AIHA-Just Diagnosed

[admin]

Brilliant Wendy – you have done all the right things & are being a Supermum for Frank – he’s only a young chap, so he has youth on his side. Dr Dodds is usually pretty quick, but she strictly does not work on the Sabbath day (is that today for you guys in the US?), so please don’t think she’s ignoring you. Send her everything else you get, regardless. We all want to know how you get on as soon as you hear anything.

I am delighted to hear he’s eating – that is a sign of improvement for certain, and so is the darker tongue – checking his gums for improvement is a good idea too.

You are an awesome Mum Wendy – your determination makes me very proud of you. We know it’s not easy to deal with this disease, so if your worried about anything, no matter how tiny, just ask.

Love Sheena xxxx

[Alyssa]

Wendy,
I am happy to hear you are contacting Dr. Dodds and I am SO happy to hear Frank is eating more! That is FANTASTIC!

Wendy — The first few weeks of this are the hardest to deal with. One day, my dog was tearing through the house bouncing off the wall – the next day she wouldn’t eat – the next day she had a very high fever – and 2 days later she was hours from death. It hits so fast, before you can even grasp what is happening. We were offered 2 things: put her to sleep or transfuse her and hope the meds kick in.

A lot of vets can be very guarded with this illness, and not give you much hope at all, and YOU will HAVE to advocate and demand things from them – they often just don’t know what to do. I eventually had to switch vets in the middle of treatment because I no longer trusted my vet, despite having good emergency care, we did not agree on long term treatment. I had to call every single vet in my tiny town and it wasn’t until I only had one last number left to call that I found someone that followed dr. dodds protocols and not old, outdated information.

The first 2 weeks – I only slept a handful of hours. Previously, I had diabetic insomnia and I had to take sleeping pills to sleep which I immediately stopped taking to make sure I was awake & alert all night for her. We went outside every 2 hours. My sassy also had pee the color of wine and orange poop. I would gather the pee every time, and when it started lightening, she was getting better. It is a great sign if Franks pee is returning to normal. For about a week, Sassy would not eat and getting pills in her was a nightmare – this hurt me more than anything else I think because she just didn’t want to eat and it was so difficult, even the vets could not get pills in her. It was so hard on me & her but they were absolutely needed to save her life. She was on up to 14 pills a day at one point.

No eating – the weakness – the miserable pilling – the pure exhaustion – it made me question if I was doing the right thing to try and save her. I begged her not to let go. And we didn’t give up – it was hard to see her making it through, she lost so much weight so fast and so much muscle – I couldn’t see ever getting my dog back. When we had to have the second transfusion I was devastated and the thought was deep in my mind that I shouldn’t do it. This is important – you might feel like this at some point. I went ahead, and a few days later we saw her turning around. It was a battle against the horrible meds at that point – and today, she is back to her old self 5 months later. You mustn’t listen to that voice that is saying those things – you must stay strong and help Frank through this, and you are doing a fantastic job. We are all here for you. There are no silly questions and no judgment. Stay strong and you will get through this.

[lynn]

Wendy,
These ladies are great.. as you are seeing. So glad Frank is eating… that is always good news. Dr.Dodds is a wonderful person . Good to hear you have contacted her. I am so glad you found these forum… you are wonderful as others have posted.. you are. Frank is so lucky to have you for his mom. wishing the very best, Lynn& Hayley

[admin]

Hi everyone
Wendy is struggling to meet the rising vet bills & transfusion costs. She would appreciate anyone being able to make a contribution to Frank’s care, however small. You can go to gofund.me/zfakug8 or contact Sheena for further information – most of you have my private e-mail if you need to contact me.
Love to all.

[Wendy Gonzalez]

Well today was a crazy day. I took him to the vet for another CBC. His PCV level is at 14%, however, he is starting to make his own blood cells therefore they told me they wanted to hold off on giving him another transfusion. I requested the medication that Sheena told me about via email, but I was only able to get the sulcrafate (for free, if I may add).

This is getting tough for us and we do have a gofundme page. We would accept anything that you can give, even if it is just a dollar.

I also applied to this site for Labradors/Labrador mixes (Labrador Harbor). We are hoping to get some monetary help from them too. I cried in the middle of the vets office when I read their email.

It is Saturday over here, so I hope to hear from Dr. Dodds soon. I would like to get her up-to-date with Frank and what has been going on. We just took him out to do his business and the pee was clear and the poop was not as orange as before. My hopes are up. Like I mentioned earlier he is eating, even if it half a cup of food every 30-45minutes. He is drinking more water, even though there are times in which I need to give him water via a syringe. Things are looking up.

My heart is hopeful. I need to remember to sleep and eat myself. I need to be strong for Frank and for Brandy Bear (Rottweiler that we adopted when she was 8). Brandy senses that something is wrong and she is depressed and lays next to her brother. She even brings him the ball that they always fight over. It is too sweet. I love my big fur babies.

[admin]

Hi everyone & Wendy & Frank

I just want to tell you all how incredibly strong & open-minded Wendy has been, despite the vets being “unco-operative” shall we say. How many of us have had this problem? Many – & it’s so frustrating – it makes me really angry! Wendy has stood her ground & is a great advocate for Frank. Yesterday, we spoke via e-mail a lot as Dr Dodds is not available on the Sabbath – I sent Wendy Dr Dodds protocol (we have her permission to do that) after looking at the blood tests etc Wendy kindly sent us. The pred is not controlling this disease on it’s own at the moment. But her vets were not willing to take that protocol on board & start treatment with a second longer term immunosuppressant, plus the other things she recommends, just yet. I can “understand” if the vets think I don’t know what I’m talking about – we get that a lot, don’t we ladies? But I cannot understand why they doubt Dr Dodds. Let’s hope tomorrow will be a more positive day for Wendy when she goes back – hopefully she will have heard from Dr Dodds too.

The really good news is that Frank is still producing reticulocytes (baby red cells) at a rate that is classed as mildly regenerative – but we would all like to see that figure rise to highly regenerative. His platelets have also come up ino normal levels on the test yesterday – I am so happy to see that too. Frank’s PCV is still low though – 14 is borderline transfusion level – please all cross fingers that he doesn’t need a further transfusion – it is expensive as well.

Sorry to talk about you as a third party, Wendy, but you deserve some recognition for your hard work & determination. Sending you loads of love & hugs – thanks for having faith in our advice – we will all do our best to get you through this. Please keep us posted on how Frank is doing & remember if you are worried, post on here whenever you like.

Good luck tomorrow – I know you will do your best for Frank – stay strong

Sheena & the boys xxxxx

[Vally]

Well done Wendy on getting your sucralfate – for free too!!! You will hear from Dr Dodds quickly I’m sure. She never delays.

The pee and poop are sounding better so, fingers, toes and eyes crossed for Frank.

You have done an awesome job for Frank.

Vally & Bingo
xxx

[Wendy Gonzalez]

I emailed Dr. Dodds and she finally responded. She sent me this: “Dear Wendy: Hello ! Please do not give up at this point. See attached therapy guidelines, and comments below. Many blessings, Jean
Generic Advice : In addition to any medications he is taking already, we give thyroxine routinely at a conservative dose to stimulate the bone marrow to make new RBCs—regardless of the thyroid activity levels of the dog. The dose of thyroxine is 0. 1 m g per 15 pounds of optimum weight twice daily. Give it at least an hour before or three hours after any food containing calcium or soy, to ensure absorption.
IF the PCV cannot be maintained at or above 22-25%, then the other drug we use, in addition to cyclosporine (Atopica, Neoral) azathioprine, and prednisone — is mycophenolate (Cell Cept). But we generally do not recommend Arava (leflunomide) as it can cause adverse effects on the liver. Anabolic steroids can also be considered (decadurabolin).
For his liver, he needs to eat a gluten-free diet (no wheat, corn or soy) in 3-4 smaller meals a day, and receive liver cleansing herbs (milk thistle, SAMe). To help stimulate the bone marrow we use a hematinic like Pet-Tinic (Zoetis/Pfizer), Lixitinic, or Hi-Vite. Regarding his diet, the attached home cooked liver cleansing diet is preferred (3 smaller gluten-free meals daily); can substitute chicken, turkey or pork, if he doesn’t like white colored fish.”

Along with some attached items. I am a little frustrated, since I paid with my credit card $150.00 to get more help than that. Is this the first thing she does? Does she talk to the vet as well? My boyfriend was a little angry that was all that she sent. So, I want to make sure that there is more to this that what she gave me.

And thank you to those who have donated! I really appreciate it. I just have to figure out how to send the money to my vet directly so that they can just take it out from the fundraiser. It is my first time doing a fundraiser like this.