Posted on 12/30/2010 3:03:05 PM PST by moonshinner_09
DALLAS — Teresa Needham may not have loved her dog more than most. But when 10-year-old Tiffin was diagnosed with cancer, she was willing and able to do more than most to save his life.
She flew the dog to a veterinary hospital in Los Angeles specializing in a blood treatment that can cure lymphoma in dogs.
The procedure is a bone marrow transplant that uses the animal's own healthy cells and radiation to beat the cancer.
“We thought that if we don't do everything that's out there that there is to do, I don't think I could live with myself knowing that there could've been something that could've saved him,” Needham said.
At first, the doctors said the risks for Tiffin were too high for this rare procedure. They said Tiffin was too small to survive, and his other health problems — including diabetes — made it too complicated.
But the Needhams insisted. And it's a good thing, because Tiffin survived the surgery.
(Excerpt) Read more at khou.com ...
How many happy, healthy puppies can you buy for $19,000?
31, maybe 32.
Look at it another way: just about every successful human cancer treatment we have originated in canine veterinary trials. She’s paid willingly out of love and affection for something that may be of benefit to you or someone you love, eventually.
It’s her money, she can do whatever she likes with it.
I wonder what the architects of Obamacare would say about this....
"....how could we have not taxed this woman so that money would go for a Cadillac plan for Union members?"
I wonder what the architects of Obamacare would say about this....
"....how could we have not taxed this woman so that money would go for a Cadillac plan for Union members?"
Once the Gov’t distorts and ruins the market for human care, we will sadly find out how efficient, cheap and fast canine care will become, as it will remain untouched by Gov’t interference.
The "death panel" at work.
$1000 a puppy 19.. the cost of curing your beloved pet...PRICELESS! ;)
ping
I’ve pursued radiation and chemo for a dog. He endured it with good cheer, it extended his life a year past the most optimistic prognosis and he was an old fellow to begin with. He was comfortable and happy as a clam right up to the day he died, and cancer didn’t kill him. I’d do it again.
The treatments weren’t cheap by any means, but they were doable out of pocket for me at the time. It’d be tough now, my circumstance is reduced due to the O-pression. The cost certainly beat anything I could have gotten personally at a hospital, had it been me with cancer instead of my dog. He was well cared for, for considerably less than a short hospital stay for a routine surgery.
how many best friends would you spend $19,0000 to save?
and if they die, just go get another healthier friend?
My friend spent over $16,000 on her Lhasa Apso for radiation treatments for a brain tumor. This was her “child”. She drove the dog from Pittsburgh to a specialty vet hospital in Cleveland every day for a month for the treatments.
I once spent $600 trying to save an $8.00 parakeet, when I didn’t have two nickels to rub together.
I always said I would never be such a foolish pet owner, but when your animal is sick sometimes the heart takes over the brain’s functions.
Even with our livestock - a business enterprise - I spent more than the animal’s potential value to treat an injured alpaca. But hey, it was our boy Chaching.
We saved the alpaca but could not save the bird. Neither expenditure do I regret.
Tomorrow I go to pick up my Christmas present - a rescue chinchilla. At least at this point in my life, I have a sizable emergency fund for vet care. And a very understanding husband.
I don’t get too terribly upset over people who spend king’s ransoms on pioneering heroic veterinary treatments for their pets, because usually the technology will carry over into human treatments sooner or later.
Dogs are not people.
Having lost a dog to lymphoma last year who was also diabetic, this story touched me. We spent close to $10k, and after a number of failed remissions our boy crossed the Rainbow Bridge. If she can afford it then good for her and I hope her dog beats the monster.
19K isn’t really that much money.
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