Blowing Their Cover

Carmella's first round of test results came back today (the segment which tests for bacteria and antibiotic sensitivity) and they found E-coli, Streptococcus Group G, Pseudomonus, and Enterococcus in abnormal levels. The part of the culture for fungii should be in within the next few days.

I spoke with Dr. Norwood over the phone today and he said that she should be put on both Clavomox and Ciprofloxacin. Some of the bacteria respond to one and not the other. He is also going to prescribe Hyrdoxezine for her itching, and a medicated shampoo with antibiotic in it. He thinks she may have rolled in something when she was outside and because of her compromised immune system it took hold in her body.

She now has this stuff not only on her feet,

but more of it on the left side of her face,

her crotch,

and inside her ears.

She's beginning to treat the plastic collar the way some people treat their glasses; hardly noticing
it's there and eating,

drinking,

and running as though she didn't have it on.

A case study, written by a vet a Cornell describes what is known as Necrotizing Faciitis, one of two presentations of the Streptococcus Group G bacterial infection. In the case of this boxer the dog had to be hospitalized to have dead tissue removed surgically and was given IV antibiotics to save its life. It did recover but I hope that won't have to happen to Carmella, because removing dead tissue is really just a more minor form of amputation. It sounds horrible. http://dspace.library.cornell.edu:8080/bitstream/1813/11267/1/2003%20Gerdin.pdf

I sent pictures to Dr. Norwood tonight to see whether he thinks any of the skin on her paws is necrotic. He should receive my e-mail in the morning. Here are some I took of her left front and back paws (the ones that are affected the worst.

I am concerned because when I picked up her back paw to photograph it the skin oozed some sort of clear liquid.

This article which appeared in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology documents the likelihood that streptococcus Group G bacteria can jump species from dogs to humans. That is kind of scary! http://jcm.asm.org/cgi/content/full/45/7/2327

Some of the other material I read said that spreading to humans is not very common, but at the same time not enough study has been done for them to know for sure.

My reading about Pseudomonas reveals that it, like Streptococcus Group G can be a very nasty bacteria that is hard to get rid of and can cause serious damage. Pseudomonas tends to attack the ear and in some cases can damage it so badly that surgery is needed. Some dogs have had to have cochlear implants as a result of such damage.

Pseudomonas is most often treated with Flouroquinalones and when present in the ear the dosage must be high in order to hit the bacteria hard and fast before it has a chance to become resistent to it. Sometimes medications are also given directly to the ear in addition to oral medications, and in tougher cases inhections are even given. Treatment can be costly and the infection can sometimes re-occur and require treatment again.

http://www.marvistavet.net/html/body_ear_infections.html

This article goes into quite a bit of detail about strategy in treating difficult bacterial infections, and talks about how certain bacteria interact. http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proceedings.plx?CID=WSAVA2007&PID=18189&Category=2993&O=Generic

I sent the above link on to my vet as well. I really hope this won't be a long, drawn-out process and that these antibiotics will work on the first try. Carmella has had so much happen to her in just a year she deserves to be healthy the rest of her life.

Carmella's vet bill is now over $2,000. so your help is urgently needed. Be sure to stop by my Etsy store and make use of the month-long sale. You may find that you love being a repeat customer! Buy your mother a nice gift, and help a dog continue to get the treatment she needs.
http://Giftbearer.etsy.com

More Love For Carmella

Jennifer of BrownBag Studio has generously donated for Carmella's vet bill this lovely necklace made with Swarovski crystal set in brass in a hot Vintage Victorian style. Flaming orange Carnelian faceted ovals dangle at the bottom and the necklace is draped with several layers of antiqued chain. This will make an elegant gift for that special someone on your list!

The Coronation Gift - Necklace in Swarovski Crystal, Filigree and Stone

(To purchase click on the link below)

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14982942

Thanks, Jennifer and I hope this is only the beginning of a great season of sales for you!

Carmella's fur is starting to grow back on her neck and it looks like peach fuzz, a light cream color, and is very soft.

I am keeping her active, as this will help her to create the necessary pathways in the brain for new myelin to form and build her coordination. The brain needs challenges in order to stay nimble just as the body needs regular exercise. Many studies on disorders such as stroke and Alzheimers have shown that keeping the brain stimulated can slow the effects of aging, increase overal function, and create new neurons.

Carmella has fallen a few times in the kitchen today, and there is a possibility that over the next 3 weeks she could have some minor setbacks, but then it should level out.

I will probably contact Dr. Norwood about starting her on an anticonvulsant soon. That should help her jerking until the brain heals and takes care of it on its own, and also calm down the nervous need to chew on people.

Even so she let me hold her several times today without trying to eat my hand, so that may be progress!

http://Giftbearer.etsy.com/

Maybe

I woke up this morning with a headache and my nose all stuffed up. The phone woke me from a sound sleep.

"Is this Ms. Carlington?" It was a woman whom I didn't recognize.

"Yes."

"This is Dr. Norwood's office. I'm the vet filling in for Dr. Norwood while he's on vacation. He'll be in Aruba for a full week. The reason I'm calling is that I received a strange phone call this morning from a woman who has been reading your blog and your postings on a Distemper message board. She's from Miami and she has a dog with Distemper, and she wanted me to give you her name, and contact information because her dog isn't doing well and she heard that Carmella was responding well to her treatment. I think she just needs someone to talk to who is in the same boat. Would you be willing to talk to her?"

"Sure. Yes, give me the information and I'll see what I can do to help her get some help with this, but you realize that Carmella still needs the shot in the spinal canal before she'll be finished with her treatment."

"Yes, I read her whole record. It's quite amazing! I don't hear about many dogs with Distemper. I read that she's having myoclonis."

"Yes, and it's getting worse."

"That's quite common in dogs with Distemper. Is she on any anti-seizure meds for it?"

"No, not yet. That would mask the symptoms and until we find a vet to do this procedure that would not really be in her best interest. If they don't see the symptoms they're less likely to treat her, thinking she can just live with it. That would make sense to give her that after she's treated though if the jerking doesn't resolve."

"It can relax the muscles."

"It's important that she get this virus out of her brain so it can't continue to do further damage. Where do you practice usually? Do you have experience with spinal taps? I figured I'd ask while I'm at it."

"I don't really have a regular office. I'm a floater. I just fill in for other vets, and I haven't ever done a spinal tap before."

"Oh that's too bad. Do you know what's going on with Dr. Norwood? He was talking to me regulary because this is a pretty serious situation and after UGA turned Carmella down he had his vet tech give me the news but he himself never returned my calls. Is he OK? I was wondering if he was giving up on her."

"The records really didn't say much other than that UGA said no. He didn't leave any notes. I guess is is stressed out by his job in general so that's why he had to take a vacation but he didn't make any reference to this case. Have you tried Auburn? They're really good. I used to go over there all the time. They're about as far as UGA."

"No, not yet. Is it really no further than UGA? I thought it was way far away."

"No, it's about the same."

I told her about the Fulton County Animal control and the epidemic over there, and Carmella's recovery after the first shot, and how vets really should spread the word about this and encourage their colleagues to start using it so that others would not have to go through the agony I'm going through and that this woman is now suffering. She then gave me the woman's contact info and just then a patient came in and she had to go, but told me she'd call me back to talk further.

I waited until about 3:30 to hear back from Dr. Westmoreland in Perry and then made another long distance call. Dr. Westmoreland was in with a patient and the receptionist was not the same one I'd spoken with yesterday so she knew nothing about what I was referring to. She left the phone for a long time and then a man answered the phone.

"Hello, Ms. Carlington? This is Dr. Slappy. Can I help you?"

"Yes, I was waiting to talk to Dr. Westmoreland. One of his patients told me she thought he might be open to doing experimental things."

"He's with a patient. Is there anything I can do to help".

"Well we need a vet who has had experience doing spinal taps." I gave him a quick rundown about the protocol and what it involved and about Carmella's situation. He seemed familiar with NDV.

"Do you have the exact instructions for it?"

"Yes, and Dr. Sears who developed it will be willing to speak with any vet I'm working with to guide them through it. I have his e-mail address and two phone numbers for him."

"You realize that there is a very bad possible side effect of spinal taps and injecting anything into that area...death" he said flippantly. "It's a possibility we might be able to do this. Let me call Dr. Sears and I'll get back in touch with you later on today or tomorrow."

"Also could you find out from Dr. Westmoreland whether he ever received my e-mail. I sent it twice. It has Carmella's whole story in it."

"Yes, I'll do that too. Let me get your e-mail."

I gave him my e-mail address and we got off the phone.

I told my best friend about what the vet filling in for Dr. Norwood said about Auburn being as close as UGA and she said that on mapquest it was quite a bit further than what she said and that it would be too far for her; she would get sick. She told me she really hoped Dr. Brantly would change his mind and decide to do it. There was something about the sound of this one we both weren't too sure about.

Hopefully we can get a committment from a vet this week or next because she will be indisposed for about two weeks, and I don't have anyone else to take me. The woman I've known for 20 years who lives just one mile away sure won't do it and keeps making little digs each chance she gets asking how I'm going to get here and there.

I took some more cute pictures of Carmella today. She is still falling every once in awhile, but when she's not falling she is quite graceful running around the back yard. She grabbed a big stick and dragged it around, an old dirty T-shirt someone had thrown back there, and a piece of what looked like linoleum. She was really funny dragging that stuff around with her.

Then she plopped down into the ornamental edging grass that grew around the perimeter of the yard on the side near my next door neighbor's house and near the back porch, chewing on sticks and rolling around, then bounding in and out of it.

The neighbor's brown and white bulldog breathed noisily on the other side of the fence, panting and wobbling about on its stubby legs. It was too afraid of Carmella to venture very close, but watched her from a safe distance. Carmella bounded up to the fence boldly with her tail raised in a semicircle and whined expectantly. The other dog didn't come forward but instead averted its eyes and turned away.

I was taking lots of pictures and trying to get Carmella to look at me when suddenly I noticed out of the corner of my eye the neighbor lady standing just inside her garage, staring at me. She didn't make a move to speak to me but just stood there gawking. She's a little strange. I don't know what her deal is, but it's got to be something. I didn't say anything to her because her energy gave me the creeps. I figured it best to just ignore it. She went back inside the house and Carmella resumed her playing in the long grass. It was beginning to get too dark, so after getting quite a number of good shots I decided to call it a day. Carmella was tired and hungry and so was I.

Tomorrow will be another long day trying to get that maybe turned into a yes.

If you'd like to help Carmella you can buy an ad on my blog, donate, or go to my Etsy store and start your holiday shopping early this year. I am gearing up to start some new pieces, so be sure to put me on your "to buy from" list if you love silver because some great items are coming! In the meantime take a look at the other jewelry designs I currently have available; 70 items to choose from!

http://Giftbearer.etsy.com/

Starting To Catch Up

Today was relatively uneventful. I called the vet in Perry again to see if he'd read my e-mail and it turned out he never got it. It had not come back undeliverable, so either their spam blocker intercepted it or maybe someone printed it out the day I sent it and misfiled it. I re-sent it and the receptionist told me he'd either call me after hours tonight or in the morning. I didn't hear from him tonight so I guess that means tomorrow will be the day I will have some news one way or the other. I am praying that this one will do it.

No response yet from the news reporter so I may have to do some calling tomorrow about that.

I'm now working on the logistics for a new line of jewelry. Since my PMC seems to be what's most popular and most everything else has just been sitting in my shop it occurred to me that I should go back to that and develop some new and exciting designs in that medium. I have had it planned to make some interesting molds for quite awhile but other things kept getting in the way. Now that the silver market is going down again it looks as if I may be able to pick up where I left off. Next I will be developing some pieces made from my artwork. If I can get Carmella's treatment all squared away then I may be back on schedule with my business plan. The original Budding Vine bracelets are unique but recently even they are starting to be copied in one sneaky way or another (and they are trademarked and published which affords them more protection than a copyright). I'm not in the suing mood right now, as I've got enough on my plate with Carmella's situation, but that is not an open invitation to encourage anybody to go on doing this. I probably need to zag in another direction for awhile and give these people a run for their money. If they are following my work trying to come up with cheaper versions of my most popular pieces I'm about to make it alot harder to pull off. I will be incorporating some things into my next line that are not at all easy to copy, and anyone who tries will spend so much time it will eat up whatever profit they hope to make on it.

It rained today for a good bit of the afternoon and Carmella began to get increasingly antsy as time went on. She still cannot be trusted wandering around the house by herself because she'll chew up vital things like electrical cords and clothing, blankets, and other items, but she has been whining to get out of the kitchen alot more often than she needs to go out in the yard to go to the bathroom and she does not want me to leave the room after I go in there to snuggle and pet her. She tugs on my pants leg and even tries to hold on with her front paws.

Tonight when I let her outside her front right leg gave way and she fell down. She got right back up, but I am getting worried about this falling because at first it was mainly stumbling but now she actually ends up on the ground. This is not good and probably means that the demyelination is still getting worse. This could be also why she's so restless and clingy today. She seems to sense when there is disease-progression.

I was pleasantly surprised today when I checked my e-mail and found several donations and another person had bought an ad space on my blog! Thank you! Thank you! Keep it up, everybody. Each bit helps.

Also in the mail I received a Hill Tribes leaf from April of ALJ designs from a blog contest that I won. I will make something very special with it. Check out her shop here: http://aljdesigns.etsy.com/

Slowly but surely I think I'm catching up on my sleep as well.

I spent some time today researching brass and what I found out was very interesting. Apparently there are many different alloys that are considered brass. Brass has mostly Copper and Zinc in it, but it can also have a number of other metals included, and some Brass alloys even have small trace amounts of arsenic or lead in them. One site I was reading on listed 11 different types of brass but they said that this was just the tip of the ice burgh. There are many more. I guess that's why there's no "standard" way to preserve the patina or the shine on brass, because depending on the proportions of metals in it it may respond better to one method and another brass might respond better to another. It seems to me that some standards for manufacturing should be made as they are for copper, silver, and gold as to the composition and purity of the component metals in it. To have such a broad category called brass seems to cheapen it. I've never been a big fan of brass myself, but I must admit I am temped to try some of those lacy antiqued beadcaps and components that dress up a single bead or other focal piece to look really fancy, and I do like the dragonflies that wrap around things. I love Copper but have been unable to find such detailed components in it as I see in the antiqued brass.

Tonight Carmella's jerking is particularly bad. It is making her ears and entire head jerk from the sheer force of it. I hope tomorrow a vet will have mercy on her and go ahead and make a committment.

If you would like to help please go to the donation link on the right, buy a $5.00 ad on my blog, and/or buy some art jewelry from my shop. Thanks to all of you who have been contributing in one way or another to help Carmella get well! With Love and Action All things are possible! http://Giftbearer.etsy.com/

The Day After...

Today was rather anticlimactic after yesterday's devastating news. I called Dr. Norwood's office only to find that he was indisposed and giving minimal messages to his receptionists for them to relay, anything to avoid talking to me. Just how long does he really think that will work? Gwen, the office manager told me that he was in with a patient and that he had them back to back and after his last patient he had to leave. Yes, hiding from the problem will solve everything...NOT! I may have to get out that chicken picture again if that continues, LOL.

Distemper doesn't stop, so neither can we. Sometimes I run out of ideas but there is always the next day, and the day after that, and I always think of something. A good night's sleep can make things look alot more hopeful the next morning.

My definition of failure is when you stop trying. OK so you didn't make your financial goal today, then set it again for tomorrow. You didn't locate the right briolettes for a pair of earrings. Do you just say, "It's hopeless. I just can't make my earrings. I failed, so just forget it"? No, you just look someplace else, ask somebody, look on the internet, call bead shops, ask other artists. Do you divorce your husband after the first time he comes home late and say, "Oh well, I guess marrying you was a big mistake but it's nothing a quickie divorce won't fix"? No. You talk to him and see if you can work something out.

A friend and I were discussing earlier on the phone that our society has become one of avoidance of pain and work, and people's tolerance for a little bit of hassle has become zero.

People complain if they have to sit in traffic more than 5 minutes, it's a "major" inconvenience if God forbid someone has to take time off from work to take somebody to a doctor's appointment, and almost everyone these days seems to feel depleted to the point that they can't see beyond their own self-preservation. Desicions are made based on liability rather than because they're the right thing to do, and there are those that have an absolute anxiety attack if they don't take their cell phone everywhere with them. They practically have an accident because they're so riveted to their latest techno-gadget they lose touch with their surroundings. If somebody else's ordeal makes them uncomfortable they just "change the channel" and disconnect from their own feelings, stick their fingers in their ears and sing loudly, "Don't Worry, Be Happy" as if they can make all the world's problems go away with a giant dose of denial.

I don't operate that way. I couldn't knowing that a serious problem still sits there unsolved. There is only so long one can kid themselves into believing a problem will solve itself without action. The problem at hand mainly exists because too many people just passed the buck, each one making it someone else's ball to pick up; a ball they dropped. Each time it happens it puts a little more inertia out there into the universe. Instead why don't they do the opposite for a change; add more action to the universe. A single brick by itself cannot make anything recognizable, but when bricks are put together and they fit just where they should, big, strong buildings are the result. Take them out one by one, and the structure collapses.

Like your primary care doctor, the primaary care vet is an important building block in your pet's healthcare. In times of crisis he/she is the one whose action or lack of action may ultimately determine whether your pet lives or dies. He/she is the first line advocate (aside from the owner), a liason between you and specialists whose cooperation is all-important in getting what the pet needs. If he/she hides their head in the sand then who is there to communicate your animal's need, only you, and that's not a good position to be in. Vets tend to listen better to other vets than to owners. It is just a fact of life. If your primary care vet caves at a crucial time then other vets are going to be asking "Where is he? Why isn't he or she calling instead of you?" all questions you cannot answer yourself, not being inside your vet's mind.

In some crass way, Dr. Norwood may have been bathing himself in the anesthesic rationalization that he would spend today serving pets he "can" help. "Triage", God I hate that word. This is an inside look at Social Darwinism at its worst. Carmella deserves better. She did not do this to herself, nor did I do it to her. I'm trying like hell to save her and the ones who need to back me up most just aren't there! Lord knows I've spent enough money at that vet's office not to be given the bum's rush. He could have taken 5 minutes to call me between patients, but instead he decided to dodge and weave while Carmella sits and jerks.

I e-mailed him (this time to the correct e-mail address), sent him the 13 studies to read over that I'd sent to Dr. Brantly, and an update on Carmella, asking that he not give up on her and that he call me before the weekend to give me the details of his conversation with the vets at UGA. Knowing the reason she was turned down does matter because it will help me prepare our defense in case the same objection comes up again.

Dr. Brantley's receptionist took my message and said she'd have him check his e-mail and his voicemail and had me leave him another message there. He hadn't returned my call by the end of the day. Tomorrow I have one last name to check in Perry, Georgia. Maybe he will have mercy on Carmella and do what these others have neglected to do.

If you are a vet in or near Atlanta, you know one, or have one in your family, please contact me if you think you might have a prospect. Sometimes the solution is right under your nose.

On my blog there are also three financial support options provided with which you can help with Carmella's vet bill; advertising here on my blog, donating (links in the sidebar on the right), and if you enjoy art jewelry check out my Etsy store for a variety of unique designs.

Soon I plan to do an all-out media blitz. Perhaps that will reach enough vets and somebody will respond and step up to the plate. I'll go on the TV news if I have to and approach the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. I'm setting an intention today to bring out those who will be of most help to Carmella. If she does not make it I know it will be man's will; not God's. Who could deny such a lovely creature?

http://Giftbearer.etsy.com/

Strike Two! Still Waiting...

I gave it till around 3:00 pm today before checking my e-mail to see whether there was any word from the Board Certified female neuro vet located in Sandy Springs. Nothing, so I decided to call her. Surprisingly she herself picked up the phone. Hoping this was a good sign I proceeded to introduce myself and ask if she'd received my e-mail and she said,

"Yes, you're the one who wants the injection in the dog's CNS."

"Can you do it?"

"No, I couldn't" she said through what sounded like a heavy Asian accent of some kind. "I would have to see studies, or citations or something."

"He's tried and tried to publish, but they won't let him in", I said. "You can talk to him yourself. I have his number and e-mail address."

"That is not sufficient" she remarked blithely, as if blowing away a puff of smoke from a cigarette.

Was is really that easy to just turn one's back and walk away? Apparently for her it was all in a day's work. Right away I sensed she'd go home tonight and not miss a moment of sleep over Carmella, and then came that big cop-out, that ever-familiar, convenient rationalization.

"Dogs don't always progress. She might not? Maybe." It was more of a question than a statement, a futil and impotent attempt to veil her own inadequacy.

"Well she already has started to. This morning I took her out and the jerking was happening this time as she was standing on her leg. That didn't happen before, and this time it was pretty major. She had to lift up her paw several times."

Almost immediately, the vet started talking over me as if she believed if she drowned out the truth with her own voice that somehow absolved her of her guilt. Like a baby hiding behind a blanket, she told herself that the problem didn't exist because she didn't see it.

"You can bring her in, but I can't do it. It would be unethical." Bring her in and do what? I thought. Give her Phenobarbital to mask the problem, give her a valium to relax her while she slowly deteriorates and dies? So that you can lie to yourself and pretend you're helping her? So that you can charge me another $75.00 for an office visit just to refuse in-person what you have over the phone and deny her the one thing that will kill the virus and save her life? Hell no! I thought, enraged at the ludicrousy of the moment. "Unethical" my ruby red one! You want to know what's unethical? Unethical is when you have the training and the skills to save a life but you choose not to. Unethical is letting a dog twist in the wind while a deadly virus slowly shuts down every brain function one-by-one, stripping her myelin from each nerve like the shucking of the outer covering of a bundle of telephone wires with a wire-cutter! Unethical is letting fear for your own ass decide how you practice medicine instead of compassion for a living thing!

"How is that unethical? I have pictures of her improvement from the first shot already?"

"She's not even my patient".

You're right, I thought, and she won't ever be either with that attitude.

"You should really have a University work with her, not a private practice vet. There's a vet at UGA who knows alot about Distemper, not Marc Kent, not Platt..."

I looked at my list of Board Certified neuro vets. "Dr. Scott Schatzberg?"

"Yes, that's it, Schatzberg. Ask him. He should know whether the treatment you are seeking has any merit."

Her statement left me cold. I didn't need someone to tell me whether it has merit. I've seen it! So I'm expected to leave my brain and all my senses at the door? Obviously if it's never been published it's less likely he would have heard about it unless he'd heard by word of mouth.

Soon we got off the phone after she wished me "good luck" with my dog, and suddenly I was crying. Yea right, I thought. Good luck. The expression had a sardonic sound to it. Knowing that good luck is really what people do and does not just magically appear I was not about to fall for that one. It has routinely become what people say these days from afar when they risk nothing and don't get involved. Notice that a husband accompanying his wife to the hospital and just before surgery doesn't say "Good luck". The reason for that is that he is going to know what she knows as it happens, with her every step of the way. Short of accompanying her inside the OR he is going to be there, taking on the problem by her side. In all likelihood he will be the first person she sees in the recovery room after the medical personnel.

As soon as I regained my composure I put in a call to Dr. Schatzberg. I tried several times and got just an answering machine and the name on it sounded like it said Dr. Nonn, not Schatzberg, so I wondered if he might be on vacation and that another doctor might be covering for him.

Then I sent off an e-mail. There seemed to be two lines and first I tried it with just what was on the first line and got no "undeliverable" messages back, but when I tried it with both lines it did come back as "undeliverable" so I'm still not sure whether he got either of them. I will call again tomorrow.

Here is a re-print of my e-mail below:

****************************************************************

Dear Dr. Schatzberg,

I adopted a puppy from an animal shelter that I named Carmella, and she turned out to have Distemper. I looked far and wide to find out the best treatment available and came across Dr. Alson Sears’ protocol using Newcastle Disease Virus Vaccine (the LaSota strain) off-label, which is as far as I know the only thing that has really eradicated the virus successfully in dogs. My regular vet tried it on her (an IV to treat the virus in the body) and it worked quite well. When she was first diagnosed they didn’t know if she’d even make it through the weekend, but the treatment really brought her back! The only problem is that she also needs to have it injected into the spinal area, the Foramen Magnum, because it does not cross the blood-brain barrier when injected in the body. Her Central Nervous System is still infected, and although she is dramatically better in every other way, her neuro symptoms are gradually getting worse. My vet has never done a spinal tap before, so although he would do it if he had the skills he does not feel qualified. I have had a hard time finding a vet who is both qualified and willing to do this, and it appears that there are only two board certified neuro vets in Atlanta (and about 4 listed in Athens).

It is a real shame that the medical journals up till now have refused publishing Dr. Sears’ papers on this discovery, and I really think an academic institution should step in and do clinical trials on this treatment and begin to document and publish findings on its effectiveness. As of yet I have not been able to find anybody but Dr. Sears even attempting to look for a cure for distemper. I looked through PubMed the other night for several hours and although there are studies that circumstantially hint that this could work, most of the studies are aimed at testing better vaccines to prevent; not cure the disease. Somebody should be very interested in this, as I have pictures showing that after the initial shot by IV Carmella’s pads completely healed within just about 2 weeks after injection with NDV. This bird-based vaccine, mostly used in the poultry industry is manufactured by Merial right here in Georgia, and Dr. Sears has a formula that is a dog-based serum which he has given people permission to post online and to use to treat infected dogs. One vet I have spoken with tells me that he knows a vet in Alabama who uses the dog-based serum regularly in the body and reports great results with it. This is good, but these dogs need vets who are willing to test and treat in the Central Nervous System as well, and the most likely candidates to take on this challenge are neuro vets with an interest in research.

Maybe Merial would fund a study if you put in an application. It’s something to seriously consider. They seem to have done a fair amount on Distemper and may be very interested if their product could be proven to kill the virus; not just be used as a vaccine to prevent it. It might be worth testing both the NDV and dog-based formula. Publishing something would remove it from the virtual no-man’s land it currently sits in, and could be of great benefit to science and to Veterinary Medicine, not to mention having the potential to make a significant dent in the epidemics in shelters which probably cost billions of dollars nationwide.

It seems that given Carmella’s success with the first injection that as long as she gets this early enough she should have a good prognosis with the spinal injection as well. If ever there was a good candidate for a successful outcome it is her. Her secondary pneumonia is almost gone after several weeks of antibiotics (2 weeks of that with Azithromyacin), and she is otherwise healthy. Her weight is back up, and she is eating and drinking well. She has boundless energy, (unlike before the first shot when she was lethargic). She should be able to withstand anesthesia. I don’t want to wait until the symptoms are too extreme because then it might be too late to prevent permanent damage from the Distemper virus.

Currently she has mild to moderate chorea in the right front leg and sometimes shoulder which happens intermittently. So far it has not affected her activity overall and happens mostly when she’s at rest. In addition she has an occasional moment of clumsiness, but so far no seizures or overt paralysis. Even so, over the past day or so I’ve noticed a gradual worsening and this morning her right front leg was jerking perceptibly even while she was standing on it while I took her out for a walk and she had to lift her paw on a few occasions. (Some of the vets I’ve spoken with in recent weeks took the position that “maybe” it won’t progress but I think that ship has already sailed).

I hope you can help her, as I’ve run out of people to ask in the Atlanta area and I don’t know how much time we have before she gets even worse. She is a beautiful, loving dog and I want to do everything I can to save her.

If you’d like to speak with Dr. Sears to find out more about this treatment he developed I have two phone numbers for him and an e-mail address; (phone numbers removed from public view), and e-mail: AntiDistemper@aol.com
He and I have been in contact for a few weeks now. He is willing to speak with any vet I work with on this.

Please contact me as soon as possible. It would be a big load off my mind if you will do this. Carmella deserves this chance. She is a very special dog, and not only to me. When you meet her in person you will know what I mean.

Sincerely,

Pippit Carlington

*****************************************************************

Buy exquisite art jewelry and save a dog! You can help Carmella by shopping in my Etsy store. Proceeds are going to pay her medical expenses. If I have to go to UGA for her to receive treatment that will likely be an added expense on top of what it is already , so your purchase is greatly appreciated at this time.

http://giftbearer.etsy.com/

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.
http://Giftbearer.etsy.com/