As a pet owner, it is hard for me to remain objective when one of our own pets becomes ill. Our handsome boy, Chase developed a really nasty cancer called hemangiosarcoma. To make matters even worse, it wasn't the run of the mill type of hemangiosarcoma. His tumors were in his kidneys, his skin, and he had a very massive one on his neck that had eaten through his jugular vein. It's a sickening feeling to reach down to rub your dog's neck and find a softball sized mass that you had not noticed before. It's doubly sickening when you know the list of tumors that live there, none of which are good options. We went through all the western diagnostics, and Dr. Andrea Nicastro and Dr. Amy Adams at Veterinary Medical Care were kind enough to double check me, and help confirm the diagnosis and extent of the tumors. My dear friend Dr. Henri Bianucci at Veterinary Surgical Care removed the mass at Chase's Jugular vein, and explored his abdomen, hoping to remove the affected kidney, but unfortunately the cancer had spread to both kidneys. So Chase came home the next day, and was feeling miserable for a few days as  he recoverd from all the surgery. All I could think about was my poor buddy,and how much pain he had to go through, and all for nothing.

As he recovered from surgery, I got together a treatment plan using chinese herbals, and neoplasene. Within a few days he bounced back, and was soon his normal, happy, exuberant self. He took the herbs and neoplasene like a good boy, and seemed just as he always was, my happy man. He was very cuddly and afectionate, and enjoyed all the yummy treats he was getting as a result of our guilt and sympathy. He did not know he was sick. We went on like this for 3 or 4 more weeks, and then one day he got up, went about his normal business, but just did not want to eat. He went upstairs and laid on the bed, and did not want even his most coveted treat. I thought it was the herbs as they are strong moving medications and can cause nausea and loss of appetite. As the afternoon went on, he looked worse and worse, not wanting to move, and letting me pick him up and carry him out side. He normally would not have permited this, even when he was recovering from surgery. We made the descision that was the day we needed to put him to sleep. This may seem premature to some of you, but Chase loathed all the poking and prodding, and ultimately tests would likely have shown that his kidneys were failing. We couldn't see the benefit to him of hospitalization in the face of such a horrible disease. We carried him out to the dock, his favorite place. He watched the birds flying overhead, smelled the sweet air, and seemed very happy. After a while, he laid down, and let us take his leg and give him the injection that would still his heart. He did not flinch as the needle pierced his skin, and seemed genuinely grateful for this gentle way to ease out of this life and into whatever comes next.

So I asked myself, during that part of the greiving process that inevitably involves feeling guilty and wondering if I'd done all that I could, Does Chinese medicine work? Why didn't it help Chase? And somewhere in this process, I realized that it had helped him. The goal of Chinese Medicine is to live your life in health and harmony, and when your Qi is exhausted, then die quickly. When it comes to cancer the philosophy is "to make peace with your difficult burden" Chase had been eating home cooked foods for 4 years, and taking herbal formulas to ease the discomfort of arthritis in his 12 year old body. As bad as his cancer was, he only had 3 or 4 days where he felt bad including the day he died. So his life and death was a success in the eyes of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine. We miss him tremendously, but we are glad he did not have a long period of suffering.