is so missed in my house. She was a credit to her breed and she changed so many peoples opinions of Rottweilers.
She gave blood to save dogs lives and was a true angel.
Lily Twinkle ~ 12 September 2003 to 20 October 2011 ~
I will miss you so much 

Nikki x  

PS Thank you for the lovely comments. I forgot to thank Lily Twinkle's breeder, Sharon at Blairoak. She was so helpful when I went to pick Lily eight years ago and has continued to be a great support and friend who sent Lily Twinkle a Xmas card every year and whom I will keep in touch with as she lets me go and kiss all the puppies when she has a litter.
Nikki x

Kia's story

Kia's Tale

I'm putting out this world wide plea, for help for Kia, in her fight against cancer.

Kia, joined our family ten years ago, tomorrow; 26.06.2001, she was six eeks old, and had just been rescued from a house that had fifteen adult dogs, all intact. Three of her siblings had already been drowned, and her day consisted of been the plaything of a group of unruly children. At the time of her rescue, both her and her brother were been rolled down the windscreen of the family car. Thankfully her new life started a few hours later. On another positive note her sister, that had not been discovered at the time. Was freed, a week later. For a fiver and ten cigs, teenagers today.



With ears, twice the size of her body, Kia was now home! With Sheba, our very maternal GSD as surrogate Mum, Kia soon found her way and blossomed adulthood. With stunning looks, she's DobermanXEnglish Bull TerrierXPharohhound possibly Boxer. She draws attention where ever we are. She's very timid, and both Emma, (sister who was rescued) and her have lots of funny quirks and habits. Mainly grabbing the first thing to hand, when anybody comes to the house; be it her baby, a ball of sock or a roll of kitchen roll. It becomes a treasured item, to show off!!! They also still have some scars, from their previous lives, but we don't dwell on them. Together their like a pair of bookends.



Things have gone on brilliantly, she had her first shots. Was spayed around six months and until two years ago, she'd never been to the vets. This was only because she strained the tendons after too much ball chasing. Forward to the present, March 2011, as my Mum was getting Milo, another reprobate we rescued, into the car. Kia was stalking the picnic tables. My Mum heard a slight shuffle and when she got Kia in the car, she realised that she had been bitten. Kia was bathed and sorted, with no apparent ill effects. But about a week later her right eye, became swollen, and her third eye lid came out. The vet diagnosed an infection, antibiotics and anti imflammatories were prescribed. Follow up, eye same, different meds given. This continued for five weeks. Then on the Royal wedding day, Kia's head, eye, nose. Swelled up enormously, off to the emergency vets, Not examined, but Vet mentioned could be a growth in the soft tissue. Swelling went down after two days, PDSA follow up said they would remove her eye, if necessary. We went to a private vet, who said, it wasn't acting like a tumour, but organised a biopsy, to get too the bottom of things.



Morning of biopsy, dropped Kia off, full of hope and just wanting an answer. three hours later, our lovely vet is telling me that he's sorry, but things aren't looking good, and we should prepare for the worse. Poor Kia, she looked like she'd done three rounds with Mike Tyson.From that phone call, I was accessing ColdWetNoseblog and checking out the list of vets that were prescribing cv-247, an appointment was made. We are fighting this head on.  A week later and the results were in: Carcinoma, Orbital mass. There was a Neoplastic mass, features of epithelial origin, most likely of lacrimal gland origin. A week later and Kia had her right eye removed, but unfortunately, they couldn't get all of the tumour, it was in the soft tissue above her eye.



this is where it gets complicated, The vets who we were going to get the cv-247, hadn't been able to get any for several months. So I got in touch with Richard Allports surgery, a lovely lady filled me in on what the problems had been, and what we needed to do to get the cv-247 from them. This is were the problems started. Our vet, as lovely as he is, doesn't know anything about cv-247 and he wasn't  happy dealing with Mr Allport. He put me in touch with another vet, who uses complimentary treatments. Luckily he had used cv-247, so he could give me some details IE regarding painkillers etc. He also explained how to obtain the drugs, without compromising prescribing laws. Back to our vet, to fill him in on what I'd been told. This time I was told he would only deal, with the original vet, I had contacted. As any of you know who is or has been in this situation. You don't want hold ups. We just wanted the prescription and the tablets and of course what to feed her. After yet another bank holiday, we were told that finally the vet had got the tablets, and knew the dose. So off we went to collect the prescription, along with some Metacam. Then on to pick up the cv-247. Whilst voicing my concerns about using Metacam. I enquired about John Carters diet and if they had any info sheets. What was said next, was to me so very sad. The vet, just looked at me and said." I don't know who John Carter is, " I told her he was the vet that had formulated this treatment, but that he also recommended a very precise diet. She said that she was American and that she only knew of the drug from the manufacturers that supplied them, but they could provide a generic diet sheet, suitable for dogs with cancer.



Now several years ago, I read one of the articles in DT; about John carter and his amazing treatment, the rigid diet, and some of the remarkable cases. Both animal and human. So I knew John's way was the only way to go. However I only know the basic principles; low salt, low sugar, no processed foods,  organic foods only, no grains other than oats and only bottled water (prefabley) glass. I know we need Tryplase capsules, along with other various vitamin and mineral supplements. This is where we need Your Help!!! I'm not very Internet savvy, so sourcing the right info, is proving to be an uphill struggle. I've poured over the cv-247 blogs, which are helpful, but there seem to be some discrepancies, regarding ingredients.

 

So anyone with suitable recipes, where we can get the supplements and any organic suppliers who can do wholesale would be a massive help. Also of course we'd love to hear from anyone who's going down the same route, to swap updates with. Kia is approx 221/2 - 23kgs. we are in Leeds and are waiting to hear from you. I'm not sure how this all works, so I'm giving all my contact details to Beverley.



Regards

Carolanne and Kia

Every day is a bonus

Lily Twinkle has been amazing..she looks so happy and healthy and what more can you ask for.  Thanks to the blog on Herbie I bit the bullet and asked my vet to refer me to Richard Allport for telephone consultations on CV247 and holistic treatments.  It was the best thing I have ever done as Richard is a vet first and foremost but also believes in CV247 and holistic and natural healing.  I found it hard with Chilli Pepper to know what was the right food to feed her on and what herbs or vitamins to add into her food as there is so many when you look on the internet.  Now I have had a several consultations and the first initial consultation was about everything to do with Lily Twinkles diet and personality and what doses to put her on and all the right herbs and a balanced natural diet which is cooked mostly except the meat and chicken wings for calcium.

Lily was doing fab until 3 weeks ago and she got up and went a walk as normal then when we went to my sisters in the car she looked miserable and was very uncomfortable as her lymph nodes in her neck were big by this point.  She had lasted a month without steroids which was great as they made her drink loads and she weed herself wherever she lay although they did take her lymph nodes down brilliantly.  I had to phone my vet and she was instantly put on large dose of the steroids again for 3 days and within 12 hours she was back to her happy lazy self, upside down on the couch. I phoned Richard the next day and he advised sometimes dogs may need the help of steroids for a couple of days a month or maybe more just to help reduce the swelling so I am certain the natural way is the right thing to do but for a few months we can give her short course of steroids to keep the lymph nodes down.  The prognosis for Lily is dire without chemo but if I get one more month out of her like she is behaving now I will be delighted.

Every day is a bonus and unlike how I behaved with Chilli Pepper (crying every day when she was still alive) I don't cry as I am appreciating her being well and still here.  If we dont have long then I am not going to remember how sad I was but how happy Lily Twinkle was.  I think it is working with the CV247 and natural remedies and it would be lovely if it continues for ages and then maybe my vets' will take more of an interest in this magical potion!!

I also managed a great breakthrough with Petplan..who lily is insured with as they classed CV247 as a homeopathic med but I complained and now the claims team accept that it is a vet medicine as has to be prescribed by a vet or doctor as contains sodium salicylate which is also in aspirin.

I have just taken the picture above tonight and it shows how healthy and contented Lily Twinkle is in her favourite position with a smile on her face lol.

Nikki and Lily Twinkle x
 

Remembering Chilli and fingers crossed for Lily Twinkle

Hi Beverley

I have been meaning to email you for ages to advise that Chilli Pepper left us on 26 May 2010.  We had no regrets and her last 15mths were the healthiest she had ever been and the cv247 was the reason for that.  The cancer was very aggressive and although the cv247 kept it at bay for an extra nine months it took over most of her colon and digestive tract to the point where the food was finding it hard to go through from her tummy.

Up to that day in may she had been out for her normal walks but was a bit distressed with the pooing thing and she had a urine infection also so that didn't help.  Up til then she had been pretty healthy and happy.  I felt her tummy during the day as she hadn't eaten much in the morning and it was full and I could tell she was uncomfortable so by 9pm she wasn't any better so called my vet (who is luckily 24 hrs) Chris and I took her up.  He put his head in his hands trying to think of something else we could do but I told him it was time.

I still cry every day about Chilli Pepper and I miss her so much as she was my friend more than my dog.  I got a puppy...Blue Roan and Sable Cocker Spaniel in December and she is great...although I still miss Chilli, Dilly Dumpling has made my life a little happier.

That being said I noticed my Rottie Lily Twinkle's lymph nodes were swollen last week so up to the vet and although I knew it was lymphoma, we did the antibiotics thing for a week.  No change so a biopsy was done and the results came back yesterday as expected.

Here we go again..I haven't got over Chilli Pepper yet and my lovely kind Rottweiller now has cancer too at the same young age of 7 1/2...although now I am more positive and know the path I will follow. Chemo was considered as Lily loves the vets as long as she gets a biscuit and has Xrays done without sedation.  She is a gem of a dog who for the last 2 years was a blood donor for the Dick Vet in Edinburgh (20 minutes of blood taken from the jugular without sedation) and they think she is a fab dog too as do my vets and everyone that knows her.

Thank god for the blog Beverley, it is still going strong and another rottie on the site too. Glad to see Heidi is still ok so am going to follow her diet with the Budwig cottage cheese and flaxseed oil thang too.  Lily Twinkle cant seem to tolerate raw carrots or cooked ones that are in chunks..she always brings them up so cooked and blitzed carrots for her!  With Chilli we did the vintage JC diet but I found a holistic site that  gives a recommended diet which is mostly cooked like Heidis diet.  I thought it was all raw but it appears to be working well with Heidi so will give it a try.  I am so optimistic as Lymphoma has a pretty bad prognosis but Cv247 helped Chilli be healthy and Happy so I want the same for Lily for as long as we have.  It is great to see the other lymphoma cases of the spaniels and they seem to have around 18 mths at least so it may be quite effective for this type of cancer.  Web advice of vets was prognosis around 6 to 8 weeks without chemo and 8 mths with.

I didnt do the glass bottle mineral water with Chilli but will do it with Lily..as you have said numerous times JC did say it had to be glass not plastic bottles, and he knew best.

Please add this to the Blog Beverley and I will be back in touch regularly with Lily's blog.  My vets are totally behind me as all think that it was a success for Chilli Pepper's quality and quantity of life after diagnosis. Lily is on Prednisolone for two wks to blast the multicentric lymphoma to reduce the lymph nodes and in that time I will give her all the vitamins and herbs etc and introduce the diet gradually.  After that I will bring in the big guns aka cv247!

Love Nikki and Lily Twinkle x