# Max continues to beat his diagnosis - Homeopathy 1, Meningioma 0



## mr3856a (Jan 19, 2008)

Well, today is officially 5 months since the diagnosis and our prognosis of 1-2 months for Max. As I write this he's ambling over to me in my office to say hello. I'm starting a new thread as I really feel we have important information to share.

To recap: Max is a nearly-12-year-old Golden who was diagnosed with a huge meningioma after having a grand mal seizure at the end of May. 

He continues to do well, all things considered. Some days he's better than others, but in general we have nothing to complain about. He eats a little less eagerly than a month or two ago, but then again if you get too far past his 3 PM doggy dinner time, he'll let you know. 

We still take our daily walks down the block and back. Some days he doesn't have as much get-up-and-go, and we do take a little break some days, but again, he still gets out and about. We have 3 steps out the front of the house which have to be negotiated, and we built him a ramp. This weekend we added rubber pads to help him grip better. We've been doing the ramp thing for a few months now and he's still not terribly crazy about it, but he can't get up the stairs otherwise. I stand next to him and help steady him and give him a little nudge when he needs it and he negotiates the ramp just fine.

Since the beginning he has been on dexamethasone to reduce the swelling in his brain and phenobarbitol as an anti-seizure medication. We tried reducing the dexamethasone a few weeks ago and it didn't work out. He's slightly anemic, which means his blood isn't carrying as much oxygen, and after reading this past week that anemia is a possible side effect/complication of phenobarbitol, we've cut that back a little more. Originally he was on one pill twice a day, now he's on half a pill twice a day. His face twitches a little bit, which may be seizure activity, but given that he hasn't had a seizure since day 1 and that breathing is very important, I've decided I'll take my chances with that. If he has another seizure, which I'm not convinced at all that he will, we'll deal with it then. I talked to the alternative vet this week, and he said as we reduce the pheno we can replace it with natural compounds to fight seizures. (The Chinese herbal vet also said at the beginning that if he was still seizure-free at 6 months we could consider discontinuing the pheno).

His regimen, which you can no longer argue hasn't extended his life and the quality thereof, is:

- Turkey Tail mushroom
- Agaricus Blazei mushroom (both extracts, readily available on Amazon)
- 5-loxin extract
- Canna-pet (yep, doggy medical marijuana)
- two Chinese compounds, Di Tan Tang and Stasis in the Mansion of the Mind, both prescription
- various vitamins and protein powder and lipids (very important: astaxanthin/carotenoids)
- cold laser treatment

This whole regimin is running $400-500 a month, but what the heck. I keep telling myself "This won't go on forever," but geeze, he doesn't seem eager to leave this world, either! 

I would strongly recommend any and all of the above for anyone who has a dog with cancer. I was not a holistic believer _at all_ before this; I started trying these things out of desperation and a sheer desire to do _something_. As I said, I now have no doubt whatsoever that it has helped. 

If we make it to 6 months, and I have no reason to believe we won't, I am going to contact the veterinary neurologist who made the diagnosis and see if he's interested in what we've done. If MRI's didn't cost $2k I'd definitely do another one at this point to see if the tumor has actually shrank. I honestly wouldn't be surprised in the least bit if it has.

Cancer diagnoses in our buddies _SUCK_, I know. It's devastating. But I really believe now that there are things we can do beyond chemo and radiation, both of which I've turned down.

We'll keep you updated, and I thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers and good wishes.


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## mr3856a (Jan 19, 2008)

An aside: for people who can't afford this much money monthly for treatment (and I know it's hard for me), if I had to do one of the above I would do turkey tail. You can get it online for like $10-15 for what would be a month's supply, and there have been clinical trials showing its efficacy regarding brain tumors. They use it regularly in Japan for inoperable brain tumors. There are no side effects. Increased dosage has shown to have an increased effect, so you can give them as much as you want. I started Max on two 500-mg capsules twice a day and now he's up to 4 twice a day. I didn't just pick this stuff out of a hat; I've done a bunch of research and there is science behind all of this.


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Great to hear your Max is doing so well, hope you have many days to come with your special boy.


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## swishywagga (Nov 13, 2012)

Wonderful news to hear that Max is doing so well. I hope you will have many more good days and adventures together x


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## Melakat (Oct 9, 2010)

So great to hear how well Max is doing and beating those odds. Very interesting about the regiment that he is on. We all have so much to learn about cancer and fighting that awful illness - both in our beloved dogs and in our own lives.


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## mr3856a (Jan 19, 2008)

Melakat said:


> So great to hear how well Max is doing and beating those odds. Very interesting about the regiment that he is on. We all have so much to learn about cancer and fighting that awful illness - both in our beloved dogs and in our own lives.


I couldn't agree more. I have a friend in Germany who is a veterinary acupuncturist, and she told me that in Sweden she has a friend who was treated and cured of breast cancer with acupuncture. I thought it was complete nonsense. Now I'm not so sure. My girlfriend is a holistic person, she's always taking "herbs and spices" as I call them. I would always tell her, "Go to a real doctor." Well, the real doctor in this case would have poisoned Max with admittedly no guarantee of success. Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all anti-western medicine now, but my mind is open now to alternatives.

And in Max news, he was positively bursting with energy yesterday on our walk down the block and back. I haven't seen him walk like that since the diagnosis. We're taking it one day at a time, but if he's alive in 6 months it won't surprise me. And he was given 1-2 months. This tumor was the size of a baby's fist.


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## Doug (Jul 17, 2010)

This is magnificent news  
Congratulations to Max and his loving team


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## Gradybaillee (Jun 12, 2016)

Thank you so much for this info. I am searching for ways to help my golden that doesn't include surgery chemo or radiation. I am currently using Stasis of Mansion of the mind. I will be adding turkey tail. My primary vet is traditional only. I have second opinioned a holistic vet and have had conversations with a homeopathic vet. I am interested in Ruta 6 and calc phos 3x for shrinking tumors in the brain.


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## Yaichi's Mom (Jul 21, 2012)

Such wonderful news!! I am so happy for you both!

I have witnessed remarkable results with my girl and with other dogs with holistic and homeopathic modalities, although not for cancer at this point.

Kudos to you for your flexibility of seeking alternative treatment for your boy Max.

Wishing you many, many more months of quality time together!


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## 9Dogs (Aug 28, 2016)

LOVE your post!!! We first found TCM about 20 years ago when a conventional vet diagnosed our cat with terminal cancer and apparently found a time stamp on the bottom of her foot that the holistic vet couldn't find... We out lasted that diagnosis by 3 years!!! We then used it on our beagle... had an ER vet tell us if we didn't remove his lung he'd die within a month... He was 10 at the time.. He lived to be 20 with chinese herbs and acupuncture... Then our Golden Girl - she had liver cancer (we did do surgery) and then she ended up with what we were told were incurable hemangiosarcomas.. we didn't find this out until we ended up in the ER when one on her heart burst. The Cardiologist came out and told us she'd bleed out within an hour. We asked for a Yunnan Biayao emergency pill. They told us they already had given her one.. I asked for a 2nd.. they said that could kill her.. I looked at the Vet like what do we have to loose? And they did and 14 LONG hours later (I did unhook her from the heart monitor and told the techs to stop coming in to check on her) she jumped up off the gurney and ran out the door to go to the bathroom! We kept her on YB, despite the ER vet and cardiologist telling us to expect her to cross within the next day or so... at her 3 month ultrasound (YES 3 months!!!) The cardiologist said she was no longer in danger of having any more ruptures! At 4 months she said she couldn't even see where there was a hemangiosarcoma.. this was PURELY chinese herbs and acupuncture.. Western medicine had given up (this hospital now regularaly uses them ).. Then we had Mighty Max - who had 2 meningiomas.. We combined TCM and cyber knife. He was 17 when diagnosed.. and also lived to be 20!!! (I fostered alot... and failed a few times) We now have another guy with a pituitary mass and he's also using TCM.. stasis in the mansion of the mind... although our holistic vet is moving him to stasis in the mansion of the blood and something called Four Marvels (which in reading about it - is pretty impressive.. some have used it in place of Prednisone! We're not using pred yet.. and he just started it yesterday so I can't really report on it but he's sleeping a lot) and he's getting cyber knife (non-invasive pin point accurate radiation with minimal side effects) next month to zap it. I keep thinking to myself how awesome it would be for them to go in to do the CT & MRI before CK and to see nothing there that needs zapping!!! This radiologist told us that she wants him to be on chinese herbs as soon as he gets out of the cyber knife. She said the high anti-oxidants really help clear out the dead cells... it's so good to see more and more vets open to it.. We know a few who are gravely opposed to it.. some people only know how to walk a line.. and don't think there are other options out there... Thank you for posting!!!


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## Yaichi's Mom (Jul 21, 2012)

9Dogs said:


> LOVE your post!!! We first found TCM about 20 years ago when a conventional vet diagnosed our cat with terminal cancer and apparently found a time stamp on the bottom of her foot that the holistic vet couldn't find... We out lasted that diagnosis by 3 years!!! We then used it on our beagle... had an ER vet tell us if we didn't remove his lung he'd die within a month... He was 10 at the time.. He lived to be 20 with chinese herbs and acupuncture... Then our Golden Girl - she had liver cancer (we did do surgery) and then she ended up with what we were told were incurable hemangiosarcomas.. we didn't find this out until we ended up in the ER when one on her heart burst. The Cardiologist came out and told us she'd bleed out within an hour. We asked for a Yunnan Biayao emergency pill. They told us they already had given her one.. I asked for a 2nd.. they said that could kill her.. I looked at the Vet like what do we have to loose? And they did and 14 LONG hours later (I did unhook her from the heart monitor and told the techs to stop coming in to check on her) she jumped up off the gurney and ran out the door to go to the bathroom! We kept her on YB, despite the ER vet and cardiologist telling us to expect her to cross within the next day or so... at her 3 month ultrasound (YES 3 months!!!) The cardiologist said she was no longer in danger of having any more ruptures! At 4 months she said she couldn't even see where there was a hemangiosarcoma.. this was PURELY chinese herbs and acupuncture.. Western medicine had given up (this hospital now regularaly uses them ).. Then we had Mighty Max - who had 2 meningiomas.. We combined TCM and cyber knife. He was 17 when diagnosed.. and also lived to be 20!!! (I fostered alot... and failed a few times) We now have another guy with a pituitary mass and he's also using TCM.. stasis in the mansion of the mind... although our holistic vet is moving him to stasis in the mansion of the blood and something called Four Marvels (which in reading about it - is pretty impressive.. some have used it in place of Prednisone! We're not using pred yet.. and he just started it yesterday so I can't really report on it but he's sleeping a lot) and he's getting cyber knife (non-invasive pin point accurate radiation with minimal side effects) next month to zap it. I keep thinking to myself how awesome it would be for them to go in to do the CT & MRI before CK and to see nothing there that needs zapping!!! This radiologist told us that she wants him to be on chinese herbs as soon as he gets out of the cyber knife. She said the high anti-oxidants really help clear out the dead cells... it's so good to see more and more vets open to it.. We know a few who are gravely opposed to it.. some people only know how to walk a line.. and don't think there are other options out there... Thank you for posting!!!


What remarkable testimonials!! I am so happy for you and the results you achieved for your fur family thus far!! 

I wish I knew then when I lost my Yaichi to hemangiosarcoma, what I have learned to date...it may have prolonged her life and who knows...perhaps even better.

As I wrote earlier in this thread, that although I have yet to need ( hope I never do) to use either TCM or homeopathy for cancer, I can say that both TCM and homeopathy has been extremely successful for CM ( conservative management) of Brisby's ruptured cruciate and for her "spay incontinence" vs the traditional allopathic interventions of surgery for the stifle and PPA/Stilbestrol for the incontinence. I have 2 veterinarians for her: one a specialist in TCM and another who is advance certified in veterinary homeopathy.
I am fortunate to live in an area where these options are available.

Along with what others have written above, I would both strongly and sincerely recommend that if you have a pup who has a serious health issue, cancer etc., that you consider alternative therapies. I have seen it do wonders for many very sick dogs, where conventional treatments were either failing and/or where "parents" were told that there was nothing further that could be done.

All the best to you with the journey you are facing with your pup with the pituitary mass.


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