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Bernese Mountain Dogs Gallery of Friends
Eiger Faro von der Hinterbuchenegg Born July 2nd 1999 With thanks to Laura Carnes for these pics of her brave Bernese Mountain Dog, Eiger 
Sadly this boy was recently diagnosed with Malignant Histiocytosis "Eiger was diagnosed early April 2009. He had a tumor on his spleen and they removed it. Then the pathology report came back as MH" "He had a mast cell a year and a half ago which spread to his lymph nodes and was treated with chemo and radiation then and we put that cancer into remission. I know I can't hold on forever and I know I already "bought" him another year and a half after the first cancer but knowing all of this still makes the decisions extremely painful. He is going to board certified oncologists here in Denver, Colorado (Dr. Robyn Elmslie). They are amazing but won't make decisions for me." Update: June 17th '09 "I wanted you all to know it has now been 2 months since Eiger's diagnosis of MH and Eiger is very happy and doing very well. I am not one to give up easily and neither is he :) After the first chemotherapy (Carboplatin), I was nervous about continuing with treatment but since he did so well on the Lomustine (CCNU protocol) over a year ago, I decided to see if he could just handle that again. He did very well on it, no side effects, so then I decided to GO FOR IT. We are the pioneers in malignant histiocytosis research right now led by Dr. Robyn Elmslie (one of the top board-certified oncologists in the world) at the VRCC who are partnered with Colorado State University Cancer Center (CSU) in Fort Collins, Colorado. Her husband, Dr. Steve Dow, is a cancer researcher and internal medicine veterinarian at CSU. We started a research treatment (Zalendronate) combined with Doxorubycin/Adriamycin over a week ago and he handled it beautifully. Zalendronate has been used with people with bone cancer. It is a osteoporosis drug that has been successful with bone cancer as a side effect to helping the osteoporosis in people but is not yet approved as a cancer treatment. It was an accidental discovery. One dog in New York, USA, who has MH had a similar treatment about a month ago (liposomal Chlondronate (same familly as Zalendronate but supposedly maybe not as effective combined with Doxorubicyn) and 4 weeks later the tumor on his liver was GONE...it's still pending on how long it will work but Dr. Elmslie said that this is the first treatment that MH has responded to so completely...usually they only get partial shrinkage of tumors or none at all. She did emphasize that the dog was NOT a Bernese Mountain Dog since Berners seem to be more resistant to cancer treatments for some reason. I am still hopeful though. WE did beat the odds for one cancer (Stage 2-3, Grade 2 Mast Cell). Anyway, wish us luck. Hopefully, little Eiger is leading the way in finding a cure once and for all. At least maybe extend his life from months to year+?? The cost is $3,600 a dose at this time. Not too many people are willing to pay that and it's expensive because it is still patent pending. He has had a LOT more energy in the past week and I am able to do hikes and outings with him that I used to be able to do. I love this dog with all of my heart. He's worth every penny and then some. I will keep you updated." Our thoughts and prayers are with Laura and Eiger facing this further battle with cancer. 
Happy 10th Birthday, Eiger, now also on our Berner Veterans page http://bernese.biz/veteran2Eiger.htm Eiger Update July 20th '09 We were blessed to be able to go on another hike today in the mountains. I've noticed some subtle changes lately with Eiger not having quite the footing he once had but he's still able to trot along with his "smile". So, we are hanging in there, God willing. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I'm looking into stem cell therapy this week to see what it entails...side effects, if any, etc. and "hope" for a cure. We are not giving up without a fight.
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