Dr. Marlene Smith’s Experience of PRP in Her Own Words
Dr. Marlene Smith’s Experience of PRP in Her Own Words
I would like to share my experience of PRP treatments done on my dog Tzela at Phoenix Rising Integrative Veterinary Care.
We rescued Tzela just over 1 year ago. The plan was to pick her up and assess her and then forward her to the Berner rescue. On assessment Tzela had hotspots; vomited frequently, did not really wanted to eat, had severe arthritis in both elbows from dysplasia, limped on her hind leg from a partial ruptured cruciate ligament and was fearful and shy. Estimating that her rehabilitation would take at least 1 year and would involve several acupuncture treatments, chiropractic care, diet modification, possibly surgery and long term rehabilitation, we decided to adopt her and started to clean up her diet. Having had a long term passion and experience in integrating the various disciplines of medicine, we started with X-Rays of her joints to asses the severity of her damage and ultrasound of the abdomen. Diet change and supplements cleaned up the hotspots and vomiting and now she eats like a horse. We abandoned the kibble and replaced it with slightly cooked home made food, meat, raw pureed veggies and some rice.
Dr Radica Raj used PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) on both her elbows and the knee with the ruptured cruciate ligament. We did a total of three treatments spread out over 1 year. We also did hydrotherapy, first the underwater treadmill and later swimming at the Coastal Canine Pool. We then worked a lot on trust building. Her recovery is totally amazing. After having been in veterinary practice for 39 years (I am now retired!) it takes a lot to impress me; but this certainly does!
The absolutely amazing weather and beautiful light in the last few days tempted us to hike to Hairtrigger Lake in Strathcona Park. The question was, could Tzela do this 6 hour hike?
Tzela happily hiked with us up the ugly slippery, muddy and sometimes steep trail, carefully watched and guided by me! She was delighted to get into the alpine and she has not stopped smiling. Now she realizes she is a full member of the pack as she can come hiking and can play with her two sisters (one of which is a silly puppy!). Here she is proudly wearing her Phoenix Rising bandanna.
Having pioneered integrative veterinary medicine, I am a firm believer that this is the best and most logical future of medicine. The integrative approach combines western medicine with diagnostic tests, surgery and drugs to treat a part of the illnesses we see, along with Traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture, chiropractic, rehabilitation, homeopathy and homotoxicology. And now we have another promising new approach to stem cell technology in the form of PRP.
Thank you Dr. Radica for following my footsteps and taking on the challenge to continue to integrate all these forms of medicine and for using cutting edge techniques to improve the health of our beloved animals! I know all too well that it is a challenging and difficult road to walk!
You have given this beautiful fur spirit Tzela a new lease of life with high quality of life as well!
