Logan's Miraculous Recovery- Update Part 1
One week and 2 days have passed since Logan's miraculous recovery, and the news remains positive. Logan's girth has remained a steady 27 inches - no distension. His energy is good, and he is happy. However, this impressive turnaround occurred against a backdrop of sadness, with stories of loss flooding Facebook and text messages this past week. Numerous friends either lost a dog or were close to a dog that passed on. Another friend received terrible news regarding a sibling. The juxtaposition of Logan's triumph over death got me questioning why we got so lucky.
After entertaining the thought for a moment, I realized, it is not the right question. It's normal to benchmark and compare our situation to someone else's. It's only human to think to yourselves that you hope the tragedy someone is going through doesn't happen to you. While this might not read as a compassionate thought, the fear of something horrible happening are not in conflict of empathizing with those who have had to endure suffering. In fact, through empathizing and supporting them, we can learn a lot for when it comes our time to weather the storm.
I believe that with Logan I still have something to learn. He's waiting for me to figure that out. I've been giving it some thought, and one thing I believe could be added to the knowledge that is out there is how to care for a dog dying of liver cancer. There is helpful advice on the internet and from professionals, don't get me wrong. But the amount of research I have had to do to find the right food, right supplements, and interpret his feedback on help I provide him has been exhausting. So I thought it might be helpful to continue to blog and comment on the approaches I am taking while Logan and I find our way through this last chapter together. For sure, by now, he must be on that ninth life.
In this part 1, I'll discuss the physical exam and obvious things to look for. Let's start from the marked decline. Here is the picture of the distension. This was at around 31inches. He ended up at 33 inches before things started to get better. If you are worried about fluid retention, it is best to get a baseline and measure from time to time, especially to confirm if you notice a change.
And here is a picture 3 days after homeopathy, down to 27 inches
The tongue color has also gone from a more purple (indicating less blood flow)
To a brighter pink when the blood gets flowing better (shown below)
The other thing to keep an eye on is the whites of the eyes (looking for jaundice)
and the gums (looking for nice pink color). First picture is more pale gums and second is the nice bright pink.
After entertaining the thought for a moment, I realized, it is not the right question. It's normal to benchmark and compare our situation to someone else's. It's only human to think to yourselves that you hope the tragedy someone is going through doesn't happen to you. While this might not read as a compassionate thought, the fear of something horrible happening are not in conflict of empathizing with those who have had to endure suffering. In fact, through empathizing and supporting them, we can learn a lot for when it comes our time to weather the storm.
I believe that with Logan I still have something to learn. He's waiting for me to figure that out. I've been giving it some thought, and one thing I believe could be added to the knowledge that is out there is how to care for a dog dying of liver cancer. There is helpful advice on the internet and from professionals, don't get me wrong. But the amount of research I have had to do to find the right food, right supplements, and interpret his feedback on help I provide him has been exhausting. So I thought it might be helpful to continue to blog and comment on the approaches I am taking while Logan and I find our way through this last chapter together. For sure, by now, he must be on that ninth life.
In this part 1, I'll discuss the physical exam and obvious things to look for. Let's start from the marked decline. Here is the picture of the distension. This was at around 31inches. He ended up at 33 inches before things started to get better. If you are worried about fluid retention, it is best to get a baseline and measure from time to time, especially to confirm if you notice a change.
All in all, the best assessment you can do comes from knowing your own dog and your own criteria for what is quality of life. For me, it is in the eyes and in the heart. This video was taken during the turnaround, and in it he was telling me that he is not ready.
In part 2 I will discuss diet and what we combination we have found what works.
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