Tuesday, January 29, 2013

A "tail" of two Dogs


Most of you know that my family is pretty close.  Well this also extends to the dogs of the family.  We have Sundae and Maple (our dogs), Jessie May (my sister’s dog) and then Gracie Jane (my mom’s dog).  All are labs, we have 2 chocolates, 1 black and 1 crazy yellow.  For the most part they play and get along well.  They all have their unique character, personalities and bad habits.  They certainly do keep up entertained!

My little Maple (5 yr old) is entering her 7th week of chemo treatments for lymphoma.  She has tolerated the treatments pretty well with the exception of a couple weeks ago (the weekend it was freezing cold here).  She wanted to lay outside, had major intestinal issues and lethargy.  She ended up spending 2 nights at our home away from home- VRCC (www.vrcc.com).  They took really good care of her, nursed her back to health and charged us a pretty penny for doing so!  They also have visiting hours so we were able to go and see our little brown girl. 

Thursday is chemo day.  However this week instead of visiting our friends at VRCC, we get to administer chemo at home.  This treatment is done with pills.  We have to administer it very carefully with gloves and all.  She’ll also get some anti nausea hopefully to ward off any nausea and eating issues.  It is scary when your Labrador doesn’t want to eat.  All in all, the oncology vet is very pleased with the way Maple has responded to treatment.

Now there is Jessie May, my sister’s dog.  Not sure if she was having sympathy for her cousin dog or what.  The week after Maple stayed over night at VRCC, Jessie was a guest there too.  Jessie has been diagnosed with autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Huh, what is that?  It is a red blood cell deficiency in which the dog’s immune system targets its own healthy red cells, accelerating their breakdown and removal, NOT good.  It can be a primary disease or secondary with an underlying cause.  With Jessie, it is a primary disease as ultrasounds/xrays ruled out any masses.  At her overnight stays at VRCC, Jessie received 2 blood transfusions to help her out.  Who know there was such thing as donor blood dogs, check it out… http://www.wheatridgeanimal.com/bloodbank.html There is a measurement they take called PCV, it measures the amount of oxygen her organs are getting.  Her number went from high to low, back up and back down and then it stabilized.  Not enough oxygen to her organs will cause them to shut down.  

After being released Jessie went home and at 2 appointments that week her PCV level was high and stable.  Just this week, her PCV level had dropped.  The vet is running an additional test as we speak to see if her body is creating any blood cells.  Jessie is not eating and for her, that is super abnormal.  We are talking about the counter surfer, the dog who steals food out of the twins hands, the dog who runs out the dog door with the empty lunch box and shreds it because it smell like food.  Erin and Roger should receive the results today.  Please say a prayer for Jessie and my sister and her family. 

And then there is Sundae and Gracie.  Sundae, our 14 year old is probably going to outlive all these dogs.  Talk about a crazy girl.  I think she has a hard time seeing at night and might have a hard time hearing, and a little bit of arthritis but besides that, she is good.  Her latest thing though is her barking to come up the stairs or get on the bed.  We know she can do it but she continues to bark until someone goes and touches her and helps her up.  Are we enabling her?  Yes we are!  And then Gracie…wild and anxious Gracie.  She is probably lonely because she hasn’t had any recent playdates with the other family dogs.  Gracie is due for her annual check up and my mom is afraid to take her to the vet because of Maple and Jessie’s diagnosis’.

These dogs are such a huge part of our family and our lives.  We become so attached to them and love them so much.

Not sure why I wrote this blog.  I just needed to put it all into words I guess, and I’m not the best wordsmith and didn't proofread this either!

Here is a picture of all the girls that was taken at Thanksgiving a couple of years ago.

Jessie, Maple, Sundae and Gracie