Posted By: sugarlope
Treating Kira (has a tumor) - 08/11/07 11:42 PM
I have posted about Kira on other areas of the board in the past, but for anyone looking for help after their glider is diagnosed, I wanted to put something here as a starting point.
Kira is one of the few SGs that have survived a significant amount of time with a tumor. I don't know how many others are out there. I, personally, know of only one and I cannot say why either glider has kept on when others didn't. I can only tell you her story and give you an ear if you need one.
If others have had experience with treating tumors in gliders and would like to add their experience to this, please do. I know when I was looking for help any other experiences would have been very welcomed.
Kira has lived with her tumor for more than a year (that we know of, possibly longer). She lost most of the fur around her head, neck and right shoulder when she was 2. After much testing and working with different diets it was decided that it was most likely hormone related because, although a little low in weight, she was healthy otherwise. She continued this way until the end of April '06 when she started losing weight rapidly. She lost fur and muscle tone in her back legs, and she became listless and crabby. Her vet found a dime sized tumor behind her pouch and said that it was 'quality of life time' and she probably wouldn't survive the next two months.
I came to GC and other boards. I looked up information on Lord Darcy and tried to contact his owner, Donna, by e-mail. No one on the boards had any ideas except to contact Donna and I couldn't find anything else in the way of past experience with cancer in gliders, (although there were several gliders diagnosed around the same time). Donna returned my e-mail and gave me advice, vet information and Darcy's complete protocal as suggested by her vet. I discussed everything thoroughly with my vet and we decided it was worth a try.
Kira started improving within the week. Her weight went from the low 80's to 102 and stabalized within a couple of months. Her activity level greatly increased, her muscles got stronger (back legs returning to normal) and her personality returned.
She had good and bad days (mostly good) over the course of the year, until the end of May '07, when her weight started dropping off significantly again and I found lumps at the base of her tail at the beginning of June. The tumor behind her pouch is now about the size of a nickle, and it is thought the tumor may have metastasized to her lymph nodes (the abdomen drains into the lymph nodes at the base of the tail).
We had another very fortunate turn of events and a wonderful friend of ours sent us some magnets for magnet therapy. It has been helping. Her weight is back up (not to 102, but stabilized in the mid/high 90's) and her lymph nodes have decreased in size slightly. To put the icing on the cake, the fur on her head started growing back in several weeks ago (she hasn't had fur for over 3 years).
I know that she isn't 'cured' but all that we have done to help her has kept her happy and healthier than she would have been otherwise. To look at her (other than the short hair on her head) you would not know she was sick most of the time. Her bad days only come once every few months, sometimes lasting a day or two, only to have her return to her happy, active, beautiful self.
My point in writing this, as I know many already know her story, is that even if there seems like no hope or no one to talk to, there is. I will not post her full protocal on the board as I think a vet should always be involved and I would not want anyone to start 'self medicating'. But I am more than happy to discuss it with anyone (through e-mail, IM or phone conversations) who going is through this and/or talk about my experiences with Kira. I just want to pass this information along if there is any way that it can help another glider and/or glider owner.
Kira is one of the few SGs that have survived a significant amount of time with a tumor. I don't know how many others are out there. I, personally, know of only one and I cannot say why either glider has kept on when others didn't. I can only tell you her story and give you an ear if you need one.
If others have had experience with treating tumors in gliders and would like to add their experience to this, please do. I know when I was looking for help any other experiences would have been very welcomed.
Kira has lived with her tumor for more than a year (that we know of, possibly longer). She lost most of the fur around her head, neck and right shoulder when she was 2. After much testing and working with different diets it was decided that it was most likely hormone related because, although a little low in weight, she was healthy otherwise. She continued this way until the end of April '06 when she started losing weight rapidly. She lost fur and muscle tone in her back legs, and she became listless and crabby. Her vet found a dime sized tumor behind her pouch and said that it was 'quality of life time' and she probably wouldn't survive the next two months.
I came to GC and other boards. I looked up information on Lord Darcy and tried to contact his owner, Donna, by e-mail. No one on the boards had any ideas except to contact Donna and I couldn't find anything else in the way of past experience with cancer in gliders, (although there were several gliders diagnosed around the same time). Donna returned my e-mail and gave me advice, vet information and Darcy's complete protocal as suggested by her vet. I discussed everything thoroughly with my vet and we decided it was worth a try.
Kira started improving within the week. Her weight went from the low 80's to 102 and stabalized within a couple of months. Her activity level greatly increased, her muscles got stronger (back legs returning to normal) and her personality returned.
She had good and bad days (mostly good) over the course of the year, until the end of May '07, when her weight started dropping off significantly again and I found lumps at the base of her tail at the beginning of June. The tumor behind her pouch is now about the size of a nickle, and it is thought the tumor may have metastasized to her lymph nodes (the abdomen drains into the lymph nodes at the base of the tail).
We had another very fortunate turn of events and a wonderful friend of ours sent us some magnets for magnet therapy. It has been helping. Her weight is back up (not to 102, but stabilized in the mid/high 90's) and her lymph nodes have decreased in size slightly. To put the icing on the cake, the fur on her head started growing back in several weeks ago (she hasn't had fur for over 3 years).
I know that she isn't 'cured' but all that we have done to help her has kept her happy and healthier than she would have been otherwise. To look at her (other than the short hair on her head) you would not know she was sick most of the time. Her bad days only come once every few months, sometimes lasting a day or two, only to have her return to her happy, active, beautiful self.
My point in writing this, as I know many already know her story, is that even if there seems like no hope or no one to talk to, there is. I will not post her full protocal on the board as I think a vet should always be involved and I would not want anyone to start 'self medicating'. But I am more than happy to discuss it with anyone (through e-mail, IM or phone conversations) who going is through this and/or talk about my experiences with Kira. I just want to pass this information along if there is any way that it can help another glider and/or glider owner.