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| Hpathy Ezine - Jan., 2004 | ||||
Isis - From Liver Cancer to Life-- Nancy Siciliana |
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That diagnosis was quite intimidating, I have to admit. I had no idea how I would organise the information I had about Isis, or where to start looking in the repertory for her trouble. Nothing seemed to stand out as "characteristic"...and since the "cancer" was already progressed enough to bring about her instinctual dying behaviour, I didn't feel I could find anything characteristic about her case. I decided I didn't know, for certain, that she did have cancer at all: but I did know with certainty that she had -
Looking up jaundice in the repertory gave me a moderately sized rubric (Skin, discolouration, yellow, jaundice, icterus;)...and further along, a rubric for jaundice as a concommitant symptom, showing only one remedy: phosphorus. Since the jaundice was accompanied by cancer, I could consider this small rubric. Phosphorus is also listed under the rubrics Respiration, asthmatic (quite a large rubric) as well as Respiration, difficult. I asked my uncle when Isis's breathing difficulties would come up, and he recalled that they always started when he and my aunt would come home from work--usually when they were preparing or eating dinner, or shortly afterward. That would be in the early evening--before 9pm or so, a time modality which also fit in well with the remedy. There was little to go on for a mental emotional state, though I did know that much of the instinctual dying behaviour of cats is precipitated by fear and self-protection: they are afraid of predators, afraid of being attacked while vulnerable--and this motivates their instinct to hide, make themselves small in stature, stop eating and drinking (so they leave no feces or urine traces around for other animals to detect them) and stop responding to stimuli around them. Its a very fearful state. I decided on the phosphorus because it is often used in euthanasia, particularly when this state is present. I felt that if I couldn't help Isis get better, death by phosphorus would be far less jarring than death by injection at the hands of the vet. So I went back to the vet's and had him bring Isis out. In front of him, I gave Isis a dose of Phosphorus 30c, as it was the one vial of phosphorus available in my uncle's neighbourhood! The vet assured me that he would continue his tests and call me later on that evening to discuss her cancer, and putting her down. I decided I would just bring her home, if that was all right with him; I told him I knew she may not get better and that I would be returning to him to put her down, if it was requried. Later than night, I was supposed to meet with the vet to pick up Isis's test results, and he didn't show up for his appointment! Just as well, I thought, as my uncle was devastated to learn about the vet's intentions to put Isis down. I went home and asked my uncle to give me a call the next day to let me know if there were any changes. Isis got better. The next day, her appetite returned and the clarity had returned to her eyes and skin. After two days, Isis used the litter box again and had begun to want to go outside to run around. She was observant and alert while outdoors, preferring to walk around and sit in the shade or follow my uncle around as he tended his garden...and it was in watching her moving that he noticed her long-standing "limp" had disappeared. She did, however, have a funny new habit of licking the paving stones on the patio--something we all thought strange. She clearly needed the nutrients she was getting from the clay and sand she was eating! I thought about Pica remedies, and thought about redosing with the phosphorus, but the behaviour didn't last very long and then, once again, her picture changed. About a week later, my uncle and aunt called to tell me that Isis was like a totally different cat--energetic, bouncy, affectionate again. But, they noted, she was developing a strange swelling under her lower jaw--did I know anything about what that was? They described her symptoms over the next few days as "strange and bizarre", as Isis developed what looked like a huge blister under her chin, which discharged a watery, whitish fluid tinged slightly with blood. I told my uncle I would look for another remedy, but when I asked him about Isis's pain from her symptoms, he said she wasn't experiencing any--she just had this unsightly bulge under there, some of the hairs were falling off on the skin covering the bulge, but she was not really bothered by it and ate and played with much more vigour than she had in a long time. I considered "waiting it out" to see what happened, and I never did give another remedy. Whatever it was that was happening came and went over the course of a week. As long as they kept her chin clean, and left her to her own devices, Isis was "putting up with" the new symptom well. It resolved in a few days and she was as good as she always was. Early this past summer, at the age of 17, Isis passed away of old age. She lived for 5 years after her "terminal" cancer was diagnosed, and never suffered another asthma attack or limp as a result of her adventures again; nor was she ever seen licking the patio stones or suffering from the skin ailment which developed after the phosphorus was given. I never did have to give her another dose of the phos 30c, or of any other remedy--and now, looking back on the case, I can see that any intervention to "deal with" the symptoms she exhibited after that dose would probably have complicated the case! |
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