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Hiya Linda

Yayyyyyyy – home at last – Sadie Girl, you are such an amazing little lady – keep on fighting this evil thing. I’m so pleased things are looking much better – good luck on the next PCV hope you both get some much deserved sleep & rest.

Love & the biggest possible hugs
Sheena & all the boys xxxxx

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Hi Alyssa. Agree, Sassy is very ‘sassy’ looking. Wiesel and Bingo, no two-timing Sadie now…..

I am so glad you listened to your inner self. It’s hard to do, but when you step back a bit, things really do come into perspective, don’t they? Way to go. But welcome back!

It does sound like Sassy is doing very well. I agree though too, one Ned at a time in reducing. I wanted to tell you, that I get 5mg, 2.5mg AND 1mg here in Tampa. I use Costco Pharmamcy (except for Sadie’s new one that has to be compounded). They are awesome and give pets (and people) discounts if you have no insurance. I buy all from there; Plavix (anti-clotting), Atopica (cyclosporine), all the prednisone doses (20, 10, 5, 2.5 and 1), antibiotics and even Denamarin (no script needed). And some pharmacies are now offering an antibiotic ‘free’ list. We have a grocery store here, Publix, that has a list of free drugs. You still need a script, but at no cost to you. Nice.

Keep on doing what you’re doing because you are obviously doing the right things.

Much love, Linda and Sadie

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Hi Linda,
that all sounds so positive! Makes me happy all around!! As you said, not out of the woods but there is a clearing, just love that. I love your attitude, positive thinking and gosh Sadie is just incredible.
I hope you will have a restful night, love and best wishes,
Brigitte

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Hi all. We’re home!!! Thank you all for your well wishes, prayers and ‘willing’ her well!

After the 2nd transfusion (both cross matched, packed red blood cells – I was wrong about the one whole blood) she went up to 30% and then down to 25% over night (thank you Sherna and Vally for reminding me that this is to be expected!) and 24% at 5AM this morning. She stayed at 24% and this afternoon they let her come home. Home, with EIGHT prescriptions!!! One needing a compound pharmacy (which just happens, one is close by, thank goodness). We are not out of the woods, but we see a clearing. We’ll go with that.

It seems she has a heart murmer, some liver mucus, both being addressed. Overall, she seems good. Her ultrasound and chest x-Ray were insignificant. We are waiting on the thyroid test and urine culture, but they think what could have been the trigger was an aggressive UTI, which is absolutely being addressed.

But she seems good – the little stinker jumped up on the bench and then the bed, although I tried to stop her. She was winded, scared me silly. Now she’s snoozing next to her daddy and me. Glory be. 😊

As I read about Suba and Poppy, crying, I am feeling so very fortunate that Sadie has been given this chance. She IS a fighter and I am so very proud of her. Relapse three – NO MORE sweet girl…..

Again, wonderful friends, thank you. Please know too, that Dr. Dodds (via my dear friend Sherna) helped so much all along the way by looking over the prospective treatment and approving. And Vally – do you EVER sleep? Thank you is not enough. Just one more thing, Vally, we will need another medicine chart. A crammed one, I fear. 😉

We’ll do another PCV tomorrow. Will keep you posted.

With all our love and gratitude,

Linda and Sadie

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I am so very sorry to read these words. Your FaceBook post – what a beautiful heart you have and Suba was such a lucky girl to have had you in her life. She was beautiful and I can see, even in the pictures, her gorgeous coat. She was that way because of your love, shining.

My most sincere, heartfelt condolences to you and Vikram.
I so wish I could give you a huge, consoling hug……

Much love, Linda

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PS – Dr. Dodds has helped me with Sadie since onset of AIHA. She is incredible and deals with AIHA/IMHA dogs daily. I, and most of us here, typically look for her stamp if approval on treatment with our pups and this illness. I continually do with Sadie, including this weeks events. I think, as others have said, it would be so benificisl to reach out to here. She is on our Second Chance Resourse page:

https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/hemopetresources/

Also, I wanted to mention that the transfusion(s) is(are) buying time for the immune suppressants to kick in. This is why too, Patrice mentioned the dexamethasone injection, which Sadie was given this week also – a kick-start.

Huge hang in there hugs,

Linda

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Hi Wendy. I love the name Frank for your precious boy. As all have said, sorry for the reason you’re her, but glad you found us because it made all the difference for me and my AIHA (diagnosed March 2013) pup, Sadie. Her journey is under ‘Our Stories’ along with the others.

Sorry for not writing sooner, but my little Sadie just got home from three days at Blue Pearl’s ICU after a relapse and I have literally camped out in their waiting room. I am fortunate that this facility is quite close by.

I am SO happy to share that after her low PCV of 13 and two transfusions, Sadie is home with me this afternoon. Her PCV was 24 this afternoon upon leaving the hospital. Here’s hoping she keeps going up and onward. We are staying optimistic.

It seems everyone has covered all wonderfully. This group is incredible and will be here for any and all questions you have. Sadie would not be here without this forum; their knowledge, kindness and constant reminders that this stinking disease CAN be beat.

You sound like you have things going in the right direction. This is key. Vally has mentioned the cyclosporine – and it may be a high load dose to get him going (as they have just given Sadie). You can lower it as Frank becomes stable.

Wendy, this is a roller coaster ride. Yes, the tears flow, but you can do this. You CAN. And so can Frank. I’ll remind you, as my dear friends did here with me, remember to take care of yourself too. We get caught up in the ‘doing’ and ‘worrying’ and forget us. Vally reminded me to eat – all the way from Australia! Weird, I hadn’t – she knew – she had done the same.

We have all been right where you are and will be here for you all the way. Please be sure to let us know the bloodwork (download as Brigitte mentioned) and how Frank is doing with the transfusion.

You and Frank are in my thoughts. We’ll get through this – together.

Love and hugs, Linda

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Wendy,
I am glad the blood transfusion went well, blood from a universal donor is ok, the next one needs to be matched as far as I know. In our experience it is beneficial to put these dogs on a secondary immune suppressing drug, azathioprene or better yet cyclosporin. How experienced is your vet with this disease? We live fairly remote, the next specialist would have been 250 km away. I was not prepared to travel that far with my sick dog. I always heard about Dr. Dodds in California and her organization hemopet. When our small town vet was at her wits end and said that she needed some guidance, I asked if it would be possible that she consult with Dr. Dodds. She was enthusiastic about this idea and we never regretted that step. Small town vets have a broad knowledge but this disease is very rare and not many have a lot of experiance with it. If you could suggest that you want the best for Frank and that Dr. Dodds would be someone you would like involved, your vet might be agreeable.
Frank is a big boy so he will be on a large dose of prednisone when he gets home. This drug is very harsh on the digestive tract and we have seen it that dogs get ulcers that are very painful. Trust me you don’t want this to happen. It is important to give the pred with food but it would also help a lot if you could ask for a drug called sucralfate. It basically coats the digestive tract and protects it from the drugs. Unfortunately it can also interfere with absorbtion of the other drugs and that is why you have to give it away from all other medications by at least 2 hours.
Now you see that it will be a juggling act to give all the right medications at the right time so many times a day. I would highly recommend you have a calendar or spread sheet where you can write it all down and tick of what you have given. Our Vally, she is one of the keymasters, is great at making calendars for people that need it, I am sure she would do it for you if you give her all the info on the meds Frank is on.
I am sorry but at he end of my last post something got lost. I will check it out and see if it was important. What is very important right now is that you stay positive and believe that Frank can beat this!
Best wishes,
Brigitte