Mia Improves!

Mia -- finally -- is stabilized. Between regular applications of stem cell-derived cord blood serum (exudate) on her chest and more pure (CarniPure) L-carnitine, along with twice-a-day doses of ubiquinol CoQ10, vitamin C, E and magnesium, Mia now goes half a day without coughing. This morning, she didn't cough at all. And the crackle sound in her lungs is gone -- at least for now. I had run out of the ubiquinol form of CoQ10 and was using up a bottle I had of regular CoQ10, and she wasn't coming back as quickly from the bronchitis. So I bought a new bottle of ubiquinol. What a difference! Also, instead of giving Mia coconut water from a carton, I've been getting baby coconuts and giving her fresh coconut water (and also giving it to Rosy, my basset-heeler mix who has melanoma -- but so far shows no signs that the cancer is progressing). Mia likes the fresh coconut water much better than in a carton. It costs me a dollar more per day for the fresh coconut, but it's worth it. I also give her half a teaspoon of coconut oil twice a day. She hates it, so I open her mouth and pop it in (it's OK; she gets a big hug afterward). The way i've been able to manage Mia's disease is to periodically shake up what I do. What worked yesterday sometimes doesn't work today. My plan is to try my best to keep her at this level, where she's comfortable. When she has a set back, it takes about two weeks to pull her back to where she was before. She's a little trooper; it's as if she knows that the few minutes it takes twice a day to pop in her supplements are good for her. When the supplement bottles come out, she walks over, sits next to me and waits to take them. It's just part of our day. She used to cough for a few minutes at the start of our walks, and she's not doing that now either. So it feels like she's in a good place. All I have to do is monitor her and try and maintain it. Photo, top, of Mia at a book signing for Pawprints of Katrina, and, inset, Mia on a walk in Sunset Cliffs in Ocean Beach during a recent trip to San Diego.