A big thank you to everybody for your good wishes!!! its nice to know that there are people out there who care.

Erik, is still just the same, happy. But getting wiley about taking all his tablets, the prefered choice was originally wrapped up in little cheese parcels, but hes got used to this now and obviously is thinking why are they giving me my favourite treat so often, there must be something in the lumps of cheese and so is now refusing when offered, so we are having to be as inventive as we can about this. Baring in mind that he is having 4 tablets in the morning, three at lunchtime and 5 at teatime.

Everybodys help and advice is very very much appreciated, my honest feeling is never to give up. You do hear of people and animals overcoming the worst cancer diagnosis's everyday. So, I will keep on trying to do my best for him.
And i will keep everybody updated on his progress. Should anyone wish to pm me on this, please feel free to do so, maybe we can help each other.

A friend saw the message about your dog Erik - he is unable to access a computer at the moment. He has a labrador of a similar age who has also been diagnosed with SCC and is absolutely distraught. He has been desperately researching possible treatments and has found something which I assume he wants for his dog, but he also thought it could help yours. He wanted to know if your dog was still alive - I am very sorry if he is not and this will be very difficult for you. The treatment involved ECT and the drug into the tumour. I, and my friend, would be grateful if you could let me know about Erik, thank you.

Hi Clarety. Yes, firstly Erik is still with me, its been 6 1/2 months since his diagnosis, and at the time, he was given 3 - 5 months.

The tumour is now very large and covers the front of his face, he has no black nose left. But he is still a very happy dog, who enjoys his food and his walks and loves to play with his cuddly toys.

He is currently taking:- Piroxicam, Cimetidine, Curcumin, Pycnogencol, Reishi Mushroom, omega 3 and multivits, Zeolite, Robert McDowells SCC,Noni Juice Frankincense.

He also has the tumour cleaned three times a day with Hibiscrub and a frankincense & lavender ointment gently rubbed all over it.

The tumour can be extremely messy and very smelly, it bleeds often and weeps.

My vet is amazed by Eriks quality of life, apart from this 'thing' he is still a very healthy dog, who even though the tumour now covers one nostril completely and half covers the other, can breath easily without having to breath through his mouth.

Do tell your friend not to give up hope, even though at times it may seem like an impossible road to go down, it really is possible to live with this 'thing'.

I do hope that your friends dog is able to cope with the growth and remains happy and healthy and that you friend can cope with all the 'nursing' involved, as living with this cancer, can sometimes be extremely stressful, it all depends on how commited your friend is willing to be.

Good luck, and if i can be of any further help, then please contact me again.

Max

My dog Dylan, was diagnosed with nasal SCC last spring. He had laser surgery on his nose in March, 2008. In August, 2008, the cancer had returned and the vet who performed the laser did not want to re-do the laser surgery becase he thought it was too advanced. His advice was to take him home and enjoy whatever time I had left. After two days of crying, I decided to again contact the oncologist we originally saw. She is not the one who performed the laser surgery as her clinic did not have lasers. Dylan is still a vital, happy dog, and I felt that he deserved another opinion on his cancer. He has given me so much over the years, that I wanted to repay the favor. The oncologist suggested several options, and the only one feasable, in her opinion, was chemotherapy. So Dylan had 4 rounds of carboplatin, spaced 3 weeks apart, and went on an oral medication of piroxicam. Her thought was that this combination would buy us time. When I questioned her about what that meant, she said 3 or 4 months. Well, it's now February, 2009, and Dylan is still with us. His nose looks wonderful, and he is aging gracefully. He turned 13 in December. When we were give the time factor or 3 or 4 months, I wasn't sure if we should proceed, due to costs of chemo vs. time. But my husband, bless his soul, said that the oncologist really had no idea about time and that we should proceed. We are extremely happy that we did. I wish you all the luck in world with your beloved dog, you are his biggest advocate.

Hello Max,

Thank you very much for your quick reply – I am very happy to hear that Erik is still with you and is doing well despite the tumour. I read out your reply to my friend, Frank. He is going to talk to the vet who does this new treatment tomorrow and then take his dog, Echo, to the vets’ mid-week for the treatment.
He is very keen to talk to you as he feels this treatment could help Erik too – he insisted that I give you his mobile number and asked you to phone him if you’d like to but I’m a bit wary of doing that as this is a public forum, though I’m happy to pass it on if you think it helpful to talk to him. In the meantime Frank wanted me to give you the webpage of this vet, who is in Knaresbough, N. Yorkshire. It is petcancervet.co.uk – you may already know about this vet. I hope this is of some help and thanks again. Clare.

Clare, thank you very much for passing on this information, I was not aware of this vet, I have emailed the practice this evening, and I will let you know how I go on. In the meantime, please keep me informed how your friend, Frank gets on when he visits with Echo.

Clare, could you please tell Frank that I have had a reply from Ron Lowe at the vets in Knaresborough, and he is not very hopeful that he will be able to help me, he says that he has only treated 2 dogs with this form of cancer in the nasal area with this new form of treatment (ECT), and neither where sucessful. I do hope that Frank has a better outcome when he contacts them.
Max

Hello Max,

Thank you for your messages. I am very sorry to hear that the vet in Knaresborough is not going to be able to help Erik. I’m truly sorry that we raised your hopes, only for them to be dashed so quickly. Frank was so certain the vet would be able to help Erik but of course he doesn’t know any real details about the treatment or its effectiveness depending on the tumour; he certainly meant the very best by wanting to draw you attention to this treatment, I just hope it has not added to your distress.
They are taking Echo to the vets tomorrow, weather permitting; I think they will wait until the vet has gone through the procedure, and the possible consequences, with them before they finally decide whether to go ahead. Apparently her tumour is on her gum and sounds about the size of a cherry tomato. When Frank talked to the vet today he said they might have to remove a couple of her teeth that are close to the tumour and there might be problems with bleeding afterwards. I expect he will call later this week and let me know how things went. I will certainly pass this info onto you.
In the meantime I can only apologise again for raising you hopes’ and send my best wishes for Erik.
Clare

Thank you Clare, I have found over the past 6 1/2 months of doing research into this form of SCC in the planum, that here in the UK we are in the stoneage compared to the USA. They treat this form of cancer on a regular basis and have an extremely high sucess rate. There is really not a great deal that vets and the few vet oncologists over here can do to help with this highly invasive form of cancer. So I'll just go back to looking after my beloved friend myself. I have managed this long by myself and exceeded all life expectations for him, so I'll just keep on going, for as long as he wants me to.

Max

Clare

Just wondering how your friend Frank went on at the vets with Echo?

Max