House mapping

06/04/12 - Reo continues to do well, though vision is inconsistent/transient.  She loves the Stella and Chewy's patties I've been giving her as part of her food/protein rotation.  I might keep her on this for quite some time and rotate the protein.  She seems to be doing quite well on it.  Her weight looks great, and she is a healthy little dog!

I had a thought the other day, when watching Reo navigate the house.  We haven't changed any furniture positions in at least 6 weeks, and yet Reo still has trouble getting around - she's been bumping into things regularly.  I was wondering if this was more "proof" of her transient vision, because she hasn't figured out the locations of things in the house or yard.  Yes, she has general awareness of where things are, but there is a clear distinction sometimes as to how she gets around - sometimes she bumps everything and looks like a ping pong ball, but other times she appears to see well and gets around without bumping anything!  It's strange, because I would have thought that if her vision was limited or completely gone, she would have been able to map out the house and get around better.

Of course, we are just staying the course with the supplements, etc. as I posted about previously HERE.  We're about 3 months post her last injections, so we'll see.  We love her like crazy nonetheless.  :)

Hyperestrogenism

05/29/12 - All is good on Reo's end, no major changes, except I rotated out her Addiction food and rotated in Stella and Chewy's raw freeze-dried patties (Duck Duck Goose).  She loves the change!

I wanted to share an article from Healthy Pet Network, written by Dr. P, as it might be of interest to anyone following SARDS as it relates to adrenal exhaustion/Plechner's syndrome.

Original Article Here

Hyperestrogenism by Dr. Plechner, DVM

Published May 29, 2012 | By Terry

An article from the University of Tennessee signals that my esteem fellow professionals are finally beginning to understand what this old Vet’s been saying for many years now. They are beginning to realize the dangers of excessive adrenal estrogen. They are close, but alas…no cigar.

It seems they are attempting to reduce the production of adrenal estrogen by using various chemicals to affect it’s source, the adrenal gland. This approach at least shows someone’s been listening to some of what this Animal Doctor’s been saying for quite some time.

However, They still are off track. They keep trying to affect the middle layer of the adrenal cortex but they’re barking up the wrong layer. They need to be studying the inner layer. That’s where the problem lies. Even so, when they finally get there they’re going to find that it’s not going to be affected by their chemical assault.

I can understand their dilemma. The middle layer adrenal production of cortisol hormone appears quite normal in their eyes. The problem is that they need to understand that the cortisol being produced is defective and is not being recognized by the pituitary gland which keeps churning out the ACTH hormone which can cause an increase in the production of estrogen and androgen (which can be converted into estrogen) due to an enzyme in the fatty tissue called aromatase.

Since the elevated estrogen binds (blocks) the receiver sites of thyroid. The bound thyroid reduces the activity of the liver and kidneys which further guarantees less breakdown and elimination  of the estrogen and androgen. This allows the  estrogen and androgen to remain excessive. The patient, unavoidably, is also bound to gain weight, which at the same time produces more aromatase due to the increase of fatty tissue which inadvertently increases the amount of estrogen present…and so, round we go, in a vicious cycle.

It’s just our luck! The corporate medical industry is finally realizing what I’ve been trying to tell them for years. That excess estrogen can cause real problems. Still it seems that they haven’t listened to all of what this old Vet’s been saying (they must’ve dozed off in the middle of the lecture).

The capper is that certain hormones like cortisol can be defective or bound (unable to get to the right receptors) The decreased or defective cortisol and the increased estrogen throws the immune system out of balance.  When the immune system is imbalanced it may fall victim to a number of problems including;  Aids, Multiple Sclerosis, Muscular Dystrophy, coronary occlusion, all types of auto-immunity, and even cancer.

Now, I understand that I am but a healer of ‘animals’. However, I think we can all agree that all the beings on this planet are very similar on the inside. What’s good for the Goose…well, I think you understand. I just hope that those learned professionals at the University of Tennessee can rise above the status quo and maybe listen to alternative sources in their ‘quest for the cures’. They should at least heed Shakespeare…

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Yours in Health,

Dr Al Plechner

Reo and her snake

05/22/22 - Yesterday, I returned home from a long weekend away!  It was the first time I have left the dogs since we moved back home to Denver, so I was a little nervous.  Reo (and everyone) did very well, with nothing negative to report!  It was a relief for me, to be sure!

I did pulse her Medrol while I was gone, just in case.  Environmental allergens continue to be very high in our area (trees, grasses, weeds).  I hope her system will recover...

Sean reported (and sent photo documentation!) of just how much Reo still loves her silly snake toy!  Here is a picture of Reo and her snake...in an intimate moment post-kill!  ;)

I forgot to post these silly videos of Reo and her new toy.  I bought this for our Doberman, but for Reo, it was love at first squeak!!

Silly snake #1

Silly snake #2

Notice in the first video, when Reo is carrying around the snake, she doesn't bump into the grills or the chairs.  :)

She is fairly obsessed with this toy, and has usually two good killing "sessions" every day.  VERY cute!

Making a decision

05/13/12 - Today, I ordered what could be Reo's final bottles of Magnesium Taurate and Phosphatidyl Serine.  If we don't notice improvement in her vision by the time she finishes these, I believe that it may not be worth the cost to continue giving her these supplements, since her vision is transient/minimal.  Every once in a while, she surprises me with her vision when she navigates new terrain successfully, but she struggles sometimes too.  I believe she struggles more than she has some sight these days.

I recall that it took about 5 months after her first series of injections last year, to see a good improvement in her vision.  She got her injection series in March, and we are only 2 months after those, so it's possible we have a ways to go, which is okay.  I plan to get another EI-1 Panel from NVDS, as well as a CBC in late June/early July (about 6 months since her last), to see how she is doing, but I know from her demeanor that she is healthy and happy.

I am still optimistic, but I am also trying to be realistic.  I wanted to write this on my blog to make it more "real" for me, that it is possible that Reo's vision may not recover from all of the emotional and environmental stresses from earlier this year.

I feel pretty guilty that I wasn't more pro-active, and didn't think about how all of the changes we were making could affect her.  But, ultimately, we wanted to/had to move, as it was the right decision for our family - and how could we have predicted that allergens would have been especially brutal this spring?  My regret is that I didn't give her a "booster"injection of DepoMedrol as soon as I began to notice a regression.  Of course, hindsight is always 20/20 and I can't go back now.

When I took that last obstacle course of Reo recently, I went back and watched her previous videos, and it's clear that she is not doing as well as before.  It crushes my heart, because I feel as though I've let her down in some way, or failed her by not paying closer attention, or realizing what was happening as her vision was regressing.  Yes, the most important thing is that she is healthy and happy - and we are blessed that she is both!  But, a part of me is really sad that her vision has regressed, and I am hopeful that she will get back to "normal"for her, like she was the second half of 2011.  Fingers crossed!

Vacation-refreshed!

05/07/12 - We are back and rejuvenated from our vacation to Northern California!  Sean and I left for 6 days, and brought the Min Pins with us.  Leigh and Reo are both from California, so we joked that they were returning to their roots.

Reo did excellently on the trip - we are lucky to have such great traveling dogs!  Reo did have a little trouble in her carrier in the airport.  She wanted to be held, and seemed to be a little frightened of all the noises and hubub in the airport.  She was panting quite a bit in her carrier, but settled right down as soon as we got on the plane (quiet, with hum of engines put her right to sleep).

I pulsed her Medrol dose every other day, and overall she did awesome!  I know she was seeing some things, as the house we stayed in had steps, and she navigated them well some days, while some days she had trouble.  More proof that her vision remains transient.

Here's a picture of where we stayed, and Reo exploring:

The property was dog-friendly and had two fully-fenced acres for doggie exploring.  In Leigh and Reo's cases, the tall grass was barrier enough for them, thankfully (I was worried they'd want to go in the grass and I'd never find them!).  There were lots of quail running around, and that was excited for the dogs!  It was truly paradise there, and we all dreamed that it was our property!

The rest of the trip was spent wine tasting and driving around all day.  We brought the pups with us - sometimes they came into the wineries with us if they were dog friendly, or they stayed in the car and patiently waited for us to return (best dogs ever!!).  I packed their favorite bed, so just put that on the seat, and harnessed them into the seat belt - it worked really well!

Here's a cute picture of the rehydration effort during one stop (I love the look on Leigh's face in this picture!):

And, one final picture of Reo taking a sun nap while we taste wine on a gorgeous rooftop deck.  It is the life!!

Overall, we are completely thrilled with the trip, and how Reo did traveling.  With the exception of a couple of issues being in her carrier, she was relaxed, and seemed quite happy (I'm sure she was feeling us extra happy and relaxed, too!).

This gives us some confidence for our next trip in July - we plan to go to Southern California for a week, so fingers crossed that everyone does just as well on this trip!

Obstacle course videos, take 3

04/29/12 - We were out in the yard planting and doing various things today, and I thought I'd take a video of Reo.  It's been quite a while since I last did a video of her going through a course, and to be honest, I was not expecting her to do well, given her backslide with vision lately.

But, what do you guys think?  Totally blind or something there?

Note that she bumps the orange bucket with her body and the last black bucket with her face.  I was not surprised by the latter, as I have thought for a while that she has no vision in her right eye.  Overall, I was pretty pleased with how she did, though clearly she did not do as well as she has in the past.

She did these courses so quickly/well in the past (8 months ago and 6 months ago):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cookypuss1/6062205311/in/set-72157594384341971/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cookypuss1/6223332331/in/set-72157594384341971/


But, this gives me hope that she still has something and her vision is not totally gone...we'll see!

Looking at the video again, I realize I didn't lay out the buckets perfectly to be an extremely effective obstacle course, but because it was warm out (you can hear her panting!), she wasn't very interested in doing it again when I re-arranged - she went and lay in the shade!  Will probably practice this exercise again in the not-so distant future, hopefully with better materials that are closer to what I had last year.  :)

The importance of new places

04/27/12 - I haven't been updating as much, because I've been busy!  That, and Reo is quite stable these days; nothing too much to report.  She is still "mostly" blind, but she has been surprising me lately, which makes me think I need to set up an obstacle course to see how she does.

Example:  we went over to a friend's house last week, and brought all of our dogs.  None of us had ever been to this house before, and I carried Reo inside, and then outside to the yard, so she could sniff and pee with all of the other dogs (there were four other dogs there).  She obliged, roaming around, sniffing, etc.  Then, out of nowhere, she hopped up the two stairs that lead to the deck, without bumping or anything.  Sean and I were shocked!

I say that exposing Reo to new places is important, because she gets along so well in our house/yard, maybe I don't get a full sense for her vision.  She does well on walks, too, but maybe I'm taking that for granted.

A true test will be next week!  Sean and I are taking a trip to California, and will be bringing Leigh and Reo with us.  Our Min Pins have traveled extensively with us - they've been to 22 states, which I'm sure is more than the average American human!  They travel super well on the plane, but we haven't brought them anywhere by plane since before Reo's SARDS diagnosis.  So, it will be interesting to see how she does, not only with the trip, but out and about in CA as well!

Stay tuned...