Flossies on the mend "Smiley Face" is coming back .. Chronicles of an English Springer Spaniel

Well .. I've held off on giving an update for a while .. being cautious as to not get super excited to only find within a few days the excitement had reverted .. 

So far though we have a lot to not only be excited about but so so thankful for !!!

Flossie as of Yesterday made it back in to the normal range with her blood...YIPEE !!! The number 35 may not mean much to anyone else..but it's been a big number that we were wanting her to make it too and didn't know how long that would be. With AIHA ..there just is no set of rules ..it's a highly unstable disease and every dog depending on treatment and how they respond differs greatly.That # for some dogs can take months...

So what does 35 mean .. it means her blood level is within normal range .. and she is considered stable at that point.  

Woohoo .. doing the happy dance !

(I shot these photos of Flossie on March 16 .. approx 1 month before she was hospitalized.)

So now what ?

Well she's still on 3 medications (1) steroid and (2) immunosuppressants .. 

They began decreasing the steroid 10 days ago .. and started a decrease on one of the immunosuppresants today. Basicly that begins the process of allowing her immune system to begin kicking back in again. What we hope beyond all hope is that her body has quit killing off the the red blood cells and there is no relapse. 

Right now she's doing amazing ..and Dr. Bennett for the first time gave us a ray of hope yesterday that she felt she was going to do just fine coming off the meds. She's dealt with alot of AIHA cases as she is an Internal Medicine Specialist and has several dogs with this disease she is even currently treating. 

I can't tell you how much the prayer's we asked for have meant to us. "Thank You "  

It's given us strength to get through this as this is a disease that is all encompassing and literally takes round the clock care. It's been nights of 2 hours worth of sleep ..endless trips to take her potty, and sitting next to her laying hands on her and praying that God would heal her body. 

 It's also a costly disease to fight and I feel thankful that I had the wisdom over the last 5 years to really work at saving money by being frugal and self controlled. That gave me the opportunity to choose to treat Flossie for this disease as aggresively as possible. My heart aches for those who are unable to do so. This is not a disease for the faint of heart be it in treatment of financial setback.

My little "Smiley Face" ..  is back to smiling, wagging her tail, barking like a maniac at other dogs, and so on. But no she's not out playing and running yet ...not because she might not want too but because she's still sick and too much exertion could cause a relapse. So right now it's quiet days of just laying around, eating, potty breaks, and loving on each other. The fun days of play will return over time ..but right now I'm as cautious as possible .. she's a fine piece of china that I am carefully and meticulously caring for.

I'm just thrilled her face has this big old smile on it again like the day this photo was taken ..

Please continue to pray for her, if you will I would be so very grateful.

And for those of you who know about my Dad's health .. we have good news on that front too.. at least for now and hoping for good. His blood test came back better than any in the last 3 years ..his hematologist and gastrointerologist .. were super happy with his #'s. Now it's a matter of just checking those #'s every 6 weeks or so .. and as long as they hold .. then they will know the lesions they removed from his intestines late 2015 were the cause of his bleeding the last 3 years .. something our  first gastro Dr. then missed for 3 years after many many many colonoscopies and endoscopies before we switched Dr.s for a second opinion. We are praying this is the answer ..oh how lovely it would be for my Dad and for us in general to know that the mystery was over.

Well it's Good News Friday for us .. Thankful Friday and Blessed Friday !!!

Please if you have a prayer request let us know .. we would love to lift you or a family or friend up in prayer .. we can all use each other's help and encouragement in this world of ours.

May you all have a blessed and safe Holiday weekend !

P.S.....

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