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Shiva
This is Shiva. He is three years old. He was hit by a car
when he was 6 months old and I had to save him. He's my best friend. |
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Sigmund von Craig On November 23, 2000 Sig went in to the Vet because of a swelling on his front left leg. After x-rays and a biopsy, Dr. Karen Colson diagnosed Sig as having Osteosarcoma (bone cancer). Karen referred us to a specialist (surgeon) at Georgia Veterinary Specialists. We met with Dr. Duvall on 12/4 and she recommended amputation followed by chemotherapy. The surgery was done the next day 12/5. The idea is to remove the tumor first and then try to slow the rate at which existing cancer cells will reproduce or spread to other areas. The surgery went well and Sig stayed the night after for monitoring. Sig had the chemotherapy treatments on 12/27 & 12/28. The first day was for the administration of Carboplatin and the second day for Adriamycin. The first day didn't seem to slow him at all. After the second day he showed a little fatigue but no nausea or diarrhea. His lungs were x-rayed again on the first day and the results were clear. The only worry now is that he may be susceptible to infection in 2-3 days due to a lowered white blood cell count. Dr. Derek Duval (the oncologist/Julie's husband) spoke very optimistically about the overall results of these treatments with dogs. Extensive research has been done in the past year due to the fact that this type of cancer is the same as the bone cancer (Osteosarcoma) that children get (ages 16-19). There is an 75% that Sig will live more than 1 more year given that he finishes the 3 add'l treatments and good chance that he will live an add'l 2 years. The shock of the potential loss of life of Sig helped me to truly appreciate his pure and simple existence. It is extremely difficult to overcome the selfish human emotions associated with the sudden news of disease and potential loss of life. Only through witnessing his personal touch with every person he comes in contact with and the influence that he has on them do I come to truly appreciate his simple existence. For a long time I tried to expose or "push" my experiences and learnings on others (non-dog types including family) while not realizing that all I had to do was sit back and let Sig do his magic. It has been said that by looking deep into one's dog that one sees a reflection of himself. Sig has made me realize that the reflection is purely all of the good minus every bit of the bad and encompasses the good of everyone that he experiences. So now when I think of Sig or the loss of Sig I also think of of the people that he touched. Steve Connor | |
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