My Prince Maverick, born February 14, 2000 and a handsome 4-1/2 year old Rottweiler, has been diagnosed with Lymphoma just two weeks ago. I was devastated! I still am. He's too young to have cancer. He's supposed to be our pet for life. My 14-year old son always thought he'd take Mav with him when he moved out in six years.  We'd laugh and say Mav would be too old and grumpy by then. We never thought he wouldn't be with us until then.

We first found Maverick's lymph nodes to be very swollen one Friday two weeks ago when I was taking his collar off to bathe him. I couldn't see them, I could just feel them. Being completely unaware of symptoms of cancer I was lost as to what this could be.

I assumed he had some kind of infection so I called his vet and made an appointment for Monday. By Saturday the lymph nodes were visible. By Sunday I was scared as the swelling increased dramatically.  I called his vet and he said it would be okay to wait until the morning when his appointment was scheduled for. Maverick had blood taken and a sample was taken from his lymph node in his neck. That afternoon I received a call saying the blood test came back all normal. I didn't know why at the time, but that made me cry, I just knew that we were dealing with far worse than my original thought of an infection somewhere.

Two days later as Maverick's health rapidly deteriorated the vet called to confirm Lymphoma. My heart felt a pain I have never felt in my life. My beloved Maverick would not stay with us for much longer. I had to tell my two children and I didn't know how. The worst thing for a mother is to instill pain in her own child. My two sons are 11 and 14 and have had Mav in their lives for almost 5 years, they would not take it well. That afternoon when I drove home from work I cried as I have been doing for six days.  I cried for my pet, I cried for my children, I cried for my husband and I cried for the pain I was not familiar with -- that only a pet owner can understand.

When I got home I found Maverick sleeping in his bed and could barely lift his head to say hello. I was crying as I helped him outside for his afternoon pee. My strong Titan-like warrior was diminished to a weak old man in a matter of days, he could barely move any part of his body. When we came back in I called the boys to join us as I explained that Mav had cancer. My 11-year old was crying so bad I thought he'd need a tranquilizer and my 14-year old was just stunned as tears rolled down his face. We love Maverick so much and it didn't seem fair that he would be taken from us so soon in his short life.

My husband came home that night with Maverick's prescription of Prednisone and he started it that evening and each morning. One every 12 hours for the first four days then once a day until it no longer helps.

Surprisingly enough, Maverick suddenly became energetic and could even walk.  We combined that with garlic and cleansing pills each morning and evening and his lymph nodes have completely shrunk to normal. Today it does not appear at all as though Maverick has cancer. We are always aware of the fact that he does but I am glad to report that he appears to be in complete remission for now. He runs and bounces and plays with us as though he will be with us forever. For now we are cherishing every minute with him. We are thankful that we have had this opportunity to enjoy our time with him before he goes.

We are having family portraits done in the mountains tomorrow (Thanksgiving Sunday, 2004) and he's going to dine on turkey and potatoes and gravy. When he passes away we are going to bury his ashes in that same favorite place in the mountains that we have been taking him to since he was a baby and we are all burying one of our favorite items with him. My son has chosen his A&W Bear that Maverick has always stolen off his bed and ran away starting a chase that always made us laugh. I will include a family portrait and my husband and older son have still to decide.

Right now Maverick is doing his usual ploy at getting my attention by sticking his head under my elbow to make me stop typing while wagging his little stub. So I will end my story and take him for his walk, there's still plenty of this town to be peed on by him, and perhaps he knows there's not much time to do it in.

10/27/04 update on Maverick's condition:

Anyone who has read Maverick's story will be aware that our 4-1/2 year old Rottweiler was diagnosed with Lymphoma just 4 weeks ago after we found unusually large lymph nodes under his jaw. After much testing at the veterinary clinic and a diagnosis of Lymphoma, the vet didn't expect him to make it past two weeks.  His condition deteriorated quite rapidly in just a few days following the diagnosis. We considered euthanasia a few times in those first few days but after starting him on Prednisone (not chemo therapy as we decided against causing him pain and discomfort to prolong our time with him) he made a complete turnaround. We are happy to report he's still with us. As I said before we were originally devastated and are still worried about the possible outcome, but are thankful for every morning he is still with us. Maverick has our two boys,  ages 11 and 14, myself and my husband as his family. We have had Maverick since he was 6 weeks old.

He is greatly loved by us and we will surely miss him terribly when he goes. On Thanksgiving we did take him to the mountains for family portraits and they turned out wonderfully, he's such a "poser". We all enjoyed ourselves that chilly day and it was obvious that Maverick was having the time of his life.

We heard another fellow used the garlic and cleansing pills on his Rottweiler so we decided to try it and combined with the Prednisone, he has a new joy of life.  He is spunkier than he has been for some time and he makes us laugh every day. We are aware of his cancer every day but we get longer time between each thought now a days.

There's not much else to report as his condition has remained good, and we hope it will be a long time before we need to report anything else. Until that day we will enjoy every day with Maverick, the kids are praying for one last Christmas with him, Shawn and I hope their wish comes true, but we are all silently prepared for his passing, we really just hope it is in his sleep and involves no pain.

02/28/05 update on Maverick condition:

He’s lost over 20 pounds in the last two weeks and although there is no apparent pain we can not prolong his inevitable death for our own desire to keep him around. We are grateful for the amount of time we had with him since his diagnosis in September. He was only given two weeks and I prayed he make it to his 5th birthday (Feb. 14th). Back then that was a dream, today it is a nightmare. I got my prayer answered and now I want to reverse it. I should have prayed for 10 more years with Maverick.

Today I will go home before anyone else (they’re all going to a basketball game) and I will bring Maverick in to be put down. I told everyone to say their goodbyes (as we have been doing since September) just IN CASE… I will stay with him as he goes to sleep for the last time and then I will comfort my children and then I will start a website in his memory. I want him to live on in the lives of those he has touched. EVERYONE who has met him has enjoyed his company in the last five years. If he’s better (this has happened before and was gone the next day), then we will make arrangements for a date very soon so this doesn’t happen anymore for him. Either way I think our soldier is at the end of his fight.

Thanks to all of you who have contacted me regarding your pets and I sure hope Maverick's story has helped at least one family. Mav was given two weeks to live on September 27th. Today it is exactly 5 months and one day. And every day except for today has been good for him and us. He never suffered, he was never in pain, he was never sad, and he was never lonely. Unfortunately that will not be the same for myself and my family after today. We will suffer, we will be in pain, we will be sad and a part of us will be lonely for Maverick, but euthanasia is not a selfish act. We do not make any of our decisions based on OUR feelings, desires or needs. The old cliché, 'time heals all wounds' will be repeated over and over until the sadness and loneliness are shadowed by gratefulness for the five years we did get to spend with Maverick and the joy he brought us.

Please feel free to contact me at tamillan@telus.net for further information regarding Maverick's condition including his treatment.

Cancer-fighting supplements we used:  Each morning Maverick would have 2 (500 mg) garlic pills (from Costco, but it really doesn't matter), one cleansing pill (from GNC or any nature supplement store, ask at the counter. It is for humans. Not sold at pet stores. Then at night he would have two more garlic pills and another cleansing pill. Each morning along with the garlic and cleansing pills Maverick would have his Prednisone pill, just one a day, prescribed by his vet. They are about $1/pill.

I hope that helps. This is my last update on Maverick, although I will continue to visit this site as it has proven to be a great source of communicating a terrible way to lose a pet.