and bad news...

Janine's platelets are back to 45,000. Dr. L. wants to increase the pred again and not the Imuran so we're doing that but I'm taking her in Friday morning to make sure it is working before I leave for the weekend. Janine may spend the weekend there at the vet's where she is safe from fights (dangerous with low platelets.) Her RBC was okay. I'm skeptical of the Pred getting her back up to normal but will try it. So she's back up from 5 mg a day to 40! (Since it didn't work before I don't see it working now.)

Good news!

Not about her blood, but I sent Janine's DNA in to OFA to do the DM test and she came back Carrier- so she will NOT get DM. It's so good to know that none of them (except Merlin) will have to go through this horrible disease.

Now we just have to fix whatever is wrong with Janine so she can live a long, healthy life!

Still anemic

I took Janine in for bloodwork this morning because she was looking pale (gums, top of nose) and she was down just a little bit in RBC and HCT. Platelets were normal, though, hooray! So going on with the lower dose of Azathioprine and she has an appointment for Tuesday the 31st (when I'm off.)

Giardia negative

Janine's giardia test was negative. Dr. Kahn, in consultation with Dr. Sarah Lien, decided to have her go to 10 mg Pred every other day (instead of 5 every day) and reduce the Azathioprine to every other day as well. So I started that yesterday by giving another 5 of Pred at night and then skipping the Imuran, then giving that this morning. (I had to write it down to keep straight which day is which.) Fingers and paws crossed that her platelets don't drop with the reduced Imuran.

And time to try another food as she is still loose on Kirkland. I think we will try Canidae again now that the giardia is gone and see how she does.

Vet visit 3/12/09

Janine's bloodwork is better than last time- ALT a bit elevated but near normal (Says liver is better) and blood count (red) back nearer normal and platelets back into normal. We did another fecal to send off to recheck giardia. It's a good sign things went back closer to normal but no idea why they were lower last time. My vet wonders about a systemic reaction to the giardia but I had googled that already and not found much indicating platelets could go as low as hers did, and the other vet there didn't think so, either.

So she is still on the same meds pending results of the giardia test. She has a bad pocket on one tooth that needs treating but he didn't want to do anything until we see where she is going with giardia and bloodwork. If she ends up needing a bone marrow biopsy she can get the dental work at the same time.

Janine already hates the car and now she isn't too fond of the vet, either.

Vet visit 2-12-09

I moved this one up a bit as Janine was acting grouchy. Sure enough her platelets are down a bit (not terribly low) and WBC is down and RBC still isn't up. And ALT is about the same.

So now she is getting more SAM-e, another round of Panacur, and got a shot of ProCrit. I hope it helps.. I hate to see her getting sick again.

Daily checks and a scare

Last night Janine managed to snag a Zonisamide capsule. Zonisamide is for Merlin's seizures and is a sulfa drug, and could potentially cause her to have problems. So I tried to get her to vomit (Hydrogen peroxide) with no luck. So today I come home from work to check and her gums looked white and I freaked. But ten minutes later they are fairly pink so I think we can wait until the vet appointment on Thursday afternoon. If she shows any signs of being ill before then I'll call the vet and ask about upping her Pred again or drop her off there tomorrow morning.

She's been good but as she is now on only 5 mg a day of Pred I'm nervous that she'll relapse, and we never had had her RBC up to normal. Plus she has been a bit bitchy lately which can be a sign that she's not feeling well. Or it can mean she is a normal corgi female. Hard to tell sometimes!