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August 20, 2012

There is a rant brewing about something that happened at the veterinary hospital today with a fellow dog owner, but for now … let’s only focus on Lilly’s recovery status. A tiny bit of potentially scary news today.

Lilly and I left the house at 9:30 am for our 10:30 am “drop-off” appointment. It’s how the veterinary neurology team squeezes in more patients in an already-packed schedule. The need far exceeds capacity.

So, Lilly gets to see the doctor (in the back), but I don’t because there aren’t enough exam rooms and isn’t enough time.

I wait, rather than drop her off, because that time is lost anyway with a one-hour drive each way making coming back home silly. Essentially, we show up at the allotted time, and they get to us just as soon as they can. When weather allows, Lilly waits in the car.

Mondays can be dicey since they are often full of new clients with neurology emergencies that cropped up over the weekend.

The team got to Lilly around noon, and we were on our way around 12:45 pm. So, about a 2 hour wait, give or take.

We got home about 2 pm, so door to door … we ate up 4 1/2 hours today. Lilly drank a bunch of water and sacked out as soon as we got home.

Today, Lilly had:

  • A complete neurological exam
  • A complete blood count (CBC) drawn to make sure the 36-hour cycle of chemo / powerful anti-inflammatory drugs while hospitalized didn’t screw anything up
  • A potassium bromide level (anti-seizure med) drawn to see if she is at (or still above) therapeutic levels
  • A cylcosporine level (her strong immune mediator med) to make sure she is at therapeutic levels on her current dose

The cyclosporine levels take the longest to come back. The neuro team will overnight the blood sample to Auburn University for testing. Either way, we should have all the data back by our real sit-down recheck appointment next week.

The only real good news I have is that Lilly is walking a lot better today. Until she got so tired, she looked pretty bright and alert. The team is very happy with her progress … considering she was nearly coma-like and could not move at all 10 days ago.

I can only imagine how skinny she really was in the hospital, but Lilly remains about 2 1/2 pounds below what I consider her ideal weight. Her ribs, hips, spine show through her coat, and her butt muscles look at least 50% of normal. Late last week, we began doubling her food intake, so we’ll hope to see her closer to normal by next week’s appointment.

We take tiny walks around our property (like 50 feet), but I often have to carry her back to the house because she gets so tired.

Over the weekend, I had a long conversation with our neurologist about my hopes to add both nutritional support (via a board-certified veterinary nutritionist) and maybe acupuncture (from a certified veterinarian) into Lilly’s new recovery plan. At least one “super food” idea has been nixed because it has the potential to cause trouble with Lilly’s sodium levels, which could really screw up her anti-seizure medicine.

So, my rule for complementary therapies will be that I will NOT add anything that adversely affects something that’s working well. I will do what I can to support her general wellness without amping up her immune system (which is the problem) and without screwing anything up.

Honestly, I’m not sure I can afford to add the costs of regular acupuncture (weekly at $90 a pop), but we’ll see … once I have a better idea of how Lilly’s conventional treatment will go.

And there, friends, lies the potentially scary news from today. Depending on how Lilly’s blood tests come back and how she looks next week, we may need to give her (via sub-cutaneous injection at the hosptal) the chemo / powerful anti-inflammatory drug TWO days in a row EVERY three weeks.

For reasons I’ll explain in the forthcoming rant later this week, that’s about all I know about that potential MAJOR change in her treatment plan.

There are about 1,000 reasons that idea freaks me out, but when I can get more information, maybe it isn’t as bad as it seems.

Alas, since it’s a chemo drug, it likely is NOT something I can have at home and learn to give her myself.

Why this new aggressive stance?

Well, according to our neurologist (from this weekend’s conversation), Lilly’s immune system has “set up camp.”

Before, we approached her treatment as support through a fleeting bout of immune-driven inflammation following the rabies vaccine.

Now, we need to respond as if the inflammation is potentially a new normal. It’s as if the vaccine turned something on, and so far … it has NOT turned off.

***

Lilly is improving. That’s important. The neuro team has ideas on how to prevent another massive relapse. That’s really important since this one nearly killed her. Perhaps some day she will fully recover. That’s the most important, but at this stage … no one has said if that’s possible.

We’re as bucked up as a couple of girls can be, with Lilly’s small improvements in mobility and (tiny, rare) potty control. We even slept for 4 straight hours last night. The most in a week.

As always, thanks for your love and support. Stay tuned.

 

 

About the Author Roxanne Hawn

Trained as a traditional journalist and based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA, I'm a full-time freelance writer for magazines, websites, and private clients. My areas of specialty include everything in the lifestyles arena, including health and home, personal finance and other consumer interests, relationships and trends, people and business profiles ... and, of course, all things pet related.

I don't just love dogs. I need them in my life. Seriously.

  1. I know how exhausted I got with my dog Aspen, but it is nothing compared to what you are going through Roxanne. My heart hurts for both of you. I will keep praying.

  2. Glad to hear she is walking better. She’s such a trooper!

    Hope the blood work comes back with good news and you don’t have to go the chemo route. (If you do, we did chemo with Abby – bone cancer – and she tolerated it very well.)

    Continuing to send our best pawsitive thoughts!

  3. So relieved that Lilly is improving, it’s all because of all the LOVE that surrounds her at home.
    Right now my American Eskimo is in surgery for a slipped disc. The stress is tremendous.

  4. I’m so glad she is doing so much better. Sending good thoughts & wishes for continued improvement!

  5. It sounds like things are lining up for treatment course of action, that’s good. Baby steps of improvement are also awesome!

  6. So glad Lilly is doing better!
    I had a vaccine reaction as an infant and also as a child – paralysed for 3 days and unable to walk for almost 2 years. It took the doctors way too long to figure out what was going on and they didn’t believe it could be from vaccines. Once the swelling on my brain stem went down I recovered all my normal balance/cognitive functions.

    I hope Lilly will recover to 100% soon! She looks like such a sweet girl and I can tell that you love her.

  7. It’s wonderful news that Lilly is walking better and continuing to improve! The news that she may have chronic inflammation is scary, but it’s good that the neurology team has recognized that the treatment plan needs to change. I hope you can find ways to take care of yourself while caring for Lilly. It sounds like you’ll need all your strength for the journey ahead. Sending a big hug to you and a gentle pat for Lilly.

  8. We keep praying and hoping and hanging on to every little good sign that comes along.

    As for rude people – they are idiots. Sam is a cancer survivor and Cisco was a blind girl that had seizures. I had my heart broken countless times by people thinking they were saying things they thought was helpful which really wasn’t, or just being rude. Let it go – Lily needs all your energy, good and bad.

    We are thinking of you and sending good, loving thoughts your way!

    Sam

  9. Overall, it really sounds very encouraging. I really hope things chill out a bit so you can get some sleep and don’t have to spend so much time at appts.

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