My Dog Has Cancer. What Can I Do?: Nola's Wellness Guide & Journey with Holistic Medicine

By Heather Beuke Diers

While documenting Nolas journey with cancer and holistic medicine, I gathered information that can now guide you through every stage of your dogs cancer. After completing hundreds of hours of research and taking a great team of veterinarians advice, I have created an economical, cancer-fighting and immune-building protocol, for any canine (or human!) fighting cancer. I explain how cancer works in the body and how to create a cancer-killing environment with, wait for itFOOD! How you treat the body will affect the outcome this thought should empower you!

Although we were able to turn a three-months-to-live diagnosis into a year of great quality of life for our girl, I believe we could have prolonged her life even longer if we had started with the protocol with which we ended shared in My Dog Has Cancer. What Can I Do? Nola had a fast-spreading, incurable cancer, osteosarcoma, which would not wait for me to catch up on my research. My mission is to save you time, so you can start fighting cancer immediately. The intent is not to persuade you to do exactly as we did; I also share our mistakes and changes I would consider, if faced with the same circumstances again.

This protocol should not replace the care of your veterinarian and other necessary medical providers. Always inform them of all food and supplements in your protocol, before giving them to your pet. I am not a veterinarian, but I worked closely with my veterinarian, who practices both Western and holistic medicine, while building our protocol to treat Nolas cancer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Mar 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9781504349659

Heather Beuke Diers

Heather Beuke Diers is an artist with many areas of expertise—interior design, original art, and custom furniture. Recently she has added published author and blogger to her artistic montage by writing about her true passions in life, animals and holistic healthcare. Natural medicine is an artistic form of its own, and Heather uses a palette of herbs, spices, and essential oils to heal the body as well as the soul. She has spent years researching the best holistic cancer cures and preventions for both animals and humans. Although Heather is an artist by trade, anyone who knows her personally thinks of her first as an animal lover and nutrition enthusiast. She understands animals benefit from proper nutrition and holistic care as much as we do, and Mother Nature gives us everything we need to prevent most diseases. Heather’s mission is to educate others on the importance of proper nutrition to heal the body. You can follow Heather’s blog at heathersholisticpawprints.com or her Facebook page, facebook.com/heathersholisticpawprints.com

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Copyright © 2016 Heather Beuke Diers.

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5043-4964-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-4965-9 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 02/19/2016

Contributing Author: Heidi Straub - chapter, Spiritual Healing & Meditation.

Cover designed by Yu Zhang.

Nola’s Journey Includes:

My dog has cancer. What can I do?

Support Groups ~ It takes a village

Getting to know Nola ~ Our Little Badass

Nutrition ~ Mother Nature provides the best medicine

Medicinal Herbs & Spices

Vitamins & Supplements

Cancer Fighting Menu

Natural Remedies for Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)

Is Amputation Right for Us?

Pain Management ~ Holistic and Western Medicine work together

Dealing with Lung Mets

Spiritual Healing & Meditation

How will I Know When it’s Time?

New Discoveries since our Journey

Coping with the Loss of Your Beloved Pet

For Nola and Jean, the two most badass cancer warriors I’ve ever known. Because of you, my appreciation for clean food and holistic medicine has changed my life forever. I miss you both. xo

To all the other cancer warriors out there fighting with everything you have. Be informed and be empowered! I pray for every one of you.

Shout-outs

I want to give a special shout-out to all the people who helped when it really mattered. You supported me during Nola’s journey with cancer and while writing, My Dog Has Cancer. What Can I Do?

Mark, thank you for loving our girl as much as I do. You made it possible for me to stay home to care for her, when she was sick, giving her a wonderful quality of life during a very scary time. You always support my decisions and make me laugh in dark moments. For that I am so grateful. I love you.

Dr. Cindy Baker, the best of both Eastern and Western medicine. Thank you for supporting our choice of holistic healthcare and for helping me create an amazing cancer fighting protocol for Nola. You always take great care of our pets and we are so lucky to have you in our area. Most of all, thank you for making Nola’s last moments in this world so beautiful.

Juli, Anita and Ellen, thank you for letting me include you and your cancer warriors into our story. You were all an important part of our journey, along with so many others in the Artemisinin Yahoo Group. I will never be able to describe how much the support of this group has helped us along the way. We are forever bonded by this horrible disease, but at least something great came out of it…friendships.

Mark, Jen, Heidi, Susanne, Brian and Kerri, thank you for taking the time to read, edit and advise along the way. You each have your own amazing strengths in writing and journalism and I am so lucky to have had your insights, while editing, My Dog Has Cancer. What Can I Do?

Dawn, I’m so glad we took this publishing path together. Having a friend to share ideas and tips kept the journey exciting. You were a great motivator for me to keep writing and finish this book!

A special thank you to whoever reached out with a hug, Facebook message, text, email, gift, donation, card or phone call when Nola passed away. There are too many to list, which makes my heart swell every time I think of the outpouring of love that came to us at such a difficult time. It helped more than you will ever know.

Most importantly, thank you, God, for guiding me through every day of our cancer journey and through every page of this book. I am certain I would have never been able to get through any of it without You.

Disclaimer

Neither the author nor the publisher of this book is a veterinarian or other healthcare provider. This book documents the author’s journey with her dog, Nola, canine cancer and everything she learned about holistic medicine, while treating Nola’s cancer, Osteosarcoma.

This book is not intended to replace the care of a licensed veterinarian or other healthcare provider and is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease without a licensed veterinarian or other healthcare provider’s guidance.

The author, publisher and all other contributors will not be liable for any damages in connection with the use of this book. This book is the opinion of the author, with regard to treating cancer holistically. It is a resource meant to aid the immune system and enhance the quality of life of a canine cancer patient, while under the care of a licensed veterinarian or other healthcare provider.

You should always consult your veterinarian and other healthcare providers before giving any food, vitamins, supplements or other treatments to your pets.

Introduction

My Mission

The intent of this book is not to persuade you to do exactly as we did; rather, it is meant to inform you of many cancer fighting remedies that fall outside of Western medicine. Telling our story is a way to create something good and helpful out of a horrible disease.

This book provides you with important information that will guide you through every stage, while you make difficult decisions regarding the care of your cancer warrior dog. Writing this journal was also my therapy and a forum to remember our journey together with our girl, Nola. I want to give her life meaning, as well as her illness. Because of her illness, I took a crash course in cancer treatments, mostly natural, and learned more in two years about nutrition than most doctors learn in a lifetime.

After completing hundreds of hours of research and taking a great team of veterinarians’ advice, I have created an economical, cancer-fighting and immune-building protocol for any animal (or human!) fighting cancer.

The problem we had was time. It took many months of intense research to develop our protocol, during a crucial time in my baby girl’s life. My mission is to save you time on research and give you an advantage over this evil we call cancer.

Nola had Osteosarcoma (OS), which is an incurable, fast spreading bone cancer that would not wait while I tried to catch up on my research. As Nola’s mommy and caregiver, I felt her life was in my hands. Nola always came to me for protection and she knew I had her back, no matter what. Ironically, I was already researching natural cancer cures because I had a friend, Jean, who was fighting cancer with many natural remedies. I was fascinated by the idea food is medicine. I had learned a lot from Jean about the importance of nutrition when fighting a disease. Whole foods, herbs & spices should never be discounted as a secondary option for healthcare - a healthy diet is the foundation of a successful battle.

The desire to learn more about food’s medicinal properties lead to a few vegan cooking classes, which were invaluable during this process. I feel my jumpstart on proper nutrition helped to slow Nola’s cancer early on, buying precious time with our girl, while I continued my research.

We were able to turn her first diagnosis of three-months-to-live into a year of a great quality of life. These, by the way, are the same results that many OS dogs get with early amputation and chemotherapy. Her cancer was not curable, so our goal was to keep her body healthy and strong, for as long as possible, by creating an environment in which cancer could not thrive. I also feel certain we could have turned that year into more time if we had started with the protocol with which we ended.

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Any extra time we are given with our loved ones is a gift and I want that for every family that is fighting this evil disease.

I pray you can benefit from all that my journey with Nola has taught me. From the mistakes we made, to the resources that guided and supported us. Our strategy ultimately extended and improved the quality of Nola’s last year of life and it can do the same for your warrior. May you find what you need, within the pages of this book, to extend your journey with your cancer warrior and make it a beautiful one.

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My dog has cancer. What can I do?

Let me begin by expressing my deepest sympathy for the devastating news that your beloved has cancer. I still remember the feeling I had when I stood in disbelief after finding out our precious Nola had Osteosarcoma (OS). I felt as if my soul had left my body and I was standing outside the room watching someone else’s life. The thoughts were racing through my mind, "But it was just a slight limp, in fact we weren’t even sure she was limping and she looks so healthy. We cook all of her meals and we don’t feed her crappy dog treats, how can this be? Then, as our veterinarian (at the time) started rattling on about how Nola only had three months to live, I remember drifting off again thinking, What can I do to help my girl?" Being somewhat of a control freak and too stubborn to give into this evil disease and arbitrary statistics, I knew my girl wasn’t going to die in three months – not if I had anything to do about it.

After he gave me the information for our next meeting with the surgeon, explaining how surgery and chemotherapy were our only options, I knew he would not be a part of our journey for long. I said, Thank you very much, left his office and immediately went into research mode. I spent the next eight months cramming for what felt like the most important exam I have ever taken; my baby girl’s life depended on whether I passed or failed. I knew our funds were limited and our veterinarian did not believe in holistic medicine and cancer fighting diets, which explains why his patients were only living for three months with this type of cancer. I knew he would be of no help to me long term and time was of the essence.

I had to act fast, pull my team together and make the right decisions quickly, while not second guessing myself. Well, that last part is almost impossible because I constantly had to second guess everything in order to keep an open mind and maintain a sense of reality. I didn’t want to convince myself of something that wasn’t possible, but I also didn’t want to be blinded by statistics from a veterinarian who didn’t understand the importance of nutrition over chemo, radiation or surgeries. It all has to work together and if the diet does not come first, none of the other treatments will have the outcome for which you are hoping.

This picture captures the very last normal moment before our lives changed forever. This is Nola staring down the veterinarian’s cat on the counter, right before we went back to find out Nola’s lump on her leg was Osteosarcoma and we were getting ready to go to war with cancer.

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As you can see, I knew immediately I was ‘all in’ to help my girl fight, no matter how long or how hard. As long as she was up for it, so was I. The first question I want you to ask yourself is, are you in for whatever it takes? You need to come by this question honestly, because the experience can be daunting at times - draining both physically and financially.

Even if you choose the holistic route, you still have a lot of