Sometimes it is our four-legged pets who notice that something is wrong, much earlier than the doctors. He also knows his own about it Meg (26) from Manchester. For many months, she ignored the warning signals of her own body and attributed the strange symptoms to fatigue or poor condition. But her four-year-old dachshund Samson knew it was a matter of life, and his obsessive behavior forced her to act, he writes
It all started inconspicuously. Meg, who was working in the store at the time, began experiencing numbness and a deep, dull pain in her left leg. After two visits, the district doctor diagnosed her with sciatica and sent her home. However, the pain continued to worsen and gradually other bizarre symptoms were added to it.
Leg pain soon it added heavy night sweats, an itchy rash on her elbow that the young woman thought was just eczema, and even the taste of blood in her mouth. But what surprised her the most was her reaction to alcohol. After hard days at work, she would sometimes go out for a drink with her colleagues, but would go home in a terrible state.
“I got drunk after one and a half drinks. It wasn’t normal drunkenness, it was just a weird, terribly strange feeling. Although I was a bit of a ‘lightweight’, this was a whole other level. And the monkey used to be brutal the next day. I tried to find logical reasons for everything, for example, that I slept little,” she recalls.
At the same time, however, her dog’s behavior also changed rapidly. Until then, the dachshund Samson was rather measured and loved his personal space. Out of nowhere, he became an incredibly cuddly dog whose behavior bordered on obsession. Under all circumstances, he wanted to sit close to her or lie directly on her stomach. If Meg was lying on the couch, he had to be constantly glued to her until Meg’s partner had to forcefully fold him so that she could breathe.
The turning point came when a new, unusual rash appeared on the woman’s diseased leg. She decided to call the health line, from where she was immediately sent to the hospital. What followed was a round of blood tests and a terrible verdict from the doctors – acute leukemia. It is an aggressive white blood cell cancer that progresses extremely quickly and requires immediate treatment.
In that second, everything clicked for Meg. When she told her story to the hospital nurse, she only confirmed her words. With solid tumors, it is said that cats and dogs tend to lie in the exact place where the tumor is located. Since leukemia is a cancer of the blood and circulates throughout the body, Samson could smell it. It’s unbelievable that as soon as she started the treatment, the dog stopped lying on her and started to just sit calmly next to her again.
Meg immediately underwent chemotherapy and after initial success it seemed like she had won. However, the cancer returned. Another, even more modern and aggressive treatment followed – CAR-T cell therapy. Fortunately, this difficult treatment worked and Meg is now completely clean and cancer free.
Although she overcame the disease, the aggressive treatment took its toll. Today, he admits that he sometimes has problems in society, loses his train of thought or cannot find the right words. Nevertheless, she decided to share her story on social media to help others. She has one strong message for everyone today: “If you feel that something is wrong with your body, fight for yourself, listen to your instincts and keep looking for answers!”
