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

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