Miss Di
UPDATE March 29th: Miss Di has taken her final journey to the Rainbow Bridge where she will be whole again. We are profoundly saddened by this loss. Please keep Miss Di and her family in your thoughts. She knew only love and affection and did not suffer. The members of SND are honored to have known this beautiful Dobe. What follows is Miss Di's story starting when we first met her.
This amazing story was brought to our attention on January 19th by Marcia Cowen of the Oklahoma Doberman Rescue Group. Miss Di, aka Delila, has cancer. To save her life, she has been receiving chemotherapy treatments. The good news is that she is doing very well thanks to her will to live, the doctors treating her, and especially the loving care she gets from her mom and friends. To continue doing well though, she needs treatments every three weeks or so. These sessions cost between $150 and $200 per. While halting the treatments is obviously not an option, her family can use any help you can provide. Miss Di's friend Marcia requests information concerning the type of cancer she has. If you have any information, email it to Marcia and PLEASE forward it to us as well at info@doberman911.org.
Di was diagnosed with lymphoma on May 15, 2001. She is approximately eight years old. Her first chemo treatment was on May 23, 2001. Di when diagnosed was only a few weeks from death. After the first treatment you could see a difference. Now she is totally normal acting. She is her bossy self. The doctor is very pleased with her progress. She took chemo every week from May 23 through September. In September, she started every 2 weeks. The first of January, we started every 3 weeks to see if she could tolerate going that long. She has the dreaded lick fetish on her foot. It got infected and she had to go in for an extra treatment. She is going to have to continue the 3 week treatment for several months. Then the doctor will evaluate her again.
She is also on the new Hill's n/d (see the note below) which is a cancer diet by Hills. The food is canned and is also expensive. The doctor has given Di's mom several breaks on this ongoing treatment. The staff loves Miss Di. Now she just gives them her leg and looks disgusted. She has been on antibiotics and predinisone periodically. She has had some intestinal upsets but nothing like the side effects we humans endure. The chemo Miss Di takes is human chemo.
Please, any information any of you have about this cancer would be welcomed. We would appreciate any help you could provide!
Please visit the Oklahoma Doberman Rescue Group website. They introduced us to Miss Di and have become a part of the SND family.
February 8th: Today Di had chemo. The good news is it went well. Her weight has been stable at 71 lbs. for 6 weeks. She looks great and acts as if she is healthy as a horse. Most of her lymph nodes are down. The one that they are concerned about is still LARGE. Her vet feels that it is because she will not leave her foot alone. She licks at it constantly. Her Mom has tried everything to get her to quit. Any ideas on how to make her stop? She is now on antibiotics again. She will have to go back 2 weeks from Tuesday. She may have to start taking chemo every 2 weeks again. They are very optimistic about how great she is doing. (Please send any suggestions about how to handle the licking problem to info@doberman911.org.)
February 19th: The news here is not good. I just talked with Di's vet. Her lymph nodes are all up. He did a treatment with a drug that is known to cause problems in Dobes. He felt he had no other choice at this time. She has a 50/50 chance of going into remission again. He is very concerned. He said that it is like a race car and right now we are losing the race. She is going to continue on the 2 week regime. He is not giving up on her. The good news is she feels and acts fine.
More news will be posted as we get it.
SND Note: We would like to thank everyone for supporting Miss Di. Her cancer will require more aggressive treatments. Please keep Miss Di in your thoughts. The doctors have a plan to help her, the SND membership is here to help.
A concerned Dobe person sent us this info: "There is a website that a vet has put together. His name is Jason Bell and he's from Calgary, Canada. You might want to check out his site also. That address is www.haileybell.homestead.com One of Jason's dobe's has had lymphoma for over 2 years, but is now in remission. He has dietary and supplement recommendations on his site. He has been a real God-send to the folks on the pet cancer site."
SND Note: while SND does not endorse specific products or companies, we do believe in sharing information about possible treatments and remedies from reputable sources. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS consult with a qualified veterinary doctor about treatments before using them, including dietary plans. Information on the Hill's n/d diet plan for cancer patients can be found on the Hill's n/d product web page.
UPDATE
March 29th: Miss Di has taken her final journey to the Rainbow Bridge where
she will be whole again. We are profoundly saddened by this loss. Please keep
Miss Di and her family in your thoughts. She knew only love and affection and
did not suffer. The members of SND are honored to have known this beautiful
Dobe.
