Relapse

Please send healing thoughts our way.  Puddin has suffered a major relapse lately related to the immune-mediated thrombocytopenia 😟  Her platelet count continues to drop and we continue to increase the medicine.  She is now on the maximum dose of Atopica (200 mg daily) and the maximum dose of prednisone for her weight (60 mg daily) and we are making weekly visits to the vet again.  Tracy took her on Saturday and I took her on Tuesday.  They are sending her blood out to the lab every time now to get the most accurate reading possible.  Depending on how the blood clumps, the readings on the machine at the vet can be lower than reality.  When they send the sample to the lab, it is looked at under the microscope and counted by hand.  She is still way under the normal range though even when the lab reads the results.  We also had to throw in another pill to the mix for stomach upset to counter the other drugs.

She has clearly visible signs of the internal bleeding right now.  I started crying while at the vet and Dr. Grissom told me that Puddin is a tough girl and she wouldn't give up on her yet, but also said that if it were her dog she wouldn't go through drastic measures at this point.  She reminded me that Puddin's immune system at nearly 13 years old is not what it was at age 10 when she was diagnosed.  She also noted that relapses are harder to fix anyway and a relapse of this nature at her age is even more concerning.  The side affects from the high dose of predisone include panting, anxiety, increased thirst (and therefore increased urination), and muscle weakness.  We are seeing all of those things now :(  The weakness is the worst part and it's so hard to watch her struggle to get up or see her legs trembling as she's going potty.

The first two pictures I took at the vet yesterday (Tuesday), the third one is from Tuesday night, and the rest of them I took tonight (Wednesday) just so we can compare progress.  I'm not giving up on her yet, but I also don't want her to suffer.  I cry every time I sit with her now and I wish she could tell us what to do.  Right now we are taking things one day at a time and hoping she pulls through this setback.