Palliative Care for Inoperable Osteosarcoma with Holistic Vet Medicine

March 13, 2020 Lauren Mauldin

Since the world is focused on the coronavirus right now, I thought I’d shed some light on something more uplifting… cancer!

Pascale has officially passed the 30 day mark after her diagnosis of osteosarcoma in the base of her skull. While this post doesn’t offer anything in terms of literature or humor (okay, maybe a little humor), I did feel like it’s important to document what I’m trying to do to help her.

To refresh, Pascale was diagnosed in early February with a tumor, likely osteosarcoma, originating from the base of her skull. I was given chemo and/or radiation as my treatment options, as the tumor could only be de-bulked in surgery versus removed. The surgeon did not advise trying anything surgical, and I opted against chemo/radiation due to cost and the stress it would cause Pascale.

The medication the surgeon prescribed her for palliative care is:

200mg Gabapentin AM & PM with option to add another 200mg for a mid-day treatment
20mg Prednisone AM

She is currently not on any other pain killers, with my plan to talk to my normal vet about opioids when her pain gets too severe.

Before the drug cocktail above, she would show pain in her TMJ area and face when chewing, picking up a toy, licking or moving her head around some areas. While she still wagged her tail and had some energy, it was clear she was uncomfortable. Three days into the Gabapentin/Steroids, she was dramatically better. Once they established in her system, she looked better and better. I keep a pain journal for her to track the tumor’s progress, but have only noted a mild pain response in her 3 out of the past 35 days—each time in the morning before her steroid. Her energy is down a little overall, but she gets more and more playful every day that passes.

The drugs above are all western medicine is offering me at the moment. I’ve asked my vet about treating with bisphosphates, but he said he had no personal experience with it. The specialist kept trying to steer me towards radiation when I asked about everything else, so I decided to look into holistic methods.

In mid-February had holistic vet Dr. Janet Roark start acupuncutre on Pascale. My goal was to have it done for pain control, and I had no other ideas about holistic treatments. Dr. Roark came to the house and did five needles on P’s first session, focusing in on digestion (she always has had a bad tummy), anti-inflammatory and pain. During that visit, she educated me about the other things we could try.

Since the steroids are doing the bulk of the work controlling her pain right now and steroids work by reducing inflammation, Dr. Roark talked me through other holistic anti-inflammatory treatments. The first is an Assisi Loop, which is a low-grade, home PEMF treatment. Similar to the MagnaWave we’ve all seen or done on our horses, this device comes with at least 250 15-minute sessions that give PEMF treatment to your pet. I do this on Pascale’s tumor (around her neck) twice daily. She sleeps through all the treatments.

Also during the first session, we discussed the Chinese Herb concoction, Bone Stasis. She had given me a heads up that the Chinese Herbs were probably the thing most likely to help Pascale, so I did a lot of reading online about them. Some people will swear to you that these herbs cured their dogs of osteosarcoma, and write long, very woo woo blog posts about it. Do I believe that? No, I don’t. But I did find a scientific study on chinese herbs and osteosarcoma that showed each dog getting at least 6 months while using herbs. That seemed more plausible. Since I originally thought Pascale might only live 30 days past her diagnosis, I decided to give them a try.

Almost as soon as I started the herbs, Pascale got a really bad cold that Lucie probably brought in from the shelter. Lucie got sick too, but only in a flash compared to Pascale. In the middle of this, Dr. Roark came out for a second acupuncture session. She did 7 needles this time, also focusing on respiratory, and thoroughly palpated the area of Pascale’s tumor. Though poor P was obviously feeling bad from her cold, we both admitted that her tumor pain was low to non-existent.

During that visit, we also discussed essential oils – Dr. Roark’s specialty. Now I will be the first to tell y’all that I am pretty anti-essential oil science. I think they smell nice, but that’s about it. However, I couldn’t deny that the tumor was causing my dog a lot less pain that western medicine told me it would by now. Dr. Roark told me that Frankincense and Copaiba essential oils had anti-inflammatory properties. I did a little research, and found some limited studies showing they had positive results with cancer and pain in lab rats. So again, I figured it couldn’t hurt and wouldn’t stress my dog out. Now we do 1 drop of each 2x a day on a tiny dog treat that I give to her like a pill.

So now, just past the 30 day mark, my dog is finally starting to act normal again. Her cold is lingering but not dampening her spirits. Yes, she’s not quite as energetic as she was before all of this but that’s okay. She plays with Lucie, rolls around on her back, enjoys toys and chews, and seems pretty pain free at the moment. I don’t know how long that will last, but I’m enjoying it for now.

I’m considering switching her to a ketogenic diet, and potentially adding more herbs/essential oils. We also may up the acupuncutre to weekly sessions if her pain gets works. But for now, here is what’s working:

Morning