Michele's
Journal (
Jesse had surgery on the
ligament today. We were told Jesse has
a heart murmur which made putting him under anesthetic risky, but if we didn't
do the surgery he would have a horrible time with arthritis and be in a lot of
unnecessary pain. For days before the
surgery I was a wreck. I had the most
horrible time preparing myself for this. I was so scared he wouldn't make it through the surgery. We did have him tested before the surgery to
make sure everything looked positive before hand. I called as soon as I knew I could find out if he was ok. I thank God he was fine. He actually recovered very well and pretty
quickly. The doctor was very surprised
to see him running on his leg within just weeks after the surgery. I am definitely the emotional one when it
comes to death, it frightens me horribly, David (my husband) is not scared of death
and though he loves Jesse very much he doesn't freak out like I do. He has encouraged me to do what I feel is
best for Jesse and has helped me tremendously through
all of this. Shawn (our ten year old
adopted son) has never lost a pet and he seems sad but I am not sure that he
completely understands. Jesse and Shawn
are close though. We will need to take
Jesse back for follow-up visits.
Follow Up Visit.
Took Jesse in for his surgical follow up
visit. The vet says that Jesse has cancer, Fibrosarcoma. I had taken him to vet myself and just fell
to pieces. I'm not really sure how I
drove home. I had such little hope for
any kind of recovery for him. I knew
that I didn't want to consider chemo and radiation because I don't believe any
animal could understand that, I didn't when I was sick. For me
chemotherapy was horrifying and I had someone to explain it to me. Jesse will probably need surgery to remove
the tumor.
Jesse had surgery to remove the tumor on his
leg. Surgery went well. Weight at
surgery 38.2 lbs. Taking Jesse for surgery, to get as much tumor removed as
possible then tested again, was pretty horrifying. I think I handled it much better than the first surgery because
he did ok the first time, but I was still pretty scared. I was concerned about his recovery due to
the surgery on his other leg just a month and a half ago. He did ok though and couldn't wait to run
around and get into all kinds of trouble. We have been giving Jesse pain
pills, antibiotics and Glucosamine / Chondroitin (one pill twice a day, it has
worked wonders).
Follow Up Visit.
Took Jesse to the vet to have his
stitches removed. The vet said he did not get the entire tumor and that
it would continue to grow. Chemo and
radiation would probably help assuming it has not spread yet.
Searching
for Knowledge on the Internet.
Just found some information on Flax Oil
and cottage cheese on the Internet and wrote to the people sponsoring the
sites. Until now I really thought we were going to loose Jesse. This is such a difficult ordeal to go
through! I don't think there are words
to describe what the patients and the families and friends go through when this
sort of thing happens in their lives. I
bought Essiac Tea and plan to do the Flax Oil and cottage cheese. I would do anything for someone to help me
figure out what Jesse should eat and what he shouldn't eat - what will help and
what won't! Jesse is just so precious
to me! I will do anything except torture
him with all that pain from chemo and radiation!
May 26, 1999
Day 1:
Today Jesse got 2 doses of Flax Oil Treatment, he licked it up both times, w/o
any buttermilk. Fed him the chicken
mixture with cabbage and broccoli, he seemed to have enjoyed that as well.
Day 2: Jesse has reacted very well so far to all
treatments. He ate all of his
chicken/broccoli/cabbage mixture. I
added buttermilk to his flaxseed treatment tonight and he seemed to like it
much better. I think it is going to be
hard to see how he does for quite a while.
We are planning to take him to the dog park in a week or two; he should
have his stitches out by then. The real
Jesse will emerge then.
Day 3: Continuing treatment, he seems very well and
happy.
Day 4: No change today.
Day 5: Still no change.
Day 6: Things are still the same.
Day 7: Weight today 37.4 lbs. Vet says his weight
is good. Took Jesse to the vet to get
his bandage off and his stitches taken out.
I think we may need to find another vet who is a little more accepting
of alternative treatments. He said he
would check him on a monthly visit.
We'll keep our current vet until we can find a new more open minded
individual. We are hoping to find
someone who will make house calls as well.
Jesse seems to shake badly when we go to the vet these days; I think the
last couple of surgeries have really upset him. The vet said that sarcoma spreads like a spider web. All we can do is sit back and wait. They did not get the entire tumor, so that
means we wait till it either gets big again, or hopefully the Flax Oil
treatments will keep it from coming back.
Jesse is off his antibiotics now, so we are continuing to give him - 2
doses of flaxseed treatment. For dinner he is getting his chicken,
broccoli and cabbage, he just eats it all up.
We have also been giving him all the supplements the Conley's have
suggested. He seems to have gobs of
energy. He has been upset with me
because he has not been able to go to the dog park with our other dogs because
of the recovery time needed. We will be
taking him to the park this weekend.
Day 8: Jesse is doing very well, we are thinking of
upping his dose to three times a day.
Day 9: Jesse seems a little tired so we are giving
him low fat milk so he doesn't get dehydrated.
Day 10: The milk helped Jesse get his energy back on
track, he is doing well.
Day 11: Took Jesse to the dog park with our other
two dogs, he swam all the way across this little river. He was more energetic than I have seen him
in a couple years. He came home very
exhausted but quite content.
Day 12: Continuing with two doses of Flax Oil
treatment, trying to decide if we should go to three. Jesse has been trying to get into the cat litter box
(yuck). We're wondering if he may not be getting enough to eat or enough
vitamins.
Day 13: Put Jesse in his kennel while at work and
when I let him out he was very cramped up, poor little guy. We put him in
because he has been going to the bathroom in the house (yuck again). We are going to continue to leave him out of
the crate because he limps badly.
Day 14: Stitches and everything healed well. I can feel some tumor in the leg. We
are trying to figure out a way to measure and watch for growth. Jesse is doing well. Severely spoiled the last couple weeks and
loving it!
Day
18: Jesse seems to be doing well. He really gets into his dinner. I think he has figured out that its human
food because now when we eat he begs constantly, whines actually. Annoying but funny. We never give him anything but that doesn't
seem to stop him from begging.
Day 19: Jesse is receiving three doses of the
Flaxseed Oil treatment. We're giving
him a little milk because he seems a little down possibly dehydrated a bit.
Day 20: Great, Jesse has figured out that we are
putting his vitamins in his treatment and won't eat it. We forced him to eat it which was a
mistake, he got sick. Talked to the
Conley's and they said to give him a break on it for a couple days and then
possibly spoon feed it to him to help get him excited about eating it again.
Day 21: No treatment, but went to the dog park, boy
did he have a ball; he swam and swam and swam.
He seems to be very happy none the less.
Day 22: Still no treatment.
Day 23: Giving him the treatment again. He didn't seem real excited; I made him
think it was my food. That helped. Ate it right up for David this evening. Hmm?
Maybe he's holding out for me so I feel sorry for him.
Day 24: Might have to have David give it to him; he
doesn't want to eat it when I give it to him, weird! I still feel the tumor, it doesn't seem like it has grown. David and I check it daily.
Day 25: Jesse is doing well. We are so happy to see him happy. He won't leave my side for anything. I think he gets very sad when we leave him
to go to work or out. He's become very
sensitive, more sensitive emotionally than usual (maybe because of all the attention,
he's now taking advantage of it).
Day 26: Jesse is doing great, he's eating his
treatments regularly now, and hopefully they are back on schedule.
Day 27: Still doing well.
Day
28: Jesse
has not been very cooperative with his flax treatments today. I'm concerned about what this might
mean. I hope he has not taken a turn
for the worst.
Day 29: Jesse ate
his treatment today with no complaints.
It has been a good day for him.
He has lots of energy and is back on track. Then we check the are with the tumor. GREAT NEWS, the tumor has shrunk by almost half. It's no longer like a big know. It is still hard but smaller and
flatter. We are all just so happy. Jess is really doing well.
Day 30: Jesse
is down today. He won't touch his
treatment and we tried all day to get him to eat it. We went ahead and fed him, he was starving. We are starting to worry again.
Day 31: Jesse had
an accident the house. Not sure how to
stop this, we give him lots of attention.
Wrote the Conley's about the fact he is not eating his treatments. I came home from work and Jesse is limping
badly on his cancer leg. I checked his
leg and found that the tumor doesn't appear to have grown. Could he be getting sick from getting
better? It doesn't seem to bother him
when I check the tumor. I hope he
didn't pull the ligament in that leg again.
We bought several kinds of yogurt with fruit hoping there will be one he
likes with the Flax Oil. We tried
Strawberry yogurt but he refused. It
sat on the counter for a half hour before we tried it again. This time I sat on the floor with him and
praised him while he ate the Flax Oil and yogurt. I am hope praising him works tomorrow. Jesse is really having a hard time getting up with his leg. I fed Jesse some milk. If he isn't in better spirits tomorrow,
we'll try sweet milk like Conley's suggested.
He hasn't been jumping on the bed with me at night anymore. For a
while he was getting up on the bed regularly.
I'm starting to worry again.
We'll watch him closely over the weekend.
Day
32: Jesse
has been having diarrhea and doing this in the house. We do not want to put him in his kennel; he gets upset and
cramped up. We will watch him.
Day 33: Could
life get any worse today. Jesse has
made the biggest mess I think a dog could. He is obviously not feeling
well at all. I am going to contact the
Conley's. It looks as if it is the cabbage, broccoli and chicken that may
be causing this. I will wait to hear
from the Conley's.
Day 34: Yes, life
can get worse. Not only is Jesse sick
so is our other dog Nutawni. I put them
both in their kennels today, went home at lunch and that's when the major
disaster began. They both went to the
bathroom in their kennels and just couldn't handle it anymore. Nutawni must have panicked; she chewed holes
in her kennel and also broke a tooth in the process. I can't put any of them in their kennels anymore. I am
terrified of coming home and having my furniture or carpet chewed up. We'll see.
I can't wait till our house is finished and they have a fenced yard to
run a play in. They have vet
appointments tomorrow. Going to hold up
on Jesse's diet for a while. I am
trying to track down some cancer dog food to feed him for a week until his
system gets better, then slowly start over and follow the Conley's suggestions.
Day 35: Took the
pups to the vet. Nothing seems to be
wrong. Both seem fine. The vet
gave Nutawni some medicine and said Jesse's hopefully will run its course. I'm leaving them out of their kennels and
hoping that when I come home from work nothing will be damaged. We are sending Nutawni to a dentist for
animals, she may need a root-canal or have the tooth pulled out, and it is her
lower canine tooth (one of the big ones).
Day
36: Jesse
seems to be improving quickly now that we have fed him regular dry dog
food. I will keep him on this until
next week.
Day 37: Jesse is
doing great. He seems to have this odor
about him, it is difficult to explain I have noticed it more and more recently,
it's not urine, close, but a little more like a medicine type of smell. The only time I ever remember smelling it
was when my dog years ago died. I don't
think Jesse is dying, but I'm not sure what it is.
Day 38: Jesse and
I are headed to
Day 39: Jesse
spent most of his day in air conditioning staying cool.
Day 40: Checked
Jesse's leg, I do not feel any lumps but I do feel a solid patch still. I can not tell if it has enlarged or not, if
so, not much at all. It is so
unsettling feeling it compared to his other leg, it's not a lot larger but the
bone area just seems denser, I need to get him in for a full on cancer check-up.
Day 41: Jesse,
Shawn and I drove home from
Day 42: Jesse
is still doing well. We are starting
him back on the flax oil and we will try it with the cottage cheese, if he
won't take it we will try it with the yogurt.
We are going to go slow with the vitamins and maybe mix some of his
chicken mixture with some cancer dog food. I will see what the Conley's
suggest.
Day 49: Jesse is doing well now since figuring out
that the chicken/cabbage mixture was causing some stomach problems. We switched him to lean ground beef as the
protein source instead of chicken. Jesse is very happy eating the ground
beef diet and has had no ill side effects to date. He is also taking his Flaxseed Oil mixture with no resistance,
which is nice. I think that the reason
he has done so well up to this point is because he is a small dog and we have
been giving 1/4 c. dosages twice daily. I really think it has paid
off. He seems in great spirits and we
continue to watch him closely.
July 20, 1999
Day 56: I think it is amazing that almost 2 months
have gone by and Jesse is close to being a pretty normal healthy dog. I felt for his tumors last night and felt
nothing. I can actually grab a little
bit of skin around where he had surgery.
It seems that the tumor mass has finally disappeared. I have no doubt there may be cancer cells
lingering, but we are keeping them under control. After hearing what has happened to Natasha, I'm not sure that I
will reduce Jesse's doses since I very much believe that this is helping beat
the cancer permanently. I don't want to risk the cancer returning, but
could this hurt giving him that many dosages of Flax Oil without any
cause? I will talk to the
Conley's about this. I think of
this as a kind of permanent medication, just as if Jesse were a diabetic or
something like that. It's just
something you need to keep taking, I don't think it's odd, it just simply may
be something your body needs to keep fighting cancer. I want to do what I can to help get the word out that this
treatment helped Jesse as well. In the
last 2 months we've had our stumbling blocks and I'm sure we will continue to
do so but none the less I see no signs of tumor growth whatsoever. Jesse has had 2 very healthy happy months in
comparison to the three prior months after the surgeries and he has become a
happy lil' camper. We will all pray for
Natasha (she is going back on her full Flax Oil dosages and supplements that
were so successful the first time around) and all the other sick puppy dogs out
there. We will continue to keep you all
posted, thanks for all your e-mails and support. We really enjoy receiving and responding to the emails and
hearing about other people's experiences.
Day 73: I have no bad news to report; he is still
doing just outstanding! No falls or
problems what so ever! I checked for
tumors, no signs of anything. He is
eating the veggies and the ground beef, he likes that a lot. He is also eating his flax seed oil and
cottage cheese with no problems. I hope all is well with Natasha and she
is continuing to improve. I think of
all of you all the time and hope you are all hanging in there ok; this cancer
thing sure can take its toll. I just
thank God everyday that this is working and I hope that it is working for
others as well. Please take care and I
will write again soon!
Day 99: Jesse is doing remarkable. I feel absolutely nothing in his leg.
Sometimes I check both legs because it must be some mistake. It is truly a miracle. For that and your support we will always be
in your debt. His energy levels are
great; he is eating his "beefy" dinner (hamburger, cabbage and
broccoli) with no side affects. He is
taking his flax oil/cottage cheese mixture twice daily. David has been taking all the dogs to the
property when he works on the house, they run and play and just have a
wonderful time. It's hard to believe
that Jesse can run that fast, especially after the ligament surgery and all
else. Sometimes I forget that he ever
had a problem, thank God for that, cancer is a very difficult thing to forget
about. Our animal health concerns have
moved on to our other dog recently.
Morticia is 5 yrs old and has had food allergies since moving here
almost a year ago and night episodes when she is very sick. She has seen a vet. She also has become very high strung over
the last 6 months and is extremely frightened of storms. We have to open
the closet door for her to hide during storms or in some bad cases give her
tranquilizers, if we don't she panics so bad we are afraid she will have a
heart attack. We are trying to find
info on other pets that may have a similar problem and how their owners may
have dealt with it. We have started
giving her dosages of the flax oil/cottage cheese mixture and some special
vitamins, just because it can't hurt. She
hasn't had any episodes of stomach upset so far. We are keeping our fingers crossed and our prayers ongoing. Nutawni is scheduled for her second surgery
to repair a broken tooth. She is having
a root canal done, if they just removed her tooth there was a high risk of them
breaking her jaw. Same price either
way, so we definitely went with the $600 root canal. Our vet who is handling this is passing out the word to her
patients about flax oil/cottage cheese mixture and Natasha and Jesse's web
site.
Day 115: Well, two things! First, we took all the dogs to the vet last weekend. We had
the thyroid test done on Morticia even though the vet said it was most likely a
waste of money. The vet felt that she was just having some emotional
difficulties. Well we got the tests
back and sure enough, 2 out of 3 of the tests showed some problems with her
thyroid. We have her on medication now and she is doing very well.
Morticia is very mellow, I hope that's normal.
So thank you for helping Morticia (Ticia), she seems so peaceful and at
ease. Also, we gave him the update on where we we're at with Jesse,
although he still doesn't see how that the flax mixture works. The vet
said something we are doing is working because as far as he can see there are
no signs of any cancer in Jesse. Thank
God and you guys!!!
Nutawni also just got done with her final surgery on her root canal. I am hoping there will now be some peace at
home with our dogs. They have been
costing us a fortune. I will keep you posted, but everything is going
great. I hope all is good with you as
well. Please keep in touch.
Day 169: I am anxious to see the new website that is
coming about Shilo. I just gave (2)
people the addresses to the sites, one is for a dog that has a tumor in it's
mouth and another was for a 27 yr. old girl that might have advance staged
Melanoma.
Our family is doing very well. We are
putting the roof on our new home as we speak.
We're hoping to be in sometime in January, unless the cold keeps us from
doing so.
All the dogs are exceptional. Jesse's
doing awesome with no signs of cancer what-so-ever. We've been giving him his dog food and then the flax oil/cottage
cheese mixture - still twice daily. He
is just a bundle of energy. Ticia has
been doing so much better since we've had her on the Thyroid medication and she
has been very mellow and is not scared of little noises anymore. Nutawni, well she is as healthy as a horse.
I had a bit of a scare myself; I thought my cancer might have returned when I
found a lump under my arm. I was really
very upset but it ended up being nothing. I was terribly scared of the
idea of chemo and radiation all over again- and dying of course, but I also
remembered that that's not all there is. I would have an opportunity to
try the flaxseed oil/cottage cheese mixture myself although personally I can't
imagine eating that, though I would if I had to, somehow but Yuk!!! I thank God that it was nothing serious
though. It was a relief to know the
flax oil treatment is there if I ever need it.
Though I would love to write more now there is nothing bad to report (thank
God), but so everyone knows, Jesse is still in full remission with no signs of
cancer anywhere. It has now been almost
6 months. This will make for a very
happy holiday season.
I am curious on how others are doing and
would really love it if some others e-mail me on their experiences and
tribulations. I want to know how others
are responding to this, what cancers are and aren't (hopefully, they all do).
Day 230: It has been a most hectic couple
months. Jesse is doing really
well. There are some lumps on his rib cage but the vet says they are just
fatty tumors. I am giving him his Flax Oil mixture everyday just in
case. Currently Morticia is the one in
need.
Last time we spoke she was taking on her thyroid medication and we had her levels tested and the medication is working. Unfortunately, recently, at night usually, she starts licking the carpets like crazy and then throws up. She kind of "wigs" out a bit then she usually wants to eat grass really bad. Since there is nothing but snow we can't get her any. We even have given her bismuth tablets and papaya enzymes but nothing helps. The vet said quite some time ago that she could be sensitive to her food but then we found out about the thyroid problem and put her back on regular Eukanuba diet. She seemed to be doing ok for about 6 months but now she is getting sick a lot once again. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Morticia just seems so unhappy. I know the medication really mellows her out but I don't know. We are very worried. The vets never really have a solution.
Day 380: Hi there... hope all is well with all of
you! I saw
(To the Conley’s :)
I hope your family and beautiful pets are well. I will keep looking forward to hearing what
else is new. P.S. Also... our e-mail has changed to [email protected].
Day 1883 (5 years 2 months):
Ron,
It is hard to write this... I lost my
best friend today... Jesse. He was my shadow for to short of a time...
15 years just didn’t seem long enough.
He has been getting slower and slower over the last few months, last Sunday I
took him to emergency vet... his red blood counts were dangerously low... my
family was out of town and I was in shock, she said it could be cancer... I figured it was... he was soooo sick, it
just broke my heart. I put him on
medication to help up his blood counts.
Took him in this a.m., he was so weak and could barely stand... I knew that it wasn’t going to be good...
his blood counts were a little lower and his lymph nodes were huge and the vet
said his lungs were sounding very weak.
She said he could go anytime, and if he did, it would be very hard on
him. I decided to snuggle him close and
pet him, rubbed noses and rub those ears... and let him go... the last thing he
felt or saw was me loving him.
I am hurting so bad... I don’t know how
to be ok... I promised him he could go
home, and I would be ok... but I feel like my rock, my constant is gone. He was there for me with my cancer, and I
was there for his... I hadn’t done the
treatment in years... but his last meals were hamburger and broccoli and
cabbage, with flaxseed oil and cottage cheese... I think it helped him get through the week... and gave me some
much needed time with him. With kids
and a job, I haven’t spent the time with him that he deserved... and with my
family gone, it was me and him... and I will be forever thankful for that
time...
Thank you for giving me over 5 extra years with him. Without you I would have lost him years ago. Please put a post up, if you can on the
website of Jesse's Story, and you can update my email address to [email protected] for the website. I would still like to help those with
animals needing help to fight this ugly disease that takes too many of our
loved ones.
Please mention him in your prayers and maybe he and Natasha can look down and
see all of us that love them... and all those animals (and people) their lives
have saved and changed. They have made
the world a better place.
All our love... and lets stay in touch!
Michele Tarlo
God Bless All of You!
The
Tarlo's (David, Michele, Shawn Doggies- Ticia, Nutawni) (click here to send
email)
Kitties- Gomez, Abigail & Nahla
Natasha's Cancer Fight Newsletter
Shilo's Tale | Jesse's Story | Misty's Journey | Niki's Odyssey | Doggie Dinner | CRF Canine Renal Failure | Vaccinosis Story
This page was last updated on October 18, 2006