Newly Diagnosed AHA

[Jeanie]

Our 2 1/2 year old mixed terrier, Pandi has just been diagnosed with AHA and is in critical condition. She has received one transfusion and is on prednisone and Cyclosporin. She is very jaundiced and has not eaten in 4 days. We have a great specialist in Charlotte, NC but are needing prayers for now. Thank you for letting me share. Jeanie

[admin]

Hi Jeanie – I am so very sorry to hear about Pandi. My thoughts and prayers are with you. It is a horrible disease – but I am glad you have found us, as the folk on this site have loads of experience with it. Did the transfusion make any difference? Have they said whether her AIHA is regenerative or not?

Please let us know how Pandi is doing – and feel free to share as often as you need.

with love

Lynda

[Jeanie]

Thank you Lynda!
Her rbc were 16% and increased to 20 after the transfusion which she received Thursday night. Today is went down to 19% but her doc says she will probably not need another transfusion unless it goes below 16. He did shared thar her cells are still clumping and if they continue to do so he will add mycophenolate tomorrow.
No info on wheter it is regenerative at this point as they are still unsure how she got it.
Jeanie

[admin]

Hi Jeanie

You must be very worried & I’m really sorry to hear Pandi is so unwell – glad you have good vets beside you to help. You are very, very welcome here – anything we can do for you, just ask. I presume Pandi still in hospital? That is the best place for a sick baby, even though it’s horrible not to have them at home.

We have loads of information on here to help you through this – maybe start with this video
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/aiha-video-library/aiha-introductory-videos/

I don’t want to overload you- it really sounds like your vets know a lot about this disease & maybe have dealt with this before. That is wonderful, believe me, as some of us didn’t get the right help to start with. The only thing I would like you to ask your vets is if they are giving anti-clotting medication for the cell clumping. That is important & clumping is often seen with AIHA. I suspect they already know what to do, but it’s always better to make sure to prevent abnormal clotting. You can read about this here
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/AIHA_Terms/abnormal-clotting/

I really hope Pandi starts to improve soon – the long acting immuno-suppressants take a little while to start working, so we have to be patient sometimes. Please let us know how your little sweetheart is doing – feel free to ask anything at all.

Sending big hugs
Sheena, Worzel (diagnosed AIHA & bone marrow failure Dec 2012, now in remission) & his good friend Ollie xxxxx

[Jeanie]

Thank you Sheena
We saw Pandi this afternoon and she is visibly weakened and nauseous. The doc plans to increase her antiemetic meds to help with this,
I broke down as I am struggling to see her so sick…. Right now the vet is optimisitc but it is hard to see that in her. …… But I have not given up.

Will share with you what I learn tomorrow.
Thanks to you and everyone for the love and support!!!
Jeanie

[Vally]

Jeanie, my prayers for you and Pandi too.

The first days are the absolute worst. I too lost it seeing Bingo so very sick. In fact twice I said to the specialist that I thought it better to let him go. That this was no life for a dog, however, his specialist asked me to wait a few days to give the meds a chance to kick in. I really really thought they were just dragging me along for the money, but I realise they knew best and that it was true, the meds needed some time to kick in. Bingo started to respond. He was only on high dose prednisone (and other stuff) to start and in fact after I got him home as he was stable, he started to go backwards again in that his PCV dropped again, so we started on another immunosuppresent, cyclosporine.

Your vets seem right up with treatment and that’s great. I think if they are optimistic, then that’s news for you to hang on to.

Also, it’s not uncommon for bloods to go up after a transfusion only to drop down again, The transfusion is only being done to buy time for meds to do their stuff.

Bingo also would not eat the whole time he was in hospital, 9 days. They ended up syringing in food in the last few days. Soon after he was home, the prednisone gives them quite an appetite, so he couldn’t get enough food then.

Jeanie, we all know what you’re going through, so don’t worry about losing it. Ask anything. We all want to help as much as we can.

Big hugs,

Vally

[admin]

Hi Jeanie

Welcome to the site, although I am so sorry you have had to find us and that Pandi is so unwell at the moment.

It sounds like you have a great vet which is worth its weight in gold. Do they have any idea what triggered Pandi’s AIHA? We have all been through this with our pets and know how shocking and frightening it is. As others have said, it isn’t uncommon for them to lose their appetite for a while, both due to the illness and due to being in hospital, but this will likely improve once she gets home and the prednisolone kicks in. Do you know which antiemetic she is on? Sheena has already mentioned anti-clotting medication and I couldn’t agree more. This is really important and I am hoping your vets have started Pandi on something to prevent clots.

It is great to hear that your vet is optimistic and I hope this will give you some hope. This is a serious disease but with the right treatment and care, many animals do recover. There are lots of success stories here. Please feel free to ask anything you like. We will do all we can to help you through this. I am keeping everything crossed that you will get good news today.

All best wishes,

Mary and Mable x

[admin]

I’ve just seen Pandi’s picture. She is beautiful xx