Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - sway is coming home!!! :)

she is holding strong to a 25, and she is eating full cans of dog food. i get to go get her as soon as i leave work. woohooooooooo.

josh california

This is wonderful news! Hooray for you and Sway. We hope she continues to improve.

leslie ca

absolutely fabulous.

jan pa

BARK BARK WOOF WOOF HOWLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL says Chance and Patrice

Patrice New York State

patrice, how was chance's blood draw?

josh cal

Josh, thank you so much for asking. I have been almost reluctant to post about Chance with all the difficulties that so many are going through, including you and Sway, here on this list. His bloodwork was nearly "unremarkable", as a vet would say. His HCT sits at 35.8, just below low normal (and so are his RBC) and has for almost a month. Everything else is normal. His liver values are sliding towards normal at breakneck speed. His weight is normal, he is growing back hair. His appetite remains normal. I am suspicious that without a spleen, this may be his normal numbers for the future. And to celebrate he went along with Mark and Cassie sunday morning for a 2.5 hour walk, their traditional sunday walk. Just one rest stop halfway and was fine the whole time. He charges around the house and yard barking and is reclaiming his role as the alpha dog in the house. He still has weakness and trembling in his rear legs and his elbows are still elephant skin bald, (and one has a nasty crack) but he had a good bath and haircut before his vet visit so he looks pretty spectacular to me! I don't understand all that has happened this summer to him but I am grateful that it ended up this way. patrice

Patrice New York State

Great News Josh..hope you all continue to improve. Tereas and Cranky

Teresa Smithfield

thanks all, she has got a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong ways to go but this feels like a championship to me after everything that has happened since thursday. patrice, i am happy for chance & your family. that is great!

josh california

That is wonderful news and I will continue to keep Sway in prayers, it certinaly is a step in the right direction. This makes me so HAPPY and I can't even imagine how you feel Josh.

Cheryl Pineville PA

Josh - That's fabulous! So happy for you and Sway to see the good news! I hope you have a good (uneventful) night and get some answers from the bone marrow aspirate tomorrow. Take good care- Bonnie

Bonnie Chicago

FANTASTIC!!! I'm so happy for you!!! deb and Duck

Debbie Nelson BC

Josh and Sway -- congratulations and keep up the good work. what a happy day!!

Brenda VA

Josh and Sway, That's wonderful that Sway is coming home and eating again. Fantastic! Hoping to hear even better news after the bone marrow aspirate results. Take care, Francine

Francine Scottsdale

Josh, Hopefully you and Sway are home now and enjoying your evening. I am so happy for you both. Penny

Penny Lytle Creek Calif

Josh, That is wonderful news! I bet you are so happy to get her home. Out prayers for her continuing to get better! Patrice, also great news on Chance! I'd say maybe we are on a roll with our babies! YAHOO! Linda

Linda Sapphire

Josh, Chance had a bone marrow biopsy back in early June. The specialist said he had to try 5 taps and all of them were completely dry. There were *no* bone marrow cells, there were *no* cells inside his bone. They used the front shoulder. That, combined with his blood work, led him to proclaim that Chance was completely non regenerative. He gave us a bottle of prednisone, looked wistfully at my beautiful Giant Schnauzer and said "you have a beautiful dog." They fully expected him to be gone in a month or so. I began to do research... every free minute I had and staying up half the night too. I had friends tell me to have him put down. His numbers slid and slid. One night when I got home from work at midnight I took him outside to pee, we got about 50 feet from the front of the house, he laid down in the street and would not get up. I had to wake Mark up to go out and pick him up to bring him back inside. That was when I began to question what the hell I was doing. I asked my pet sitter to come and look at him. He managed to tear down the deck stairs to bark at a squirrel while she was there. She said, "no, I don't think he is done yet, keep going." In a few days a friend suggested I contact Dr. Dodds. I felt I had nothing left, except perhaps a visit to Cornell University and so I called her. Within a few days we managed to get on Atopica, thanks to my local country vet, and within about 2 weeks his numbers started to go up. With just the results of the bone marrow exam and the original blood work... he should have been dead a long time ago. I guess what I am trying to say is don't be overly concerned with this test and the results, they might not look good, but look at what happened to us. good luck, patrice

Patrice New York State

Fabulous news... keep up the good work you guys.

Jackie west wales; uk

Congratulations to you and Sway! Jeanne in NJ Goldens, Angelo & Archie

Jeanne New Jersey

Josh: So great to hear some good news after all you have been thru. What do you feel is helping her? I got the results of the blood draw last night and Drago dropped again to a 27. I am worried. Did they give you any clues the last time? Did you change anything? I am looking for something to save Drago and I think my vet is stumped. She had gone up last week to a 32 and now a week later is at a 27. He was asking if she skipped any of her pills and I said no. She is on the Cytoxan 4 days on 3 days off, 40mg. Predi AM/PM and an antibotic. Any advise I am worried.

Sue K York

Patrice -- thanks for sharing that story about Chance and the bone marrow biopsy. It always is important to look at the physical attitude/behavior of the dog in addition to the physiological data from the vet. I'm hoping all goes well for Sway and Josh.

Brenda VA

Josh, I am SOooooooooo happy for you and Sway-!!!

Joe ohio

Brenda, Thanks for the concise language. Yes, I have been saying: "If it looks like a broken leg, it probably is." So in some of these cases, maybe it is best just to treat it like it is AIHA and see what happens before resorting to expensive testing. If things don't shake out the way they should, then testing might be in order. In hindsight, the bone marrow biopsy only left us feeling hopeless and did not give the specialist any diagnosis. It was Dr. Dodds observation, (and what I finally found in literature later) that this disease can *destroy the cell precursors in the marrow too*, thus the lack of bone marrow cells. This is considered more severe than intravascular destruction, but obviously, as treatable in our case. Patrice

Patrice New York State

What great news!! I'm so happy for you and Sway! Give her lots of love from all of us.

Stephanie Chicago

This thread was discussed between 02/10/2007 and 03/10/2007

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