About four weeks ago, a client told me something that brought tears to my eyes.  I had been treating Jake, one of his little Chihuahuas, since 2002 when Jake was adopted through a rescue group.  Over a year ago, I saw Jake for an emergency appointment.  His owners thought that he had a growth under his chin - it had popped up suddenly.  I confirmed that he had a big lymph node there, and that wasn't all.  Every single lymph node in Jake's body was huge.  He didn't feel well, either. I gave Jake a topical anesthetic to deaden the area and collected a sample from his lymph node, to examine under our microscope.  What I saw there alarmed me.  There were cells of wildly different sizes and shapes under the microscope, and all of them were dividing very rapidly.  All of these things are markers for cancer, and I immediately scheduled Jake for a full biopsy procedure with our surgeon, Dr. Papacek.

Several days later, we had our answer.  Dr. Papacek and I diagnosed Jake with lymphosarcoma - a cancer of the lymph nodes.  Jake's cancer was already spread throughout all his lymph nodes when it was diagnosed, and his family wanted the best possible care for him.  So we sent Jake to a wonderful veterinary internal medicine specialist in Skokie, Dr. Susan Yohn.  She's gentle and kind, in addition to being a superb diagnostician, and she's equally good with little dogs and alarmed owners.  Dr. Yohn performed a very thorough medical workup, and at the end of it she called Jake's family in and informed them that while his cancer was indeed advanced, she felt that chemotherapy would help extend Jake's life.

Lymphosarcoma is not the kind of cancer any of us would like to have.  It can be aggressive, and the type that Jake had - Type B lymphosarcoma - spreads very easily throughout the body.  And Jake had it about everywhere a little dog could have it.  While chemotherapy is effective in making many dogs with lymphosarcoma feel better, it does have side effects and eventually, it stops working.  But it can extend a pet's survival time for many months.  After weighing the odds, Jake's owners decided to go ahead with the chemo that Dr. Yohn recommended.

Chemotherapy did help Jake for a long time.  His lymph nodes shrunk back to normal size, and he felt better.  He resumed playing with the other pets in the house, he ate well again, and all was good for awhile.  Then, the predictable happened - Jake became very ill from his chemotherapy.  Dr. Yohn rotated chemo protocols and again stabilized Jake for a time.  But eventually, Jake became so ill that she told the owners that Jake needed a permanent break from his chemo.   His body just couldn't handle any more, she explained.  And, it had stopped helping him - he was no longer in cancer remission.   They had taken the chemo as far as it could go. Alarmed, the owners asked what they could do to keep Jake's lymph nodes small so that he'd be comfortable. "Talk to Dr. Mitchell," Dr. Yohn suggested. She was familiar with the work I do with acupuncture and traditional Chinese herbs, and she thought I might be able to offer something to keep Jake comfortable and happy, the same way we had kept his blood counts normal throughout the chemo.

I revised Jake's herbal protocol at once, using herbal approaches that provide chemo-like benefits, but without the side effects of traditional chemotherapy.  Many months later, Jake is still taking his herbs.  We haven't needed to use acupuncture for a long time.  Jake's lymph nodes are small again, and he's happy, and he plays with the other pets in the household.  Most importantly, Jake's family has their dog back.  They know it's not forever, but they also know that they've done everything they can do to give him a good quality of life.  We see Jake once a month to evaluate him, we adjust his herbs as needed, and lately we've talked how we need to start cutting down his food intake, because he's eating TOO well!

When I last saw Jake, his owner told me one of the most important things I have ever heard an owner say.  Tim was telling me how happy they were that Jake had been with them over a year since his diagnosis.  "We know we won't have Jake forever," he said, "But I figure that every extra day we have him is an extra opportunity to give him a hug and a kiss and to tell him how much we love him again."  Tim's simple words and expression of love for Jake required Kleenex for both of us as we hugged, when he left that day.  Jake danced out of the exam room, happy to not have to see me for another month!

Two weeks later, my own Lizzie was diagnosed with acute and complete kidney failure.  We don't know how she's going to do.  But as we did for Jake, we're doing everything possible for Lizzie: fluids, medication, acupuncture, herbs, and tube-feeding, since she won't eat at all.  We're hoping for the best, but all of us here at the hospital know the realities of dealing with kidney failure, and we know that Lizzie's prognosis is not good.  But as Tim said - and I bless him for telling me this - every day that I have my Lizzie is another day to tell her how much I love her, to celebrate her life, to give her hugs and kisses and to spoil her a little bit more.

I'll tell you more about how YOU can avoid kidney failure in your own pets next month.  In the meantime, Lizzie is providing what education she can in her column!