I tell ya, it's just a good thing my husband and I have tried SO hard the past two years to teach Billy that the vet is a "good" place where they'll HELP you!
Yep -- I had to take him back up to Gainesville this morning (U of Fl Small Animal Hospital). His blood (hematacrit) was steadily declining all weekend but it fell quite a wallop this morning (from 24 down to 19 and the "solids" down pretty significantly), and his heart rate was pretty high, and his temp was up. So as soon as I got done at the vet where they tested him I said "Well, wanna go back up and see Eric??"
Tail nubbin waggin a million miles an hour altho weak, he climbed in the car with enthusiasm and off we went (Gainesville is about 2 1/2 hours away). My boss has been stellar (although I did work half a day yesterday, I'm still WAY behind in hours after two days last week and a good share of today).
They've given him another transfusion (were transfusing him when Eric phoned me to update me tonight). The temp and heartrate came down by the time we got up there (I suspect this dog is SO convinced that when you go to THIS place you feel better soon!! Even if they do poke and prod you and make owies, they give you treats and red stuff that makes you FEEL better [blood] and EVER BUDDY LIKES YA!!!) - my guess is he literally RELAXED when we got there. His tail about broke the speed record when he caught sight of Eric (who literally volunteered to take him on IN ADDITION to the rest of his work load), and a major repeat of the tail gladness when he saw Dr. Goldkamp!!
She was concerned that his belly looked puffy so she had another visual done (I'm not sure if they used the cardio type ultrasound or a regular ultrasound) to make sure there wasn't fluid in the gut that could signal more problems - there wasn't. The other blood/chem values are still "fine" (surprising given all the drugs he's taking to whack the body out).
Tomorrow more tests to see what the body is actually "doing" with the steroids (the cyclosporine in particular) to try to figure out why the body isn't responding better.
AND hopefully in the next couple of days that PCB of that tick panel will be back -- and frankly THAT is the big missing piece. IF the tick disease is still raging in him then it may simply be the tick disease that is causing the anemia and not IMHA (and man, folks that's the thing to hope, pray and think good thots about if you are so inclined). If it's "just" IMHA his chances are in the cellar.
Billy's spirits are great -- he's still eating although the clyclosporin IS taking it's toll. The belly IS bothered, and he's having some fierce diarrhea. He's also got quite a bad urinary tract infection that's causing a lot of pain but they can NOT give him antibiotics for it because of the possible reaction. For his spirits to be so 'up' is a testament to how hard this dog is trying to 'get better'.
In honesty, it is NOT NOT NOT in Billy's favor that he's had to get yet another transfusion. At this point every one he gets truly diminishes his 'chances' if this is truly IMHA. It's not just "oh he's getting another transfusion" -- But we're just not going to give up. And I think he knows that too.
I told my husband -- this is SO tough. Never ever have I deal with something like this -- every "good" turn inverts itself to something 'bad'. And every 'bad' thing that pops up sometimes seems to wind up 'good'. (like taking him back up there with a plunging hematacrit only to find that the reason he's not responding MIGHT be that it's tick and NOT IMHA). But there's still absolutely NO guarantee (and it's actually a diminishing possibility at this point) of success -- but I have to think Billy's own efforts are gonna count for something. I kinda need to believe that.
Even *if* it's tick-based it's still going to be very difficult to treat -- it's not just a matter of substituting drugs -- the steroids make the tick disease 'stronger' in a sense, and decrease the antibiotics effectiveness. The answers are so elusive because this particular tick disease is SUCH a strange thing. And you can't just stop steroids, nor can you wean him off 'fast'.
I'm flatly exhausted. Making up work, long distance drives, Billy's care … I have to be careful so I don't over stress myself. If Mom gets sick there's no one to take care of everbuddy else.
No clue on when he'll come home this time. I honestly hope they keep him long enough to get the answer on that PCB/tick stuff and begin the new treatment. Just the major switch in meds IF it comes to that will be likely to make him crash again. I'm just so thankful he's comfortable up there -- that's a load off my mind.