My Dogs Lymphoma Story
Tia Maria, an eleven year old Border collie/Greyhound.
We had her, her whole life. Where ever we went, she would have to come with us.Â
About 6-8 months ago my sister felt a lump in her neck, about the size of a pea. You know with family pets, how you can notice changes and stuff. Well for some reason that tiny lump got us worrying. Me and my sister knew it was cancer, ever since we found it. But that didn’t make my dad think twice about it until she started being depressed, cowering and yelping before you touched her around there. So we then took her to the vet. The vet felt around and didn’t even feel the lump. He diagnosed her with spinal arthritis. So we were like, “oh so it’s not cancer, YAY.” So he hooked her up with some pills for that. She was on a two week dosage, and every two weeks we would get more (because it made her happier, so hey, it must be working). About 3 weeks later the lump was the size of an golf ball.
 I knew it was cancer at that point. I just knew it. But, the vet believed the spine had trapped a nerve or something and got infected. And put changed the pills to some anti-inflammatory. She was on these for about 2 months, i thought it was ridiculous. Then the vet changed the theory of arthritis to a foreign object stuck in her neck, so we changed vet clinics. The next vet clinic took us through a lot of possibilities, but cancer just wasn’t one of them. So they stuck to thinking it was an infection. Which it was. By then it was the size of a tennis ball. We’re not the wealthiest of families, not even near. But Tia, she was our rock. We would do anything for that dog. So this was at about $ 400 of wasted time and money. It was at the start of December, about 2-3 months after the discovery of the lump. The vet requested surgery, to release the puss from her neck and find out what it was. They said ASAP too. I remember the lump before she went in, it was bigger then my hand. The day before, she wasn’t aloud to eat after 6pm, so we made her the families favourite dish, Egg fried rice. She loved it. We filled it with chicken, eggs, peas and bacon and she finished it at 6pm on the dot.
 I remember crying and singing her favourite song to her on the way to the vets. And walking her in. She knew something was happening so she put her legs in lock and we had to drag her to the vets room. The vet took her blood tests and everything and said, come pick her up later that day. I gave her a giant kiss on her head and said “When we find out what this is, we’ll make you better, don’t you worry baby.” Then we had to leave. I remember missing school because i was too anxious. So on our way home from the vet clinic, we got a call saying she was going in for surgery then.Â
This might let you know what a great dog she is.
Each time we went in, the vet nurses would say “Hey Ti-ti” with a smile on their faces. And the vets that treated her all complimented her. She was such a calm dog. The vet always thought it was cute how she would hide behind us when the needles came out- or thermometer. They said they would usually have to put muzzles on dogs in her situation. Every appointment there me, my dad, my brother and sister would go. So she felt comfortable. Writing all of this makes me cry so i might just get back to her story.
About 2 hours later we get a call saying Tia never had surgery, in the X-ray it showed a mass wedged between her spinal cord and esophagus. It was about the size of a thumb nail. And it was most likely Lymphoma Cancer. So i jump straight on the computer and realize how STUPID i was, let alone the vets was for not discovering it sooner. But, thinking about it now, it is pretty rare for vets to see stuff like this in New Zealand. They took a biopsy to find out what it really was. I cried so bad that day. But as i do, i found some home remedies and stuff like that. After that, we took her on dog walks every week, did everything she loved. When we went to pick her up, the kennel girl came out with a funny smile on her face and said “She wont come out of her kennel so can you please come get her.” Walking down the corridor to the kennel was scary. It was long and dark and it sounded like there was a zombie cow waiting to eat us, but nope. There was Tia, leaning against the kennel wall making this strange moaning noise. She must of still been full of anesthetic. When we came in, she looked at us, and followed us. She loved us. You could see it in her face. So we took her straight to the car and gave her a lot of cuddles and kisses. We had to wait about a month for the results, so we spent Christmas worrying how long until she dies, if she can have chemo and what stage she’d got to.
I haven’t really explained how Tia was acting yet.
I’ll do a list for you at this point in time:
1. When she slept, she made a noise like Darth Vader. (only sometimes)
2. Her lump was the size of a large apple.
3. She’d lost a lot of weight.
4. She’d become more grey (she was usually black and white)
5. Drinking A LOT of water.
6. Needing to pee A LOT.
Notice how i made 5-6 more standing out. We had never noticed that, they are KEY symptoms. Actually, You should notice all of them. With this horrible form of cancer, you should never let it get as far as we did.
At the end of January we found out it was the worst type of Lymphoma. It was so bad that in the labs, when they put the blood on the dish. It died within seconds. They could never discover anything about it. Just that it was Lymphoma, and it was fast. The faster it died, the faster it spread. She was given at the most, 2 weeks to live, Chemo wouldn’t work, it would kill her and anything to help her wouldn’t work. So i made my Cancer Burgers. I’ll list the ingredients and method.
Ingredients:
Raw meat – Enough to fill a blender.
4-5 Eggs
1 Garlic clove
Then get a lot of different veggies, I did ones that could be bad for dogs (but she liked them) so i recommend you research your veggies. And herbs. Mix them all together and make them into balls and put them in the freezer. (Leave them in the freezer until you want to feed them to your dog).Â
Your dog will suck on it to keep them occupied and it’s also VERY good for their health.Â
Keep your dog healthy.
Make sure you walk them a lot.
Try arrange for them to have doggy dates.
Just let them live a perfect life.Â
Even if they’re on chemo.
Tia would nibble on her burgers when she was bored.Â
I’m going to skip a bit out cause you don’t want to know about the beach and stuff.Â
So two weeks later, Tia Maria, Didn’t die. She actually started getting better. But you know what they say, it all gets better before the fall happens. No wait, i just said that. She had an amazing week, it was fun, but we realized. Our noisy dog had not barked on the beach since Christmas. Actually, the only noises she made was grunting, burping and farting. Oh and snoring. But this week, she barked. She went for a swim. She even tried to swim across a river. I kind’of carried her across it though. Just let her paddle her legs.
But after that week, she’d go outside for a pee and fall asleep in the garden, that’s when we’d gear up and take blankets to her. We thought it was her time, i mean she was depressed, peeing and pooping on the floor, everything she drank just came back as saliva. Her neck got so large, we did what the vet didn’t. We dis-infected a needle, soaked it in salt water. And we popped that fat thing. Then we squirted it with anti-septic and wrapped it up. Some may think that was animal cruelty, but if my dog is on its death bed, it’s going to die in the least pain, and if that means loosing the lump, then so be it. She was the best dog ever and i’ll never forget it. So as the weeks go on she’s still alive and okay i guess. Two months after finding out she was going to die in 2 weeks, it got to that point when you know it’s time to say goodbye. On Thursday the 67th of March, Tia was so light and fragile. She could only walk a bit, she wouldn’t eat nor drink. She wouldn’t move from her seat. And the moment she stood up, my heart sank. It was, i think the grossest thing EVER. Her neck had popped, she lost her neck fur, on the side she was laying on was covered in the stuff from her neck. The piece of couch she sleeps on was drenched. And you could see inside her neck. I couldn’t breathe, she smelled dead. So i got her in the shower, cleaned her up. Ran and got a blanket. Wrapped it around her neck, quite tight, not enough to strangle her though. I took her outside and laid in the sun with her. I piled her with towels and made her comfortable. I said, “please Tia, go now.”
She looked at me as if to say, “Kill me now”. I broke down. My dad came out and sat by us and i said, “It’s time dad”. Dad was the only reason Tia was still here. Us kids had known it was time for a week. Dad said to me “I have to ask the others”. So i told him us kids had been discussing it and it is time. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and called the vet. We made an appointment i think for 5.30pm to get her put down. That day, we carried her to her favourite spot on the beach and laid. We ate chocolate and she was watching us funny, as if she wanted some. So i gave her some. I don’t care what anyone thinks. She likes chocolate and on her last day on earth she was eating heaps of it. Then we let her stand in the river and drink heaps of water. We dried her off, dried the wound and bandaged it up. While we were driving to the vets, we said, The last song on the radio before we get there will be her song. So as we arrived,Â
Stay-Rihanna ft Mikky Ekko was just finishing. We carry her into the vet room, and lat her on the table. I couldn’t look at her face so i cuddled her back. Suddenly, on the radio, the song stay comes on again. Everybody in the rooms face dropped, me and the vet was crying. My sister kept it in even though the only thing keeping her sane just died. My dad stayed strong for all of us. And my brother broke down in the car. I didn’t know what to do. Our bestfriend/sister/dog/mother figure just died. And what i mean by mother figure is, when my mum left Tia became the house leader. She would always make sure on walks that we never separated. And she wouldn’t like any of my boyfriends, she raised us pretty much. She also raised 2 lambs and 2 kittens, even though she hates cats. She was the best thing in my life. She’s been gone four months and it feels like forever. Everything in life is different, and that is because of Tia.Â
Tia Maria died on March the 7th, 2013
We bought her on November the 7th, 2001
And she was born on June the 7th, 2001
p.s. I will always love and remember her. She taught me so much about life and life’s meaning.
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This is Tia when we picked her up from the airport after a long flight from England to new Zealand |
Jill Slansky, PhD, is an associate professor in the Integrated Department of Immunology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Her research interest is cancer immunology, and her lab, which has been active since January 2002, is located at National Jewish Health in Denver. Slansky has been a member of the University of Colorado Cancer Center since 2003, and was recently appointed co-leader of CU Cancer Center’s Immunology & Immunotherapy Program.
