Axel
Male
Boxer
71 lbs.
Great Falls, MT
Hemangiosarcoma
May 4, 2003
6 years 9 months
7 years 5 months
1-3 months
173 days
May 28, 2010
Axel's story

As I'm writing this, my baby boy is playing loudly by my feet, chewing on a noise-making ball. He's in great spirits, handling chemo better then i could have hoped for. His story begins over a year ago, when he began having collapsing episodes. He would just lay there, panting, not moving, or when he did move he would cry. Ever time i took him to the vet, i was told he just had an upset tummy. These 3 or 4 episodes passed relativity quickly, with only a few hours of down time. After countless trips to the E-vet my vet begin to think that i was being a hypochondriac. I was starting to wonder if i was myself, but i knew something was wrong. They did several blood test and X-rays and could only find a slight UTI. This was treated for months and months with antibiotics until one day on 12-12-09 Axel had another episode where he collapsed and was unresponsive. I walked in the door, he didnt get off the couch and i knew something was wrong. When he did stand up, after a lot of coaxing on my part, he immediately fell over, breathing hard and shallow, and then finally, became unresponsive. I called my E-vet, it was 130am, and he acted as if i was being over reactive. After waiting an hour for the vet to get to the office, Axel was doing worse. His gums were pain and he was in complete shock. The vet had no idea what was wrong with him, ran some blood test, and found nothing out of the ordinary. I left axel overnight, not expecting to see him alive again. I got a call the next morning that axel was doing good, he was awake and responsive. They had done nothing to him except give him fluids. They did x-rays, ran more blood work and could not find any issues. The doctor thought that the UTI had went to his kidneys, even though blood work showed no infection. After a few days of recovery, Axel was back to his normal self again. A month went past before he had another small episode. At this point i was recommended to an internal specialist over an hour away from where i live. I took Axel to the specialist on March 15th, 2010 and within 15 minutes the Doctor told me that he had a tumor on his spleen. He told me that he was bleeding out occasionally, and that is why he was collapsing. He would bleed out and then reabsorb the blood, and be ok, until it was such a large rupture that he didnt recover. He also said he had a 50% chance of cancer. Axel had his spleen removed on March 15th with no complications. He came home and was back to his normal self within a day. i got a call on March 19th from the doctor, confirming that he had stage 2 Hemangiosarcoma. I was devastated. I had been reading online about it, fearing that he would be diagnosed with it, and i knew that prognosis was very poor. Its been over 2 months since diagnosis, two IV chemo and oral chemo treatments, with more in the works, and i have switched over to low carb high protein and fat diet, with Fish oil, vitamin and Bone meal supplements. Axel is doing great. The chemo doesn't affect him, in fact he LOVES going to the vet. I'm not sure if any of it will help in the long run, or how much time i have left with my baby, but i'm doing everything i can. Its cost a lot of money and time, but its worth all of it to have him around. Any suggestions of things that have helped, or supplements that are useful would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, and good luck to all of you pet owners dealing with cancer.

Cancer fighting tip from Axel's owner Alaynna L.

Chemo-Don't knock it til you try it. Combination Chemo is what statistically works the best. I'm also on the natural diet band wagon, although i dont do raw foods. I give liquid refrigerated fish oil daily, along with vitamins and bone meal supplements. Looking for more info!

PS. Live each day for what it is--time with your baby.

Axel's treatment
Tap
N/A
Yes
N/A

Natural > Vitamins/Supplements/Minerals/Herbs (Chinese and Western) >

Fish oil

Conventional >

Surgery
Chemotherapy
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  • Sunriver8-30-02_014_small
    Ginger's owner What a beautiful boy! Glad to hear that Axel is doing well with treatments. Keep up the good work. We went all natural after Ginger's surgery. If you'd like to know more about that, just ask. I may be able to offer some ideas. Rosemary
    3 months ago on Axel's wall
    • Imgp0474_thumbnail
      Axel's owner I would love to know more about diet and suppliments. There is Just so much info on the internet that I don't know where to start. Any suggestions would be greatly appriciated. I'm so glad I found this site. Its nice to see something positive for a change! Thank u so much
      3 months ago
    • Sunriver8-30-02_014_thumbnail
      Ginger's owner The best way is to just call me. I'm happy to help. Most of the details are on a website I built around Ginger's story. You can reach me through that. www.RosemarysSolutions.com I'm in Oregon, but leave for Spain on June 1st. Best to call me before that. Rosemary
      3 months ago
    • Cody_the_miracle_dog_thumbnail
      Cody's owner Sorry to hear about Axel. My Cody had HSA as well and lived 517 days. Suggest you do a search on all dogs with hemangiosarcoma on this site and look through their treatment plans. to search go to: http://www.fightdogcancer.com/dogs
      3 months ago