From:
Chelsey Baker-Hauck
Date: 2006-11-07 19:29:41 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Elmo update/Lymphosarcoma
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Elmo has completely recovered from the pneumonia he developed in the
second week of his homeopathic cancer protocol. He had to be off the
protocol while he was treated for the pneumonia. He lost his
appetite, possibly due to the antibiotics.
He definitely became skinnier during this bout w/pneumonia, but
didn't actually lose weight--in fact, as he lost muscle, he gained
two-tenths of a pound--seemingly all in one of the cancerous nodes,
which quadrupled in size virtually overnight. During that week he was
off the protocol, the node grew from slightly bigger than a gum ball
to about the size of a golf ball--you could easily feel it bulging
out of his abdomen when you picked him up. In that week, he went from
being a happy, healthy-appearing ferret to one who looked like a
cancer patient.
We gave him a remedy to boost the appetite, but didn't see any
effects from that.
Last week, we restarted the protocol. In seven days, the tumor has
shrunk markedly, and is about back to the size it was when we first
discovered this. You now have to really palpate to find it. His
energy level increases daily, and his neurologic symptoms also
improve daily. His appetite, however, has not come back. He has
little interest in regular chow, devours treats with gusto, and will
nibble on novelty foods when they're first introduced, but won't go
for them a second time. He isn't showing any other GI symptoms. His
weight this week is 3 lbs.--down from 3.6 a week ago. I think we're
really beginning to see the effects from not eating.
He's supposed to be on this remedy for another 3 days, at which time
the vets will re-evaluate and possibly switch him to the next remedy
in the protocol. (Generally, there are three that would be used for a
week each, administered every 15 minutes for 2-1/2 hours daily. But
since the pneumonia set us back, we're essentially starting from
scratch again by repeating the first remedy and using it longer than
usual.) We had cut his pred dose in half again, but have now
increased it back up b/c it seems to encourage his appetite a bit.
I'll keep you posted--hopefully this protocol may be able to help
other ferrets someday.
Chelsey
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