Carmella Still Waits for Medical Procedure

Today was down, then up, and then down again. I decided to try Dr. Brantly in one last attempt to appeal to his sense of social responsability, but it turned out he had little, relaying through his receptionist that he would never feel comfortable injecting Newcastle vaccine into the spinal canal (apparently even if not doing so was going to end up killing her). He'd come closest of any of the ones I'd asked, but it seemed as though his initial mindset only got increasingly closed as he ruminated about all the "what ifs". The trouble is he had no alternatives to offer, so who was he to be dead set against this method if it was her only hope. I suspect, knowing this, he offered up a lead at the University of Florida Veterinary clinic, saying maybe they'd attempt it. I made the long-distance call and gave a run-down of Carmella's situation to a woman in the small animal clinic who in turn took down mine and Dr. Sears information and said she'd have a vet call me back by around 5:00 PM. In fact it didn't take near that long. There was a bubbly woman on the other end who sounded hopeful, so I assumed it was good news. Wrong again. She reported to me that all the vets in the neuro department "don't do that", and that "they know nothing about it" stating as others had that it was "still experimental". Well, duh! Of course they'd never heard about it and of course it's "experimental" because nobody has given it a chance to be published. That's why I gave them Dr. Sears' contact information, so that they could find out about it, but did they even call or e-mail him before dismissing this treatment out of hand? No. Well, sorry, but that just doesn't pass with me. Nobody can spreak intelligently against doing something if they won't take the time to investigate it first. That just means that they want to remain ignorant. They sure didn't get their degree in veterinary medicine by having the knowledge pop into their heads by osmosis! They had to put some effort into learning the material. They'd have been kicked out for sure if they came into their professor on the day of an exam and whined, "I don't know anything about this so I'm not doing the exam." They'd have been told pretty fast to get their ass into the library and start reading, and start doing the homework and going to class, or get out; that they don't give honorary degrees in vet school. That kind of obstinate clinging to ignorance is something I cannot tolerate. When I was in college we were expected to back up our argument if we were going to disagree with something, and that's how it should be. In order to really do that one must have some leg to stand on based in logic.

Absence of data or lack of precedence does not immediately render any hypothesis invalid, and it justifies the furthering of study, not the abandonment of it.

I asked the woman on the other end of the line just how we could make this not experimental, and she was not particularly forthcoming, but finally said that they have a seperate research department and that I could speak to them. OK, now we may be getting somewhere, I thought. She did not know the number but had the operator transfer my call. Instead it was picked up by the live answering service who had just come on shift and they did not know the number to connect me to, so I'll have to see if I can find contact information on the website or call tomorrow.

We are pretty much back to square one.

I wrote Dr. Sears and let him know that this turned out another dead end, said we needed him to do conferences, and for some vet, any vet, to publish something.

If Dr. Norwood could at least publish Carmella's experience with NDV in the body that would at least provide one citation that could help legitimize the second half as I am approaching vets. You'd think the way vets are reacting that I was asking them to commit criminal acts, not an act of heroism.

In fact, it is indeed criminal to fail to act in a life-threatening circumstance. A disease is in effect a "natural disaster", but when there is something that can be done to intervene but those who are able do not, that is the true definition of negligence. Does this fact escape those who can but do nothing? Does this not bother their conscience at all?

Maybe they think Carmella is just one dog and they think it's OK to let her languish, turning their attention to those they can easily save by risking nothing, that in the grand scheme of things her life is just not that important to go out on a limb for, but the fact remains that they are aware of the gravity of the situation and they know that this will not go away and that more white matter in her brain is being sacrificed each day they look the other way, and that this dog and this owner have feelings. Would it be OK with them if doctors sat there and let this happen to their wife or child? I don't think so. Maybe they believe that being that attached to a dog is silly and overly sentimental, but if we start picking and choosing whose life is worthy and whose isn't then who is to prevent that kind of calousness from coming home to roost when the grim reaper decides to knock on our door?

These guys keep thinking worst case scenario, but what if this not only had no adverse effects, but was a glowing success, just as it was in the body? What if Carmella went on to live happily ever after once the procedure was completed? Not all "what ifs" have to be negative.

We as a society and as a species must base our lives upon possibility, not be ruled by trepidation. Fear is only useful in the short-term, but it can keep us stuck if it becomes a way by which we live our lives from cradle to grave.

I believe that The Creator did not give us a brain and the technologiy to use it in order for us to choose to ignore that which has been provided. Medical discoveries are a beautiful thing and we should embrace them, not stay trapped in a free-floating fear of progress based on what we don't know. Knowledge is power and with power comes inevitably, responsability. Maybe that is the real crux of the matter; responsability. If we remain ignorant we can always fall back on that ignorance to avoid responsability, but that is to live like Peter Pan refusing to grow up and meet the world head-on, hiding in illusions and creating walls to hide behind.

To believe that the outcome of going outside our comfort zone is always going to be bad is to have a very negative world view. Sometimes trying new things can really add something valuable to our lives. You know what they say, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." If the answer does not live within the lines then if we want it we must be willing to go outside them to get it.

After a long dry spell I made a sale! (I am getting it ready at the crack of dawn), my Click Beetle bracelet with a really cool Chevron bead in it.

Carmella was restless again today. I let her outside several times in the back yard to run around. When her legs work she is very graceful, like a jackrabbit darting through the thicket, and at times I can almost forget that she is still living with a monster inside her Central Nervous System, one which will ultimately bring her to her knees if it is not stopped in time. For just a short time I am lost in the moment as she glides like a raptor across the landscape, and then she falls, and I realize where I am.

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Pulling A Weed Out By The Root

Sometimes working on a scale of one isn't enough. Last night I wrote another neuro vet, but I began thinking larger than Carmella's case alone. It dawned on me that in order to get the right people to care about her I was going to need to tackle this problem systemically. Having worked as an advocate for a number of other causes in my lifetime I knew this to be the case in many instances, and the negative and opposing forces I've come up against in the past few weeks called for bigger guns that what I'd been packing so far.

Identifying the problem as one of globalized and system-wide attitudinal fear, I knew that the way to remove such barriers can only come with a multi-pronged approach. Just getting one vet to think outside the box would require that I affect the current thinking of the field in which he/she works, at least begin to make in-roads in that endeavor. Like human doctors, vets are guided to think and to act by whomever's opinion they respect and see as Gold Standard. God himself could come forward and unless He had the official "stamp of approval" ordained by those who set the requirements, they'd dismiss him out of hand even if he walked on water before their very eyes.

Tonight I set about searching the internet for studies to send to Dr. Brantly, sent off 13 that I thought might prove that she needed to be treated now, shocked to discover that nobody besides Dr. Sears was even doing research on a cure, only better vaccines to prevent the disease! Then as I was browsing around I stumbled on a website of Cornell School of Veterinary Medicine, Baker Institute of Animal Health that mentioned Distemper. As I read about a man who'd been memorialized in the school's newsletter as instrumental in developing vaccines for distemper, something bothered me. There was a statement in the write-up implying that Distemper had pretty much been wiped out. Right away I knew I had to correct that misinformation because the perception that the disease isn't really a problem is one thing that only adds to the field's lack of urgency in promoting a cure for it. There are those who find ignorant solace in believing that adequate vaccinations are given to all dogs and that there are no homeless dogs not getting these vaccines, and none spreading the disease in shelters. There are many who still assume that shelters give all the needed vaccinations, but these assumptions are dangerous untruths that prevent Carmella and dogs like her from getting the help they need. One only need go to some of these shelters and look into the vacant, glazed, and squinty dogs' eyes and look at their concentration-camp-survivor-like gaping ribcages, because once you learn what an untreated dog with Distemper looks like you will never forget it!
I just had to write Cornell Veterinary School and let them know that Distemper is still a threat here in the US and that as an academic institution there is an opportunity here once informed for them to be part of the solution.

Below is a reprint of my e-mail to them:

To Whom It May Concern:

I read the article on your website about Max Appel, the man who came up with vaccines for distemper. It says that Distemper (among other diseases) is "a thing of the past". This leaves one with the wrong impression that there is no current problem. I wish! I adopted a puppy from a local shelter that I absolutely fell in love with, brought her home, and found out that she has/had distemper. Now I have spent over $1,000 in only a few week's time to save her life, and had to pursue a rare treatment with Newcastle Disease Virus Vaccine (the LaSota strain) used off-label. She has done remarkably well after the IV, but still needs an injection of it into the spinal canal to kill the virus still remaining in the CNS, only the problem is I can't find a vet willing to do it. They're all too afraid of liability because it's "experimental". Well, I looked tonight for several hours and absolutely nobody in medical journals from what I can tell is offering any kind cure and it seems nobody’s even interested in one.

The man who developed this, Dr. Alson Sears DVM, now 71 and retired has tried and tried to publish his findings but nobody in power wants to hear it. Unofficially, he is sought by word-of-mouth all over the world because his treatment works! Right now there is a real epidemic in shelters needing to be addressed but nobody's openly talking about it either for the most part. Distemper, unfortunately is alive and well in the US, and I think up and coming researchers need to promote this new discovery, test it, and publish it. These dogs don't have to suffer and die, but in order to bring that into being vets need to start using this, not just leave it sitting there. What would happen if all the major discoveries for other deadly diseases were just tabled indefinitely because they were “experimental”? I think we’d be an endangered species and so would our dogs! Everything in medicine is/was experimental at one time, but I think we really need to ask ourselves who we are serving when somebody comes up with something that shows real merit and the medical journals won’t allow that researcher to publish it. That is really unfair because it makes the doctor look like some fringe nut when in fact he’s really onto something brilliant, and it deprives perfectly viable dogs of life and allows them to suffer. Sure, doing a spinal tap is not without some risk, but when dogs have a deadly disease like Distemper and the virus has crossed the blood-brain barrier the benefit is worth that risk.

I believe that if some researchers were to take this on and start doing and publishing clinical trials (and even publish case histories) it could revolutionize the quality of life for pets and their owners, not to mention drastically cut costs of shelters, as NDV only costs about .38 a vial. Promoting prevention is all well and good, but what about all the dogs who are infected on the street and in shelters who will then be adopted out (or euthanized) set up for a life of tragedy?

Right now it is generally accepted for dogs in Carmella’s condition to be given “supportive care” and most vets seem perfectly OK with letting the standard stay that way. They should not be. Just as advocates pushed to get a cure found and recognized as a priority for breast cancer in humans, we should expect no less for our dogs. Researchers already suspect that there are many parallels between Distemper in dogs and MS in humans, so the life you’re saving in taking on this cause, one day just might be your own.

It sure looks to me like the evidence suggests that we now have a cure for Distemper ready and waiting, but until the powers-that-be legitimize it vets in practice are not touching it with a 10 foot pole.

My dog, Carmella now has chorea in her right front leg which has gradually gotten worse as I ask one vet after another to please help her ASAP, they say they’ll “think about it” and then one by one they say no. Some of them neatly rationalize that “maybe” it won’t progress any further, and that she “might still live a normal life and do well”, but this is not a guessing game anyone would gamble their mother’s life with. To many of us our dogs are not merely animals, but another member of the family. I searched for the right puppy for a very long time, very intensively, looking through hundreds of listings, and quite a number of shelters, and I’m not about to just consider her not my problem as these doctors (who have vowed to help animals and preserve life) have done.

I have taken pictures of Carmella’s recovery thus far, so I know that this stuff works, and I’ve seen it with my own two eyes, as has the vet who treated her with it for the rest of her body. He has never done a spinal tap, so that’s why we need to find another vet to do that part. Her paw pads started healing within only 2 days after her IV of NDV, and she completely turned around (except for her neuro symptoms). She started eating and drinking normally, growing, her coat is healthy and her eyes are bright and wide open, she is interested in her surroundings, and she can now be active and play like any other puppy. When I first got her she was emaciated and now she’s gained weight. Unless she were lying down you might not realize that she’s still sick, because that’s when her leg starts jerking, an ominous reminder that the virus is still lying in wait.

I am talking with people here in Georgia about putting in a proposal for a clinical trial, but I think it would be really important for other University vet schools to do the same. Doing so could help a lot of dogs, and how many times do you get the opportunity to be on the ground floor of proving a new cure!

Please run this by some vets you think might be up to the challenge, and let me know what they say.

I’m attaching a picture of Carmella so that you can see what a gorgeous dog she is! Hers, like many others’ lives hangs in the balance.

Sincerely,

Pippit Carlington

You can help Carmella get well by purchasing something from my Etsy store. Proceeds are going to pay off her vet bill. If you buy jewelry somewhere I ask that you buy it here and make your purchase really count. Thanks for your support.
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