Loving my Oldies

Vet has just rung me. Yee hah All good news. Her red blood cells are almost normal, white blood cells are coming down, not there yet, but dramatically improved. And we don’t go back for further tests until Tuesday 22. Your posts and good wishes have cheered and fortified me immensely and obviously transmitted to Sooty.

I think I’m going with the others. Too risky in the middle of summer. You’d like to think baggage handlers would take care that a dog wasn’t left sitting on top of suitcases in the boiling sun, but I can tell you from my own experience (not hearsay) that that is not necessarily the case.

I’m off to commission a Sooty-sized saddle. She is eating like a horse.

. Looking good. Red blood cells rising, so anaemia is getting under control. Have to wait until tomorrow’s report from the laboratory for more detailed results. I can stop the Carafate, continue the Prednisolone (that will be long term) and next appointment depends on results from today. She is definitely brighter as is Mezza who came along for the ride Happy happy.

Ah no, @sandgrubber. I am so sorry. So damned hard. Take care and, despite the huge Bonza hole in your heart, be comforted in time by the wonderful times you had together.

Thanks @Snook. I reckon she is definitely on the improve. When I gave her her eye drops this morning, her eyes were red threaded as they usually are --- for a while there was practically no red in them at all. Her ears are still whitish though. More blood tests tomorrow, so I am hopeful that these visual clues will be supported by those tests. She is definitely eating better and the last couple of meals she has eaten all herself, ie I haven’t had to finish off by hand feeding her. Although I enjoy doing that, seeing her eating all her meal by herself is so encouraging. I’ve just come in from doing some gardening out the front and when I do that, I take Sooty and Mezza out with me. A week ago she would just stand in the one spot, but for the past couple of days she has been wandering around, albeit tentatively because of her blindness. Mezza surprised me more than Sooty. He was ACTUALLY HAVING A LITTLE DIG where I’d been weeding and turned over the soil !!! He normally goes back inside, but I have been being mean and sneaky and closing the door so he has no choice but to explore. Love them to bits

I think this year has really hit me hard !!! I read this topic as “Sporting Disaster”.

You lot are funny.

To Wags: I saw a post on FB the other day which said, “Do you know how weird it is being the same age as old people?" Keep barking old boy, you have lots of company.

Blood result from yesterday. To quote the vet (who scared the life out of me by a phone call at about 8am) “All looking good.” Sooty’s blood counts and platelets are getting to the normal range and I need not worry about spontaneous bleed, even if she were to cut herself, it need not be of concern re bleeding. Pred dose can be slightly decreased and another test on Friday. Her legs are terrible and I have improvised to make Robert Jones wraps @tdierikx, but will little effect. I will keep trying to make them sturdier to try to keep her legs straighter. Sooty is amazing. What a shock though - I received my first Christmas Card yesterday from a couple who adopted a dog from me many years ago and she, too, has developed Thrombocytopenia !! She is doing well, too.

OMG, @Boronia, I’ve read only the first link, it was scary!!! That poor dog and thank god she was with someone who persisted.

My post wasn’t meant to be sad, it was meant to help and to illustrate that it can be far from clear . Over the years, I’ve seen many posts saying to the effect that you will know when the time is right. I don’t wholly agree with this because I (and surely I am not alone?) have found it very very difficult at times to assess when that time is and my examples of Danny and Bunter were meant to show the vast difference between knowing and not knowing.

Few things spring to mind: If possible, your vet needs to know your dog. Your vet needs to understand you - one of the things I always tell my vet is that my feelings are not under consideration. The only things that matter are the health, happiness and well-being of my dogs/cat. Each “case” needs to be considered individually. Three of my loved ones have gone to god this year and I don’t think Sooty (14+) and Mezza (17) will be far behind. Sometimes the decision is easy in terms of for the sake of the dog and sometimes the pet has an illness that can be managed for even a few years and that is when it become difficult, because like anyone, they have good days and not so good days and bad days. A couple of examples: Danny had been ill but well managed for a few years when I finally realised it was time. I booked the vet to come to my place on a Friday evening and when he arrived, I met him at the door and said, “Come and look at this.” Danny was happily hoeing into a meal, tail up, bright as a button. Vet said that he could not euthanise him and I agreed .... but we both knew it was a bit of a last hurrah. We had the most wonderful Saturday, Danny ate well, he pottered around the footpath, enjoying all the smells. On Sunday evening, he crashed and on Monday the vet came again to my house and Danny, my dearest little red man skipped over the bridge. Bunter sound asleep in the bedroom when I had to go out, so I left him. Still the same when I returned. Naturally, I was concerned and then I heard noises indicating he was in distress. To the vet immediately and to cut the story short, he too went to god the following morning having spent the night in emergency on a ventilator. So sometimes there is no question that the time is right, sometimes very difficult to judge and everything in between.

Thanks, T. Will mention that on Monday.

Update from vet this morning. All is looking “pretty good.” Platelets are well within normal range. Sooty still anaemic, but improving. Her white blood cells are still high but this would be because of Prednisolone and I still need to be vigilant for any signs of bleeding, which hasn’t happened to date, but I check her over regularly. @tdierikx, I asked about whether the tests they were doing showed anything to do with organ function, but vet said they had been just concentrating on the white and blood cells, but she will mention this to the other vet I have been seeing and whom Sooty and I will see on Monday for further tests. Until, we continue regime we are currently on. @Snook, because of your post, I said to the vet that it is a lot for a little old lady to deal with and she told something that made me feel sick and go weak at the knees. The other vet had said to her that we got to Sooty just in time before she had reached a stage where coming back would have been difficult. Many years ago, long before DOL and long before I knew much more about dogs other than they had four legs and a tail, a vet told me I was “a neurotic mother.” My little dog at the time was very sick and we had many trips to the vet. Calypso eventually died of congestive heart failure at the very young age of 3 and a half. I never dobbed her in to the practice owner, but I wish I had. So, if “neurotic” equates to knowing your dog and feeling that something is just not right and acting on that feeling, call me neurotic any day.

No imaging at this stage @tdierikx, but I will ask about liver bloods. She is very easily upset and I think they are trying to be as least invasive as possible. As bloods are being sent to pathologists, I imagine they have been, but will ask. She gets eye drops every day still after the unsuccessful operation to restore her sight and this morning I could finally see the veins in her eye again (it is usually a little blood shot) so I am hoping her results from yesterday will be encouraging.

So smooth and solid. They’re just beautiful.

@Snook, the link below is the clearest description I have found while doing lots of trawling in the past week. While Sooty hasn’t had any bleeding, she is anaemic but this is improving. She is on Prednisolone which, depending on results from the lab, may be reduced. She is given Carafate before meals. it is a roller coaster, but she has shown time and again what a courageous and strong willed dog she is. I am certain these characteristics are what pulled her through when she first came here. https://www.ndsr.co.uk/specialist-referral-service/pet-health-information/internal-medicine/immune-mediated-thrombocytopenia-imtp

Sooty’s Initial blood results are good, but also being sent to pathology for more definitive measures. Both vets who have been monitoring her are very pleased and to see their big wide smiles was very heartening and they are feeling better about her prognosis. Her diagnosis is Immune Mediated Thrombocytopenia.

I question mine every day, @Boronia. And then I look at them sleeping . . . . We are off to the vet shortly for more blood tests - and as I type this, I see Sooty come into the room. She hasn’t left her bed in the morning for ages. Usually she sleeps on, or just sits there waiting for me to come and get her. She must be feeling better

Oh @grumpette, they are so beautiful. You must spend your days with a big grin on your face.

She did, actually, thank you . I was so worried yesterday because she was breathing heavily and her ears were white. I took video,of her breathing and a photo of her ears and sent them to my vet. He was reassuring and today she is much better (eating and toileting normally) and her ears are PINK.

He makes me laugh, he is so gorgeous

Thank you, Justice

Sooty definitely likes to be molly-coddled. Ate all her breakfast being hand fed. And is walking much better. I am still investigating the Robert Jones Splinting, thanks @tdierikx.