Last week, we found out Lainee Lou Hou relapsed, Immune Mediated Thrombocytopenia is back. The medications kicked in last weekend, and have bared their teeth through the week.
To end a particularly stressful week, because Wednesday was National Watermelon Day, and because both Lainee and I LOVE watermelon, I thought it would be fitting to share this recipe today!
Sorry it has been so long since we posted an update! The good news is that Lainee Lou Hou has had so much more energy and with that, she is a little bit more of a handful! It feels like chasing/carrying a furry non-conversational toddler around the house most of the time. Her appetite has fluctuated quite a bit over the last two weeks and she has vomited a few times but that could be a result of many different factors! Lainee managed to take out all of the stitches from her front paw and somehow, even with her cone on, she figured out how to extract toilet paper from the bathroom. We will take all of this naughtiness with open arms! Increased mischief means she is feeling better and is closer to being her old welsh terrier self! Yesterday we went on our first normal walk with Lainee. It made me quite teary because I didn't know if we would ever do that again!! She was so joyful and even frolicked in the grass! We were overjoyed!!
Happy Sunday everyone! Lainee has been doing very well this weekend! Her appetite has been better and she has been very playful! I spoke with the dermatology specialist on Friday, and they are still waiting on the results of the fungal culture. Once they find out what it is, they will have to dive in to the scientific literature and see what has worked for others in the past for treatment. That makes us a little bit nervous and from what she said about her past cases, it sounds like this will be a longer and more complicated journey than we originally thought.
At this point, Lainee’s autoimmune disorders are stable. Her red blood cells are fluctuating, but we believe it is because of the infections. Lainee has been diagnosed with a fungal infection and secondary bacteria infection. The infection is opportunistic, and has developed due to Lainee’s suppressed immune system. The drugs to treat the fungal infection are rare and in special form, liquid, because she is so tiny. Just one week of this medication costs $120 (on top of the costs for the other 8 medications she is on; Mycopehnelate, Cerenia, Plavix, Omeprazole, Atopica (cyclosporine), Prednisone, Carafate, Hydroxyzine). In addition to the cost of seeing the dermatology specialist, we think that treating the infections alone would be about $400 a week. We are hoping that the fungal infection will be treated in a month!
For me, making food is kind of a neutralizer. Or maybe, normalizer is a better way to say that. In stressful situations it makes me feel like I am doing the following: