Our battle with Bosco's hemangiosarcoma came to an end yesterday. He had been feeling ill with a fever of 106° F over the weekend. Their normal temperature is 101° to 102.5°F. So I went to work and raided the place of every antibiotic you can think of, IV fluids, IV catheter... It NEVER occurred to me to grab the euthanasia solution! He got IV fluids through the weekend and a whole pharmacy of medications. His gums returned to a nice healthy pink rather than the ghastly white that had been. He even started to eat baby food that comes in a jar, some ice cream and played with his squeaky ball. He even got up and was walking around. :-) His improvement was apparently his "last hurrah" which I have seen numerous times in terminal patients thoughtout the years. His gums were white yesterday morning and was not breathing normally. I got him into the car by myself. (Amazing what the body can do in an emergency situation.) We took only one radiograph of his chest ... just to see ... :-( About 95% of his chest cavity was tumors. At least five were larger than the size of my fist! There was so much cancer that his heart could not be seen because of all of the tumours. Maybe some involved his heart too. There was a tiny area of his lungs one inch square that appeared cancer free. Certainly that is not enough for a 100 pound dog! I believe that his cancer also infiltrated the intestines because he had black diarrhea yesterday morning. Black is an indication of severe bleeding and the blood has been digested before exiting the body. His type of cancer stems from the cells of blood vessels and there are blood vessels everywhere. He could have had a rupture of a tumor anywhere in his body. That Bosco's gums turned white again was a sign that his tumors were bleeding. That was another painful thing for him plus it made it even harder for him to breathe. Maybe his back pain was the cancer in the spine? Everything was so nice and normal just 3 weeks ago (radiographs and blood work). We even had a check up with his oncologist in August and he was more than delighted how well Bosco was doing! But ... one needs to have at least one billion cells change before the first change is seen on a radiograph. The hemangiosarcoma is also the fastest growing cancer in a dog. :-( I could not see him suffering any more although he never complained about anything I did for him! I called my Mom and told her what was going on and she too did not want this sweet dog to be in needless pain any longer. He was on a thick soft blanket, I gave him a kiss for every family member, told him I was sorry that it came to this. He got an anesthetic through his IV catheter. He still had the one I placed on the weekend. He didn't even need to get poked again. He went to sleep and then I gave him the injection to stop his heart. The guy I work with asked if I wanted him to put Bosco down. No. I needed to perform this final act of love and mercy for our dearest Bosco. Bosco was so trusting and he let me know through the look in his sweet eyes that it was OK and he was ready to leave his pain. :-( The dose is 1cc per 10 pounds of body weight. He died after he got a dose for someone only weighing 20 pounds. I did give him the full dose but for sure he was ready to go. Bosco will be cremated and we will get his ashes back in a few days. I e mailed Mike/Ima_Celery about what was going on and again yesterday what had happened. I don't think he has had time to check his e mails yet. The Internet situation in S. America can be iffy at times. Mike will be back in early October. Daisy is looking for Bosco. Bruno the cat, Bosco's best friend, knows something bad has happened and is lying on Bosco's bed all day. None of the cats had eaten yesterday either! We got his spleen out last September and while 80% of dogs die within one to two months of diagnosis, we were lucky ... did the 12 weeks of chemo and got to have another 11 months with him! About 6 years ago Bosco fathered a litter of 7 puppies. ALL have his loving friendly personality. We were so delighted with his puppies we put some of his "representatives" into a sperm bank. Perhaps later if we find a nice female GSD, she might have some Bosco puppies and his line will endure. That is far down in the future. We need to cope, somehow, with this totally unexpected turn of events. I gave myself a mega headache from crying yesterday and today. Drugs have dulled it a bit but not totally. My sincerest thanks to Semper, Heather and Bihai for their compassion and care during this ordeal! What wonderful people they are, and the rest of you Pond people, for such concern for someone you have never even met! Time to cry some more. :-( Chickadeedeedee

I agree with making changes you'll keep. I lost over 20 lbs last year, and I made changes I could do for the long run. For instance, I gave up all soda, but not coffee with cream in the morning. I care about coffee more. I started buying expensive, rich dark chocolate and just having 2 little squares from the bar in the evening if I was craving sweets. One bar would last me 3 days if I ate a piece every night, but I never do. I cut out as much white carbs as I could...noodles, potatoes, rice, breads. I would have a little bit if I really wanted it, but cut waaaaay down. I also added in exercise that I liked. I knew I would never, ever go to the gym every day. I started with yoga, which I love, and then added swimming, which I also love. They are exercise I actually enjoyed and looked forward to so it didn't seem like a chore (that I knew I would stick with). Worked for me! Good luck.

Thanks for the ideas, Beverly. I'm not sure how much I can concentrate on this area of my life for a few weeks. I received bad news last night. My uncle (only 2 years older than me) has been on chemo and the cancer has doubled since he started treatment 5 weeks ago. He's stopped everything and will take it a day at a time. He's more like a brother....we double dated, I married his best friend and a year later, he married my best friend from high school...we raised our children together....unfortunately, both of theirs were killed by a drunk driver while in their teens.....all of this still seems so fresh. After losing a sister and brother within the last couple of years.....I think I'm gonna lose it. Sorry for the downer......... SharonG/FL

I know my daughter who has had two blood clots and takes blood thinner should not drink green tea. Here is part of an article I found: People with heart problems, kidney disorders, stomach ulcers, and psychological disorders (particularly anxiety) should not take green tea. Pregnant and breastfeeding women should also avoid green tea. Possible Interactions If you are currently being treated with any of the following medications, you should not drink green tea or take green tea extract without first talking to your doctor: Adenosine. Green tea may inhibit the actions of adenosine, a medication administered in a hospital setting for an irregular (and usually unstable) heart rhythm. Antibiotics, beta-lactam. Green tea may increase the effectiveness of beta-lactam antibiotics by reducing bacterial resistance to treatment. Aspirin . Green tea and aspirin should not be mixed because they both prevent platelets from clotting. Using the two together may increase your risk of bleeding. Benzodiazepines. Caffeine (including caffeine from green tea) has been shown to reduce the sedative effects of benzodiazepines (medications commonly used to treat anxiety, such as diazepam and lorazepam). Beta-blockers, propranolol and metoprolol. Caffeine (including caffeine from green tea) may increase blood pressure in people taking propranolol and metoprolol (medications used to treat high blood pressure and heart disease). Blood Thinning Medications . People who take warfarin, a blood thinning medication, should not drink green tea. Since green tea contains vitamin K, it can make warfarin ineffective. (See also the aspirin listing, above.) Chemotherapy. The combination of green tea and chemotherapy medications, specifically doxorubicin and tamoxifen, increased the effectiveness of these medications in laboratory tests. However, these results have not yet been demonstrated in studies on people. On the other hand, there have been reports of both green and black tea extracts stimulating a gene in prostate cancer cells that may cause them to be less sensitive to chemotherapy drugs. Given this potential interaction, people should not drink black and green tea (as well as extracts of these teas) while receiving chemotherapy for prostate cancer in particular. Clozapine. The anti-psychotic effects of the medication clozapine may be reduced if taken less than 40 minutes after drinking green tea. Ephedrine. When taken together with ephedrine, green tea may cause agitation, tremors, insomnia, and weight loss. Lithium. Green tea has been shown to reduce blood levels of lithium (a medication used to treat manic/depression). Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) . Green tea may cause a severe increase in blood pressure (called a "hypertensive crisis") when taken together with MAOIs used to treat depression. Examples of MAOIs include phenelzine and tranylcypromine. Oral contraceptives. Oral contraceptives can prolong the amount of time caffeine stays in the body and may increase its stimulating effects. Phenylpropanolamine. A combination of caffeine (including caffeine from green tea) and phenylpropanolamine (an ingredient used in many over-the-counter and prescription cough and cold medications and weight loss products) can cause mania and a severe increase in blood pressure. The FDA issued a public health advisory in November 2000 to warn people of the risk of bleeding in the brain from use of this medication and has strongly urged all manufacturers of this drug to remove it from the market