LITF update.....

[my miss storm cat]

http://www.timwoolleyracing.com/news/

Posted August 31, 2006
Update 573: Jeannine Edwards has just spoken with Greg Gilchrist, Lost in the Fog's trainer. She sent me this e-mail:

Just spoke to Greg Gilchrist... Lost In The Fog is being examined and having his ultrasounds as I write this. They are scanning him to see if there has been any reduction at all in the size of the tumors. Greg seemed hopeful, albeit realistic, that there may be some options for Foggy. He said by this time next month... NEXT MONTH...they would have a better idea of whether or not Foggy is going to make it. That's a whole lot better than the "2 weeks to live" we heard 10 days ago. Greg said Foggy has gained some weight back, they are feeding him smaller meals 4 times a day, and when I asked what his daily routine is, Greg said "Whatever he feels like doing." They walk him, take him out for grass, take him near the track to watch training, give him baths, etc. He said right now the horse seems happy and perky, and because of the cancer treatment options available to humans, they are hopeful of being able to try something on Foggy. The problem is that cancer is very rare in equines, and so the treatment data is relatively obscure. Perhaps Foggy will become the "poster horse" for successful cancer treatment. Greg said he will give me an update on the ultrasound findings tomorrow.

[AeWingnut]

Thanks for the update.

My experiences with the cancer victims in my family and with friends is all bad. They will look like they are getting better then WHAM you get the punch in the gut.

I really hope LITF can stay happy and healthy for a long long time.

[my miss storm cat]

From BH.....

Chemotherapy Next for Champ Lost in the Fog
by Jack Shinar

Lost in the Fog, champion sprinter of 2005, will begin chemotherapy treatments for his cancer at the University of California at Davis next week, trainer Greg Gilchrist said Sept. 1. The process could last for as long as five months.
Gilchrist, during a brief teleconference from Golden Gate Fields, said the hope is that chemotherapy can put the 4-year-old colt's lymphoma into remission and give the horse as much as two years of quality life.

"It would have to be a miracle for Lost in the Fog to be cured," Gilchrist said. "This is something that puts it into remission and allows him to go on."

Gilchrist, along with owner Harry Aleo, were disappointed to learn earlier in the day that Lost in the Fog's tumors had not shrunk in size since the horse began treatment with injections of the corticosteroid Dexamethasone 10 days ago.

"Doctors came down from the university Thursday to do a scan," he said. "Nothing had changed. Nothing had gotten any smaller. Nothing had gotten any larger."

Aleo and Gilchrist made the decision on chemotherapy on the advice of Dr. Gary Magdesian, UCD's chief of equine medicine. He told them that it was unlikely that Lost in the Fog would derive any benefit from further use of the steroid, which if effective enough on Lost in the Fog's football-sized tumors, could have made surgery a possibility.

"We've come to another cross in the road. They feel that we were doing isn't really helping that much," Gilchrist said. "He could have two, three, four months (to live) with what we are doing right now. There are always exceptions, of course, when you are dealing with something like this. But with chemotherapy it could be as much as two years."

The treatment at UC Davis would consist of up to six treatments, if they prove successful, three weeks apart.

Because cancer in horses is considered rare, Gilchrist said, the treatment "is pretty experimental." He said that if midway through the process, it is determined that chemotherapy isn't helping, they would stop.

"Horses don't suffer the same side effects (from chemotherapy) that people do," he said. "With horses, they pretty much get over it in a day and move on."

In the meantime, Lost in the Fog "is in very good spirits," Gilchrist said, although he has lost a little weight because they haven't been feeding him as much as they did when he was in training. "His quality of life is good right now. If you just walked up to him, you wouldn't know there was anything wrong with him. I don't think he's being affected by anything going on around him or within him."

Gilchrist said he takes Lost in the Fog out of his stall every morning for about 30 minutes to graze, and for about 30 minutes in the evening when he has time. They often walk to a spot where the popular colt with the oddball blaze can scan the track.

"You can tell he knows where he's at because he kind of picks his head up," the trainer said.

[sumitas]

I hope the chemo helps. I'm disappointed the tumors did not shrink but hopeful they are going on.

[my miss storm cat]

Found this.....

http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/whatsn...le.cfm?id=1644

[sumitas]

Thank you very much. I believe LITF knows he is not well but he wants to live, for sure.

Chemotherapy is difficult enough for sentient humans to endure.

The owner's concern for the horse is very admirable ... up to a point ... then it could become an affliction.

There seems to be zero chance that this poor horse will be able to endure the treatments ... and then go on to any kind of comfortable long-term recovery. It will probably be best to face this grim reality ... and put him down in the very near future.

[SentToStud]

Originally Posted by Bold Brooklynite

Chemotherapy is difficult enough for sentient humans to endure.

The owner's concern for the horse is very admirable ... up to a point ... then it could become an affliction.

There seems to be zero chance that this poor horse will be able to endure the treatments ... and then go on to any kind of comfortable long-term recovery. It will probably be best to face this grim reality ... and put him down in the very near future.

So says the resident a sshole of everthing sentient...

You're the idiot who trashed the horse after his loss in Florida, saying he had no excuse.

Try some chemo on yourself, or else at least try to get the teeny light bulb to go on in your meekly endowed mind.

In any event, keep up the good work. Just when we all think your idiocy has plateaued, you seem to reach back and ratchet it up notch!

[Phalaris1913]

Originally Posted by SentToStud

So says the resident a sshole of everthing sentient...

You're the idiot who trashed the horse after his loss in Florida, saying he had no excuse.

Try some chemo on yourself, or else at least try to get the teeny light bulb to go on in your meekly endowed mind.

In any event, keep up the good work. Just when we all think your idiocy has plateaued, you seem to reach back and ratchet it up notch!

I'm sorry, I too have to look to the side of questioning whether this treatment is the right thing for the horse. We humans have the idea that prolonging life at any cost, including physical discomfort, is the appropriate course of action. We fear death above everything, including pain and suffering, and consider it noble to endure anything it takes to get whatever extra time we can, no matter how much that time was tainted by physical misery.

We can debate whether animals fear death as we do. But if animals do not understand the concept of death, and thus do not fear death, it follows that they would never agree to the human notion of suffering in an effort to avoid death.

The domestic animals that serve us and share our company rely upon us to do the right thing by them, not by us. We have all known people who let animals with incurable conditions suffer miserably because they could not bear to part with their animal friend - though they would anthropomorphize this as a desire on the animal's part to bravely battle for every extra minute. Indeed, they would look down at those who don't take every possible measure, every last-ditch effort, until the poor animal dies on its own accord - its life extended, but filled with pain and discomfort.

When one of our own pets got cancer, we had her operated on. When the baseball-sized cancer had regrown fully within six months, we had her operated on again. We had decided that if it came back a third time, we would not subject her to further, pointless intervention, even if it bought her a few extra weeks or months. When, within some two months if memory serves, what was left of her stomach wall (destroyed from within by the still-growing cancer) ruptured, it was the end, even though we may yet still have gotten a little more time from her. It wasn't about the money that the emergency procedures would've cost; it was about the futility of subjecting a living, feeling creature to further torture with no hope of a cure or relief. I never questioned having the dog destroyed at that point; I only questioned how much she had silently suffered after the second operation and whether we should have done that much.

Clearly, today, this moment, LITF is not at any point that far advanced. If the horse has only brief, fleeting moments of discomfort due to his condition, then by all means, he should be allowed to enjoy the life he has left. If treatments could reasonably result in a long-term cure and caused only some discomfort, then it would be worth pursuing, just as it's the right thing to do to perform any veterinary procedure which has a decent chance of curing the patient. But if all you're doing is causing discomfort for a small delay of the inevitable, it becomes questionable whether it should be pursued.

[prudery]

Originally Posted by Phalaris1913

I'm sorry, I too have to look to the side of questioning whether this treatment is the right thing for the horse. We humans have the idea that prolonging life at any cost, including physical discomfort, is the appropriate course of action. We fear death above everything, including pain and suffering, and consider it noble to endure anything it takes to get whatever extra time we can, no matter how much that time was tainted by physical misery.

We can debate whether animals fear death as we do. But if animals do not understand the concept of death, and thus do not fear death, it follows that they would never agree to the human notion of suffering in an effort to avoid death.

The domestic animals that serve us and share our company rely upon us to do the right thing by them, not by us. We have all known people who let animals with incurable conditions suffer miserably because they could not bear to part with their animal friend - though they would anthropomorphize this as a desire on the animal's part to bravely battle for every extra minute. Indeed, they would look down at those who don't take every possible measure, every last-ditch effort, until the poor animal dies on its own accord - its life extended, but filled with pain and discomfort.

When one of our own pets got cancer, we had her operated on. When the baseball-sized cancer had regrown fully within six months, we had her operated on again. We had decided that if it came back a third time, we would not subject her to further, pointless intervention, even if it bought her a few extra weeks or months. When, within some two months if memory serves, what was left of her stomach wall (destroyed from within by the still-growing cancer) ruptured, it was the end, even though we may yet still have gotten a little more time from her. It wasn't about the money that the emergency procedures would've cost; it was about the futility of subjecting a living, feeling creature to further torture with no hope of a cure or relief. I never questioned having the dog destroyed at that point; I only questioned how much she had silently suffered after the second operation and whether we should have done that much.

Clearly, today, this moment, LITF is not at any point that far advanced. If the horse has only brief, fleeting moments of discomfort due to his condition, then by all means, he should be allowed to enjoy the life he has left. If treatments could reasonably result in a long-term cure and caused only some discomfort, then it would be worth pursuing, just as it's the right thing to do to perform any veterinary procedure which has a decent chance of curing the patient. But if all you're doing is causing discomfort for a small delay of the inevitable, it becomes questionable whether it should be pursued.

Everything you so thoughtfully presented has been considered and commented on by Gilchrist . The horse's connections will not allow him to suffer, and yes, they are buying him some time . Many animals suffer in silence and express pain and discomfort differently than humans, the obvious differences being the lack of power of speech, and the concept of death . Pet owners have made mistakes in waiting both too long and not long enough . It is fine to prolong the life of an animal with minimal discomfort, but less so when depression and more significant discomfort must be endured without benefit of cure .

[sham]

Fog's connections have stated they will not let him suffer. There have been several articles recently that indicate that horses tolerate chemo very well, so the general belief is that the treatments will cause no excessive discomfort. The best scenario is that Fog will gain about two years of life which means there could be 50 to 100 little Foggies running around before the end comes (assuming the chemo does not cause sterility). He was a pretty darn good 3yo sprinter and to get a crop or two would be a worthwhile endeavor.

[Danzig]

yeah, i read the chemo is not as hard on an animal....and that they have no intention of having this horse suffer.
as long as there is hope, i see no reason not to try--esp since the horse seems to be doing just fine right now, and like they said, if you didn't know he was sick you wouldn't know it just by looking at him.

as we've seen with barbaro for example, veterinary medicine has come a long, long way. as long as the doctors and the owner is willing, and as long as foggy is able, why not try?

no one, especially not aleo and gilchrist, wants to see this horse suffer. and right now, he's not. and i'd imagine if he could talk, foggy would say he'd rather try as well, rather than just be put down. certainly no future, no hope, in death.

[my miss storm cat]

From DRF.....

http://www.drf.com/news/article/78717.html

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

This is very, very sad. I don't know what else to say.

I know... I couldn't say anything either.

Heartbreaking.....

[sumitas]

he was truly a great champion.

[letswastemoney]

Wait a second....it never said he was dead. WTF you guys are acting like Foggy is dead. I read the whole thing and it said he has had a few bad moments.

[31lengths]

Originally Posted by letswastemoney

Wait a second....it never said he was dead. WTF you guys are acting like Foggy is dead. I read the whole thing and it said he has had a few bad moments.

Ditto...I was searching all last night for other articles. There is always hope -
ie: Barbaro.