Petey on the mend

The last post left off at a critical point in our journey. Petey’s prognosis was not looking good, and we could only hope that the new combination of medications would help turn things around. 

Our follow-up appointment was on October 6th, and Petey’s numbers remained fairly stable. He developed a rash on his hind end which ended up being a reaction to the Metronidazole. We switched to 150 mg of clindamycin, two tablets – twice daily. We were able to decrease the prednisolone to 20mg every other day. We scheduled a two-week recheck.

Progress

October 20, 2009 was the first happy (ok ecstatic) day since Petey’s initial diagnosis. One of the Techs who was now like family, raced out to show me the lab results. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Everything fell into or very near the middle column which was “normal”!!!! His red blood count was still a tiny bit low, and the RDW which measures the variation of red blood cell sizes, was still on the high side. This however, was the best CBC result since August. I think even our vet was a bit surprised at how resilient our Petey had proven to be. It was so good to receive positive news.

We were able to stop the clindamycin, Lasix, and prilosec, and scheduled a re-check for one month.

The eighteen months or so since that time have been a series of baby steps moving in the right direction. After a small setback due to a staph infection, Petey is down to two medications. Imuran every other day, and Soloxine .5 mg daily.  The Soloxine was prescribed earlier this year when his lab work showed that his T4 levels were almost non-existent, and he was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. He will be on those two medications for life.

We are eternally grateful for the amazing care from Dr. Slusser and his staff. They are the reason Petey is still here to share his success story. If you are in San Diego and ever need an internal medicine vet, he is the absolute best!

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