2 year anniversary

03/05/13 - Today marks 2 years since Reo lost her vision (though we're a little ahead of her actual diagnosis)!  It seems like it's been far longer than that, to be honest!  We have learned so much in the past 2 years.  Every day, I am thankful that Reo is still with us, and healthy!  I'm so proud of this little dog, I tell you.

This is a busy time of year for SARDS diagnoses, and I've noticed that Reo has some allergy symptoms (itchy eye, some sneezing).  We've had an unusually mild winter in Denver, and I think that there are already some allergens in the air.  I'm pulsing her Medrol dose this week to try and help her overcome this.

New(ish) post from Dr. Plechner on SARDS

02/19/13

Hope everyone is doing well!  We are all great, here, including Ms. Reo, who is as sassy as ever!  I recently went on a vacation and left the dogs with Sean - I was nervous, as I hadn't left Reo in nearly a year!  I'm happy to report that she did GREAT, and Sean did a wonderful job keeping to her schedule and meal regimen.  :)

Dr. Plechner has re-worked his website.  Though it looks nicer, a lot of his resources are missing, which makes me sad.

He has written a few new articles on SARDS, for your consideration:

Three case studies:
http://drplechner.com/learn/specific-diseases/sards-clinical-case-studies/

Overview:
http://drplechner.com/learn/specific-diseases/sards/

As you might remember, my own personal opinion is that Caroline Levin knows so much about treating SARDS specifically, and her recommendations for retinal protection supplements can be of great help to newly-diagnosed SARDS dogs.  Her treatment is based off of Dr. Plechner's ideas.  For Reo, I felt that a combination of Levin's and Plechner's treatment suggestions were the very best choice for Reo, and helped restore her vision in 5 months.  If I had to go back, I would do the same treatment (albeit much more quickly).

Seventh EI-1 results (and happy birthday!!)

01/03/12 -

Wishing my sweet Reo a very happy 12th birthday!!  :)

I get a little overwhelmed each birthday since her SARDS diagnosis, as I'm so thankful that she is with us, and there were so many times I thought she wouldn't make it to 11, let alone 12!  :)  She got some dehydrated lobster meat treats (made by Bravo) today for her birthday.  Boy, did she LOVE those!!

Over the holiday week, I got Reo's EI-1 panel results back from NVDS.  The results are added to her master table in the far right column.

	Reference Range	16-Mar-11	30-Apr-11	15-Jun-11	4-Aug-11	4-Jan-12	25-Jun-12	10-Dec-12
Total Estrogen	30 - 35	35.19	35.15	35.11	35.06	35.04	35.05	35.02
Cortisol	1.0 - 2.5	8.43	7.03	0.97	0.82	0.68	1.4	0.96
T3	100 - 200	62.7	72.12	87.92	156.94	135.29	169.94	157.64
T4	2.0 - 4.5	0.87	1.15	1.6	3.99	3.21	7.17**	5
IgA	70 - 170	50	53	57	65	67	66	68
IgG	1,000 - 2,000	722	754	883	946	973	970	992
IgM	100 - 200	74	76	87	97	97	97	98

Overall, I am really happy with how it looks!  Her total estrogen is the lowest it's ever been (great!), and her immunoglobulins are the highest they've ever been.

Cortisol is slightly below normal (but doesn't seem to be anything to worry about, given her erratic cortisol levels in the past), and T4 is slightly elevated.  But, T3 is in the normal range, so the vet is not worried about the high T4.  Her previous high number in June of T4 was due to a course of Clavamox she was on.

Both Caroline Levin and Dr. Plechner have suggested that Reo doesn't need blood testing since she's "stable", and we should only do a panel if she seems like she's off track.  I'll admit that it's like a crutch for me, to have a snapshot of how she's doing every 6 months.  I'll see if I can limit myself to one EI-1 panel per year!  I still plan to get a CBC and chemistry panel and thyroid test every 6 months, however, because I feel it's very important to keep track of these values as she is a dog on long-term Medrol.

That's the update from here.  Happy New Year to all!

Waiting for EI-1 results

12/21/12 - Still waiting for Reo's bloodwork to come back from NVDS.  Apparently, their equipment is down and waiting to be repaired.  With the holiday, they think results will come toward the end of next week.  Sooooo, we are being patient.

Reo has been doing very well this week - in a great mood, killing toys.  :)  She probably feels the lightness of our household, too, as we look forward for some time off!  Lots of cuddles and walks in the dogs' future (not that they don't get those every day, but just a little more than normal!).

Special shout-out today to our other Min Pin, Leigh, who turns 12 today!!

Wishing all of my readers a very happy holiday season, with health and happiness to come in the new year!

Diabetes-free!

12/14/12 - I'm very VERY happy to report that Reo does NOT have diabetes!  We went into the vet this morning for a fasted blood draw and urinalysis - both came back negative.  HURRAY!

I was initially concerned that perhaps her adrenal glands kicked in a little bit, and that she had too much cortisol in her system, leading to high blood sugar, but this does not seem to be the case (will wait for the EI-1 panel results next week).  Though, I was definitely miffed that she was not displaying any symptoms of diabetes.

My current theory for the high blood sugar on Monday was the stress of the vet visit.  Because Reo was the second dog to go back for a blood draw, perhaps this was enough time for her to have a little adrenaline rush/blood sugar release, which caused the high glucose reading.

Bloodwork, and possible diabetes?

12/12/12 - I couldn't resist updating the blog on this date, could I?  :)

On Monday, I took all of the dogs in for their annual exams and bloodwork.  Having 3 senior ladies means keeping check of health on the inside, even though everyone looks healthy on the outside!

Reo got blood taken for both an EI-1 panel from NVDS, as well as regular chemistry/CBC.  Apparently, the nurses took too much blood too quickly - Reo passed out right after the blood draw!  It was super scary at first, but they gave her some oxygen and she perked right back up.  The vet likened it to standing up too quickly and getting lightheaded.  That's never happened before, so we'll have to be more careful on blood draws next time!

Though we need to wait until next week on the EI-1 panel, we already got the chemistry results back.  First of all, Reo's blood remains lipemic (fatty).  It has been this way for the past year or so, and I wasn't too surprised, but it does affect the CBC portion of the results.  Her cholesterol is normal.

She had very slight elevations in two liver enzymes, ALT and ALP.  Because they are very mild, the vet is not concerned, especially as she has been on long-term Medrol.  However, her blood glucose was very elevated (377!), and our vet is concerned that Reo could have diabetes.  :(  Though she was 7 hours post-meal, we will do a fasting blood glucose, and possibly a fructosamine test as well, to see where we stand.  At the same time, we will do a urinalysis and urine culture to see where we stand there.

The strange part is, Reo is not drinking or urinating more frequently.  She does not have accidents in the house.  She has not gained any weight (in fact, she lost a bit since our appointment in June), and is not more hungry.  We keep a close eye on her PU/PP/PD, given our experiences in the past.  Reo is also on grain-free, low-glycemic dehydrated/freeze-dried raw food.

First, cortisol is insulin's counter point.  As insulin LOWERS blood sugar, cortisol INCREASES blood sugar.  This is important to remember.  Many Cushingoid dogs (high cortisol) also have diabetes - I think about 20% of dogs who are Cushingoid also have diabetes.

I have been thinking a lot (I know my readers are surprised!) about what could have brought this on.  In the past few months, I discontinued Reo's phosphatidyl serine supplement.  Phosphatidyl serine is thought to blunt the cortisol response/spikes in cortisol.  It's possible that my giving her PS was reducing the amount of circulating cortisol in Reo's body, and when I stopped giving this supplement, she had an increase in cortisol, resulting in an increase in blood sugar (this will become apparent when we get the EI-1 panel results back - if her cortisol is high, perhaps this is the case).

For the past couple of years, I have been operating under the assumption that Reo has very, very little adrenal function (if at all).  However, perhaps her adrenals can make a bit of cortisol, and her daily dose is giving her a bit too much.  We may need to adjust the dose of her Medrol.  I plan to wait and see what the repeat blood tests say, and then I will contact Dr. Plechner and see if any adjustments need to be made.

Reo, our little problem child!  The great news is that she is happy, healthy, and not displaying any "symptoms".  I hope the glucose reading was a fluke somehow, and she is not diabetic.  I can't imagine having to stick her twice per day, although of course we are totally committed to her for life!  <3

Back to normal

11/03/12 - Reo is back to normal!  She was stressed out over having our friends' dog at home with us for a week.  As soon as the other dog went home, she seemed back to her normal routine.  Clearly, she was not impressed at sharing her house!  She ate normally this week, and is back to her spunky, playful little self.  :)

I guess I can't underestimate the effect of stress on Reo!

Also, we have finished up giving her the remaining supplements that I have.  So far, so good!