LILAH

In February of 2022 Lilah turned 11yrs old and we found out she had cancer. She had a large Kiwi size tumor removed from her front ankle area. We had thought it was just one of her many fatty tumors and figured it best to remove it before it messed up her walking. Much to our surprise we were told it was “soft tissue” cancer. That’s all we were told, that, and “you might want to consult an oncologist but we think it is best to remove her leg”. 

When you hear the dreaded C word, whether it is for a human loved one or a furry one, you get this knot in your stomach instantaneously.  That knot stays as you research the options. One of the first things I did was notify Lilah’s vet and her chiropractor, both were devastated to hear the news. Lilah had a huge scare three years earlier when it was determined that she had a 13 lb tumor attached to her spleen. Most of the time it is cancer, but our beloved Lilah dodged the bullet and had the tumor and spleen removed with no ill effect.  Upon hearing of the diagnosis of  the “soft tissue cancer” on her leg  her chiropractor immediately suggested I reach out to her longtime friend and holistic vet, Dr. Khalsa.  One of Lilah’s facebook fans and client of our chiropractor, echoed this advice stating that Dr.Khalsa had helped her Rottweiler, Chance, live longer with cancer than anyone had expected. 

My first consultation with Dr. K. was over the phone and I hung on to her every word as she poured over the lab results and pathology. One thing stuck out, we did not have a real diagnosis. This apparently irritated the Dr., to the point that she called the lab and insisted that they name what type of “soft tissue cancer” it was.  Short of very expensive testing, they came up with their educated guess. It was either this or that. I can’t remember the names but both were the type of cancer that would NOT metastasize, there was the chance that due to the location (we couldn’t be sure of good margins) it could come back but if it did, Dr.Khalsa had a plan for that, a special salve that eats cancer cells. What a sigh of relief, a few days earlier doctors were talking about amputation, radiation and chemo and here we were with, she can keep her leg and if it comes back we will deal with it.

I wish our cancer story stopped there but unfortunately it doesn’t. Routine blood work in the fall of 2022 showed that something was up. After several lab tests to confirm, Lilah was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. It sounds scary but I was assured that Lilah would not die from this , it would be something else because this cancer, if left untreated, is not too aggressive and most dogs get anywhere from 18 months to 5 years after diagnosis. Since Lilah was nearly 12 the likelihood was that something age related would call her home well before the effects of this type of cancer. That being said, we weren’t going to just sit back and wait. 

After Lilah’s initial cancer diagnosis Dr. Khalsa put Lilah on several holistic supplements and some traditional meds. With the new diagnosis came adjustments and additions to her regime.  She took everything like a champ and thrived.  Her blood tests normalized.

Due to her previous non-cancerous spleen/tumor removal, Lilah had a lot of scar tissue that in conjunction with arthritis slowed her down over the next year. Although the frequency and length of walks had changed, her spirit and level of happiness was constant. I am so thankful for the time we were given with our girl. I am so thankful that I listened to our chiropractor and contacted Dr. Khalsa. I am sure that if we had listened to the well intentioned traditional vets, Lilah would have lost a leg and suffered through unnecessary radiation and or chemo. I am sure that the neurological deterioration which inevitably did take her from us would have been sped up by unnecessary treatments and meds for that soft tissue cancer.  There is a good likelihood that we would have had to put her down for quality of life reasons if she was operating on 3 legs with her advanced arthritis in her “good” shoulder.  

I am so thankful that Lilah had high quality vets in her life. Her traditional vet was open minded and accepting of our choice to work with Dr. Khalsa.  Lilah’s chiropractor was proactive and insisted that I reach out to Dr. Khalsa and get her advice. I strongly believe if we did not have the support and direction from these two doctors we would never have had the opportunity to consult with Dr.Khalsa who was able to help us help Lilah stay alive and happy longer. I have learned so much in the short time we worked with Dr. Khalsa. The wealth of knowledge she has is mind blowing. 

In mid January of 2024, just shy of her 13th birthday we had to say goodbye to Lilah. As for many of us, it was one of the most heartbreaking experiences of my life, because she was not in pain (to our knowledge) she was still cognitively there but she was confused as to why nothing worked, why she couldn’t get up etc. She let us know it was time.  

Lilah’s life was a full one, orphaned at 2 weeks, adopted at 7 weeks. She earned her CGC and Therapy Dog Certificates at 2 yrs old and started her journey in therapy work, visiting seniors and children weekly for 9 years. She went on family vacations and many adventures. She even had her own social media accounts, Life With Lilah.  

She led a great life, in my opinion it was just too short. She could have lived to have been 25 and it wouldn’t have been enough time. 

In the weeks after she passed, we as a family discussed how when we eventually adopt we want to start out with all three vets. We want to get advice from day one from Dr. Khalsa to hopefully prevent as many awful things as possible. Nothing is absolute and genetics play into things but we can control the environment  we “raise” our pets in and having Dr. Khalsa’s knowledge and experience is a priceless resource.