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kjw

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Posts posted by kjw

  1. Thanks for the good wishes and the information; I've also done a search of this forum and it's kind of odd, some toe amputations seem to go very smoothly, and the grey walks fine out of the vet's office right afterwards, other people are reporting a month or more of soreness and lameness. I wonder what the difference is?

  2. One of my boys may need to have his toe amputated. We're not sure at this point whether the problem is a bone infection or a tumor, but so far, after 4 days, he does not appear to be responding very well to treatment with Baytril and colloidal silver.

     

    The affected toe is on his right rear leg, the innermost toe pad, and exrays show 2 bones are involved. I have not yet contacted OSU. The only good news is that since it's crossed the joint, we can be fairly certain it's not OS, but there are several other bone cancers that fit very well.

     

    If it's an infection, it appears that a bone infection like this can be really difficult to treat, the vet is saying at least 8 weeks on heavy duty antibiotics, maybe longer, which will demo his digestive tract. , and for severe bone infections, they may well end up amputating.

     

    If it's cancer, the treatment would be amputation in any case, after doing a core biopsy. So I'm thinking that maybe I should go ahead with an amputation so we can get on with healing, rather than doing months of meds and at least one prior procedure and possibly having to amputate anyway.

     

    He is being a very difficult patient, which is not usual for him. He simply will not leave the toe alone, so it's all torn up now on top of the initial problem, which is my fault for not muzzling him sooner *sighs*.

     

    In any case, I am wanting to hear from anyone here who has had to do a toe amp on this rear innermost toe, especially on a senior - Romi will be 11 in a few months. Yup, it's Romi. I'm wondering how extensive the recovery time is, how much pain they were in, and if the amputation affected mobility after healing, and anything else you think is relevent.

     

    Here's a summer picture of my boy.

    IMG_0709.jpg

     

    And here's one of the all time favorite Romi pics:

     

    IMG_0283.JPG

  3. I found some pictures of Harrison from one of our SSG playdates last summer, not exactly closeups, but you can see what a big beautiful boy he is. He's the white and fawn in the white muzzle, seen here I believe with my Romi in the red muzzle, and I think the other black is Licorice.

     

    harrison2.jpg

    harrison1.jpg

  4. We received the following email from Colleen this morning:

     

    Hi everyone

     

    Harrison is getting better, he is getting up on his own and moving around. They are still doing blood work. The doctor is still very cautious, however things are improving. thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers. I may be able to bring him home tomorrow, I will keep you updated.

     

    Colleen

     

    Not a lot of detail, but good news to be sure. I still don't know if they've diagnosed this GME, and I'm reluctant to call Colleen at this point, as I know she is having a pretty hairy time of it what with Harrison and work. Hopefully there'll be time on the weekend to get some more details. I have emailed her all the information I've received from some of you having similar experience, both from posting here and from your pms, so she has all of that information. Thank you for taking the time to share your wisdom!

     

    Looks like we can be cautiously optimistic at this point, I will continue to update as I receive information.

     

    Thank you again for all the prayers and good thoughts, they are working!

  5. Did they refer to Dr. James or Dr. Cochrane (Neurologists) at the VEC? My greyhound Ward was seeing Dr James for over two years for a simular problem, possible GME. He was on predisnone for life and was being successfully treated with Chremo. A spinal tap will be the only way to really confirm what is going on. Please PM or email me directly if you want more information lynn.roick@thecarlu.com

     

    Thank you for the information, I will pass it on to Colleen.

     

    No word yet on how Harrison fared overnight, but I should be hearing soon.

     

    On behalf of Colleen and Harrison, thank you so much for the prayers. GT prayers have helped my household through illness more than once, so I know how well they work!

     

    Harrison did have a spinal tap, so they know what he has, they just don't know if it's viral or bacterial.

  6. Sending lots of prayers. I know of only one other dog that had it (a friend's Dobe) and two vets had misdiagnosed it and long story short, she went to the vet I was using at the time and they pulled her out.

     

    Sending lots of prayers for Harrison

     

    Yes, it's extremely rare, Colleen said that when he first mentioned it as a possibility prior to surgery, the vet did not think that was what was happening, simply because you hardly ever see it. However, Colleen never did think the disc diagnosis was right, because of the way the problem kept travelling, and because he seemed sick and had flu-like symptoms last week. It's too bad they didn't do the spinal tap first, before the surgery,but at least they have a chance now, with a diagnosis.

  7. I just got off the phone with Colleen, they've had quite a day. Her vet up here realized once she got him there that he was going to die if something wasn't done, so they got him in to the referral clinic down in Toronto. The vet down there thought he had a blown disc in his neck, and they took him in for surgery. Turns out his discs are fine, but there is inflammation in the spinal cord. Human equivalent would be spinal meningitis, but it's unknown whether bacterial or viral. They are giving him steroids and broad spectrum anti b's, and hoping for the best.

     

    Please continue to send healing thoughts and prayers, Harrison is by no means out of the woods, as they do not know if this treatment will work. If I had a picture I would post it, but I'll see if I can get one from Colleen later.

     

    Thanks for all the good thoughts and prayers!

  8. I'm posting at the request of one of our group members, who's greyhound is having severe problems. Her vet is stumped. Here's her email:

    I am sending this email out in hopes some ofyou may be able to offer

    some advice.

     

    Last week- Harrison wasn't eating, he was weak, shaky. Went to the vet, she gave him anti- biotics.

    Did blood work showed nothing, (not sure how extensive)

     

    This past weekend- Harrison's left leg is so weak he can barely weight bare, he falls over easily and has great

    difficulty getting up and down. Very tired, never excited. Overall seems really weakWent to vet, x-rays

    show no arthritice or tumors.

     

    The vet has no clue what this is, I've googled the only thing I can come up with is Addisons disease.

     

    Any advice welcome, my number is

     

    I just called her and Harrison is much worse; she says it's like a paralysis that is spreading through his nervous system. I realize I haven't given you a lot of information, but it's all I have right now. I am leaving to help her get Harrison back to her vet, although I'd like to see him go elsewhere. I will be helping her get the tests together to send off to Dr. Cuoto for his opinion, but in the meantime, any ideas you have are welcome.

     

    Wed. March 5, 12:45pm

    I just got an update on Harrison, he is still in the land of the living, and a little bit better than yesterday, but it's still touch and go. The titers are not back yet so they still don't know what has caused the inflammation in his spine. Apparently the clinic staff are starting to fall for this fellow, he's very sweet and was trying to sit up but is of course very wobbley still. He is on pred and several anti-b's, as well as something to keep him calm.

     

    Thanks to those of you sending detailed info in your PM's regarding meds etc. I am passing it all on to Colleen. Hopefully, the right med will smack this inflammation down.

  9. Thanks Devon. Cleo's bilirubin levels were "8". I did some searching and found Dr. Feeman's article which indicates that normal g-h values are 0 to 0.7. The only problem is the unit of measurement which, according to our vet, is different in Canada. So is ""8" high?

     

    Based on my many hours of research this morning, I'm leaning towards a TBD. I would prefer to do another blood test rather than put Cleo through the stress of a day-long vet visit. Yesterday just wasn't pretty for her...or us.

     

    As I recall, I tried to figure out the same thing for Romi's last panel, as the vet said his was high, but the unit of measurement was different - I believe that our (Canadian) "8" is their (American)".8" and if that's the case, than her bilirubin is high, but not a lot.

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