AIHA or IMHA

 Thanks Janice and Callie for letting me vent and whine a little bit. Compared to what has happened with a lot of Dogs I don't have anything to complain about.  It just felt good to blow off some steam.  I need to just be thankful for all the good and stop trying to expect perfection in these numbers.  Maybe someday there will be a study on Serum Iron and IMHA and how these things work.  So little is known about IMHA in general that I'm not expecting that to happen anytime soon, its probably not very high on the priority list.

By the way.. today is Cyclops's 11th Birthday!  

Happy Birthday Cyclops.  Daddy going to get you a bone?

Hugs and birthday wishes from Tessy & I. 

Johnny & Tessy

Happy Birthday, Cloppy!!! 

 Happy Birthday Cyclops;

GratefulDawg

Cyclops's 11th Birthday!  

Hap=pee BOOF-da 2 U

Hap=pee BOOF da 2 U

Hap=pee BOOF DAAAAAA Deer Cyclops

Hap=pee BOOF DAAAAA 2 uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

an manyyyyyyyyyyy more!!!!

Billy tha Venturin English cocker

spanYELL

I got not so great news today--not panicing yet though--Willow had her yearly on Tuesday.  And, they did a full blood work up.  The platelets are low again, 144, 000--not horrible, she's been much lower.  But, they are starting to fall again.  So, she's got to go back in 2 weeks to see how stable they are.  If they've fallen more, well. . .you know what that might mean.  I'm blaming myself for this because we took on a foster kitten and I think it's stressing her out.

The GREAT news, everything else was perfect!! 

 Lori,

 Does your scale of normal go from 170,000 to 400,000 ?

 In Willow's case is it because the bone marrow has stopped producing new platelets?  Or is there another reason?

 I guess I've never really fully understood Willow's condition.  But I'd be glad to sit here and help you worry.  Is there anything that you can do in these next 2 weeks to help the platelet count go up?  

 I know how it is to get all the great news but still kinda focus on the one bad thing.  

 I just went through Cyclops' papers since she was first diagnosed and what is wierd is that her Platelets have always been high even when her HCT was very low.  For example when her HCT was at 9% (!) her Platelets were 719,000.  Then The lowest it ever got was 271,000 when her HCT was 39%.  2 months ago she was too high again at 458,000 then 420,000.  This latest test was the 2nd time since this whole thing when she was back in the normal range at under 400,000.

I was just reading online and they were saying 40,000 was the point where it gets very very dangerous.  So in that respect you are still a ways up there.  

Sorry for rambling, I just like to think outloud when I'm typing sometimes.  

Hope you post more about what you think can be done.  

Give Willow a big huge hug from me and some kisses from Clops.

Thinking about you guys!

Mike

Ahh Lori --- up and down we go.  Billy's crit fell here a few weeks ago and we discovered it was because the hooks had flared up in the yard!!  I NEVER thot I'd be "glad" to find hooks, but it was better than thinking his crit was low!!

Can it be because of the warmer weather?  (thinner blood b/c of weather or something?)

Thank you guys!  All I can think of is THANK DOG we didn't vaccinate her for rabies the other day!! Whew. . .

For those that aren't familiar, IMT is a very similar disease to IMHA and it can turn into it.Or IMHA and IMT can develop at the same time and then it's called Evans Syndrome.  It's treated exactly the same way too--meds, transfusion if needed, lots of blood checks. 

Instead of RBC being too low, it's the platelets. Platelets, as I understand it, cause the blood to clot. And, if platelets are too low, the dog or even humans can spontaneously bleed to death. 

Willow's been tested and they diagnosed her as having an "immune" disease after numerous tests to check for cancer, Lyme and other tick diseases, etc.  Bascially, they made sure it wasn't 2nd to another disease. 

The range for platelets is very broad and varies a lot from lab to lab.  Our lab says minimun should be at least 164, 000.  Willow is at 144, 000.  Which FOR HER, isn't horrible.  But, they can drop very very quickly to too low.  Once, they start getting lower than 40, 000, the risk of bleeding from any slight bump or bang is a possibility. Or, just spontaneous internal bleeding.  It's frightening stuff.   So, she'll get a recheck in two weeks. 

The tricky thing with this is that she doesn't at any time act sick from it.  They don't feel platelets the way they do RBC. They can sometimes have bruising, pale gums, blood shot eyes,  but she never did.  Willow's platelets were at 12,000 when she was diagnosed.  And, I wouldn't have even known it but for me on the fly asking for a blood test at one of her checks.  She started at 80mg of Prednisone and it took us 5 months to get her off of it completely.  This all started around this time last year.  I'm hoping we aren't going to spend another summer the same way. 

I wish I could say I know what's causing this.  It could be basically anything.  It is interesting that she's been doing well right up until this month--July was the month this all started last year too.

Thank you for your support!  I am extremely happy that all the rest of her tests came back normal. 

GratefulDawg

In Willow's case is it because the bone marrow has stopped producing new platelets? 

It's that the immune system is killing them off quicker than the marrow can replace them.  The marrow is making them though.

Prayers and good thots -- it would be a good thing now to sit down and write out things you did this year that you did last and you might be able to figure out a trigger.Much luck & hugs!~!

My heart is with you.  I hope and pray that it is only a little slide and nothing serious.  Nobody should have to go through these terrible diseases again....especially our furkids.

I'll keep her in my thoughts and prayers.

Johnny & Tessy

willowchow

I got not so great news today--not panicing yet though--Willow had her yearly on Tuesday.  And, they did a full blood work up.  The platelets are low again, 144, 000--not horrible, she's been much lower.  But, they are starting to fall again. 

  I hope her count bounces back up quickly; {{{{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}}}}

 Cyclops was a miracle coming back from a HCT of 9% but I think Willow has her beat by still being alive after her Platelets were 12,000.  I've been doing a lot of reading and a lot of dogs die from this with Platelet counts much higher than that. 

 Willow is a miracle doggie!  And I'm glad you didn't vaccinate either.  Even if it wouldn't have made a differernce one way or the other you'd still be upset at yourself right now but have no way of knowing it wasn't the vaccine.  

 Will be checking in for more updates on Willow.  

Thank you everyone!