Carol: You and Dinah and the rest of your family are in our thoughts and prayers. Keep us posted. Lizzie and I are hoping for good news! Jolene Grabill ExtraOrdinary Pals [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----Original Message----- From: The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Carol Richards Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2001 6:48 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [CKCS-L] Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia Last week Dinah had more bloodwork done, which included a Coombs test and ANA. The Coombs test came back slightly positive for IMHA. The vet was afraid to not treat her for this, even though the treatment is prednisone, since she could rapidly go downhill. We started prednisone at a low dose last week. Dinah had another vet appt. today, and the vet ran more blood work. I told her Dinah seemed much better, and I was encouraged that one of the treatments was working. Her vet called tonight and said that unfortunately, Dinah's red blood cell count was down even lower today. She is adding Imuran to her treatment, which is a chemotherapy drug. She may need to increase her prednisone, which would be very risky because of her heart. The low dosage of prednisone that she's taking now is obviously not working. It's just making her hyper and peppier, which is why I thought she was feeling better. Now I am really scared. She told me that if I wanted a second opinion to feel free to get one, or if I wanted her to consult with any of the internal medicine specialists at UT that she would be glad to do that. I had asked her to call Dr. Jean Dodds in California last week to discuss the blood work results with her. She had tried, and she was out of the country until the middle or end of this month. She also said that she would look up exactly when Dr. Dodds was supposed to be back in the country and call her. The vet clinic I go to really is the most advanced and most respected clinic in town, and the owner of the Clinic who has seen Dinah and looked at everything is Board certified. I feel very confident with them, and I am also glad they can consult with UT. A bone marrow aspirate would tell us definitively if we were dealing with autoimmune disease or cancer. The vet feels like if this is cancer instead of the autoimmune helolytic anemia, that she will just not respond to the Imuran/Prednisone/Doxycycline treatment and continue going downhill. She also said that she had some veterinary books that better explained this disease and the different treatments. She is going to copy some chapters from the different books, and I can pick them up tomorrow. Again, if anyone has dealt with a similar situation, please give me any insight or experience you may have with this--either on or off the list. Thank you. Carol Richards [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.geocities.com/carolscavaliers/ <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/carolscavaliers/";>Carol's Cavaliers</A> "My little dog, a heartbeat at my feet." Edith Wharton ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 1999 by its original author. ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 1999 by its original author.
