Forum Replies Created
Hi everyone
Wendy is struggling to meet the rising vet bills & transfusion costs. She would appreciate anyone being able to make a contribution to Frank’s care, however small. You can go to gofund.me/zfakug8 or contact Sheena for further information – most of you have my private e-mail if you need to contact me.
Love to all.
Brilliant Wendy – you have done all the right things & are being a Supermum for Frank – he’s only a young chap, so he has youth on his side. Dr Dodds is usually pretty quick, but she strictly does not work on the Sabbath day (is that today for you guys in the US?), so please don’t think she’s ignoring you. Send her everything else you get, regardless. We all want to know how you get on as soon as you hear anything.
I am delighted to hear he’s eating – that is a sign of improvement for certain, and so is the darker tongue – checking his gums for improvement is a good idea too.
You are an awesome Mum Wendy – your determination makes me very proud of you. We know it’s not easy to deal with this disease, so if your worried about anything, no matter how tiny, just ask.
Love Sheena xxxx
Hi again Wendy
Got all 7 pages now! Thank you! Vets have done good investigations on the blood front. Frank has red cell destruction & his platelets are a little bit low too, so it’s looking like he has something called Evans Syndrome – his platelet level is NOT near danger point, so do not worry, but this needs to be kept an eye on. We have a quite a few people on here who have dogs with Evans Syndrome & it just means the disease has affected 2 of the blood cell lines. The treatment is very similar & it is NOT a problem, so please don’t panic about that – it’s treatable & beatable!
Please could you send all the results to Dr Dodds. Her protocol for Evans Syndrome (I’m pretty sure that’s what Frank has) lists Vincristine as a possible additional drug if necessary, but I am NOT a vet & I would like you to get her help on this as soon as you can. In view of the low platelets & some slight clotting risks, you need to ask her if Frank needs any kind of anticoagulent. He may well not need anything, but I personally can’t advise you confidently on that.
Frank also needs some help with manufacturing new baby red cells – advise adding denamarin which contains red blood cell building blocks AND milk thistle, which will help keep Franks rising liver enzymes under control.
On the really positive side, Frank is pumping out baby red blood cells (reticulocytes) which is excellent news! This is very important as it means his body (bone marrow) is trying to replace his lost red blood cells, clever boy. The rate at which his is producing them means he is mildly regenerative & he needs some help to get this figure up a bit. He also needs those goodies required to make the blood cells desperately – the denamarin will help him this.
It is uncertain as to why this has happened – sometimes, we never do find out. Don’t get hung up on that. Just concentrate on getting the right drug treatment inside him as quickly as possible.
You have no reason to lose hope – Frank will beat this with the right drugs. I hope you will contact Dr Dodds urgently.
Love Sheena xxxxx
The link to the anemia paper messed up the message above, so I’m putting it here instead
https://s3.amazonaws.com/assets.prod.vetlearn.com/11/5272e0a43a11e18eed005056ad4736/file/PV0612_Fleischman_CE.pdf
Sheena
Hi Wendy
This is a long message, but it’s important you know what to do to help Frank.
I completely understand why you are so frustrated – being told they don’t know what’s the matter is not what you want to hear. When they are unsure of the cause, it is called “idiopathic” which means of unknown cause – many owners never find out what triggered the disease, but the treatment is the same regardless.
The blood in the pee means Frank was destroying his red cells very quickly – if it is paler, that is a good sign as the rate of destruction is slowing – be happy about that, please. The blood in the stools – have they looked around his abdomen (tummy) or checked for GI tract infection etc? He needs tummy protection for sure. Please get your vet to give you some sucralfate & follow the instructions implicitly on here:
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/AIHA_Terms/sucralfate/
As you can see, it’s great for healing ulceration & preventing further damage to the GI tract caused by the drugs. It’s very important not to give it within 2 hours of any other medication. I know a nice lady called Vally who will gladly do you a drug chart – things get complicated with so many tablets!
We got the upload, but it’s about crossmatching blood, so is no help. We desperately need you to upload the following:
Full blood count result (CBC)
Blood smear result
Any ultrasound or x-ray reports (you mentioned they would do some?)
The discharge report from UC Davis & anything from the other vets.
You CAN get through this – you must now take charge of things for Frank’s sake – we will help you – have no fear. You have to trust us though – we all have experience with this disease – some have many years experience.
I e-mailed you two things – the first was a quick overview of AIHA which I hope you printed & took to the vets? The other item was “anemia – determining the cause”. I used this paper with my local vet -we were both totally in the dark at that point – if you follow the steps on there, you can’t go wrong. The only thing it doesn’t really make enough emphasis about is tick diseases – I’m assuming that the vets have checked for this? If not, that MUST be done. My local vet did everything listed on there & he decided we should seek a specialist in internal medicine. I also consulted Dr Jean Dodds & would urge you ton contact her immediately. She will need all the test results (you can always send them on later if you don’t have them) & is always happy to work with other vets. In my opinion, contacting her should be your number one priority – right now. Here is the link:
https://labordatenbank.com/cake/hemopet/onlineorders/hemopet_add
Don’t forget this is a one-off fee of $100 – the best money I’ve ever spent – and she will not charge you any more, unless you need blood products from them or tests done by her lab.
If this is definitely AIHA, Dr Dodd’s protocol will be to get your vet to add another immuno-suppressant such as cyclosporine, or if money is a real problem, azathioprine. Azathioprine works well too (Worzel responded in about 10 days), but has more potential side effects than the cyclosporine. She will also get your vet to give Frank thyroxine too – this encourages red cell production & is inexpensive – it has made a huge difference to many dogs on here.
We don’t know if Frank has other issues, such as low platelets, as we don’t have anything to look at, so there may well be something else she would want you to do. I trust Dr Dodds implicitly – she really is the best person to help you right now. You will find her compassionate & supportive too. She observes the Sabbath, so will not be able reply to you on that day, but is always pretty quick at getting back to people.
We have helped many other people who have been in your position – you are not alone & we will do everything possible to help you get Frank well again.
I know this is a long post, but I really want you to know that we are ALL on your side – if you are worried about anything, have any questions or just want to chat, please post on here anytime. I think you know how much we all care about you & Frank by now.
Love & the biggest hug
Sheena & the boys xxxxx
Hi Wendy
How are you & Frank doing today? I’m sorry they don’t want you to be with him at the vets – I would personally not want to leave my boys either, so maybe insist, in a gentle way, that you want to see him & promise you’ll stay out their way while they are working. I’m sure they will understand your need to be beside him. Some vets think us owners get them over-excited, but I really believe they feed from our emotions, so if you can stay really positive in front of Frank, he’ll feel the vibes from you, willing him to get better.
You need to keep a close eye after any transfusion, just in case of a reaction. Alyssa has given you some really great ideas about vets, what to expect & her recent experiences with Sassy – so many of our pups have been through this awful time. Linda mentioned Dr Dodds/Hemopet – they supply cross matched blood & specific blood products such as packed red cells, so you can use them if needs be. Let’s hope no further transfusions will be needed, but you should never be afraid of giving them. They are a life saver & help them feel stronger.
Hang on in there Wendy – let us know everything you can possibly find out about his treatment & we’ll advise you as much as we can. You always have the option of Dr Dodds as well – so I hope you know we’re all here to support you through this.
Love & big hugs – hope you can give Frank a cuddle from me when you see him
Sheena & the boys xxxxx
![bingo-14-5_1200x775](https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/wp-content/gallery/aiha-dogs_2/bingo-14-5_1200x775.jpg "Vally\'s Bingo \\"Smile\\"")
![Brigitte_Cleo_Ripley_Enzo_4](https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/wp-content/gallery/aiha-dogs_2/Brigitte_Cleo_Ripley_Enzo_4.jpg "Brigitte\'s Cleo, Ripley, Enzo and Guest \\"Rockin\\"")
