This past 6 months have been a challenging time all around. As such, I've been unable to provide frequent updates on this blog unfortunately. Today however, I made sure to allocate time to write what will be my final post. Weasel was put down today after a strong battle against cancer for the last 2 years and 3 months.
Although I was prepared for his inevitable departure from us, it still stung and I cried. It's so difficult to lose a fur baby. We feel that we need to protect these innocent beings in our lives and it's simply crushing when we fail at this task.
I'm presently visiting my mother so compounding the issue was the fact that I couldn't hug or kiss Weasel goodbye. My husband came home from work to find him barely able to breath and realized that it was time to take him to the vet.
For the past 2 months Weasel has been contending with terminal Ascites - an accumulation of fluid in his abdomen. The cancer had spread to the liver causing this to be the latest 'demon' to tackle. We had Weasel's abdomen drained 3 times. It got to the point where I thought that we could continue draining him until this as well came to pass, but a hernia developed and the reality of his situation was undeniable.
I continued to provide Weasel with his supplements..I realized that it was a waste of time but a small part of me thought that it would provide comfort until his final hour.
When reading this, please don't view his death as a reason to ever give up on your own fur babies. Yes, the cancer inevitably won, but keep in mind that Weasel was only expected to live 3 months with this aggressive cancer, and on top of that, we managed to shrink the pancreatic tumour. We were also up against the fact that Weasel refused to take many treatments that are quite important such as the Lypo-Spheric Vitamin C or Yunnan Baiyao to name a couple.
Just try your best no matter what because at the end of the day, your pets will know you are and you'll have peace of mind that you never gave up on those you love.
Best wishes to all of you. I hope that this blog is a helpful resource to refer to in your 'toolbox of arsenal' against cancer.
Weasel
Wednesday 20 May 2015
Monday 23 March 2015
Bloated Abdomen
It's been quite some time since I was last able to post an update. This is primarily due to giving birth at the end of January but I was also juggling an enormous workload as a new teacher prior to that.
Up until two weeks ago I believed Weasel was making fantastic progress thanks to the new Nature's Sunshine Paw Paw we had begun adding to his daily regime. He was very busy running in and out all day and had a hearty appetite. He had however escalated his 'bad behaviour' in the recent weeks, leaving bowel movements in the corners of our basement and urine next to shelves as well. Although it's not a renovated part of the house, it still holds tools and other valuables so his naughty ways are extremely aggravating. Because he's been urinating in spots he shouldn't for the past two years or so, I disregarded it as him being a fuss about his litter or not getting his way over something which he always makes a point of indicating is 'not acceptable'.
It turns out that this bathroom behaviour was likely due to the liver tumor. Shortly after Weasel left his excrement gift to us, I noticed that his sides were growing on a daily basis. My husband believed we were overfeeding him but I had my doubts that cats gain weight - or anyone for that matter, so quickly. About a week later Weasel looked as though he had swallowed a giant water mellon. I felt his sides and can only describe it as pushing a water balloon that has a thick membrane in which you can feel the water tightly pushing against the sides.
We took Weasel to have an X-ray at the vets down the street from us. They could see that it was due to the liver and in taking a fluid sample, where able to confirm this. Thankfully there wasn't any blood. We had a decision to make on the spot..is this dooms day or do we go on. I couldn't bear telling the vet to euthanize after all we had done to date so we had his abdomen drained. This may have bought us a few days, a few weeks or even months with him. It's really hard to tell.
I reached out to Dr. Haghighat and stated that it looks like we've hit the end of the road on this long journey. As always, Dr. Haghighat was very optimistic even when faced with this. Due to the fact that I didn't see much point in spending any more on tackling the cancer with funds being scarce with me out of work at the present moment, I politely stated that we were not going to pursue any more treatments. Here's where I was quite surprised (although I shouldn't be knowing how kind Dr. Haghighat is). He offered to treat Weasel for free in an upcoming visit. There aren't too many professionals that are as generous as he is. His belief that Weasel can combat this new hurdle is quite strong. He's reminded me that I need to give Weasel a fair chance and not give up just yet.
So based on this kind offer, today I visited Dr. Haghighat, lugging both the baby and the cat into his clinic (no easy feat I might add haha). Dr. Haghighat did blood therapy and acupuncture on Weasel. Weasel was very well behaved thankfully (unlike previous visits) and seemed to be in very strong spirits when we got home, running around and looking as though he didn't have the slightest clue he has anything wrong with him - an enviable quality animals have I might add. Dr. Haghighat mentioned as well that he felt that another ultrasound was required to see specifically what was taking place. I initially hesitated on this, as I felt it to be unnecessary but once again, his kindness has no bounds and he offered to pay for the ultrasound as well. I truly hope that the information he gathers through treating Weasel can benefit him somehow, as I'm blown away by his passion toward the wellbeing of our fur babies. He's definitely not in this for profit.
In contrast to Dr. Haghighat is the dreadful vet who operates the ultrasound machine in our area..I'm seriously thrilled to connect with him again this week (that was sarcasm btw). I'm sure he'll tell me that Weasel is about to explode in two weeks and there's nothing that can be done about it. He'll likely go into graphic detail about how messy the whole scene will look. At least I'm going in with eyes wide open on his bedside manner this time lol.
This was a long post (making up for lost time). Hopefully I have a brief but positive post in the weeks to come updating you on Weasel's progress yet again - the cat who most certainly has 9 lives.
Up until two weeks ago I believed Weasel was making fantastic progress thanks to the new Nature's Sunshine Paw Paw we had begun adding to his daily regime. He was very busy running in and out all day and had a hearty appetite. He had however escalated his 'bad behaviour' in the recent weeks, leaving bowel movements in the corners of our basement and urine next to shelves as well. Although it's not a renovated part of the house, it still holds tools and other valuables so his naughty ways are extremely aggravating. Because he's been urinating in spots he shouldn't for the past two years or so, I disregarded it as him being a fuss about his litter or not getting his way over something which he always makes a point of indicating is 'not acceptable'.
It turns out that this bathroom behaviour was likely due to the liver tumor. Shortly after Weasel left his excrement gift to us, I noticed that his sides were growing on a daily basis. My husband believed we were overfeeding him but I had my doubts that cats gain weight - or anyone for that matter, so quickly. About a week later Weasel looked as though he had swallowed a giant water mellon. I felt his sides and can only describe it as pushing a water balloon that has a thick membrane in which you can feel the water tightly pushing against the sides.
We took Weasel to have an X-ray at the vets down the street from us. They could see that it was due to the liver and in taking a fluid sample, where able to confirm this. Thankfully there wasn't any blood. We had a decision to make on the spot..is this dooms day or do we go on. I couldn't bear telling the vet to euthanize after all we had done to date so we had his abdomen drained. This may have bought us a few days, a few weeks or even months with him. It's really hard to tell.
I reached out to Dr. Haghighat and stated that it looks like we've hit the end of the road on this long journey. As always, Dr. Haghighat was very optimistic even when faced with this. Due to the fact that I didn't see much point in spending any more on tackling the cancer with funds being scarce with me out of work at the present moment, I politely stated that we were not going to pursue any more treatments. Here's where I was quite surprised (although I shouldn't be knowing how kind Dr. Haghighat is). He offered to treat Weasel for free in an upcoming visit. There aren't too many professionals that are as generous as he is. His belief that Weasel can combat this new hurdle is quite strong. He's reminded me that I need to give Weasel a fair chance and not give up just yet.
So based on this kind offer, today I visited Dr. Haghighat, lugging both the baby and the cat into his clinic (no easy feat I might add haha). Dr. Haghighat did blood therapy and acupuncture on Weasel. Weasel was very well behaved thankfully (unlike previous visits) and seemed to be in very strong spirits when we got home, running around and looking as though he didn't have the slightest clue he has anything wrong with him - an enviable quality animals have I might add. Dr. Haghighat mentioned as well that he felt that another ultrasound was required to see specifically what was taking place. I initially hesitated on this, as I felt it to be unnecessary but once again, his kindness has no bounds and he offered to pay for the ultrasound as well. I truly hope that the information he gathers through treating Weasel can benefit him somehow, as I'm blown away by his passion toward the wellbeing of our fur babies. He's definitely not in this for profit.
In contrast to Dr. Haghighat is the dreadful vet who operates the ultrasound machine in our area..I'm seriously thrilled to connect with him again this week (that was sarcasm btw). I'm sure he'll tell me that Weasel is about to explode in two weeks and there's nothing that can be done about it. He'll likely go into graphic detail about how messy the whole scene will look. At least I'm going in with eyes wide open on his bedside manner this time lol.
This was a long post (making up for lost time). Hopefully I have a brief but positive post in the weeks to come updating you on Weasel's progress yet again - the cat who most certainly has 9 lives.
Sunday 4 January 2015
An Update From Dave and His Cat Moosie
For those of you who have been reading my blog posts, you likely recall one regarding an email I received from Dave. Dave is also battling pancreatic cancer in his cat Moosie and the latest news he shared is that Moosie is doing incredibly well. Dave has provided extremely helpful information on his treatment regime which hopefully will benefit you in your own treatment process.
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Moosie is doing very well! He is healthy, his weight unchanged, and acts like a normal mischievous cat. His treatment is similar to what it was before, but changed a bit.
Here's his current regimen :
I take a 600mg capsule of Doctor's Best Goji Berry extract, a 500 mg capsule of Now brand Lysine powder, a capsule of Life Extension Mega Green Tea extract, and a 500 mg capsule of Doctor's Best or Nutrigold Cucumin C3 Complex, and empty them into a bowl. I mix them up. I take two 100mg Novodalin b17 pill, and cut them in half. A half B17 pill goes into each empty pill capsule.
I fill the mixed powders in the capsules equally. Moosie gets a mixed pill in the morning with 1000mg of Barlean's fish oil, and a mixed pill and 500mg of Food Science of Vermont cold-pressed black currant seed oil.
Every two months I have given Moosie Nature's Sunshine PawPaw Cell-Reg for one week. I empty one capsule at at time, and fill an entire empty #3 capsule with pawpaw. He gets the #3 capsule full of pawpaw 3x a day-- so 21 pills in that one week period.
I also sprinkle organic MSM on his wet cat food twice daily. I give him organic Jarrow MSM.
I have been studying LDN and will probably add that to his regimen later this year. I found out I can legally order the pills and make it myself without a prescription.
Can pawpaw be added to Weasel's regimen? If he is feeling up to it, it works by turning down the voltage of the cancer cells so they self-destruct. Also MSM oxygenates the body, and cancer cells can't live in an oxygenated environment-- studies have shown cancer cells revert to normal cells when taking MSM.
(Here is a video Dave provided on Paw Paw: http://youtu.be/hD6MGd0Dz5o)
- Dave
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