September 11, 2017

White Dog urged me to stay calm this morning when YoYoMa was unable to walk. "You are seeing Dr. Julia in just a few hours. He ate breakfast. He is not in pain. His gums are good. Let us just make him comfortable, give him his usual medications and follow the plan."

Yo had done wonderfully over the weekend. His body ulcers are responding well to the salves and he was bright and active. I was thankful that the drastic reduction in our protocol had not stirred up a hornets' nest...and now this.

I carried him in on my lap.

Rosie, the nurse, took notes of our weekend experiences.

Sidenote: From now on, the Vet Techs in Dr. Julia's office will be titled and called Veterinary Nurses s a better way to recognize their level of professionalism and skills. We are so proud of our forward thinking vet and her amazing staff.

Rosie saw my concern and suggested that Dr. Skains would probably order an xray and that perhaps it was simply a matter of inflammation causing pressure. I whispered a prayer.

YoYoMa's HCT number has held steady since last week and despite cutting his IMHA cocktail he is in a good spot at 38. His WBC has scooted up from 18,000 to 21,000 even though we had added another antibiotic to the doxycycline.

Dr. Julia unwrapped the wounds and was pleased at their healing. "Wrap the bandages more loosely," she advised. "Looks like he is getting a little edema inflammation. Can you maybe massage his feet and legs when you change the dressings?"

I asked if edema would be a new issue (I suffer from lymphatic edema). "No, I don't think so. Yo is coming off the steroid and as we wean him off there will be some body retraining we will need to do. Let's get him up and walking and moving around; that will help."

She looked at the Xrays. "There is no physical complication to keep him from walking. He has a bit of arthritis but it is minimal and there are no other issues. So let's do massage and get blood flowing and then get him on his feet to move around. Even if he just stands a t first while you hold him and rub his muscles."

YoYoMa has developed gall stones the images revealed and a single kidney stone. Dr. Julia agreed that fighting the IMHA with such strong medicine opens Yo up to side effects like this due to heavy demands of filtering the toxins and chemicals; opportuntistic bacterial infections can also cause such formations. This could account for the bouncing white blood cell count. Surgery is not recommended for canine gall stones but she did prescribe gabapenten to use should Yo become uncomfortable.

I held My Boy in my lap and pressed by face against his cheek. "This disease just sucks, Baby Boy. It seems you have to be on guard about EVERYTHING. You are doing a great job and your body is a wonder. But so many possible enemies..." He turned his head to touch me with his nose. Then he licked me right across my glasses lens...deliberately...on purpose.

YoYoMa, the Boy who can always make me laugh.