We miss Jasmine painfully. She has become not only an integral part of our lives, but part of ourselves.
Objectively, considering the hand she's been dealt, it is nothing short of a miracle that she's been with us as long as she has, with the quality of life she got to enjoy.
We always pulled out all the stops and used everything that's been available to help her body deal with all the challenges it's faced.
Which treatments did she benefit from the most?
Of course, there were a number of surgeries. All very important, some of them life-saving. A surgery is an invasive but effective, and sometimes the only way, of dealing with some health problems. The decision to subject your dog to surgery cannot be made lightly, but one shouldn't refuse a surgery just because it is a surgery.
It is important to evaluate the situation, the options and predicted outcomes, and if surgery has the most benefit to offer, then it is the thing to do.
Then there are drugs. A drug treatment is sometimes the only option. Drugs, however, are a sharp, double-edged sword.
My granny used to say that once you start going to doctors, it is the beginning of your end. What she really meant by that was that once you start taking drugs, more drugs are needed to deal with the mess the first ones made, then more drugs to take care of the fallout of those .... and so on. She was a good example too. Eventually, she was taking so many different medications that he body was unable to deal with all that and the only treatment was taking her off all drugs.
For Jasmine, drugs were generally bad news.
When she was put on NSAIDs, it almost killed her. When she was given a buprenorphine injection, it almost killed her. In her last months, it appears that morphine, which was supposed to be her friend, turned on her too, and somehow played a significant role in the final crisis.
Steroids? Well, I was avoiding steroids for Jasmine for 9.5 years. Perhaps deep down I always knew they were going to be a bad news for her. With her neck events, though, she needed an immediate and aggressive treatment, and that meant prednisone. And it was a good decision under the circumstances. But I do believe that the steroids did contribute to the way things played out at the end as well.
Antibiotics, such as metronidazole and amoxil, were good friends to Jasmine. We always used them discriminately, only when it was really necessary, and I don't believe that Jasmine's resistant infection was something that we brewed. The strain was resistant to antibiotics Jasmine never came anywhere near of. As it seems, she already caught it as it were.
We never refused pain management for her, but I have to say that we never observed a significant benefit of the pain drugs, with perhaps the exception of codeine.
The treatments Jasmine benefited from the most are those often considered non-conventional or alternative.
Stem cell treatments did her a world of good.
We were very happy that we decided to go down that path. We really wanted to do IV stem cells for her neck problems as well. Unfortunately, between waiting for her to be off steroids long enough, and following active infection, we were unable to include this any more.
We believe that stem cells, acupuncture, physical therapy, hydrotherapy, chiropractic and laser therapy, along with nutritional support, were the things that took Jasmine as far as she made it.
These were the tools we never hesitated using and never regretted doing so.
Given a choice, these were and always will be the treatments at the top of our list.
***
Related articles:
Treatments Jasmine Benefited From The Most
Memories Of Jasmine: Remix 4
Memories Of Jasmine: Remix 3
Making The Last Decision
Memories Of Jasmine: Remix 2
Memories Of Jasmine: Remix 1
Jasmine's Last Happy Days Before The Final Crisis
The Last Act Of Love: Run Free, Jasmine
Pain, Reaction To Narcotics Or Something Else? Please Pray For Jasmine
It Just Keeps Piling Up
I Always Thought That A UTI Would Scream It's Presence
Taking A Break From Orthopedic Issues To Deal With Inappetence, Diarrhea And Listlessness That Come And Go
Positive Update, Though Little Clarity
Jasmine's Neck Setback Update
Jasmine's Neck Setback
Elbow Problem Or Root Signature?
Back To Where We Were Last May?
Jasmine's Disc Injury: Spanking New Ramp
Jasmine's Disc Injury: The Parole Hearing
Jasmine's Disc Injury: Mom, Why Can't I Go For A Walk?
Jasmine's Disc Injury(?) Day Three
Jasmine's Disc Injury(?) Day Two
A Time Bomb Ought To Go Off At Some Point, I Guess: Jasmine's Neck
OK, I Am A Sucker: We're Going Through With The SLIT
Jasmine's Episodes: Back To The Allergies Dilemma
This Is What Jasmine's Episode Looks Like
Gotta Try Everything Once (Or Twice): On The Quest To Figure Out Jasmine's Episodes
Thundershirt vs. Jasmine's Episodes
Jasmine's Mysterious Swelling And Another Experience With VetLiveThe Diagnosis Is In: Jasmine Has An Interdigital Cyst
Jasmine's Mysterious Swelling And Interdigital Cyst Update
Is Crawling Under Things Some Kind Of Secret Physical Therapy?
Is There No Place Safe? Jasmine's Acupuncture Session
Senior Sensory Systems Function: Zero Defects
It Looks Like A Keeper: Jasmine's New Integrative Vet
Jasmine's Acute Lameness
Jasmine Doesn't Like "Doing Time"
Our Of Jail Free Pass
When It's Looks Too Good To Be True … The Lameness Returns
The Day Of The Treatment
First Time For Everything: A Healing Crisis(?)
From Zero To Sixty In Four Days: Stem Cells At Work
The Calm After The Storm
If It Was Easy, It Wouldn't Be Jasmine
Practicing What I Preach: Jasmine's Semi Annual Wellness Exam
No Skimping On Oral Care
I'm Still Standing! (Happy Birthday, Jasmine)
How Dogs Think (Well, Jasmine Anyway)
Jasmine is Vet-Stem's poster child!
Rant About Quality Of Life Versus Quantity, And Differential Diagnoses
Jasmine Is Headed For Her Next Stem Cell Treatment
Jasmine's Stem Cells Are In
Arthritis? What Arthritis?
Guess Who Is An Ever-Ready Bunny And Really Liking The Bit Of Snow We Got?
Don't Knock It Until You Tried It: Animal Chiropractic
Jasmine's Fur Analysis
Back At Chiropractic Care
Our Own Emergency Vet Horror (Part I)
Our Own Emergency Vet Horror (Part II)
How The Oddysey Started: Jasmine's ACL Injury
Meet Jasmine
Objectively, considering the hand she's been dealt, it is nothing short of a miracle that she's been with us as long as she has, with the quality of life she got to enjoy.
 |
| Jasmine and her best buddy. It was a love at first sight. |
We always pulled out all the stops and used everything that's been available to help her body deal with all the challenges it's faced.
Which treatments did she benefit from the most?
Of course, there were a number of surgeries. All very important, some of them life-saving. A surgery is an invasive but effective, and sometimes the only way, of dealing with some health problems. The decision to subject your dog to surgery cannot be made lightly, but one shouldn't refuse a surgery just because it is a surgery.
It is important to evaluate the situation, the options and predicted outcomes, and if surgery has the most benefit to offer, then it is the thing to do.
Then there are drugs. A drug treatment is sometimes the only option. Drugs, however, are a sharp, double-edged sword.
My granny used to say that once you start going to doctors, it is the beginning of your end. What she really meant by that was that once you start taking drugs, more drugs are needed to deal with the mess the first ones made, then more drugs to take care of the fallout of those .... and so on. She was a good example too. Eventually, she was taking so many different medications that he body was unable to deal with all that and the only treatment was taking her off all drugs.
For Jasmine, drugs were generally bad news.
When she was put on NSAIDs, it almost killed her. When she was given a buprenorphine injection, it almost killed her. In her last months, it appears that morphine, which was supposed to be her friend, turned on her too, and somehow played a significant role in the final crisis.
Steroids? Well, I was avoiding steroids for Jasmine for 9.5 years. Perhaps deep down I always knew they were going to be a bad news for her. With her neck events, though, she needed an immediate and aggressive treatment, and that meant prednisone. And it was a good decision under the circumstances. But I do believe that the steroids did contribute to the way things played out at the end as well.
 |
| Getting used to life jackets. We're going boating! How do I look in red? |
Antibiotics, such as metronidazole and amoxil, were good friends to Jasmine. We always used them discriminately, only when it was really necessary, and I don't believe that Jasmine's resistant infection was something that we brewed. The strain was resistant to antibiotics Jasmine never came anywhere near of. As it seems, she already caught it as it were.
We never refused pain management for her, but I have to say that we never observed a significant benefit of the pain drugs, with perhaps the exception of codeine.
The treatments Jasmine benefited from the most are those often considered non-conventional or alternative.
Stem cell treatments did her a world of good.
We were very happy that we decided to go down that path. We really wanted to do IV stem cells for her neck problems as well. Unfortunately, between waiting for her to be off steroids long enough, and following active infection, we were unable to include this any more.
We believe that stem cells, acupuncture, physical therapy, hydrotherapy, chiropractic and laser therapy, along with nutritional support, were the things that took Jasmine as far as she made it.
These were the tools we never hesitated using and never regretted doing so.
Given a choice, these were and always will be the treatments at the top of our list.
***
Related articles:
Treatments Jasmine Benefited From The Most
Memories Of Jasmine: Remix 4
Memories Of Jasmine: Remix 3
Making The Last Decision
Memories Of Jasmine: Remix 2
Memories Of Jasmine: Remix 1
Jasmine's Last Happy Days Before The Final Crisis
The Last Act Of Love: Run Free, Jasmine
Pain, Reaction To Narcotics Or Something Else? Please Pray For Jasmine
It Just Keeps Piling Up
I Always Thought That A UTI Would Scream It's Presence
Taking A Break From Orthopedic Issues To Deal With Inappetence, Diarrhea And Listlessness That Come And Go
Positive Update, Though Little Clarity
Jasmine's Neck Setback Update
Jasmine's Neck Setback
Elbow Problem Or Root Signature?
Back To Where We Were Last May?
Jasmine's Disc Injury: Spanking New Ramp
Jasmine's Disc Injury: The Parole Hearing
Jasmine's Disc Injury: Mom, Why Can't I Go For A Walk?
Jasmine's Disc Injury(?) Day Three
Jasmine's Disc Injury(?) Day Two
A Time Bomb Ought To Go Off At Some Point, I Guess: Jasmine's Neck
OK, I Am A Sucker: We're Going Through With The SLIT
Jasmine's Episodes: Back To The Allergies Dilemma
This Is What Jasmine's Episode Looks Like
Gotta Try Everything Once (Or Twice): On The Quest To Figure Out Jasmine's Episodes
Thundershirt vs. Jasmine's Episodes
Jasmine's Mysterious Swelling And Another Experience With VetLiveThe Diagnosis Is In: Jasmine Has An Interdigital Cyst
Jasmine's Mysterious Swelling And Interdigital Cyst Update
Is Crawling Under Things Some Kind Of Secret Physical Therapy?
Is There No Place Safe? Jasmine's Acupuncture Session
Senior Sensory Systems Function: Zero Defects
It Looks Like A Keeper: Jasmine's New Integrative Vet
Jasmine's Acute Lameness
Jasmine Doesn't Like "Doing Time"
Our Of Jail Free Pass
When It's Looks Too Good To Be True … The Lameness Returns
The Day Of The Treatment
First Time For Everything: A Healing Crisis(?)
From Zero To Sixty In Four Days: Stem Cells At Work
The Calm After The Storm
If It Was Easy, It Wouldn't Be Jasmine
Practicing What I Preach: Jasmine's Semi Annual Wellness Exam
No Skimping On Oral Care
I'm Still Standing! (Happy Birthday, Jasmine)
How Dogs Think (Well, Jasmine Anyway)
Jasmine is Vet-Stem's poster child!
Rant About Quality Of Life Versus Quantity, And Differential Diagnoses
Jasmine Is Headed For Her Next Stem Cell Treatment
Jasmine's Stem Cells Are In
Arthritis? What Arthritis?
Guess Who Is An Ever-Ready Bunny And Really Liking The Bit Of Snow We Got?
Don't Knock It Until You Tried It: Animal Chiropractic
Jasmine's Fur Analysis
Back At Chiropractic Care
Our Own Emergency Vet Horror (Part I)
Our Own Emergency Vet Horror (Part II)
How The Oddysey Started: Jasmine's ACL Injury
Meet Jasmine
I so very much enjoy reading your blog. I know Jasmine will be forever missed and it isn't fair at all... I thank you for continuing to share and help others...
ReplyDeleteThan you, Carol. It is a comfort that Jasmine's journey was helping other dogs while she was with us and can continue to do so.
DeleteGreat post. I agree with your Granny. Have seen it happen too many times with pets and people.
ReplyDeleteGrannys know stuff, don't they? I always worked really hard on using as little drugs for Jasmine as possible. Sometimes one just cannot help it. But as long as other options are open, it's always better to try those first.
Delete"My granny used to say that once you start going to doctors, it is the beginning of your end. What she really meant by that was that once you start taking drugs, more drugs are needed to deal with the mess the first ones made"
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely true and I think even more with animals than with people. People sometimes have a blind faith in medication that leads it to seem to be more effective than it is. Animals don't have that and their smaller bodies seem to be tossed about by the side effects of drugs much more than ours. Perhaps also there is less research done on drug treatments for animals before they are given to pets. Anyway, it's very useful to know what types of natural therapy had the best effects on Jasmine.
I'm sorry for your loss of Jasmine but I'm sure this site will go on helping other dogs.
Thank you, Laurie. Wherever we could, we went with alternatives. There are times when drugs simply cannot be avoided.
DeleteYes, I'm hoping that Jasmine's story will continue to help dogs, even though she isn't with us any more.
We would like to express our dearest sympathy for your loss.
ReplyDeleteAs HVM, including Mr. Edgar Otto, founder, read this story of Jasmine, we begin to wonder how things would have been if Jasmine could have gone into the hyperbaric oxygen chamber. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy would definitely have helped with her pain.
You are correct when stated "sometimes drugs simply cannot be avoided" One thing for sure...there is no magic bullet in health, there are certain essential mechanisms in the body that must work correctly in order to be healthy. Put simply, inflammatory conditions, whether stress or injury, all benefit from a therapeutic dose of oxygen. Not only does oxygen regenerate cells, but oxygen under pressure increases tissue oxygenation by more than 10 times normal levels and healthy blood flow carries away waste products like cellular debris and dangerous free radical toxins.
I am sure that stem cell treatments helped her. The benefit of hyperbaric oxygen is that it increase stem cell production up to 8x normal levels without the need for surgery, needles, and does not require the patient to be off of steroids which many patients are on when being treated for inflammation.
We are doing everything we can to educate veterinarians and pet owners of the remarkable effects of HBOT.
Thank you for sharing Jasmine story it touched each one of our hearts.
Thank you, Edgar.
DeleteYes, we discussed hyperbaric chamber therapy for Jasmine and I would have love to have done it. Sadly, it is not available around here at this time.
We would like to express our dearest sympathy for your loss.
ReplyDeleteAs HVM, including Mr. Edgar Otto, founder, read this story of Jasmine, we begin to wonder how things would have been if Jasmine could have gone into the hyperbaric oxygen chamber. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy would definitely have helped with her pain.
You are correct when stated "sometimes drugs simply cannot be avoided" One thing for sure...there is no magic bullet in health, there are certain essential mechanisms in the body that must work correctly in order to be healthy. Put simply, inflammatory conditions, whether stress or injury, all benefit from a therapeutic dose of oxygen. Not only does oxygen regenerate cells, but oxygen under pressure increases tissue oxygenation by more than 10 times normal levels and healthy blood flow carries away waste products like cellular debris and dangerous free radical toxins.
I am sure that stem cell treatments helped her. The benefit of hyperbaric oxygen is that it increase stem cell production up to 8x normal levels without the need for surgery, needles, and does not require the patient to be off of steroids which many patients are on when being treated for inflammation.
We are doing everything we can to educate veterinarians and pet owners of the remarkable effects of HBOT.
Thank you for sharing Jasmine story it touched each one of our hearts.
I know the slippery slope of drugs first hand. My Mom was terminally ill and had to take a lot of drugs. They took a huge toll on her health though. In the end it was unclear if the drugs prolonged her life or were what cause the things that killed her.
ReplyDeleteAgain, I am so sorry for your loss of Jasmine. I know it is hard. I can see that you are trying to push through and help bring some positives by helping others through your experience. Take care of yourself and your family.
Thank you, Jessica. And sorry about your mom.
DeleteMy dad was a similar case. He had a heart attack, which he survived well. After than he was on bunch of drugs to prevent another heart attack.
However, then he got food poisoning and with the effects of the drugs he was on, he bled out to death. I agree. With drugs, you never know whether they'll save you or kill you.