January 2011
This is the story of Lily of the Valley. Lily is a 14 year old Pleasure Mule that developed a large fibroblastic sarcoid inside her left ear in December of 2010. Below are photos of the progression of her healing process. I hope that Lily's story will help others who develop this horrible condition. Constructive suggestions and comments are welcome at trailbroke@gmail.com
Guess which ear I am hiding a sarcoid in???
Here is s photo of Lily of the Valley aka "The Princess Mule".
I did a lot of research and the best course of actions appears to be the Xxterra Cream.
To boost her immune system Lily is also getting:
2 cups ground flax seeds
2 ounce chia seeds
Hilton Herbal Equimmune Gold Liquid 30 ml a day http://www.hiltonherbs.com/
Below are photos of the treatment progress.
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UPDATE: It is September of 2013 and the sarcoid has NOT RETURNED!
So pleased! Lily is back to her beautiful self again!
August 2019 sarcoid still has not returned.
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Below are photos of the treatment progress.
***
UPDATE: It is September of 2013 and the sarcoid has NOT RETURNED!
So pleased! Lily is back to her beautiful self again!
August 2019 sarcoid still has not returned.
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Photo at left shows the sarcoid very round and gooey looking. Blood spatters when she shakes her head. She gets the blood spattering, then it freezes and makes a dingleberry and that bothers her so she shakes her head. Then more blood. I cleaned up spatterings up blood all over in the paddock and from inside the feed bins. I was able to clean her ear up a bit also but she has to be in the mood. I used peroxide on the lower portion as it fizzes the blood away without bothering the hair. Trying to keep as much hair in her ear to help block any drippage from the sarcoid. I got it pretty well cleaned up and then it tickled her and she shook her head and blood all over again. It is winter here and as long as I am not seeing any infection I am going to just let it be for now. From what I have read if you keep messing with a sarcoid you can "anger" it and it can double in size in a week.
Took another photo just to show any changes. Looks about the same.
I am mixing up her flax seed formula and making two logs on a cookie sheet and baking them for about twenty minutes in the oven. I have been adding some molasses and some oatmeal to the mix. Tried it without the molasses and she turned up her nose at them. But she sure does like seeing me coming with that big bowl of treats for her! I am thinking I should be making a little extra for me!
January 18, 2011
Looks very red and wet in this photo. I don't see much change just that the black crust is not there. Is a better photo so can see more of what is going on in there.
Do not have the Xxterra Cream yet will be here early next week sometime.
Lily was running and playing in the snow this morning with her mule buddy Dillon. I saw a lot of head shaking going on from the window upstairs before I went out to feed. I thought oh boy, there is going to be a bloody mess this morning. But no blood, just the old dried blood.
Top Photo: Close-up of the sarcoid before today's treatment
Center Left: Ear before today's treatment
Center Right: Ear after today's treatment with the ear cleaned up
Bottom Photo: Lily with the Stableizer Restraint on
Day One of Xxterra Cream Treatment
I just can't say enough good stuff about this Stableizer Restraint System. It goes under her upper lip and applies pressure to release endorphins. She is not in pain, not drugged, and is very docile and happy. Day One I was only able to get some of the cream on quickly, schmoozing her with scratches and putting some on my thumb and taking a flying stab at it. I did that twice. Today, I was totally able to get right in there and apply the cream and clean it all up and even look under the sides of the sarcoid to see the stem. It is about the size of a dime under there. I did a lot of the cleaning after I took the Stableizer off so the endorphins must last for a little bit. I am so proud of our Lily!
I watched the youtube on how to use the stableizer and followed the inventor's instructions to the tee. I even blew on her nose. Pretty silly but who am I to question the experts? Turned her in a circle each direction waited a minute or two while I scratched her and told her what a pretty girl she is. Then went for the ear and she seemed to like that I was scratching it she didn' t pull away at all. Amazing! Everyone should have one of these and keep it in your trailer and tack room.
Here is a link to the youtube that shows how to use the Stableizer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WERrPZ9hue0
Or you can just search for "stableizer" I think it is the first one to come up.
I have read that the sarcoid may "explode" at some point and make goo that might run in to her ear. I have foam earplugs to put in her ear to try to avoid an ear infection. Made by Cashel. Hopefully I won't have to use them.
Day Two of Xxterra Cream treatment.
Well go figure. Today I lead her in to the round pen as always and she is just all lovey and rubbing her head on me and closing her eyes. So what the heck, I took a shot and put the Xxterra Cream on without the Stabilizer Restraint. It worked! And she acted like she liked me messing with it. What? I am wondering if the endorphins from the Stableizer the yesterday stuck in her head and now she feels good about me touching the sarcoid.
One thing that has changed though, no blood spattered all over the place. It is drying up. That has to be a good thing!
The brown color in the photo is the Xxterra Cream.
Day Three of Xxterra Treatment
Today I again tried without using the Stableizer Restraint because it went so well yesterday. Didn't go as well I had to take a quick swipe to get the cream on her ear. It looked like I had it on there pretty good when I was out there but I can see from the photos I hit the top half. Hopefully it ran down a little bit. I did get the red part at least.
Day Four of Xxterra Treatment
Used the Stableizer today after two days off. It worked well again. Very cold and windy out there today. But I got good coverage. The Xxterra Cream is that brownish goop that you see.
Today was the first day I saw her shaking her head afterwards. From the cold or maybe it is getting a little bit sore. It doesn't really look sore to me, just crusty .
I continue giving her the Hilton Herbal Equimmune Gold and 2 ounces of Chia Seeds daily.
Day Five of Xxterra Treatment
Really does look flatter and smaller. Still has a hard crust. Do you see the white along the top of the sarcoid? That white is all underneath from the underside of the sarcoid to the stem. I am hoping that is a good thing.
Now I stop the Xxterra Treatment and wait ten days. The cream is supposed to continue working during this time.
Now we wait!
Day Six (Day One of no Xxterra Treatment)
This is the first day of five days that I won't use the Xxterra Cream. Instructions are to use the Xxterra Cream for five days and then stop for five days. The Xxterra is supposed to continue working during this time fighting the virus that is causing the Sarcoid. I have heard that the tumor could "explode" and that would be a good thing as drying up and falling off will follow. If the tumor is not gone after the ten day waiting period, then start the course of treatment again.
You can't tell from the picture but the Sarcoid is like a flat mushroom now. There is a ridge around it and the stem is only about the size of a dime.
Before the treatment with the Xxterra the Sarcoid was round like a cherry tomato and bloody. The Sarcoid would ooze blood and then freeze and Lily would shake her head because the dingleberry was tickling her, and splatter blood everywhere. The sarcoid is all dried up now.
I do notice a little redness on the under side of the sarcoid today - lower right.
Day Seven (Day Two of no Xxterra Treatment)
It appears the sarcoid exploded today. That is a good thing! The liquid coming out of it is like watery blood it is kind of splattered around the hair on her ear. Doesn't seem to be enough to go in to her ear and cause and infection.
If you click the full ear photo on the left you can see a bigger photo. I worry that the sarcoid is not deteriorating, but is back and is going to start growing again, back with a vengeance. But the more I look at these photos this does look like it did explode.
Day Eight (Day Three of no Xxterra Treatment)
Day Eight (Day Three of no Xxterra Treatment)
This morning the sarcoid was all dried up, looked like and old dried up mushroom. I was happy thinking it would maybe just fall off. But when I got home from work I saw it was all red again, similar to yesterday. Maybe it is sore and she is shaking her head a lot. I wasn't home today to watch her.
I don't know which way this is going. Had I seen some improvement today from yesterday it would suggest it was going to dry up and fall off. But this wet tissue is not encouraging. The sarcoid is much smaller and flatter than it was when we started the treatment. I will decide tomorrow whether to start another round of the Xxterra Cream. I don't want it to start growing again!
Day Nine (Day Four of no Xxterra Cream Treatment) MORNING PHOTOS
EVENING PHOTOS
February 06, 2011
Day Four of no Xxterra Treatment
I took these photos in the morning. Not much change from last night's photos above except the sarcoid is dried up more. if you click on the close-up photos you can see a "crater" and a bump below it that I presume will become a crater. You can also see the leathery outer edges. That is good. What we want is for the whole thing to dry up until it looks like an old piece of shoe leather then drop off.
Lily allowed me to clean all of the dried up material stuck to her hair. I was even able to look under the sarcoid. It is like a mushroom with the stem stuck to the ear. I did not need the Stableizer to do this. Mules are all about trust and their mood sometimes.
I will decide tonight whether or not to begin the Xxterra Treatment again. Instructions from the company (bottom of page) say four to six days on the cream, then wait an undetermined amount of time?? and if it is still there then re-treat at four day intervals.
The main thing is the cream is working, her immune system is attacking the tumor and it is breaking down.
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Took some evening photos today too. Drying up! So happy to see!
February 10, 2011
I took a few days off of photographing Lily's ear. It looks worse to me. I started the Xxterra treatment again today. There was not much change until today. So now we have five days on the Xxterra Cream, and seven days off. Today starts day one of the second round.
The dark on the sarcoid is dried up scab like substance. Underneath the tissue is pink and alive. I want to see dried up and leather-like.
Lily had gotten really good about handling her ear. I have not had to use the stableizer. I don't get much time to get the cream on though. I put some on my thumb and start schmoozing her with scratches up to the top of both ears then swipe it on there. After that I look at it closely to be sure I didn't miss and got it on the ear cartilage. Xxterra cream can harm ear cartilage.
It is very cold here right now, sub-zero at night. Glad there are no flies and gnats at least.
Second day of second round of treatment. Lots of watery bloody stuff coming out of the sarcoid. No more healthy looking flesh though. That is good. So I hope the cream is attacking the tumor again.
Very cold here in Central Wisconsin. I am not cleaning her ear up just yet I will wait until it is at least above zero degrees.
February 12, 2011
Third day of second round of treatment. This photo was taken after the cream was applied. The sarcoid is again looking like a hunk of old shoe leather. This is good. I think the red splatterings on the hair on her ear are left over from yesterday. I cleaned them up today. It still has a stem attached to the ear about the size of a dime. I am hoping the sarcoid will just dry up and drop off, leaving the ear cartilage intact.
February 13, 2011
Fourth day of second round of treatment. I applied the cream in the morning this photo was taken in the evening. Lily is so good now about allowing me to apply the cream to her ear. Somebody said maybe she knows I am helping her. Maybe so. Mules are smart creatures. I think she is just enjoying all of the extra scratches and schmoozing. She is a bit of a princess and seems to like her picture taken. The flash doesn't bother her at all. She really doesn't mind the life of a model.
Fifth day of second round of treatment. Looks so much better than yesterday. I am liking this dried shoe leather look it is getting. I see some of those bubbles that were prominent on February 06. They bubble up and pinkish matter comes out of them. I presume that is how the tumor breaks down. Lily was kind enough to let me photograph the sarcoid while ever so gently pushing from behind so I could photograph the whitish leathery underneath side of the sarcoid. This is the whitish edge that is curling around the center. I am guessing the inner part will continue to die off, the edges will continue to curl inward and it will finally curl in to the stem and fall off.
Most photos enlarge when you click them.
Sixth day of second round of treatment. That is one angry looking sarcoid. A big change from yesterday. Hoping it just sloughed off another layer and now this will dry up and slough off also. It looks like it is going to drip blood but that is actually red tissue. Not oozing.
This may be what people mean when they say the sarcoid "exploded". Sure looks like it.
Day eighteen (Day seven of second round of Xxterra Cream Treatment)
These photos were taken after the Xxterra Cream was applied. It is dark reddish brown. The sarcoid was dried up but not to the "shoe leather" point yet, still kind of reddish inside.
It is about the size of my thumbnail now. The white on the bottom carries on to the underside of the sarcoid. I don't know what that white wormy looking thing is. Hopefully part of the sloughing process.
Lily seems to just love it when I scratch around it she holds real still for that. I was able to gently bend her ear around a little bit and get a little different perspective on the sarcoid. Reminds me of a dried up mushroom. It has a stem attached to her ear that is about half the perimeter of the upper part.
Notice the big vein in the photo running up her ear - that is probably the blood supply to sarcoid.
Day nineteen (Day eight of second round of Xxterra Cream Treatment)
Yesterday I noticed some ooze. dry today. This photo was taken before the Xxterra Cream was applied. Looks like shoe leather again. It also looks smaller to me. The curled edges seem to have flattened out.
I wonder if it will fall off or if it will just keep getting smaller and smaller until there is nothing left?
I am going to continue applying the Xxterra Cream until it goes away. The directions say apply then give it a break for ten days but when I did that the sarcoid got all pink and healthy again by the eighth day of leaving it alone.
Another set of directions say four days on and four days off until it is gone. I have also read to keep putting it on until it is gone, no break in the treatment. I think you just have to figure out what works. The horses and mules and donkeys all have their own individual immune system responses.
So happy I don't have to fight with Lily every day to get the cream on. She has been so good. I think she looks forward to me going out to see her with my thumb full of brownish goop and my camera.
If you go back to February 13 you can really see the difference in size.
Time to get tough!
Day twenty (Day nine of second round of Xxterra Cream Treatment)
Looks like it is going to blow up again. I think that is good.
Day twenty one (Day ten of second round of Xxterra Cream Treatment)
Just as I thought it is all gooey and looks like it blew up again. Hopefully sloughing off another layer.
Day twenty two (Day one of four days no Xxterra Cream Treatment)
Red and oozy looking today. You can see the snowstorm has iced up Lily's ear today. Very windy and a foot of snow predicted.
I am going to go four days off of the cream now. It seems like the last time I did that the sarcoid continued to slough off but I will keep a close eye on it. I don't want it getting all healthy again! If you look at Feb 06 and Feb 10 you can see that the sarcoid started to come alive during that time. That was a nine day Xxterra cream break. Too long.
Day twenty three (Day two of four days no Xxterra Cream Treatment)
Snowing today. That is a hair going across the close-up photo. Some of the curled edges are gone now. I wonder what will happen when it gets down to the stem? Hopefully it will just fall off before then.
Day twenty four (Day three of four days no Xxterra Cream Treatment)
Still looks small and leathery. There is moisture in there I don't like to see that. I will start the Xxterra Cream Treatment again in two days. Four days on, four days off, and see how it goes.
Day twenty six (Day five of four days no Xxterra Cream Treatment)
I skipped a day of photos. My camera wouldn't take a charge had to dig up a different battery.
I will start the Xxterra Cream treatment tomorrow again for four days. The sarcoid looks really good. Smaller and dryer.
Day twenty eight (Day one of third round of Xxterra Cream Treatment)
I skipped another day there was not much change. Today I started the Xxterra Cream after a short break.
Looks really good today. In the smaller close-up photo you can see the grayish smoky colored stem on the upper side. So the sarcoid is more or less the same size as the stem now. When I put the cream on today after several days of no cream, I knocked off a heavy crust and underneath was the bright red wet tissue. These photos were taken after the Xxterra Cream was applied.
I am glad to see the ridge around the sarcoid is gone now and the stem will start to slough off now hopefully. I have to be very careful now to apply the cream without getting any on the ear cartilage as I have read it can harm the cartilage.
I don't know how this stem is going to slough off without making a hole in her ear but fingers crossed it will not.
February 26, 2011
Day twenty nine (Day two of third round of Xxterra Cream Treatment)
Photo taken before cream applied. Looks a lot like yesterday only crusted over and dry looking.
Lily was not cooperative tonight with having the cream applied. My fault. I fed them and then tried to apply it. She just wants to eat. I learned a long time ago not to get in to a fight with a mule. Especially THIS mule. I have been calling her The Princess Mule. The name fits!
Normally I apply the cream mid afternoon or just before feeding time. She is very loving then. I did take a swipe at it but she moved and it is getting dark so I am not sure I got any cream on the sarcoid.
Well this is not an exact science. I will be sure to time it better from now on.
I sure was hoping this would be gone by now. I have the two ounce jar of the Xxterra Cream and I am glad. It is about half empty. It comes in a one ounce jar too.
February 27, 2011
Day thirty (Day three of second round of Xxterra Cream Treatment)
The change today is subtle but it is there. The sarcoid is smaller as the edges are coming off. It is clearly a "stem" now. Not the mushroom shape it was before. The "cap" of the mushroom is gone and now there is about a dime-sized stem there. It is not very tall maybe a quarter of an inch. I am being very careful to apply the Xxterra Cream only to the stem in hopes that it will not eat in to her ear cartilage.
Today is one month since the treatment started. I feel it has been successful so far. Just look at the photos from a month ago!
After I applied the cream today Lily shook her head. I thought, oh no, the cream is all over the place now. But when I looked it was still in place. I don't want it inside of her ear, in either of our eyes of course, nor on the ear itself. I feel fortunate that Lily has been so cooperative for this process. She is a good mule and I am proud of her.
I am hoping the sarcoid will be completely gone in a week!
March 01,2011
Day One of third round of no Xxterra Cream Treatment.
Not much change from two days ago. It does look like the pussy pockets are forming again. They bubble up then break open. I presume that is the sloughing off process. Will see tomorrow if it looks all red and raw again after another phase of sloughing.
March 04, 2011
No photo today. Not much change. I did get a chance to touch it though. I wanted to see if there was a crust on it that I could get off before I start the Xxterra Cream again tomorrow. It is just a very hard little nub now. No crust. No dampness at all just dry and hard. Lily's hair is growing in around it again you can hardly see it. But it is not gone yet so I will start the fourth round of four days of Xxterra Cream Treatment tomorrow.
Started the Xxterra Cream again today for another four days. This is day one of round four.
March 10, 2011
Forty One Days of Treatment
I am continuing to apply the Xxterra Cream beyond the four days on four off as recommended. Didn't seem to have much affect the first few days. Now I can see it is festering up like it should. That lump on the lower right is filled with liquid and will burst. That seems to be the effect of the cream and means it is working. In the bottom photo I was able to gently curl her ear around and get a better view. You can see it is not very tall now. I left my thumb in there for size comparison. Has come a long way in the past six weeks! But still not gone. You can click the photos to enlarge them a little bit. I was happy to see today that the stem is about half as high as it was on the fifth when I started the Xxterra Cream treatment for this round. It is working! Her hair is filling in so nicely too you can barely see the sarcoid in the photo.
Forty Nine Days of Treatment
I am still alternating four days on four days off of treatment. Today the photo is of no treatment and not cream so the remainder of the sarcoid is visible. It is harder to take photos now, the hair has grown in and the sarcoid is so small that I have to hold the camera in one hand and gently curl her ear a bit with the other. It is not easy but she sure is being a trooper for all of this.
You can tell the sarcoid has shrunk considerably in the past eight days that I did not take any photos. On March 10 it was about the size of my thumbnail. Not it has gone from round to oval and is about the size of my little fingernail.
It is very flat to the surface of the ear. I see a few pus sacs there too which I have always presumed it good.
Now I have to be extremely careful not to get the cream on to her healthy ear cartilage. Doing the best I can. Just taking it day by day.
March 28, 2011
Two months of treatment. The sarcoid looks smaller than it did ten days ago. I have been putting the Xterra Cream on about every other day now.
My concern now is it is down to the cartilage and I am of course trying to avoid making a hole in her ear.
Tonight just after I photographed the sarcoid, I scratched it with my finger a little bit. (Bad me!). The little bumps bled a little bit when I removed the crust.
Lily liked it when I scratched there too. Healing itch? I hope so.
You can't really tell from the photos, but ten days ago in the previous photo the sarcoid was raised a little bit. Now it is more flat to the ear with a ridge and some bumps around it.
I am going to continue to treat with Xxterra Cream and keep a really close eye on it now. I will watch for any ear cartilage deterioration. I don't think we are out of the woods yet. This could be the most crucial time. I won't be comfortable until it is totally gone and we are not there yet.
April 05, 2011
Day sixty five of treatment. The past week or so I have been treating the remaining sarcoid every other day or so.
Today, it fell off! There was a little raised crusty hard area smaller than a dime. I poked at it a bit and it fell off! Underneath was raw red tissue that is flat so I presume that is the ear cartilage. Lily was not in the mood for a photo shoot today I couldn't get a good photo. I will get one tomorrow. I will be able to tell better if it is really gone too with a better close up photo.
Lily's hair in her ear is all grown back so in order to get a photo I have to curl her ear back. She is very tolerant of that most of the time but tonight she just did not want to hold still.
I sure hope this is the end of this! I am not getting my hopes up too much yet as I have seen how it can start growing back. I will be keeping a very close eye on it.
I do see some crusty stuff and some of that pinkish ooze on the ear so am not out of the woods yet. Am withholding the Xxterra cream today will see what it looks like tomorrow.
Pictures are great. Can see so much more detail!
Almost gone though!
April 08, 2011
This morning the crusty stuff was scraped off and I ran and got the camera. This is what is left of the sarcoid. It is flat now, no raised areas.
I will keep a close watch and if the sarcoid starts to grow again I will start up the Xxterra Cream again. I am hoping this is the end of it.
I put some Virex Cream on this right after the photo. It did not sting so I was happy about that. Lily likes it when I scratch the sarcoid area so it must be kind of itchy.
Fingers crossed this will just heal up and be gone now!
