pampa

Well, the actual problem is that the Pred. makes her quite thirsty and thus makes her urinate a lot... A very long flight would mean she would be laying on soaken bedding which she'd hate. It is not recommended to sedate animals in flight because once again, it can heighten thirst and coming out of sedation is often more stressful than not being sedated at all. I don't think she will be too stressed out by the trip (nothing stresses her out !) and she probably is "safe" crated, even without any prednisone for a couple of days and knowing her, she'll enjoy the pound no end ! As far as her bruising goes, she hasn't had one single problem since starting the medication. I'm praying it won't come back after weaning her off the Pred. If it does, we'll experiment to see how low a dose of cortisone is necessary for her platelets to remain stable and stop her bruising. It may be necessary to treat her for the rest of her life, it is too early to know. Apparently, the general prognostic for minor cases of thrombocytopenia is pretty good, once again, that depends on what the underlying cause is... As yet we have no idea what is causing her immune system to go hay-wire... Lots of questions and not many answers, it is infuriating, as you too well know Ern... (only 5 days to go until Kal's ultrasound ) Will let you know how it goes... DBS, how is Lucinda at the moment ?...

Oh dear, i'm so sorry Falgall, nothing I can say will aleviate the pain you are feeling. In hoping the test results are better than expected Lots of support and pawsitive vibes coming from France....

I didn't pick up on that, thanks mate We got the blood results back today and as suspected, her platelet count is up to the low end of "normal"... 1000 is a minimum and she's at 1050 which is just acceptable, so, as suspected, we will wean her off the Pred. in the next fortnight to see if her platelets go down again as I suspect they will I'm now wondering where to go from here knowing we have a big life change/country change/vet change and bloody long flight ahead of us soon.... As my Mum said, is it wise to make her travel if she is ill I'm trying not to be selfish, but....

Glad to hear he's well at the moment... Are you planing to upgrade his holistic treatment once this Chemo protocole is finished ?... Big hugs to you both...

What a wonderful weekend you've all had together, Ollie dog must be exhausted Thanks for sharing your happy times together and I agree with you Jodie, we do need a special thread for the beautiful Lucinda...

Thanks Suezija for the concern... She is still on the Prednisone and apart from being a bit thirstier and hungrier than usual, shes fine, no more bruising so it is confirmation that her auto-immune system is mistaking her platelets as "enemies" and discarding of them by error... We are going in for new blood tests on Tuesday to see how her platelet level is now that the Prednisone has suppressed her auto-imune system and thus stopped it from discarding of the healthy platelts by accident... I will post on Thursday or Friday when I have the test results back. Cheers for now

Bloody hell, sh!t, bugger, damn I hope you managed to get a bit of sleep sweetie, try to keep your chin up, Ollie needs you to be cheery

Is it possible that he "simply" had/has an abcess in his nose or up somewhere near his sinuses (maybe due to a grass seed or the likes) ? This would explain why things got gradually worse, then after the abcess burst and the puss and foreign object had leaked/been blown out of one single nostril, that he gained some relief for a while and that the vet thus saw nothing lodged up there ?... The abcess may have filled up again and has caused him to go downhill for a second time I didn't see that he's been put on anti-biotics... Am I mistaken

Glad to hear the little blighter is feeling OK today and that his blood has given him the all clear for chemo tomorrow - go blow that new bump out of existance We will be waiting for the outcome of his treatment in hoping it doesn't knock our Ollie dog about too much this time. I must admit this rollar-coaster ride is getting a bit rough with it's ups and downs and I'd like to keep climbing for a while to let us all get a breather

Bugger, Bugger, Bugger So sad to hear he's down again tonight... Warley, I wanted to say something like what you wrote last week to show how much we have all grown to love this little guy (and his uncomplaining human mate ) but it kept coming out wrong... Thanks for finding the right words More positive thoughts and prayers on the way Jodie. XOXOXOXO

Great news Jodie :D Good on the littl' battler (I must say, I was sooooo relieved when I read your updated title )

Thank you all for your support, it is greatly appreciated... We've been on 20mgs of Prednisone (cortison) now for one full week and my girl is just fine. This is both good and bad considering all I've read recently on Thrombocytpenia and auto-immune problems... Her first blood test BEFORE starting on the medication showed a platelet count of 21,000 which is 5 times less than the 100,000 considered "the satisfactory minimum" and this is why she was bruising (platelets help stop tiny "micro-leaks" in blood vessles so if there are not enogh platelets to stop the "leak", a bruise appears)... My vet only wants to give her new blood tests (to check the platelet count again), in 8 days or so, 2 full weeks after beginning the cortisone treatment to stop her immune system from destroying her own platelets by mistake, which seems to be the problem at the moment :D I will of course post back once we've done the 2nd test Cheers for now

That is such a heartening story DBS and so timely... Falgall, my thoughts and lots of courage are coming your way from over here. Obviously hoping pathology made a mistake and the next biopsy comes back all clear

What wonderful news :D BTW, it sounds yummy, when are we all invited to dinner at your place :p

Jodie, is it maybe that the strong smelling food is turning him off ?... If he will eat really bland, plain bickies, maybe ; 1) there is a nutrient in them that his body needs 2) the lack of smell doesn't make his tummy turn maybe (along with the nutrigel if you get some), you could try to give hime some bland starchy type foods with limited smell (when my dear auntie was on chemo she craved almonds... most other foods, especially nice smelling "tempting" foods like roast chicken, made the poor soul heave). maybe some plain pasta spirals cooked in a beef cube and strained "dry", maybe with a tiny tad of butter (try without butter first )... Best of luck in getting him to eat but I'm very glad his blood is "good". Lots of pats to Ollie

Knowing that we had a osteosarcoma scare before Christmas, my vet is "worried" to say the least... He will take blood again in 2 weeks to make sure the platelets are up. Then, I guess, we'll wean her off the Pred. to see what happens Whatever the case, I'm going to have to find a solution before mid may as she will be taking a long plane trip and will not be able to if she is still on Pred, due to the thirst and urinating probs related to the medication... In addition to the great threads you posted in the past that I re-read yesterday, I also found 2 other wonderful threads on Thrombocytpenia... I'll post them here if anyone is interested (the second one is an Australian, independant pure-bred website with some great, simple info on many subjects. Well worth a visit even if one doesn't appreciate lowchens ). http://www.vetinfo.com/dthrombo.html#Immun...A%20and%20Evans http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/health/imt.htm BTW, today we took our 3rd Pred pill. No new purpura, no petichiae and the old ones have all dissapeared miraculously... I also learned that heartworm disease is also a reason for Thrombocytpenia. I've just bought some medication for her in preparation/prevention for her trip, but I'll now be having her tested for heartworm before treating her, just in case...

Oh dear, sorry to hear you both had such a shocker of a night. Hoping he is a bit better today. As for the photo He looks gorgoues in mauve He wouldn't be IN your bed in that pic, would he

By the way, the vet has written his own notes in a corner of the prescription, "thrombocytopenic purpura of unknown origin ??? Marrow tap ???" Anyway, I'm back to reading your links again Dogbesotted

Unfortunately not DBS... She started bruising again last Thursday and my vets immediately contacted a haemotologist (sp?) specialising in auto immunity problems. They now think it has nothing to do with rat bait It seems that her platelets must have gone up a bit, hence the improvement the week before last, then, for some unknown reason, her body has knocked out the platelets again in the last few days She is now on a fairly high dose of Cortisone (Prednisone which is the generic equivalent of Cortancyl here), for 3 weeks to see how she goes. Obviously she is drinking and peeing heaps with the treatment and has a salt restriction, but apart from that, she seems fine, the usual glutten and full of energy. I started the treatment yesterday and today the existing bruises are almost resorbed and no new ones have appeared Does cortisone take effect immediately :D If the cortisone does help her state, what might be wrong with her

HOLY COW Well, taking THAT into account, two ultrasounds are hopefully, largely sufficient

I'm at 6's and 7's here I'd be torn between NOT wanting to change diet in case it DOES effect the adrenal gland somehow, thus "falsing" the ultrasound results, then NOT knowing whether the change is due to time itself or diet... AND CHANGING diet in order to "profit" from the ultrasound to see whether said change in diet has in fact had some positive/negative effect on the adrenal gland... I guess if she has a tumour in there (in praying its not the case), it will unfortunately grow/change shape despite a change in diet... If the ONLY thing you change is her diet (knowing that she may have some tummy upsets), any improvement could be put down to a diet related problem (getting back to Zoiboys' "Coeliac" suggestion)... **so, up to now, I'm no hope whatsoever am I ** In conclusion, I don't think I would change her diet until she has the ultrasound on the 11th, then, depending on the results have a go at changing diet then... I guess they are REALLY expensive, but, maybe you could book a 3rd ultrasound for May ??? Pawsitive french vibes coming through for the 11th

Wow, that IS a lot of weight to put back on ! I'm glad the new antibiotics are doing the job and that the big sweetheart is feeling a bit better. I'm really looking forward to some "after" photos of this lad.

Oh dear Dogbesotted, I'm saddened to hear that Lucinda is frail and tired of fighting... Despite all of your informative posts and insight into your dogs' ups and downs, I never picked up that she is so ill.... It is due to your "non complaining" nature I guess Thoughts are with you. Bugger, bugger, bugger Hopefully you have him at home with you whilst I write and that this raise in temperature is nothing too serious in the scheme of things. Thoughts to you both, as always.

How is our Ollie dog today Jodie, I've been wondering how he is since the last chemo I hope it didn't flatten him too much beyond the 12th when you last posted :D

THAT is small Well, they definately stand out like the proverbials IMHO :D (I have 2 girls and a de-sexed sissy, so ANYTHING seems biggish to me ;) ) Thank you for the photos, I've just had my "kinky fix" for the evening (and for the next week or so ;) )... Sorry however not to be able to add anything serious here, but it is really not up my alley