Pass The Turkey and the Stuffing, Celebrate The Ones Still With Us, and Remember the Ones We've Lost

Thanksgiving is both a joyous time and a time of reflection.

This year the effort to save dogs from distemper has been a big success wherever those striving to help these dogs in a number of different venues, connecting with owners wherever they are found; on various messageboards, dog-related forums, websites, and blogs, both on the internet, and in the community.

One by one more and more dogs that once would have been considered hopeless will now spend the holidays, happy and healthy with their families.

More vets have begun to venture out and try the body and/or the CSF treatment, and are happy and intrigued with the results.

The broader the base of support for this cure becomes, the bigger its impact. There are many people who have made this possible, some who are highly visible and others working behind the scenes to bring about change, hope, and health, and working to educate the public, each in his or her own way, advancing science in a very tangible way.

Because of all of you who've contributed in one way or another more dogs this year will curl up by the fire, sit next to the table tomorrow night when the big feast is served, and will live to see the lights on the Christmas tree, play in the snow, and sleep securely in the knowledge that they're home with people who love them and will be for a long time.

At the same time though, there is much work ahead of us, and there are dogs and owners that will not spend the holidays together because they didn't know about the treatment until too late.

For the owners of these dogs the holidays this year will be a time of mourning, a reminder that although a cure now exists the vast majority of vets still do not make use of it and many have not even heard of it.

To many dogs and their owners in many parts of the world Dr. Sears' treatment is still out of their reach. They must travel great distances to get to a location in which a vet can perform that more invasive CSF procedure many of these animals need to fully rid them of the virus after it's reached the brain and spinal cord.

Many still have no way to travel these distances, or they do not have the money to pay what it costs to save their dog's life, and/or cannot do it soon enough.

This beautiful black brindle puppy is one of those who didn't make it. He was only 11 weeks old. By the time his owner found out that there was a cure his pneumonia had severely compromised his breathing. No serum was available where he lived, and antibiotics could not knock back the pneumonia enough for him to wait to reach a vet in another state.

Unfortunately, he did not make it through the weekend.

This next puppy in India died despite her owner and vet's best efforts to save her life, but her immune system was too weak and she got the treatment too late. The CSF procedure was performed 5 days after she was diagnosed, but what happens too often is that dogs aren't diagnosed before the disease has taken too much of a toll.

Her littermate survived and seems to be returning to health.

To those of you who have been reading and wondering how you can help, go to the links of the distemper projects on your right and donate, talk to your vet about this cure, send them the link to this blog and the other informational websites, talk to shelters, rescues, the Humane Society, and other dog-related groups and encourage them to get involved too, volunteer to make serum if you're a vet or an owner whose vet is open to this, print fliers, business cards or other written material and hand it out, set up a fundraiser benefit, or if you have the connections see if you can arrange speaking opportunities with Dr. Sears and Dr. Muller someplace where it will really have some impact, pull strings with news media, medical journals, etc. Be creative. There are all kinds of ways to move this forward.

I look forward to the day when a dog is diagnosed and the same day it can be treated with the serum or NDV; a day when no dog has to wait and decline because he or she can't access the care needed, a day when no dog is left with seizures, with myoclonus, with paralysis, or with blindness, a day when this cure is first line for the treatment of canine distemper in every shelter, clinic, and country.

Lets make that day soon! With all of you pitching in we can get there.

This ground-breaking treatment for distemper is really something to be thankful for.

Healing After Distemper! Some Improvement In Carmella's Myoclonic Jerking!

Did I mention earlier that the left rear leg jerking that had just started before Carmella had her NDV treatment in the central nervous system is gone?!!! That was the newest damage she'd obtained from the Distemper virus, so it's logical that it would be the first to heal.

The biggest hurdle is the jerking in the right, front leg which was the most severely affected. I have noticed just a little change there. It used to be more pronouced when she was asleep than awake, but now if she is deeply asleep it will become much milder and for short periods even stop temporarily!

The day after I noticed this improvement it seemed she stepped on a rock in the back yard in the past day or so and bruised the pad, so is limping and holding it up. Her stepping on that rock with that foot could mean she's not favoring it as much (which is both good news and bad). Clearly she's not as careful with it as she has been, thus the injury. I hope that bruise resolves soon so she can start using it again. It's important for her healing myelin that she stay active. It's been bitterly cold and she really didn't want to limp out there to go to the bathroom tonight and has been whining when I'm in the computer room and she's in the kitchen. She's gotten used to keeping me company lying on a wicker chair in here while I'm doing my work online.

Her Demodectic Mange is still itching her somewhat but I think she's over the worst of it. This past Saturday she went back for her third dip. Dr. Norwood didn't see her because they want to wait to do another skin scraping.

Next time when she has the skin scraping I need to talk to him again about the research paper.

It will be vitally important that he and Dr. Muller stay on this and share their data and submit Carmella's case history to medical journals because there are still ignorant people out there, those who not only do not know about this, but who want to see it fail for personal dysfunctional reasons. I think that is very sad. I ran across someone on one of the dog forums who was not genuinely interested in this treatment but went out of her way to try to debunk it. Her dog had myoclonus in her back leg which will most likely do her in as it progresses to full-blown seizures and/or paralysis if left untreated.

This particular woman is one of those people who has an emotional need to use her dog to hold on to an "illness identity". This is common in the human disease community but less so in animals, but I believe that when it is projected onto an animal it closely approximates Muenchausen by proxy. People like this resist or sabotage treatment in order to prolong the secondary gain they get. In humans they actually make their children sick by giving them toxic substances or not giving them needed medication, etc, but I think the principle in denying an animal medical care that will resolve a disease is the same principle. Animals depend upon us to take care of them just like children and when they're sick they are at the mercy of the owner. If the owner thinks of the animal's needs first they are taken to the vet and everything possible is done to cure or at least help them the best they can.

When somebody continues to post on forums that they or their dog doesn't need treatment and tries to prevent others from getting lifesaving treatment when there is something they can do about it, then that is just flat-out medical neglect; sabotage and self-sabotage!

The sad thing is that her dog has no voice in all of this. The dog is the real victim while this woman gets all this attention by dragging out the duration of the dog's positive Distemper status, asking pointed questions while her dog waits, just to try to pull others into a fight, and discounting any proof we offer her. Apparently her own vet has been indulging her in casting these aspersions.

Well, it's like this; one can either see the glass as half-full or half-empty. Medical cures are a beautiful thing and everything should be done to support them and boost them up when they come along. I can tell the difference between real interested questions and pointed questions which are really snide statements masquerading as questions. The latter has no intrinsic value. It seeks to tear down a good thing; not learn about it.

As a matter of fact I received one of these zingers by somebody tonight who read about the requirements of the Etsy street team I run for jewelry artists. Since I didn't feel it was a legitimate question I simply answered by saying that what she was saying sounds more like a statement than a question. Again, another form of self-sabotage on her part. If she'd wanted to apply for membership in some indirect way this was not winning her any points. If she didn't like our requirement of listing at least 1 or 2 items a month (which I think is very lenient if you ask me), then she should have just applied to another team. Instead she went out of her way to seek me out by convo and get nasty to me. Maybe she was bored and had too much time on her hands. I don't know, but clearly she was not using that time to make jewelry, LOL.

I surely did not need this after being sick again the past few days. I came back online feeling better, answered my e-mails and convos only to find what amounted to a verbal fart or dog-doo in the flaming bag in my Etsy convo inbox! Usually people are writing to say nice things about the team and more than willing to accept the requirements to get in.

On a happier note; I finished several more pieces of jewelry and got them listed tonight! I've had to catch up on my jewelry because of all the time recently spent on Distemper-related activities, and it was a relief to have some new things completed and ready for sale in time for Valentine's Day. I hope to finish a few more before it gets too late for customers to order.

The Facebook Distemper group continues to grow. We had one loss recently. The woman in Indonesia received the NDV and her vet gave the first part but then balked when it came to injecting it into the spinal canal and at that crucial time began calling around to University vet schools to get some other vet to take the risk. Unfortunately the owner lost hope and decided to have him put the dog to sleep. I still find it perplexing that vets are willing to kill dogs on purpose yet they are afraid they'll kill them accidentally while trying to save them.

Carmella is over here in the chair fast asleep right now and her jerking has really slowed down. If that's not proof her Distemper is cured I don't know what is! It was clearly the NDV that caused the improvement because as fast as her disease was steadily getting worse before treatment it was not about to slow down right up until October 1, 2008 when she had the CSF tap procedure. It is clear that the collision course she'd been on had been aborted when I brought her home from the vet, and then it was all over but the healing! What Dr. Sears said about it being a minimum of 4 months before I would see any noticeable regeneration has born out to be true. The next 8 months could be quite exciting as I watch for even more!
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Exciting New Developments in Facebook Distemper Group

Saving Dogs from Canine Distemper (Facebook group) has reached 114 members now. With all the dog-lovers on Facebook many the first few of us invited to join already had alot of dog-related contacts who in turn joined also, and we are off to a great start!

We're gradually finding more and more vets who are willing to treat dogs with Dr. Sears' treatment and adding them to our list.

There is the possibility for some media activities in the future, and the group is working on getting all our members to post links around the internet in various dog-related forums so that we can reach as many dogs as early as possible who have the disease.

The woman I'm helping in Indonesia is in the process of arranging to get NDV and her vet is now reading up on the process for both parts of the treatment. Her dog has been going downhill fast so I hope that the vet is able to treat her fast enough to save her. She has to get the bottle from Thailand through a friend and then get it to her vet to administer. The obstacles in this case have been harrowing.

I hope that one day NDV will be a regularly stocked item in all vet's offices and veterinary supply companies. I can remember when trying to find it here in Georgia and that it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Tonight I gave this woman Dr. Muller's number for her vet to call him if he needed any instructions on how to use guided ultrasound when doing the neuro part.

She is still waiting on the edge of her chair for the price quote her vet will give her. She does not have much money and it sounds as though he is slightly on the fence about doing it. She's known him for awhile now, so hopefully he will help save her dog's life. The puppy is quickly approaching paralysis and just developed diarrhea. It is a relatively rare case seeming to develop most of its neuro symptoms before body symptoms (usually it happens the other way around).

Dr. Sears is back after having had some computer problems, but this case seemed somewhat of a puzzle to him.

It still remains to be seen which manifestations of the disease respond best and how severe it can be and still have the dog be salvageable.

That reminds me; I'll have to ask Dr. Sears again what the level should be when Carmella has her spinal fluid tested again in about a year to prove that it's gone. There is a certain level that shows up if a dog had it in the past but is now immune versus active disease. I think as more and more dogs are fully treated others will want to know the answer to this question as well.

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The Struggle To Save More Dogs From Distemper Continues

For awhile all is quiet and then suddenly the mortal combat between life and death starts anew; in Indonesia a puppy fights for its life, its owner frightened and trying desperately to keep it from fading away.

Then two more emergencies pop up; one in Houston, Texas, and another in California. They all need swift and decisive action in an arena filled with doubt and trepidation, where most vets would sooner see a dog die than to undertake the rare treatment that might save its life. Technical assistance is often too little, too late when there are not enough NDV-knowledgeable vets to go around, and with multiple time-zones, all too often these dogs and their owners fall through the cracks.

In these crucial hours is where the rubber meets the road, courage is tested, and so is faith. It is at such a time when one really finds out what his/her own vet is made of. Will he or she have what it takes to follow written instructions in the absence of the man who wrote them, or will this person who is to administer the treatment buckle under the strain like a chance passer-by, a stranger faced with delivering a newborn baby on a New York subway?

I remember this well. It was just a few short months ago when I was fighting for Carmella's life this way. Now other dogs are embarking upon the same perilous journey and their owners stepping out and hoping their foot comes down on solid ground; following leads, sending e-mails, and making phone calls in hopes that they can patch together enough resources to get across the finish line.

Due to the amount of flash on Dr. Sears' website, people seem to be having difficulty posting there and sometimes accessing it at all. It is still under construction. I have e-mailed him regarding some of these emergencies but have been unable to get a hold of him for the past few days. With Distemper each day and in some instances each hour is crucial while a dog owner tries to mobilize the support and practical help he/she needs. It is quite literally a race against the clock.

Not too long ago we lost one in the fight against Distemper. This is tragic because each one of these is a dog that somebody loved. Often in was because they just couldn't reach the right help soon enough. Some of these owners give up, thinking it's just too difficult, and the odds of finding a vet who can do what is needed just too low.

We need to change that!

Never again should a dog have to die because the cure comes too late!

Part of this outcome can be changed by all the owners out there who get their dog treated and then disappear into anonymity. All of you whose dogs have been treated are resources, and your vet can prevent another dog from becoming a statistic.

A database and a network of survivors who come back to help the ones who come after is badly needed. If your dog has been successfully treated with NDV please let us know your vet's contact information so that we can add it to the list and don't drop out of contact. We need to know your dog's progress as it heals.

Too many people stop trying because there are so many roadblocks. I recently read a post on one of the pet forums where somebody wrote that all they were able to find in the way of success stories were the same few dogs and that this discouraged them because they assumed that this was all there were out there in the entire world.

That is not the case!

The problem, again, is that too many after they get the treatment and their dog is out of the woods go away and never come back to tell their stories. There are many out there but finding them and bringing that data together has been hard. We absolutely must work together to make this treatment accessible to other dogs. Success stories are very important.

I run across blogs every so often in which it is mentioned that a dog was treated with NDV (sometimes even Blogspot blogs) but then that seems to be the end of the documentation. Once the crisis is over people go back to their jobs, their children, playing golf on Sundays, or posting about the latest musical artist on Myspace. Perhaps some of this is to be expected, but those of us whose dogs have beaten this deadly disease owe it to the others to make our experiences count for somebody other than just ourselves and our families.

We must carry the flame and pass on this legacy, paving the way for the next group of warriors against the disease. If we are doing this correctly then the trails we blazed will not have to be re-visited upon the next ones afflicted. As the numbers grow and the proof continues to be documented it will get easier for dogs to be treated sooner and thus suffer little or no permanent damage because of long waits.

It still bothers me that Carmella had to develop brain damage causing this myoclonic jerking before we could get someone to treat her Central Nervous System. She is alive today but bears a constant reminder that her silent screams and mine (not so silent) fell on deaf ears for way too long.

All the time wasted on certain vets' silly academic arguments about whether or not this treatment was legitimate enough because it wasn't written in medical journals while Carmella was left to languish.

All the times I begged for them to help her, saying "She's getting worse. She's getting worse! Do something!" and they refused, standing like so many deer in the headlights with hands behind their backs.

It still remains to be seen as to whether the damage is permanent, but it may well be. Had she gotten the help she needed only weeks before she would not have any remnants at all.

We can't turn back the clock now, but we can prevent it happening to others. If you have animals tell your vets about this treatment, about Dr. Sears and about the dogs who are still suffering and dying from Distemper. Tell them that now there is a cure and all they need to do is use it. There is no time to waste. If a dog comes in with Distemper use it NOW! Not next week, not in a month, not in six months. Every day one waits can result in more lost myelin.

Distemper causes brain damage, disability, it is crippling, and it kills!

NDV works. It is as simple as that. Leave the point/counter point to the university pontifs to argue, and go ahead and treat. Vets who see these animals have a duty to do everything in their power to help them no matter where it comes from, no matter how it was discovered.

Vets, like the owners also need to network and pass on their positive results to their colleagues and they need to partner with us in writing papers and documenting the medical miracles that come into their practice, and start speaking at conferences about it. Don't assume that somebody else will do it.

To join the cause click here: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/176113?m=92eea645&recruiter_id=39891263

We would love to have some open-minded vets join who are interested in being part of the solution!