Dear Hattie,
How my heart aches for you and Maggi, It is such a difficult thing, trying to hit the nail on the head and FIND the right nail.
After my last posting I did use Piroxocam on my RR for a period of 5 weeks, then sort of freaked out when I went online and read the studies of Bladder TCC using it, how they all reccomended it but said, as you did, it damages the intestines. Pretty much the studies predicted a six month battle, whether the people in the study allowed their dogs to die naturally or put them to sleep in the end.
Sigh.
I did investigate the Graviola some more and am VERY THRILLED with my dog's results!!
These 50 drops/daily are the only medicine she takes!! I mix the drops in warm water and pour it over her(normal)evening meal of Senior Wellness kibble lamb and rice. She really LIKES the taste (but the smell is rather awful) Who cares! I give it to her once a day, in the evening. For beakfast she has her normal, 1/2 cup of kibble and about a cup of warm oatmeal and skim milk, cooked from scratch by my husband, her normal breafast after their 1/2 hour walk. Every two weeks, as is recommended with an herbal treatment, I give her a weeks' rest and don't use the drops that week. So it's 2 weeks on, one week off.
Diva is doing very well! I'd say within 2 weeks her bloody urine completely disappeared from the naked eye. She appears still healthy and energetic and romps around the backyard playfully. We are SOO thankful.She shows no discomfort at this point, 18 weeks later.
It was a real crap shoot, as I couln't find anyone out there doing this. Her TCC was not positioned where Maggie's was, I dare say. Her Dec. 20th 2004 ultra sound revealed a 4 cm tumor, long and narrow, cradled along her bladder rim, opposite the trigonal area (which is unusual) and it was spreading laterally in both directions.WE dicided agaist surgery, which was an option.("no garantees, lots of discomfort") Diva is now 7.5 years, and as a Ridgeback has a life expectancy of 8- 12 years. Sniff. Let's face it I'll never be ready to let my girl go, 12-15-or 20 years!
This Graviola actually distroys the bad cells and spares the good! The Peruvians have been using it for eons, I guess. Chewing on the bark, smashing the leaves up for everything from tooth aches to tumors! The big pharmaceuticals haven't been able to synthecize it, YET, so it's still an herbal remedy, still available and AFFORDABLE to you and me. Google in "graviola".
I found a woman online whose husband had been given very little hope, and after 18 months of graviola, he is quite enrgergtic and only a little tired! My new Vet is quite supportive here on the Cape, has encouraged me do this herbal thing and is ready to support when necessary, with Western medicine.
At eighteen dollars a bottle I sure would reccomend this Graviola! I am still using my first bottle.
I know you and Maggie traveled a different road, and we all want is for it to STOP, which ever road we try. Tell me how you and Maggie are progressing. Best wishes and many blessings,
Susan