All Dogs Go to Heaven

I haven't posted in a really long time and that is just because we have been busy "living". And Sydney too. :-) Sydney has gone camping, swimming, been a part of many family events, played in the sprinkler, played fetch and chased an infinite number of imaginary bugs. We celebrated her 13th birthday January 21st complete with a Gourmet dog meal, pretzel candle and a new toy. She has started to show signs of being an "old dog" which couldn't make me happier. After her long fight against cancer, there is nothing better I could have asked for.
The "drain hole" (as I have been calling it) has been there since November of 2012. Yes - over a year. It helps to regulate the swelling in her nose which is a good thing, unfortunately, I have had to put up a fence in the kitchen because I can't keep up with the mess it leaves around the house. I bought a dog door for our sliding glass door and she LOVES that. She comes and goes all day long. Sometimes all night long too. Both sides of her nose have bumps that grow and shrink at any given time. Sometimes they get so big she has to turn her head to look out of one eye. Don't think that for a minute that she slows down because of it, she still chases bugs every chance she gets.
*The next paragraph may be graphic but as I document Sydney's fight agains cancer, it is an important part of her battle and I only tell about it in hopes that it can help another dog somewhere.
Occasionally, her drain hole would get plugged. There are some things people do, regardless of how hard or how disgusting, because they know it will help the one they love. This is one of them - I would VERY GENTLY put some pressure on it and it would pop, similar to a pimple. The relief that I could see in Sydney's eyes was totally worth the mess. I'm guessing the pressure it put on her head was agonizing. On the week of April 7th the "good side" of her nose swelled up quite large. So much so, that it stretched the skin and made it almost paper thin. I could tell she was in pain and she had stopped eating. Her hole had plugged up again so I drained it. I could tell she instantly felt better and began to eat again. The only difference was the paper thin skin began to scab over and make a sore about the size of a silver dollar on the side of her nose.
Everything was going as usual until I got up the morning of April 11th. Although she was acting completely normal, she had rubbed her face on the grass outside and the scab came off her nose. She didn't know it, but she had opened up the side of her face to a gapping hole. I'm guessing this hole was where the tumor used to be and where the fluid has been residing for the past 2-3 years.**  I knew it was only a matter of time before infection set in. The wound was just too big. I always said I wanted a sign to know when it was the right time to put my beloved Sydney down. I don't think I could have had a bigger sign. She was still in great spirits and we played fetch and I hugged and loved on her all morning, This was also the only day in the past 3 years that she did not feel anxious or try to leave when I cried. She just stayed by me, which almost tells me she knew it was the day. At 11:00 AM we took her to The Wyoming Medical Center of Wyoming and they were absolutely wonderful! We had been through so much together so I stayed with her to the end. I laid her in a beautiful casket my husband had bought for her back in 2011 and we buried her up on the top of a hill on my Grandpa's land under a cedar tree. I always wondered what that day would be like. It is comforting to me to know she was not in any pain and I had done everything I possibly could to help her. It was also a beautiful, sunny, warm, Wyoming, April day (which is hard to come by).
This post has taken me over two months to write because I still miss her terribly. When I cut vegetables, or just look out in my backyard sometimes I expect her to still be there. The house seems very quiet now and miss those eyes and her tail that said she was so glad to see me. Pets are not on this earth long enough, but they sure have a way of getting into our hearts in a short time.
Sydney taught me so much. About cancer, health and life. About unconditional love. Companionship. Trust. And willpower.
I believe God chose Sydney just for me, and I was blessed to have her for 13 years, 3 of which were on borrowed time. I also believe God wouldn't create such a beautiful animal and beautiful relationship without reuniting us again. I hope I have learned from Sydney's experience enough to stay on this earth for a long time, but when my time is up, I know Sydney will be there to meet me.

R.I.P. Sydney Pooh

My husband had this made in 2011 when we didn't expect her to live long. I am very proud of the fact she lived until 2014 so I didn't want to have the "2011" removed. He gave me the border collie figurine for Valentines day before we got Sydney as a puppy. Both are in my garden under my quaking aspen trees where Sydney used to lay in the shade. A happy reminder of a special part of my life.


** Notice I said "used to be". There was NO TUMOR. Which goes to prove the things we did with the Cesium Chloride, DMSO, Potassium, Florescence, dietary changes, etc., really did kill the cancer cells! However, I think the damage to her bone structure, cartilage and tissue was too extensive. My only regret was that I didn't do it all sooner. Unfortunately, it was a learning process.
The rest of her body was in great condition. As she became an "old dog" her hearing started to go. Of course sometimes I think it was selective hearing like any child. Her muscle mass started to depreciate, but she was 13 years old!

Been kinda busy - Chasin Bugs!

Wow! Here it is the middle of October already. I really didn't have anything to blog about in the past few months so I just haven't bothered. Please know that no news is good news. Sydney is still doing fine. She had a wonderful summer chasing bugs and running through the sprinklers with the kids. She got a lot of use out of her swimming pool due to the heat this year and she even got to go to the lake.

I have a few things to share now so I thought I would update this.
Last July she had a pretty good lump on the side of her nose and while chasing bugs in the dark, she ran into a log. :( Being dark I'm not completely sure where she hit but I believe it was her right eye, which ironically is her good side. She hit it pretty hard and it got blood shot. I put a cold washcloth with ice in it over the eye and she let me hold it there so it must have felt good. After about 20 minutes I let her up and she seemed to go about her business. Sometimes humor is the only way I know how to deal with stress, so I was saying she was blind in one eye and can't see out of the other. :-/ Anyway, by morning her eye was still pretty red but her swelling on the left side had gone down. A couple days later her eye looked fine and her swelling was gone. She looked like a brand new dog again.

By September she had swelled up again but didn't seem to bother her much. On September 24th, she was outside chasing bugs again and when she turned to look at me, it looked like she had sneezed and there was snot on the side of her nose where she was swollen. (This gets a little gross) I grabbed a few tissues to wipe it off and it didn't wipe off. Well, it did but then there was more. What appeared to happen was similar to a pimple. It popped.

So she spent the next two days rubbing her face on the grass and she pushed it all out. It was a mixture of infection and blood. (Which answers my question as to whether it was fluid or more of the tumor) Other than having a small sore on the side of her nose and rubbing off some of the hair, she looked pretty good and continued to act just fine. This whole thing happened again October 8th, which means it is swelling faster than before. Last night, October 15th, it was swollen pretty big and she seemed to eat a little slower than usual. I gave her 1/2 piroxicam (which I try not to use too often) and I started to do some research on dog's teeth and found pictures of other dogs that had similar swelling in the same place. I could tell the skin over this lump was paper thin and going to burst again and it felt warm to the touch. After all that we have done, I was not about to let an infection take her.
So after much deliberation, I decided to take her to my Vet for an antibiotic. I was pretty skeptical since I hadn't taken her in since January of 2010 and didn't have much faith in them. I called my usual Vet's office but they were closed due to a family emergency. (It's a small clinic that has been around town for ever). So I called a different one in town, explained the whole story and as she is telling me they are all booked today and can I come tomorrow, I watch Sydney rub her nose on the grass and it all came flowing out. So after telling the gal on the phone that she was bleeding again, she said "oh my, just bring her in now, we'll fit her in".

I have a picture of this, but I really don't think anyone wants to see it!

She weighed in at a normal 34 pounds and I explained Sydney's story to a young Vet that had never seen Sydney before. As Sydney laid on the floor and let him scratch her, I proceeded to tell him everything I have done (I'm sure I left out some things because I tried so many different things) and how 20 months ago, she was given 3-6 months to live. He sat there listening and nodding his head and when I had finished, he looked down at Sydney and "Wow, it sounds like she is a miracle". He complimented me on all I had done and the effort I had put into all of this and said I must be doing something right. I was relieved that he didn't think I was some freak but at the same time, Sydney was right there wagging her tail as proof I HAD done something right.
He said there was a really good chance it was a tooth but that the roots go up into the nasal cavity where the tumor is/was. Chances are, there was enough damage done from the cancer that it has effected the teeth. I appreciate his honesty in saying he could take xrays and even take out the tooth but the original problem is still the tumor. The way he worded it was "We may be able to win some battles [infections, etc] but in the end, we will not win the war." Putting her through all of that, plus the expense, is probably not going to help her at this point. She will be 12 this January.
So, I left with Clindamycin (antibiotic), Tramadd (pain killer), Nolvasan (topical wash) and a Vet that said he would help me with anymore questions, refills or whatever. I actually think he was pretty interested in Sydney's story. After all, it isn't everyday that a miracle walks into his office.

January 20, 2012 - One Year Anniversary and 11th Birthday

One year ago today I received the phone call telling me Sydney had cancer. It was NOT the diagnosis I had prayed for and I think waiting for that phone call made that day one of the longest days ever. Looking back now, this year has been a learning experience and a roller coaster of emotions.
Tomorrow will be Sydney's 11th birthday. A day I NEVER imagined would come. The average lifespan of a border collie is 12-16 years. I would never say my Sydney is "average" but it would be just short of a miracle if she made it to 12, but who knows?
My first childhood dog died at the age of 11 from cancer when I was only 8 years old. My children know Sydney is "sick" and she has cancer. They know she is "lucky" to still be here with us but they really don't know why. I think it has made them appreciate her a bit more, although they have both expressed that they want another dog when she is gone. That isn't something I even want to think about right now.
Right now, I am very thankful for everything I have, including Sydney.

January 9, 2012 - A Good Problem to Have

The lump on Sydney’s nose started to come back around the end of the year so I used castor oil for about a week and a half and then the cesium mix again starting the 6^th. I needed to buy more essiac tea before I started the cesium or I would have done it earlier. I am giving her the tea sludge and wheat grass with every meal as well. She is starting to snore more at night again and can no longer breath through her nose BUT she still seems to be doing okay.

She has made it to see the New Year and will turn 11 this month, which are both things I never imagined would happen.

When she was really going downhill last April, Kory bought a casket and a plaque that says 2001-2011…  I told him I have a good Sharpie marker that can change that 1 to a 2, or maybe even a 3. Who knows?

When I told my brother about the plaque he said, “that’s a good problem to have”. Well said. :-)

December 26, 2011 - Christmas

Sydney was like a little puppy on Christmas morning. It was like she knew she always gets treats and a new toy for Christmas because every gift we brought out she thought was hers. It was even funny after a while but of course she got her things too and then was content.

She is still doing great. She doesn't try to sleep standing up anymore and doesn't hold her head up an inch or 2 off the floor when she is lying down. She can curl up or sprawl out like she used to. She can still breathe out of her nose but not as well as a couple weeks ago. A couple of weeks ago she stopped snoring but now she will snore again on occasion. The lump on her nose is also coming back so I started the castor oil again. She is almost out of essiac tea so I will be making more in the next few days and plan to feed her the sludge again. I’m not sure which of those 2 things made the biggest difference but I’m willing to do them both again. Maybe it was the combination of the two together? After using the castor oil only 2x today she already has a snotty nose. ??

I am still giving her vitamin C and vitamin D3 with every meal and playing as much as possible but honestly not as much as I would like with the colder weather and the holidays. 

I'm sure glad Sydney made it onto another Christmas card for our family.

Resources

Here is a list of some of the websites I used and you may find helpful:

http://www.balance-ph-diet.com/acid_alkaline_food_chart.html

http://www.2ndchance.info/homemadediets.htm

http://www.holisticcancersolutions.com/dmso_report.htm

http://www.nutrition2000.com/prostate_and_health/cesium.asp

http://sebahu.com/cancertutor/Cancer/DMSO.html

http://www.earthclinic.com/Pets/tumors.html

http://www.mnwelldir.org/docs/cancer1/altthrpy.htm

http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=1077&pst=1545709

http://augmentinforce.50webs.com/Medicinal%20use%20of%20Castor%20Oil.htm

December 12, 2011 - BIG changes!!! (up to date post)

WOW! Ok, lots of changes so here goes.

Sydney’s lump was definitely getting bigger.

I changed her food and added Pedegree Healthy Longevity to what was left of her Science Diet Mature Adult dog food. I also decided to use the essiac tea sludge leftovers on her dog food rather than throwing it away like I usually do. I would just scoop out a half-teaspoon or so and dump it on her food. Since her nose was plugged I assumed she wouldn’t taste it much anyway and it couldn’t hurt.

On December 6 we played pretty hard outside. She chased bugs and barked and was feeling very energetic so I went with it. That night her eyes were very red, swollen and bulging. Her left eye, which was the side that had the lump, was partially closed and her nose was bleeding. The bleeding got MUCH worse as the night went on turning to clots and she was sneezing constantly. I had to fence her into the kitchen so I could clean up after her better. As I was cleaning up I began to notice tissue in the blood clots. It was really disgusting. Blood clots would hang from her nose to the floor and the “chunks” she was sneezing out got larger, some the size of a pencil eraser or more. Needless to say I didn’t know if she was going to make it through the night. A disadvantage to researching online was that I read a post about someone’s dog having a tumor that burst and the dog passed a few hours later. On the other hand, I had used the castor oil for about 2 weeks as often as I could a day (usually 4 or 5 times), which said the tumor might burst and bleed out the bad cells. It was a long night but she was much the same in the morning minus the red eyes.

Wednesday was spent in the kitchen or outside but it was pretty cold out and she couldn’t breath in the cold air without wheezing so she spent most of it in the kitchen. I went through boxes of tissues wiping her nose like a little kid (which she hated) and lots of paper towels, carpet cleaner and Lysol.

Thursday morning I came out to check on her and the first thing I noticed was there really wasn’t much blood to clean up. The second thing I noticed was her left eye looked much better. As I was petting her I realized the reason she looked better was because the lump was SMALLER! By Friday the lump was nearly gone unless you really knew what you were looking for.

Today she looks better than she has in months AND I was sitting with her today while she slept and I could hear a different whistle sound in her breathing. SHE IS BREATHING OUT OF HER NOSE AGAIN!!! I can’t believe it but I’m ecstatic!!! She appears to be doing great. So apparently, she was sneezing out whatever the lump was.

I think it’s not just cats that have nine lives. I’m sure she will make it to see 2012 now and more than likely her 11^th birthday. YEAH!!! I pray and thank God for giving me even more time with my best friend!

On a less positive note, I also pray for my friend Tonya and her beloved dog Moose, who she had to put to sleep about 2 hours ago after a long battle with cancer. Which is another reason I started my blog Sydney’s Sake. I hope to help other dogs and their owners with this terrible illness called cancer.

 Taken Dec. 10, 2011

Taken Dec. 12, 2011