Hi Chad.
It *is* exhausting to try to not worry, isn't it. But we do worry all the
same. One day at a time.
I am glad you have a vet you have confidence in. Sounds like she listens to
your concerns.
Glad Frankie is still a happy chap! Wouldn't it be nice to have that
innocence and faith?
Perry
bentcajungirl

"Dimpled Chad" wrote in message
...
Hi friends,

I thought I'd drop in with another too-brief update. Frankie is doing
better.
He continues to tolerate the decreasing steroids well. He is now down to
3.5
pills a week, from a high of 14 a week when he first went in. The Imuran
helps, it seems, and allows him to decrease quicker than otherwize. This
is
good, because the vets are keeping an eye on the increased liver enzymes
and
are hopeful that they will go down once we decrease the steroids to an
acceptable level. We need to decide whether we want to try to take him off
completely or not. If so, then it would be better for his liver. But if he
has a relapse, they typically hit harder and are more difficult to
suppress
the second go around.

We had a brief interude with a lepto scare. Someone suggested we get
tested
for this in *.veterinary, and we did. Upshot was a very very low reading
of
one of the strands--we decided it was probably because of the vaccination.
We
did another test three weeks later, and those came back even lower--
suggesting against an active infection (particularly in an immuno
suppressed
dog). We've determined that he doesn't have an active lepto infection, and
that this is not cause for concern. But Frankie did like the weak full of
liquid amoxil he got to take just in case.

The big problem, really, is that Frankie developed two masses in his
mouth.
They are matching on either side of his tongue, which his good, because
that
in itself suggests against cancer. It could be a reaction to the drugs
he's
taking, or benign lymphoid tissue. Or, of course, it could be cancer, but
because it is bilateral that isn't likely. They want to biopsy, but with
the
high liver enzymes and the other conditions, as well as the fact that they
don't think it is cancer, they are going to wait on it. I'm weighing
whether
it is even a good idea to biopsy, because cancer in the mouth is a *bad*
place to get it, and I'm not sure whether we'd gain much from actually
knowing or not.

But as his steroid dose goes down, he's more peppy and playful and
energetic.
He's even happier, which is amazing, since he's been stellar throughout.
Behaviorilly, he's doing great.

So that's where we are. We're still trying to lower the steroids as
quickly
as possible while monitoring his platelet count. When low enough, we'll
consider biopsying the masses in his mouth. In the mean time, he's doing
super, and we're enjoying his company.

Sorry I've been off so long. More as we know more.

Be well, everyone. Best wishes to everyone.

Chad

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