In Loving Memory of my dear Shasta June 21, 2008 - March 28, 2017

My dear Shasta, the world is a lot less bright without you in it, but I know you are running around and have your energy and sight back enjoying all the sights and smells you love so much! You brought your daddy and me so much happiness for almost 9 years. It never would have been long enough, but your legacy will go on through Dr. Plechner's SARDS research and our 2 Hearts Animal Haven rescue. You were very special and made everyone who met you smile. You will be so greatly missed my love bug! xoxo June 21, 2008 - March 28, 2017 Shasta had been doing really well and seemed to prosper with her new little sister, Roxy, in tow. Shasta was the happiest dog I ever met, despite her health struggles. She was still going on two walks per day, playing with her sister, eating well, and jumping up on me to tell me it was time to play every day at 4pm. Then suddenly, one day, she did not get up in the morning when it was time for breakfast. I coaxed her to get up, and she finally did, and she ate her breakfast. I kept a close eye on her, but started to think it was her back hips giving her arthritis since a few months back we were told her hips are giving her quite a bit of pain due to her bottom vertebrae were pressing together. Later that day she went on a walk and seemed to feel better. She ate dinner and cuddled before bedtime. The next day she seemed ok and acted normal again. Then the day I was leaving for a business trip she acted a little sad, but she had eaten some of her breakfast. Her daddy was going to take her to the vet to get some arthritis medicine and make sure nothing else was going on with her. My husband came home to check on her at lunch time and told me that he got her to eat, but she wasn't too excited about it, and didn't want to go for a walk. He was taking her to the vet and would call me as soon as he found out what was going on. At 5pm I got a call from my husband saying that the vet wants to keep her over night, and I said no, and that I would come straight home from my trip. I asked him to have the vet give him instructions on whatever meds we needed to give her and I'd be home to take care of her. I had been down this road before and two things were on my mind. She was not going to pass without me if it came to that in some hospital with no one around and they were probably over reacting anyway. I went back into my meeting to finish up and tell them I had to leave the conference early as I had a family emergency, but my husband started blowing up my phone. He said the vet did an ultrasound and the results were grim. Something had ruptured inside of her and her abdomen was filled with fluid. They said she was in a lot of pain and didn't think she would make it through the night. I asked them to wait as I was heading home. At this point I was hysterical. I was 3 hours away and had to decide if it was worth her being in pain for me to say goodbye or to let her go without me. I'll never forgive myself for going on that business trip when I knew she was not 100%. And I always wonder if I made to the right decision to let her go. What if they we wrong and she wasn't as sick as they thought? I always did whatever was needed for her and I was sure we could fix her again no matter what the cost. But my husband was distraught and he was there with her until the end, and I was thankful for that. I told Dr. Plechner what happened and he was devastated for me. He had been emailing me about dog food and things to try that wouldn't irritate her stomach. He was always so responsive and helpful. I never thought I would lose them both in the same year, let alone THIS YEAR!!! I hope that if you come across this Blog in search of information on SARDS or other endocrine imbalance issues, that you look to Dr. Plechner's website, books, and Facebook page for assistance as he truly was a brilliant man. I can't tell you how many things he has resolved for me over email that had taken local vets multiple visits and expensive tests to run and medicines to try... and he had offered a quick and simple, inexpensive solution. References for Dr. Plechner: www.drplechner.com www.2heartsanimalhaven.org Facebook - @drplechnerdvm Facebook - @cureforsardbydrplechner Facebook - Shasta - A Story About SARDS

In Loving Memory of Dr. Plechner

Alfred J Plechner, DVM, sadly passed away on September 8, 2017, at the age of 79; he was born on April 4, 1938. Dr. Plechner was a caring and compassionate veterinarian, who had a theory about the immune endocrine imbalance that is occurring in humans and animals. His controversial view has given many veterinarians another option for care for their most difficult cases. His interest in the increasing numbers of cancer cases kept his curious mind challenging the standard understanding of the behavior of the adrenal gland. He described it as Atypical Cortisol Estrogen Imbalance Syndrome (ACEIS), or, as many in the public refer to it, the Plechner Syndrome. Dr. Plechner graduated from the University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in 1966. He owned and worked at the California Veterinary Hospital in Los Angeles from 1968 to 2004. He also worked at Cedar Sinai Veterinary Hospital 2008-2016. He purchased a 27 acre parcel at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains and started a wildlife preserve called Stone Wood Meadows ,which provided free treatments and relocation for indigenous species. His passion for wildlife led him to the Big Horn Sheep Society of California as a research immunologist. Dr. Plechner worked for years helping by consulting to both veterinarians and the pet owners on the ACEIS. He would generously give of his time to interpret and help people understand the endocrine problem. For hours he would share his cases and help tweak their care. He had treated and consulted to over 100,000 humans and animals suffering with this immune endocrine imbalance. Through years of research and observation, he felt in his heart that there was a way to help prevent these allergic animals from becoming victims of cancer. He has written several books and tens of article on this topic and you can see them at his website www.drplechner.com. Margo Roman, D.V.M. wrote the following on how she met Dr. Plecher, "Personally I had a client in 1997 who claimed that Dr. Plechner saved her dog in California, after she had gone to every referral hospital, including the veterinary school. She gave me a little pamphlet which I read and thought it crazy and discounted it. About four years later, I had a case of a client who had already spent $20,000 at Angell Memorial Hospital in Boston. Thirty-three year old male neutered Newfoundland had been diagnosed with Irritable Bowel at nine weeks of age, and had his cruciate repaired on the same leg three times, but it was not healed. He had been continuously on metronidazole and other drugs, and looked like a Mexican hairless. I asked to work on this case for six months, and was able to stop the IBS in one week; we corrected the cruciate in one month with acupuncture, homeopathy, ozone, chiropractic, herbs, nutrition and nutraceuticals. Four month later, I still had a hairless itchy dog that could not gain any weight. I suggested to the owner that the dog could have this endocrine imbalance I read about. He bought Dr. Plechner’s new book Pets At Risk, From Allergies to Cancer and he said “you read this and you test my dog and treat it exactly like Dr. Plechner says.” I had to read it two times to even begin to understand it and I still do not feel I completely understand it. But I did what the owner said and the dog healed and lived another seven years looking like a healthy Newfoundland. It was not my standard of care, but I was not getting results and could have declared this case an incurable case. Since that first case, Dr. Plechner’s theories have helped me successfully treat hundreds of cases which might otherwise have been hopeless." Dr. Alfred Plechner continued to feel rejection from many in academia, but he persisted as he had owner after owner and doctor after doctor seeing shifts in cases that no one else could help. He felt that some day he would be validated and started to consult to MDs to help humans having these life disrupting health issues. Dr. Plechner is survived by his two sons, Jay and AJ, and four grandchildren, Cambria, Cassidy, Jayden and AJ.

This has personally been a very rough year for me and I have not been posting a lot. I'm very sad to say that my Shasta passed away on March 28. I will post about it soon as I feel it is very important to share her life story so that others can use the information to their benefit. What's worse is that after Dr. Plechner was forced to retire last year due to illness, he became a board member and helped me start a new animal rescue in my area. We just got things going when Shasta passed, and then several months later I received the devastating news that Dr. Plechner had passed away in September. This is such a blow to SARDS patients, but please keep referencing his work via his website, his Facebook page and of course his books. I intend to keep sharing through my own resources as well. My Shasta page on Facebook, my new website for 2 Hearts Animal Haven that Dr. P. helped me start, and of course this blog. I'll be posting his obit on here soon. Please also seek out Dr. Bill Burlingame. He practices in Washington state and is very well acquainted with the SARDS protocol. More to come in the next few days...