Detroit transplants living in Dallas
Monty’s monthly neuro checkup was today, and while his white count was still on the low end it has come up a little since last month. Everything considered he is doing remarkably well and as of today he has taken his last dose of medication. I was warned this is a very dangerous time for the possibility of a relapse, so we’re continuing to keep a really close eye on him but remain optimistic considering everything we’ve been through.
After 9 months all of this is no longer needed.
More good news today with Monty’s March checkup with the neurologist, and after nearly eight months today is officially his last dose of Prednisone. We had planned on one final chemo treatment with Cytosar, but the CBC again came back with a slightly below normal white count so we felt it best to forgo this in favor of dropping the Prednisone to continue stepping him down off the medications. This leaves 10mg Omeprazole (Prylosec) and 2.5ml Omega-3 Fish Oil daily, and 50mg Cyclosporine every other day as the only ongoing treatment.
Monty seems happy, and his activity level and interaction is nearly on par with his pre-diagnosis self. He’s one of the lucky ones, and we couldn’t be happier.
Every day I grapple with the anxiety of living with a dog diagnosed with GME, and I’ve found the uncertainty to be the most difficult for me to manage. Monty is one of the lucky ones to have made it nearly 7 months without any symptom relapse and for that we are thankful beyond belief. There is however a constant cloud of doubt, suspicion, and fear hanging over our daily life. Seemingly insignificant events end up being run through a litany of logic and tests to the point of where I struggle to just let go and relish the moment or time for what it is. Case in point: today on our morning walk Monty ran full steam into a sidewalk patio chair seemingly oblivious to its existence. If you’ll remember back in July this was one of the initial symptoms which alerted us that something was very wrong, so this set me off on the crazy brain train for the rest of the morning trying to make connections and justifications that may or may not even exist; was this just a simple accident because of the partial blindness, or is this the start of a full on relapse? I’m not sure it’s possible to monitor his behavior any more closely, but you can be sure I’m keeping my eyes on him…
So if you have found this site because you are going through something similar, remind yourself you are doing the best you can for your companion. Be vigilant, but do not allow the fear and guilt to consume the precious gift of more time you have received.
Today was the February checkup with the neurologist and it was for the most part OK, however here was some concern about his CBC results in that the white count was below normal for the first time ever. The doc made a comment that his white count has always been on the lowish side of normal, but never below normal like today, so it was decided not to make any changes to the current treatment regimen and skip chemo just to be on the safe side. I still haven’t seen any physical or behavioral changes that have raised any relapse flags and this is only precautionary to protect his immune system from becoming too weak. Overall he continues to respond and improve but has started to shed an insane amount which is probably due to the combined long term prednisone/chemo. We’re trying to address this by adding an Omega-3/fish oil supplement daily to his meals, so if you enjoyed his bulldog gaseousness before I invite you to stop by again soon… =)
I didn’t even realize it but yesterday marked Monty’s 6th month with GME. We spent 2 hours today in the great weather at the Deep Ellum Bark Park with his new friend Dickens to celebrate.
We’re very excited to say Monty is doing very well and continues to improve with every day that goes by. The latest CBC and additional Superchem tests came back great so he had what may be his last Cytosar chemo treatment for a while today, and we’re now down to alternating Prednisone/Cyclosporine doses every other day.
Thanks to everyone for your continued support and inquiries – we’re hoping to spend a lot of quality time in 2013 with the little dude and hope you can too!
More good news today for Monty, and don’t let the sad face fool you (he still loves car rides, the photo was just post Chemo/Cytosar).
The neurologist has again lowered the Prednisone dose, this time to 5mg (1/2 tab) every other day and hopes to be able to begin lowering the Cyclosporine does to every other day beginning late next month. She made a comment on how quickly he has returned to his old self both physically and mentally, however remained cautious indicating this might be the most dangerous period remission-wise in that there is a 10% chance the GME could come back today, tomorrow, next week, whatever. I’m not sure about the percentage but keenly recognize the possibility and have been keeping a close eye on him for anything out of the ordinary.
In other news my car now officially says Monty has officially gained all of his pre-GME weight back since he finally sets off the seat belt warning sensor in the seat again, and after losing strength enough to jump up on the couch or bed he can now hop his front legs up on both so it’s only a matter of time before we see the frog work his magic again. Also of note it has been 3 weeks since we discontinued all antibiotics and have not seen any recurrence of UTI symptoms, and he can now run, lift his leg for pees, and do the poop-scoot-grass-shuffle almost as well as he used to. Not that I’m watching…
If you had asked me earlier this summer if I thought we would ever get to this point I probably would have broken down and cried in your face. Monty’s GME diagnosis and horrifying prognosis profoundly changed our lives for the last four months; countless hours, a blur of medication, vets, more vets, and loads more money than I ever thought I would spend on an animal have finally brought us nearly to the point of normalcy. The last Prednisone reduction tipped the threshold eliminating the nasty physical and behavioral side effects that we have been dealing with since day one. Monty has gained most of the weight and muscle mass back, continues to grow stronger every day, only takes medication in the morning, can go a whole shift of work without having to go out, and most importantly we have yet to see a return of any neurological symptoms.
While we will never be able to let our guard down, I can at least for the moment sit and reflect on the anniversary of his diagnosis and marvel at how far we’ve come – how amazingly strong and stubborn our little guy is, how proud we are for sticking with him even when all was said to be lost, and how thankful we are for all the love and support we’ve received from all of our friends and family.
What started out looking like a small spot of grease or food that had matted in the fur of Monty’s right side Monday turned into a nasty mess of puss by Tuesday night. Huh? Hot spot? WTF is that about? So off to the vet to have it checked out, and luckily we did because once the area was trimmed and cleaned we discovered it to be about the size of a business card. It’s amazing how he showed no signs of pain or discomfort leading up to this which is a testament to the little dude’s strength and resilience. The good news is that it is completely manageable as long as we keep it clean and dry, so we have a new routine of washing up with water, iodine, and then covering with an antibiotic powder twice a day.
It’s been a while since I posted anything, and the last few weeks have absolutely flown by! We’ve had some highs and lows, but all in all looking back since the beginning of the month we’ve come a long way baby…
Apparently the combination of the easy to digest prescription food, some anti-nausea meds, and the Scralfate stomach protection was enough to get Monty over whatever was giving him tummy troubles earlier in October. Once the few days of Sucralfate ran out he seemed to lose some of his new found spunk and energy so after talking with the vet we have continued him with a long term prescription, and the difference before and after has been amazing. It drives me crazy thinking that for so long his insides were in such knots and we didn’t do anything about it!
We had planned a vacation to visit our friends Steve & Diana in Tampa this past August, but with how sick Monty was at the time we could not leave him and decided to eat the ticket change fee to reschedule. While Monty’s health has steadily improved there is still a litany of medications and pee trips daily so we had a little trouble convincing ourselves that burdening someone else with the responsibility was the right thing to do. Luckily we have some amazing friends here in Dallas and our normal pet sitters and good friends Stephen and Whitney didn’t bat an eye when we approached them — good people I tell ya… So in the end we managed to have our time in Florida 10/11-15 without too much guilt knowing he was in good hands. I spent a lot of time briefing them on what to look for and what to do for every conceivable medical condition from UTI to full on relapse and though I’m sure I overwhelmed them everything went really well which I was thankful for.
Fortunately, Monty being the trooper he is managed to stave off another UTI recurrence until a few hours after our return on Monday 10/15, so I was able to take and deliver to the vet a sample for culture and start administering antibiotic all the same afternoon. On 10/16 I had to travel to New Jersey for a few days on business so Christa took on primary Monty care duties. During that time the culture results came in and we were able to get a new (cheaper) prescription for a different antibiotic that we could keep him on longer than the normal 10 day treatment since it seemed like clockwork 10 days after the meds ran out he would have another UTI recurrence. He’ll be on the new med (Sulfamethoxazole) for a full 30 days to try to completely purge the Enterobacter infestation which is probably hiding further up in the kidneys, and will need a weekly walk-in eye/tear check at the vet’s office to make sure one of its side effects doesn’t damage the eyesight he has remaining.
Wednesday 10/24 was Monty’s monthly neurologist checkup, and I’m happy to report it was another positive step towards remission! He received another chemo treatment, but we have reduced the Prednisone dose again from 10mg (5mg twice daily) to just 5mg once per day. He has started to regain some coordination and strength in his hind legs, as well as some of the lost muscle mass along the spine, and definitely seems in very good spirits these days. The one downside to the visit was that they removed the last bit of the scab remaining from his spinal tap and decided the wound looked like it may be infected. Unfortunately the antibiotic he is on for the UTI does not target common skin microbes so we had to add a dose of Cefpodoxime for a few days just to be safe and not allow any other infection to impede on our progress.
It’s been 15 weeks since our life was turned upside down, and it has been one hell of a difficult journey. The fact is as I write this, the little dude is sitting at my feet staring at me, waiting patiently for a walk, and suddenly none of that matters anymore because he is here and content.
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