abundance acupuncture
11-19-2007, 09:17 AM
Thankyou for all the emails from waccovians, and all the great recommendations. We took him to emergency that night and then over to UC Davis at 3 am for spinal surgery to remove 3 ruptured disks! If a problem like this is not taken care of surgically within 24 hours in most cases it will be permanent. He is out of ICU now and in hospital care for the week. 85-90% chance of regaining his ability to walk. thanks for everyone's help and referrals! Radiya
r3miracles
11-25-2007, 07:24 AM
I love the vets and caregivers at UC Davis! Approximately 3-1/2 years ago, I had to put down my chocolate lab, Hope, the day after Mother's Day. It was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make, for not only was I making the decision to end her life so she could be free from suffering, but I was also taking a dear, sweet friend from my two youngest boys who had not known life without her. *tears* I have always lived my life with dogs - literally from as far back as I can remember. And as a child/teen had aspirations of becoming of vet (also grew up in Davis!) ... anyway, fast forward to why I felt compelled to respond to this post ...
Two months went by after Hope's passing (yes, I had her cremated, and I have her ashes), and I realized there was just an empty space in our family. So I began the search for a rescue dog - a dog someone else might not want for whatever reasons. Long story short, I met Marjorie's foster Mom from Home at Last Rescue. My partner and I fell in love with Marjorie (also the name of my maternal grandmother who had passed two years prior), but decided to foster her, rather than adopt, as Marjorie had had cancer, but was supposedly cancer-free, or so the doctors thought. I felt I just wasn't emotionally ready to get attached to a dog that might not make it - but somehow fostering was okay. Detached a bit maybe?
Anyway - her current foster mom and I exchanged phone calls back and forth regarding upcoming tests, etc., and my partner and I left for a weekend vacation. We came home to many phone messages from Marjorie's foster mom - stating that in essence, she was going to be moving soon, and needed to find a foster home for Marjorie ASAP. Not only that, but it was determined that Marjorie's cancer had come back. She had one of the rarest forms of cancer (rhabdomyosarcoma) - it's usually only found in children, and in order to properly diagnosis Marjorie's cancer, the vets at UC took her biopsies to UC Med Center to gain a proper diagnosis. Anyway, the rescue agency obviously saw what her current foster mom saw in her (a loving, caring, dedicated, fun dog with so much to offer) and agreed to cover her chemo at UC Davis. We still, at that time, agreed to foster her. We had her one day, and decided to formally adopt her, as our entire family had fallen completely in love with her. We took her to Davis for 6 (maybe 4?) rounds of chemo. Marjorie went to Yosemite camping for 1-1/2 weeks with us, went camping at Clear Lake, went everywhere with us.
After my hysterectomy, she either slept by my side of the bed (her favorite spot) or would use all of her might to climb up on the bed, so she could be next to me. Unbeknownst to me at the time, she did this while she was in the process of dying. Her chemo was finished sometime in Sept or early October, my surgery was the day after election day 2004, and she passed 2 days before Thanksgiving that same year. Bless her sweet heart - she loved us so much that she waited until I had left to take my 3 boys to school before laying down on the kitchen floor to take her last breaths.
*more tears* I bring this story up, because of the incredible staff at UC's Vet Center. They were wonderful!!! Caring, loving, understanding, respectful - I could go on and on. Well, I was in such a state of emotions and shock - I wasn't sure what to do. So I called her oncologist at UC. She was wonderful. And I could hear her fighting back tears as she spoke to me. She reminded me that it was totally up to me as to what to do with Marjorie's body, but gave me a suggestion, prefacing it with she knew that it might not exactly be the right time to bring it up - but the clock was ticking...
See, as I remember being told, Marjorie was only one of two or maybe three dogs on vet record to have this type of cancer, as it is normally found in human children - not dogs. Because of this, she asked would I consider bringing Marjorie to UC ASAP so they could do an autopsy to determine her cause of death. (The chemo they use for this cancer is extremely cardiac toxic.) I called my partner, and we agreed. We wanted Marjorie's life to have meaning - and given that she was the ONLY dog on record to have undergone chemo for this type of cancer, we felt it was the least we could do, given that the vets at UC had done their best to save her. (Backtracking a bit here... prior to being rescued, Marjorie had been used by someone as a breeding machine - it was when she started urinating blood that her owner literally kicked her out on the street. The vet who did her spay, said he had never seen a uterus in worse shape.)
Anyway, so we picked kids up from school - not saying anything until we got home. (We had since that morning, wrapped Marjorie in a clean white sheet and moved her to the garage where it was very cold - for obvious reasons.) My boys were devastated. I allowed them to hug her, kiss her, sing to her, talk to her, put band-aids on her boo-boos (my youngest in an effort to bring her back), place stuffed animals with her so she wouldn't be alone, etc. We drove to UC - seemed like it took forever. We got there late ... but were met not only by a loving, caring, wonderful staff, but also by her own oncologist who immediately came up and embraced us. She got down on my kids' level and answered all their questions. She let us take as much time as we needed to say our good-byes, and wheeled Marjorie away. I knew this vet would make Marjorie's autopsy as respectful as she possibly could.
Months passed ... we finally heard that they had not been able to determine the cause of death, but were very grateful to have the opportunity to check as to whether or not it had been the chemo. One day, a package arrived from UC. In it, was a stepping stone, with Marjorie's name and paw print on it, enclosed with a card, signed by the staff.
My sense is your paralyzed dog is in the best possible hands he/she could ever be in. My boys and I will keep you and your furry companion in our prayers!
Peace, harmony, laughter & love,
Jennifer :heart: