Emmy’s Healing Journey
This past Wednesday was International Dog Day, so I am inspired to share a picture and story about our sweet dog Emmy. Our adorable Golden Retriever will be 10 years old this November and I thank God every day that she is still here with us. Emmy got sick and began her healing journey a few years before I began mine. While caring for her, I learned a lot from her experience.
When Emmy was 4 years old, she was diagnosed with Masticatory Muscle Myositis (MMM), an autoimmune disease where the body's immune system attacks certain muscles around the head and jaw area. Imagine that your dog could not open her mouth to eat, drink, pick up a ball or toy without experiencing extreme pain.
Her treatment was medication to suppress the immune system and control the attack of the muscles. She ate soft food for a while and was on these medications for 6 months, tapering off after a few more.
We first brought Emmy into the emergency veterinary care center when she whined in pain after trying to chew on a stick in the yard. The vet thought maybe it was the stick that hurt her and we stopped letting her chew on the sticks. However, when her mouth didn’t seem to heal, and the pain persisted, we took her back to the vet. After a variety of tests, they figured out that she had MMM. At that time, we also discovered that one of her sisters had the same disease and hers was triggered about a year earlier.
Throughout those 9 months of medication, Emmy experienced many debilitating side effects: fur loss, weight gain, horrible gas, diarrhea and frequent sudden urges to urinate. The most frightening side effect was when she started to bleed from her nose near the end of weaning off of the medication. Then a few years later, Emmy began limping and had painful swollen joints in her legs. After further testing, they guessed it may be related to her autoimmune disease.
Seeing Emmy go through this and not knowing if she would make it through was so painful and frightening. I would panic whenever a new adverse symptom would appear. I was committed to doing anything to alleviate her pain and to help her heal. The medicine reduced her pain, she could open her mouth again, and her joints became less swollen. At the same time, I began my research to learn how to help her get back her fluffy fur, maintain a healthy weight, heal her digestion, strengthen her joints and bring balance back to her entire body.
We switched from the recommended weight loss dog food formula which included ingredients such as whole grain wheat, corn, soybean, and cornmeal to the highest quality brand that was grain-free with chicken, fish and vegetables.
We stopped giving her treats like bully sticks and the recommended low-fat cheerios when we realized they could be extremely inflammatory to someone with an autoimmune disease. We started giving her carrots as treats, agility supplements, probiotics and a multivitamin.
While caring for our sweet dog, I learned that autoimmune diseases can be triggered by toxic foods, digestive issues, imbalance and inflammation.
I learned that medicine can save lives and help miraculously to reduce pain and improve quality of life and at the same time can be extremely detrimental and cause serious and debilitating side effects after long-term use.
I learned that certain foods can be nourishing, healing and strengthening, while others, that may appear to be helpful, can be toxic.
I learned that additional nutritional intake from supplements can be essential in maintaining a healthy body.
I am so grateful that there are medical professionals who are compassionate and caring and do whatever they can to help their patients heal and reduce their pain.
I am thankful for the wisdom and health advice I received, while I continue to research and learn how to do my best to heal, strengthen and bring balance to our bodies naturally.
I know the autoimmune disease could return or flare up in different ways at any time. I do my best to protect Emmy, but I can’t always control what food she gets into, that could cause a flare up. I also know that she is getting older everyday.
I am thankful that today Emmy can walk around our 1 mile loop in our neighborhood, proudly carrying a big stick in her mouth the whole way. She can grab a squeaky toy or the girls’ bras, socks or stuffed animals and run away excited knowing we’ll chase her. Today Emmy can eat a big crunchy carrot, she can walk around the house and jump up on our beds. She seems happy and pain free. One day at a time, we appreciate the health that she has.