Maisy had a spinal tap this afternoon. The procedure itself went very well (she had a slightly low BP during anesthesia, but meds took care of that). They analyzed the cerebral spinal fluid and found a lot of white blood cells, which is abnormal. There was no obvious bacteria, although the final report from pathology is pending.
This means that Maisy has an inflamed spinal cord/nervous system. We still don’t know why. A full tick panel is being sent out, and they will also look for an immune mediated disease. These results will take about a week to come back, so at this point we’re going to treat with 3-4 weeks of doxy (the antibiotic of choice for tick stuff) and a smallish dose of steroids (to treat the inflammation). She should feel better in 24-48 hours, although she may still have a fever during this time. As long as it doesn’t go over 103.5, I don’t need to worry.
Oh, and she gets to go home tonight.
I did ask if they thought it would be better for her to be monitored and have the benefit of IV fluids, meds, etc., but they said that she’s so stressed in hospital that they think she’ll recover better at home. This is very true: when I visited her yesterday, she was pretty reactive to noises outside our visiting room. She was back to Old Maisy, Pre-Medication Maisy.
I did have to laugh when the tech this morning told me that she had been a bit attention-seeking overnight. Apparently when they were on the other side of the room, she was quiet in her kennel, but if they were in her area but with another dog, she would howl. As soon as they checked on her, she was fine. Rotten, rotten dog (said with a huge smile and all the love possible).
During this morning’s visit, the doctor had to come in to borrow Maisy for a quick test. Maisy would not get up and leave my side. When I went to leave, again, she would not go with the tech into the ICU area. In both cases they had to… I want to say drag her back, but that sounds much rougher than what happened. She just needed a lot of encouragement to go with them.
Anyway, depending on the results of the pending labs (tick panel, checking for fungi or bacteria in the CSF, her urine culture), we may change the meds/doses a bit, but overall, I am incredibly relieved to have a treatment plan. Maisy isn’t out of the woods entirely, but things are looking much, much better.
Finally, I wanted to thank each and every one of you for your emotional and financial support. I am deeply grateful (and a bit overwhelmed) by your response. I so truly appreciate everyone’s kind words, positive energy, prayers, and hard-earned money. I will post a photo of the final bill later today or tomorrow over on the facebook page (and sometime after that over here, just not sure when) so as to be fully transparent and accountable to everyone.
Thank you so much. Thank you for being part of our lives, and for helping me care for Maisy. I love her with all my heart, and I’m just grateful that I will have another day with her.
Speaking of which… I’m gonna go get my dog. Love you all!
This means that Maisy has an inflamed spinal cord/nervous system. We still don’t know why. A full tick panel is being sent out, and they will also look for an immune mediated disease. These results will take about a week to come back, so at this point we’re going to treat with 3-4 weeks of doxy (the antibiotic of choice for tick stuff) and a smallish dose of steroids (to treat the inflammation). She should feel better in 24-48 hours, although she may still have a fever during this time. As long as it doesn’t go over 103.5, I don’t need to worry.
Oh, and she gets to go home tonight.
I did ask if they thought it would be better for her to be monitored and have the benefit of IV fluids, meds, etc., but they said that she’s so stressed in hospital that they think she’ll recover better at home. This is very true: when I visited her yesterday, she was pretty reactive to noises outside our visiting room. She was back to Old Maisy, Pre-Medication Maisy.
I did have to laugh when the tech this morning told me that she had been a bit attention-seeking overnight. Apparently when they were on the other side of the room, she was quiet in her kennel, but if they were in her area but with another dog, she would howl. As soon as they checked on her, she was fine. Rotten, rotten dog (said with a huge smile and all the love possible).
During this morning’s visit, the doctor had to come in to borrow Maisy for a quick test. Maisy would not get up and leave my side. When I went to leave, again, she would not go with the tech into the ICU area. In both cases they had to… I want to say drag her back, but that sounds much rougher than what happened. She just needed a lot of encouragement to go with them.
Anyway, depending on the results of the pending labs (tick panel, checking for fungi or bacteria in the CSF, her urine culture), we may change the meds/doses a bit, but overall, I am incredibly relieved to have a treatment plan. Maisy isn’t out of the woods entirely, but things are looking much, much better.
Finally, I wanted to thank each and every one of you for your emotional and financial support. I am deeply grateful (and a bit overwhelmed) by your response. I so truly appreciate everyone’s kind words, positive energy, prayers, and hard-earned money. I will post a photo of the final bill later today or tomorrow over on the facebook page (and sometime after that over here, just not sure when) so as to be fully transparent and accountable to everyone.
Thank you so much. Thank you for being part of our lives, and for helping me care for Maisy. I love her with all my heart, and I’m just grateful that I will have another day with her.
Speaking of which… I’m gonna go get my dog. Love you all!
1 comment:
Oh, I'm so happy to hear it! Yes, go love your dog!
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