MARCH 2014

I received this months Artemix ,Omega-3 and Liver Guard(still had of the others)...
Artemix was now given 2on-1off...

I also registered on the Artemisinin-Yahoo!group in case i did sth wrong, wanting any advice...and just plain talk to someone since it had been many months since i spoke and opened myself to anyone...
3 very good people offered to give me medication (I4P and Artemisinin/Artemix) which they did send by airplane...!!!

I had contacted many friends but only one could get us to the vets Saturday 8th March...
I waited anxiously and counted every hour since Thursday!
Morning Saturday she calls and she can't make it...I call a few friends...none I called were available...
I gave up...and hoped for next Saturday......
(now some other people say ''why didn't you call me?'' and i don't know what to say to them or myself...)

Can't remember the exact date (maybe 2-3 weeks) this started but Husko was now sleeping like this (opposite side ,left)

 I put a fan 1yrd away blowing air at him in case he had trouble breathing...it seemed to help...

Last 2-3 days he only wanted to sleep this way on his right side...
If I lay him to sleep on his left side he would moan and ''distort'' his body to the point his head would almost reach his pelvis...
He slept throughout the day and night only waking up to pee or relieve himself...
He could not stand oh his (3) legs anymore...he would immediately or 2-4 secs later fall ,while also ''distorting/bending'' on his right side (head to pelvis).

My mind was full of thoughts it burned and felt empty...I just waited for next Saturday and if nothing improved till Monday-Tuesaday i would call the vets to come to the house to put Husko to sleep...

I could only guess...was it maybe not giving enough Artemix (more days on Artemix) or was it giving the immune system time to get the sick cancer cells out (more days off Artemix)?
Should I had maybe just stopped Vetoryl for a few days or go 2days*30mg+Artemix then 2days*15mg then nothing of these?
What was the magic combo??????

FEBRUARY 2014

February 1st
Managed to find transport to the vet Elias the day after Husko hurt his leg...

He checked it and said it is probably muscle receding.
I didn't ask for an x-ray or blood test...
I didn't have the funds...but now looking back i should have just said i would owed him ,as he had given me this option in the past, instead of worrying about collecting money for future supplements or stupid bills...
One of the biggest mistakes of my life...

Was I getting used to Husko being able to surpass anything and didn't understand how important this was?
Did my stupid honor of not owing money cost the life of my baby???


**********
By now the bottle of Artemix had arrived from the US!
Artemix works better when the tumor is aggressive so i started giving 1*30mg Vetoryl (still had plenty) each night 1 hour prior to 2 capsules of Artemix.
Artemix is pulsed so it was one day on one day off!
On the days he didn't get Artemix I only gave 1*15mg of Vetoryl at night!

Gave Artemix with 1Tablespoon of Organic Coconut Oil for better absorption (also with each day passing I reduced the amount of sardines and increased the amount O.Coconut.O. eventually giving 6 TBsp a day

Of course...Husko stopped eating again the same day i started Vetoryl...
***********


2 weeks went by with no improvement of his walking...I was getting pissed off by everything...
My mother helped a lot during February...
She would put a blanket across his chest and walk him inside the house...
I did too...sometimes though putting my arms on his sides was enough...

He would cry when he wanted to pee or relieve himself, so me or mother would rush to pick him up...



In the following days I tried to collect funds for an x-ray...
Doing that while now working 3-4 hours a day ,since very few companies/people needed courier services since almost the start of the year ,and trying to do everything with 9-12 euros a day......seemed impossible...
It took me 2 weeks to collect the money...and by now it was March...

JANUARY 2014 part2

...The research for medication was non-stop...
I found there is a drug called Artemisinin/Artemether which is successful against cancer and tumors like the one my baby Husko had...

I found there is a medicine called Riamet which has the substance Artemether.
I called the pharmacy shop/lab if they had it...they didn't.
I called the company Novartis...it wasn't readily available...
it had to be ordered through a doctors' prescription through the Greek FDA...
I lost hope...



Days & nights went by as described before...
The frustration was building...
Looking back ,during December,January and February I found myself so frustrated by everything...
The war of nerves ,constant bad mood and turmoil in my house especially between mother&father, sometimes family helping and sometimes indifferent or against me, people telling me I should just put him to sleep, lack of funds, lack of car to get to vets, 24hours a day seemed few, bad decisions ,trying to balance everything...
got me to the point were sometimes at night when Husko would wake up and needed a walk and I was dead tired or researching the internet I would just go to him and slap him......

How pathetic is this???
I slapped my sick baby...and nothing can do this right or justify it...
What kind of horrible person could do this???
WHY couldn't I hold myself together?
If you think i am a bad person you probably think better of me than i do about myself...


 This is the last photograph I have of my baby being alive...(January 19th)

 I also tried giving him BCAA for the tumor-cachexia but the suggested dose caused diarrhea so i backed it off...

By sheer chance one night ,mid/late January ,after looking at a rescue site ,I found a place where I could order Artemix (Artemisinin/Artemether/Artesunate) and a Yahoo!group experienced in this!!!

Again...high hopes emerged!!!
Few days later when I had collected the funds, I finally ordered it from the US.
It would take about 1-2 weeks to arrive and then ,my baby would have hope again!!!

***********
Ending of January......my father took Husko for a walk while I was at work!
He said Husko stumbled and hurt his left front leg (the one which had the pus come out at summer and was still opened ,due to cortisol suppressing the immune system...)...and was walking on the other 3 legs!

Returned home...found out about this...and all hell broke loose...
I cursed my father for not paying attention to Husko!!
I cursed myself for not being there or couldn't see this coming!!
Just when i hoped things would get better...this happens...
I believe it was a huge blow in my babys' psychology and already bad health and I feared it would cost him his life...

JANUARY 2014 part1

The difficulties of handling all of this became ever increasing...
Many times I found myself sitting frustrated against Husko...
Many times when he woke up my voice had lost its tenderness and positive vibe towards him...

*********
By this time I had changed his food to 1/2lbs sardines a day as chicken breast was giving him diarrhea/loose stools.

Continued giving curcumin , ans also gave OMEGA-3 capsules (4-6 a day) , vit-B supreme complex by Health Aid , Liver Guard by source Naturals
a cup of spinach or broccoli in a syringe mixed w/5-10ml aloe Vera and natural lemon juice...
Most nights I would also give a cup of water w/14-18drops of Hydrogen peroxide (at 20 he vomited).
*********


This is his last IV vit-C (January 5th) as I could no longer afford it (more than 100 euros a month just the IV bottles), only hind-leg veins were used all this time due to the front getting black after the MRI and Dextrose serum months before...and most importantly it reached a point where Husko would panick when he saw a needle...

 

 One day we went at the park nearby where we used to spent hours in the years before (the one with the lake ,not the one far away where we'd spend whole nights with friends during the summer)...

After you see the last picture...imagine Husko diving in the water & swimming to get to the ducks...me panicking beyond belief...
I succeeded getting him out in less then 2-3 seconds by extending my arm as far as possible...
When I got him out...he collapsed...so I carried him on my shoulders for more than a mile to get home...
I thought I lost him...
but he was better many hours later after getting a good sleep...

DECEMBER 2013 part2

Also found a small trick of kicking mandarines in front of him so he would follow...
Sometimes he would try to catch them with his front legs...
One night we found a huge green ball...it honestly felt he was playing with it...pushing it and rubbing his neck on it...(no photo of this event...have kept the ball though...)

 Last days of December i also received my order of Sunflower Lecithin and an ultrasound cleaning machine to make Liposomal Vit-C
I was sooo happy and and had high hopes for this...

...After 2-3 days of giving him it he went very much downhill...
I called the vets (the ones nearby who had done the original mistakes, specificaly Elias) and asked they come to put Husko to sleep the next day...
The next day he called and cancelled it due to an emergency...so he'd come the next day...

Same day i noticed the Sunflower Lecithin has an ingredient called Linoleic Acid...which is OMEGA-6 (pro-inflammatory)...i stopped giving him immediately...next day he was better so putting him to sleep was cancelled...

result:100+ euros (which would make things easier later on) down the drain...
Finding the right medication that works for your dog is frustrating...

 some pics of Husko sleeping or in bed...

DECEMBER 2013 part1

As I said Husko had started eating again...

*He was given organic MSM in water 3 times a day (amidst all the turmoil i gave him human dose for 2 days ,which caused blood in stools...blamed the curcumin...before realising my mistake...)
...stopped it a month later because it didn't seem to do anything other than loose stools and sometimes diarrhea

*Curcumin powder with chicken breasts

*Boiled the water he drunk to evaporate the chlorine (since start of November water was given with a syringe because anytime he went to drink water, his tongue licked the air).

*1-3grms vit-C every day

*Alpha Lipoic Acid 1*250mg every day

*Milk thistle organic liquid

*Moved his bed in the most quiet room...the living room ,and always left the balcony door a bit open...
Nighttime NO lights were on ,completely dark.

*Every 2 weeks (Saturday&Sunday) he had IV vit-C ,with ever increasing doses
23-24 November = 3-4grms
7-8 November = 7-7grms
21-22 December = 15-15grms
4-5 January = 18-18grms
...

 

 Since mid-November ,

he would sleep...
and whenever he woke up he would get stuck in corners or head-pressing them.

But this stopped when he was out walking. (head-pressing only happened 4-5 times in 2-3 months when on walks)

So my solution to this problem was to walk him whenever he woke up, no matter what the time was.
He woke up 5-7 times a day...sometimes more...sometimes less...
Anytime of the day or night...multiple times...
The time i was at work my father or mother would sometimes walk him outside or get him unstuck from the corners.
This went on for months...

Tensions grew even more in the house...
Husko would pee and relieve himself in the living room which drove my mother mad sometimes and her stress was turned into cursing to me...
Funds were ever diminishing...
Bills were gathering...
But i had to be home for ever inrceasing hours because the others couldn't deal with Huskos' condition...
Work hours diminished...i tried to balance work/money to get what's needed but also have as much time at home tending to Huskos' needs...
Frustration was through the roof...
My 100% was diminishing every day...

Rainy days were worse than others...
Many times were good and i tried sooo much to give positive vibes to my baby every single day since the summer...but the strength needed to look positive and give positive energy was diminishing too...



These are some photos of our walks during December...

 

NOVEMBER 2013 part2

Even though he was never interested in other dogs...
he was interested in the group of dogs playing there with their parents and didn't growl them away...

 Days before I went to another vet for alternatives...he said Lysodren but chances were 1:1.000.000
I have experience in my family of the effects of chemo...and ruled it out...
Same day...I decided not to just give up but search the internet for alternatives...the search went on for months...


Found many alternative treatments to cancer...
One of them was IV vitamin C therapy
Also...giving MSM ,curcumin would help.


Went to a pharmacy store/lab (the one that converted my 30*120mg Vetoryl capsules to 120*30mg) and explained in a hurry Huskos' story...
She actually gave me for free a bottle of ALA 250mg, one of MSM 1000mg, Vitamin C 240grms powder and a bottle of Ester Vit-C 250mg
I only paid for 2 boxes of IV-vitC serum (each containing 5*750mg/5ml injections)
Saturday 23rd November I called yet another vet home to get blood sample and prepare the IV...
Husko got 3grms on Saturday and 4,5grms on Sunday of IV-vitC

NOVEMBER 2013 part1

I should mention Husko always had a habit of doing 2-4 circles before laying down...

But...it started becoming more and more...
I didn't pay attention at first...but within a week it became 20-30 circles...
and Husko had stopped eating again so i force-fed him chicken breast again...

By the second week of November Husko had an empty look in his eyes and whenever he wasn't asleep he started pacing...
getting stuck in corners in the house...
sometimes head-pressing...

I suspected the tumor had enlarged...
Went to the vets nearby Friday 15th November...
He was given DEXTROSE to up his appetite as i was told...(i now know it was like adding fuel to a fire...)
Saturday ,giving him the 2nd bottle i noticed small head spasms...so i stopped the flow and drew the needle out...

 Sunday 16th November Husko got an MRI...
(thankfully i had managed to yet again find someone to take me there and my emergency funds were exactly the price of the MRI, 300 euros)
This were the results...

History
Cerebral syndrome ( cyclic movements, promoting movements, aimless wandering)
No seizures.
Temporalis atrophy.
Cushing syndrome.
Normal adrenal glands at the ultrasound examination.

Description
The study consists in multiple series of T1 and T2 weighted images of the head taken before and after IV injection of gadolinium.
On pre-contrast T2 weighted images, a large well circumscribed hyperintense mass is identified in the pituitary fossa extending dorsally
to the thalamus. The mass measures 25 mm in height, 21 mm in rostro-caudal diameter and 17 mm in width. The signal is not suppressed
on FLAIR. No change in signal intensity is seen on T1 weighted images, but distortion of adjacent structures is noted indicating a mass
effect.
On post-contrast T1 weighted images, strong and homogeneous enhancement of the pituitary/thalamic mass is identified.
Conclusion
Large enhancing mass located at the base of the brain, likely arising from the pituitary gland and extending to the thalamus. Given
previous diagnosis of hyperadrenocorticism, primary consideration should be given to a secreting pituitary macroadenoma/carcinoma.

OCTOBER 2013

I called the original vets to have the 1 month test but they said it's not necessary since he is improving...
I will always regret not demanding it as it would show if it was too much or not......

Husko started receiving Vetoryl 1*30mg morning and 1*30mg night

btw,I had found a job by now as a scooter-courier ,payed by the hour ,but funds were not improved significantly (and were reduced as months went by)

Transport being always a problem, i managed to find a friend to get Husko to the radiologist-vet mid-October ,to check if it was adrenal-cancer.

It was not!!!
It was a sign of relief as I had read most pituitary tumors are benign and don't spread.
He also had another x-ray
(the air-gun shell on his back is just outside the picture and is on the left...the x-ray showing it from September is not digital so i can't upload it).

 Since starting Vetoryl in September up to late October ,Husko was slowly improving.

I didn't take him on long walks and thought it was better if he rested as much as possible...but i didn't spend enough time with him petting as i now think i should have...

I had just discovered Game Of Thrones and started watching 4-5 episodes per day...
Being tired from all the turmoil (war of nerves by vets/constant fights in my house/volunteering at a rescue -anyone doing it knows the stress involved-/constant sadness and crying/trying to find a job etc.) most noticeably since the start of summer this is how i escaped all this...

SEPTEMBER 2013

4th September
Managed to find transport by another friend to another vet far from home...she said he is good...
We did perform the LDDS test there...
An x-ray (not the one in my album) showed Husko had been shot in the past and had a air-gun shell in his back...
This messed me up inside...

Results came in 2 days later...6th September

btw, Husko had been off Cortisol for only 4 days (1/2 prezolon was his last 4 days ago)

SGPT/ALT 703,07 IU/L (10,00-94,00)
ALP 1551,00 IU/L (0,00-90,00)

Routine CBC
WBC H 41,92 *10^3 cells/μL
RBC L 3,75 *10^6 cells/μL
HGB L 9,5 g/dL
HCT L 33,4 %
MCV H 89 fL
MCH H 25,5 pg
MCHC L 28,6 q/dL
CHCM L 27,2 g/dL
RDW H 14,7%
PLT H 416 *10^3 cells/μL

Routine WBC
Neut H 89,7% - 37,61*10^3 cells/μL
Lymph L 3,9% - 1,63*10^3 cells/μL

Morphology Flags
MACRO +++
HYPO +++
ANISO +
PLT CLUMPS +

LDDS
1.14,20 μg/dL
2.16,40 μg/dL
3.13,40 μg/dL

Husko started immediately treatment with Vetoryl Saturday 7th September.

I had already done research on medications for Cushings since the last results of the ultrasound...the LDDS was just the verification.
I must say i was scared to death after reading the side-effects but all else seemed worse or could be not-effective since we didn't know if it was the pituitary or the adrenals by now...

I opted for the Vetoryl 30mg once per day to play it safe...
Husko was still receiving
Denosyl (all through September if i remember correctly)
Ceclor (one week)
Animastrath
Milk Thistle (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Enzymatic-...item3a6d6c2cb4 THIS (price must be wrong though)

***********

AUGUST 2013

The radiologist-vet went on a monthly vacation so i had to wait till the end of the month for Huskos' liver puncture.

By this time Husko was diminished to a peeing/drinking ''machine''...only able to walk for 50-100y tops...22kg (48lbs) and me crying every single day...

 His 24th August blood test results were:
SGOT/AST 113,56 IU/L (23,00-66,00)
SGPT ALT 651,84 IU/L (10,00-94,00)
ALP 1300,00 IU/L (0,00-90,00)

Routine CBC
WBC H 19,48 *10^3 cells/μL
RBC L 4,26 *10^6 cells/μL
HGB L 10,3 g/dL
HCT L 36,1 %
MCV H 84,8 fL
MCH H 24,3 pg
MCHC L 28,7 q/dL
CHCM L 28,1 g/dL

Routine WBC
Neut H 83,3% - 16,22*10^3 cells/μL
Lymph L 5,6% - 1,09*10^3 cells/μL

Morphology Flags
MACRO +++
HYPO +++
PLT CLUMPS +

 I was noticing every time i gave the cortisol medication Husko was getting worse...but as most people...i thought the vets know better...
By the end of august Husko was taking 5 Prezolon pills per day...

Until something snapped finally in me and i told the vets I'm stopping cortisol and getting a liver-puncture...
they insisted he had liver-cancer and a liver-puncture would just be a tormenting procedure and that I was wrong to not having Husko euthanized already...

29th of August the radiologist-vet had returned so I finally managed to find transport by a friend to get there...
Results of the liver-puncture were pointing to corticosteroids (didn't specify source)...

I was furious...I was killing my baby with my own hands...

JULY 2013

Instead of improving , Husko slowly got worse.
We opted for a blood test...

June 2nd Results (2nd paper got lost by the vets but they said what's important in this case was the first page)
''Off results''
γ-GT 17,59 IU/L (1,20-6,40)
SGPT/ALT 407,06 IU/L (10,00-94,00)
ALP 249,00 IU/L (0,00-90,00)

They suspected liver cancer...
They suggested an ultrasound but unemployment funds were almost weeks away...
I was devastated...

Husko was prescribed to take

Prezolon 5mg (until we could have results from the ultrasound)
1. 1 morning & 1 night for 7 days
2. 1 morning for 7 days

18th July 2013
Day of the ultrasound and urine sample.

Ultrasound Results (in short):
Liver:enlarged
Gall Bladder:normal but with suspended precipitate
Spleen:normal
Kidneys:normal
Urinary bladder:normal
Pancreas:normal
Adrenals:Left normal .Right couldn't be checked
Gastrointestinal tract: normal

Comments: DIFFUSE liver disease (dd: lipidosis, steroids hepatitis, chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, lymphoma)


Urine sample results:
All normal except
Specific weight :1007
epithelial :rare
erythrocyte : rare

I asked the radiologist-vet if he sees cancer & what is the diagnosis ,and he replied ''i see no masses , but i don't give diagnosis ,just the results of specialty (ultrasound & x-rays)''
Ι thought that meant ''no cancer'' so i asked if the liver puncture should be done immediately or next month when funds would be better ,to which he replied ''next month would be fine''...

Postponing it would turn out to be one of the biggest mistakes in my life...