Hope for Sunny

I’m the owner of Sunny, a beautiful 2-year old Golden Retriever. Sunny lived for running on the beach, swimming in rivers, and most of all chasing a ball! When she started limping in early August, it appeared to be a cruciate ligament injury in her right hind leg. But her condition declined. An X-ray on August 24th revealed something much worse. The diagnosis: osteosarcoma, an extremely aggressive bone cancer. The vet prescribed pain medication and said when her quality of life deteriorated, the best course was to not let her suffer. After my shock, I asked how long she had. “Weeks” was the answer. The news broke our hearts. 
Then at the advice of my cousin In Indiana, I researched holistic veterinarians in our area and found one called Integrative Veterinarian Center that had success in treating canine cancer. After a consultation, we moved forward with treatment consisting of Chinese herbs, a complete change in diet and primarily IV Vitamin C twice a week for 6 weeks. The vet said we would know if the treatment was working.  Sunny did great for a couple months, but then the pain gradually returned. After the 7th week, even with increased pain medication, her pain seemed unbearable.  We started to consider the options to end her pain. The vet came & had a heart to heart with me at her 16th treatment. She said there was one option to end her pain and extend Sunny’s life: amputating the leg with the cancer. She referred us to a surgeon. We scheduled a consultation with their oncologist. After X-rays and an ultrasound revealed no metastasis, surgery was scheduled for the following week. 
Sunny did great! And as the incision healed, Sunny is back to her lively happy self! 

So we will make every day the best! But due to the nature of the disease, we need to continue a maintenance program of IVVitamin C and Chinese herbs along with the good quality home cooked diet. 

All of the treatments, examinations, and surgery has been extremely expensive. Seeing Sunny so happy again has been worth every penny, but the pennies are about gone. And the treatments to keep her alive as long as possible will be costly.  A little help from others will provide HOPE for Sunny!