Need Some Support Friends, My lab is sick Options

[terio]

********** Hi! We thought it best to bring Terri's post to the "Death & Dying" area, for more exposure, so that she can
receive more love, comfort & help........ I know that Marcia alluded to this in a post, but I "spoke with Terri",
and she agreed to the move.........
Lightning-Strike is a wonderful place, with exceptional human beings who love people, and the "furry family"
who loves them...(or...finned...winged....rodent-type, etc., etc., etc....) LS is for all of us!!!!

God Bless You All..............Love, Denise (Muffins)...xo

P.S. PLEASE DO NOT WORRY YOURSELF OVER "LONG POSTS", MY NEW FRIEND............. I FEEL THAT
I HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO TAKE UP MORE SPACE THAN A LOT OF THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE ON HERE.......********
ALWAYS BE SURE THAT YOU SAY AND GET OFF YOUR CHEST WHAT YOU NEED TO SAY...........
WE ARE ALL HERE FOR YOU...........JUST REMEMBER THAT..........OKAY?????????****





Hi everyone,
This is my first post here...so I'm just figuring out how to post ect. My dear 9 year old lab is very sick and I need someone to talk to and go thru this with me. About a month ago I found a lump... it was a cancerous tumor that was removed and the margins were clear so I hoped for the best.
She seemed normal for about a week...but then she went into a decline. She was having a lot of trouble with her back legs and her arthritis prescription didn't seem to help. She was whining a lot and I knew things weren't right. I took her in for one vet visit where they didn't run test or in my opinion investigate completely. She had a hernia and said she needed hernia surgery but that wasn't what was causing her pain.
The morning of her scheduled surgery I told them she wouldn't be having hernia surgery because she wasn't eating and seemed to be in pain. She was diagnosed with diabetes... the vet said all would be fine and we could take her home and give her insulin ect. She then went back into the back room and came out to tell us that she just got the results of another test and things were much worse... she was in a bad stage of it.
After several days of trying to regulate her diabetes she again took a turn for the worse...vomiting ect... Today she had ultrasounds that revealed probable stumach/liver cancer and she is requiring anti nausea meds to see if she can hold food. I feel like I'm paralyzed and can't leave her side..my couch ect. Luckily I work at home so won't have to leave her but I do licensed day care so worry about if she starts dying while I'm at work with the kids.
With her diabetes and cancer and who knows what else..her condition could decline rapidly. I feel sick to my own stumach and am just coming to terms with this...
I think this is too long for a first post..but hopefully I can share more about some of the anxiety's I'm feeling and get some support and offer support to others too.
I do believe in the rainbow bridge. The bible tells us that God will give us the desires of our heart and that we can't even imagine the wonders he has prepared for us...so I believe our wonderful pets will be there.
Thankyou for listening and Blessings to all... I have another dog, and two cats but Dutchess is the senior pet and it is heartbreaking. Terri

This post has been edited by Muffins: Jan 1 2005, 01:32 AM

[Miss Mew]

Hi Terio!
I hope that you were able to get some sleep last night. I was posting you shortly after midnight when we suddenly had a power outtage- oh the joys of living in the country and depending on Quebec Hydro.I must admit that the weather didn't help either-freezing rain kept us captive in our homes yesterday.
How is Dutchess doing today? I agree with Romeo's Dad, the diabetes can be managed. We treated our Main Coon Sidney for more than 2 years and and when he passed 4 years ago the cause was unrelated to the diabetes. Mind you the after giving him his first insulin shot, I sat down and had a stiff drink I was shaking so hard. I did it while he was eating and he never even noticed! We were also fortunate in that we never had to deal with insulin shock. This might be because at the same time we were treating his diabetes with the help of a homeopathic vet. I still don't fully understand all the principles of homeopathy but I have become a great beleiver in it's power to help many of our furkids.it is not expensive, not invasive and I like one of it's tenets " first do no harm".
We are presently owned by 3 felines and a 14 year old Shepherd named Mik. He was diagnosed with Degenerative Myelopathy at age 12 and the vet that saw him at the time said " you might have 6 months before his back legs paralyse". I'm sure everyone here at LS knows the sick feeling in the pit of the stomach that was produced by that diagnosis. I won't bore you with all the details of the research that I embarked on, vowing to wage battle against DM. Well here we are 2 years later and Mik is not paralysed yet. His walk is not perfect, he needs a "boost" to get up and lie on his favorite love seat and his condition has deteriorated but very very slowly. Conventional medicine has little to offer patients with DM but homeopathic medicine is responsible for him still being with us.
Terio, I am not suggesting that this could cure Dutchess, but if you can, I would encourage you to consult a holistic or homeopathic vet. Two years ago I was simply trying to "buy" an extra year for Mik, and here we are 2 years later! Thankfully DM is not painful, it only hurts us to see him stand on the top of his feet occasionally and walk as if he was treading on a field of landmines. As well as the DM, because of his age, he also has some arthritis and for this condition the homeopathy HAS been nothing short of miraculous. Hope this helps and as everyone here has said, please keep us updated and post as often as you want.

Take care, Nicole