Reflections and Treatments

It’s been almost a month since we lost our baby girl. It’s still really hard to believe that she’s gone. Death is just so permanent, and it happened so much faster that we thought it would. While we never did get an official diagnosis via biopsy, all signs point to Osa’s tumor being Chondrosarcoma. At first this seemed like a good news story. That did not end up being the case. The information that we found shows the rate of metastasis in cases of Chondrosarcoma is much lower than Osteosarcoma cases, which is a good thing if you can remove it through surgery. Unfortunately it is also very aggressive and grows very quickly, likely faster than Osteosarcoma. Osa died 5 weeks after her initial diagnosis, and 9 weeks after showing initial signs of very slight limping. We were too late to remove her tumor through surgery. By the end, she had a large tumor that was clearly visible and had made her entire right Gluteus Maximus swollen to the point where it affected her GI tract horribly. We tried various treatments, but ultimately I don’t think any of them did much to extend her life.

We live in Washington State, so were able to purchase and did have some success using Cannabis to manage her pain. I really wish we had discovered this earlier. Cannabis has shown some promising signs of being able to stave off and even reduce the growth of certain kinds of cancerous tumors in clinical studies. The sample sizes are small, and it’s certainly not conclusive, but I am hopeful that this has promise for future patients. The pain management properties worked well for Osa, seemingly better than pharmaceuticals.

Here are some things that we tried. Some seemed to work, some did not, and some it’s just too hard to really know.

What did seem to work:

Acupuncture for pain – we had this done 3-4 times with seemingly noticeable alleviation of pain, mostly the next couple of days after treatment.

Cannabis – We used a product called Canna Companion for pain. We also a tried an experimental therapy with high CBD Cannabis Oil (similar to Rick Steven’s Oil I do believe), which can help with pain and also is being investigated as a natural form of Chemo. The ratio was a 2:1 CBD to THC ratio which is supposed to be very important, as dogs don’t react all that well to high amounts of THC. I tried the oil mixture myself after she died and did feel quite high, but also very relaxed. This may be a controversial route for some people, but I honestly think that the Cannabis made Osa much more comfortable than the pharmaceuticals. If nothing else, she was relaxed and slept much better than she had in the previous weeks. These were both done with the guidance of a vet and the dosages were very specific.

What didn’t really work

I am not a big fan of pharmaceutical pain killers, especially using multiple different drugs in combination. I understand the principle of multimodal pain management, but it just never did feel right to me. After shoulder surgery I ended up just taking ibuprofen after 2 days of vomiting nausea from narcotics, so in all fairness, I’m a wee bit jaded. Osa’s vet prescribed a cocktail of Gabapentin, Tramadol, and a third that I can’t remember which acts both as an antidepressant and a pain killer.  We tried these to varying degrees, but never did go to 100% dosages on any of them. The thing is, she did not react that well to them. Her stomach seemed to react negatively with increased burping and farting, and her pain didn’t appear to subside to the point where she could relax for long periods of time. She was anxious and uncomfortable. Of the 3, I would say that Gabapentin seemed to work the best for Osa, and we continued to use this in conjunction with the Cannabis, albeit infrequently.

What may or may not have worked

Did I mention that we tried a lot of things? Well we did, and I mean a lot of things. Here are some that I really have no idea if they helped or not. My gut feeling is that the Chinese Herbs did help a bit in pain management, but I could be wrong. I really am not convinced that the others did much of anything…again, I could be wrong. Before her diagnosis, we did have Osa on a mostly raw diet combined with some high quality supplements, so the Poly MVA and Green Lipped Mussels may work better for animals that are on less healthy diets to start with.

Stasis Breaker – Chinese Herbs

Bone Stasis – Chinese Herbs

Poly MVA – high dosage antioxidant…very expensive, smells awful and should be administered orally with a syringe (non needle variety) because your animal probably will refuse to eat their food if it’s mixed in.

Montana Yew Tip – We tried this for a bit, but ended up backing off the last couple of weeks because we felt like we were just giving her too many things at once.

Curcumin – a natural pain killer that has Turmeric, a supposed natural cancer fighting herb

Green Lipped Mussel

Artemisinin – we never tried this, but I did come across it in my research

In the end, cancer is a beast that usually wins, especially in animals when surgery to remove the tumor is not performed. We did not want to give up and just manage her pain, we wanted to fight it and win, at least temporarily. Unfortunately we did not get the results that we hoped for. I don’t say this to discourage you from trying. On the contrary, this treatment path took us precious weeks of research to figure out, and my hope is that Osa’s legacy can be to help other’s find information more easily. Please also read my previous post for more insights if you like.

I will offer this advice no matter what approach you take. Enjoy every single day you have, and when you are with your pet, please try to be in the moment. Be thankful for the time that you have, and try not to focus on what the future may hold. Be a strong pack leader as much as possible. Worry and stress will not help you or your pet. Whether you beat the beast or not, be there for your furry kid as much as you can. Hold them in your arms. Tell them you love them. You will never regret it, that I can guarantee!