Doberman with AIHA

[Karxlee]

Hi,

Louis tummy is behaving itself which is good, however his gums are white and his breathing is a bit noisy, I know he’s not been on the drug long but it doesn’t seem to be working, if anything his gums seem worse.

He’s back at Rutland on Monday so I guess we will have to see what happens.

I wish I had better news.

Karyn xx

[Sheena]

Hiya Karyn

Miracles don’t happen overnight with these drugs, they take a couple of weeks, maybe slightly less, maybe even more.

He’s tolerating it well so far – this is good news. Hang on in there – give Louis a good chance to respond & know we are thinking of you always

Love Sheena xxxxx

[jill]

Hi Karan glad to hear Louis is tummy is behaving itself, I think mayby it’s early days like Sheen said for the drugs to work , mayby need to give them more time. I do hope you get on ok at Rutland and Louis Pcv hasn’t gone to low , mayby might need another blood transfusion till drugs kick in ? I don’t know if that’s possible, thinking of you always, keep your chin up xxx love Jill & Snoops xx xx

[Linda]

Hi Karyn. When Sadie was first on prednisone and cyclosporine, she did this thing, which I called her commando crawl. She would crouch down, almost
with her tummy touching the ground, and crawl, looking all around while
doing so. It was bizarre. It lasted about two weeks, doing it maybe five times
during that time. I am not sure if it was the pred or the cyclosporine (she was and still is on both prednisone and Atopica). She was really freaked out for a
while. Now, she does not do the ‘commando crawl’ but she does go in and out of some weird personality peculiarities at times.

She is absolutely a different dog. She is not ever mean to other dogs, but really appreciates just being left alone. As a young girl (this going on 5 years
with AIHA, diagnosed at 2 1/2), she loved all dogs and loved to run and play. No more. But Sadie is a rare case and the relapses have mellowed her. Of course, being seven now, mellows her anyway.

Each of our pups is unique, yet textbook classic. So weird. I think of you and Louis all the time, because I know you have been through so much, as I have
with Sadie. Another unique case.

I keep saying to myself, one day at a time and that each day is a gift. She is back (yes, Sheena and Vally, yes, so sad) to wetting the bed each night – last
three nights. Her kidneys are bad. She continues to get UTIish symptoms. It a continuum. But we treat daily, we tweak daily, we get through the day and
and say, well, we did it, another day, another night – a gift.

I know this is all so consuming and taxes your mind to the hilt. I have actually resigned myself to not hanging on the words of the vets, but more on the forum and Dr. Dodds and my own gut feeling because I know Sadie. It has
taken me years to get here. But I would have gone nuts, if I didn’t come to some compromising revelations.

I need to read your blog. Could you send the link again (sorry, up to my eyeballs with my dad and mother right now, not on the forum site at all and obviously not reading e-mails daily…..sigh)?

So thinking of you and Louis and sending huge, gigantic, hang-in-there hugs and lots of love,

Linda and Sadie 💕

[Kathleen]

Hi all.

Wanted to say hang in there Karyn. I am sorry I have not written till now (working out of town is making it hard to feel like I am doing my best at work or for Dylan).

Please keep us posted.

[Karxlee]

Hi, Louis has less energy now, and his gums are still white, he’s puffing and panting and isn’t sleeping well at all, the most we can get out of him is around 3 hours, which is exhausting. His eyes look bright, and he’s still eating and drinking, but it just doesn’t seem to be doing anything.
He was like this when they put him back on cyclosporine he seemed to crash, talk about a difficult case!
Once again I’ve asked about thyroxine and once again I’ve been told NO! for the following reasons:

I appreciate you want to do everything possible for Louis and so do I but:

1. His thyroid is working fine

2. His bone marrow does not need stimulation, it is producing red blood cells but they get destroyed faster than the marrow can make

3. Unnecessary thyroid supplementation will produce increased heart rate, putting more strain onto the heart, will increase appetite, can cause vomiting, diarrhoea, panting and nervousness

4. The articles you sent do not have clinical relevance. one deals with people with thyroid disease and if you read the conclusion, they state that the anaemia is NOT associated with the thyroid hormone; the second one it’s an in vitro study

Louis’ blood results are as usual, regenerative anaemia; all normal on biochemistry.

I feel like Louis case is the exception to the rule, all the normal protocol doesn’t work for him, we both don’t think we will ever beat this or at least get him into remission. This evil condition will take Louis and we feel that time is closer than ever now, and we have to prepare ourselves.

[Vally]

Karyn, what happens after three hours? Is he restless or does he need to go out? If he’s eating and drinking, he’s not feeling too bad. Not eating, I’m certain you know is the first sign that they’re not feeling well.

When did he start on the new drug? They just don’t work quickly enough for us, so give it time.

Also remember if Louis is not doing much, his gums WILL be paler.

Love Vally and Bingo
Xxx

[Karxlee]

Hi Vally, he’s restless after around 3 hours of sleeping at night. During the day he’s not doing much he will nod for an hour but still get up if he hears anything or if Olga barks.

He started the drug on Monday so today will be his 6th dose.

He still follows us around the house, but it seem to take him some effort to actually get up on his feet, he kind of does it in stages.

We take him out when we take Olga, but he just potters next to us and needs to have a lie down after a few 100 yards.

His back left paw has started to swell, but that’s quite common for him now, he gets swellings in alternative paws, it swaps between his front paw and his rear one. It seems to be the same paws that swell as well.

He’s gone back to drinking out of his bucket in the back garden as well, which he had stopped doing for months. We make sure it’s clean water and the bucket is clean.

I just feel really down today, I’m dreading Monday at Rutland, because I have this really horrible feeling they are going to say enough is enough.

The last thing we want to do is make Louis suffer, and my hubby has said recently this is no life for Louis, he’s use to running round like a mad thing, and enjoying life, what he has now is nothing like that.
I find that really hard to hear , and it might be that I’m being selfish, but I can still lie next to him and cuddle him, surly that’s got to be better than not being here?

We’d never heard of this condition before Christmas, but the more we have researched the more we have found it’s not that uncommon, which is frightening. It seems that Vets in the UK are dismissive of Dr Dodds research, which makes our situation even worse, that coupled with the horrendous side affects Louis has suffered from all the drugs, I just feel we have no chance of beating this.

We cannot even get access to his full blood tests to let Sheena have a look, it’s worse than being at your own GP. I have begged for thyroxine but have been blocked at every stage, and made to feel like I shouldn’t question the ‘experts’. Plus Monday will be the last time Louis sees Stefano as another vet is taking over his care, but it seems like this is the first AIHA case he’s treated, I need to build a rapport with him, if we are given the time.

You can probably tell I’m not in a good place at the moment, it feel like I’m balancing on the edge and a cliff and it’s only going to take one small push or wisp of wind to push us over it. I am questioning every single decision we made in Louis care, and trying to see what we should or shouldn’t have done differently.

Love Karyn
xxxxxxxxx