wombat88
Active Member
Sorry I haven't been posting lately. I've been very busy at work, but mostly disheartened I think about Shaikha's condition. Her anemia is not any better, so we have decided based on her blood work to start her on Aranesp, which is a drug that helps build red blood cells. It is used in cancer patients on chemo and for patients with renal failure who have nonregenerative anemia. Her latest lab results show the anemia is definitely nonregenerative -- though she's making some cells, the amount is far below what she should be making given how anemic she is. Her platelets are also low (she's been that way since leukeran last year), as well as all of the red cell counts. Interestingly, her white cell counts are back in normal range, which is a worry because she's usually low to low normal so the increase could mean we still have an infection on board. She's still on antibiotics but finishes them in about two more days.
She's had good and bad days since last week. Some days she eats okay, but too many times I have to either assist feed entirely or encourage her tons and assist feed the rest. She didn't eat at all on her own yesterday, but this morning she ate pretty well with encouragement. Her glucose has risen the past few days, which is a concern given the white counts, so I'm hoping she's not got an infection stilll hanging around the antibiotic isn't covering. I've increased her insulin slightly to see if we can get her back below 300 on pre-shots. She had a better pre-shot this AM, so hopefully that will work.
As for plans, we hopefully will get the aranesp ordered today from Walmart's Specialty Pharmacy and get that in on Friday or Monday. We'll start her on that and see how it goes. I plan to take her to the vet for more tests tomorrow on urine, as she's still throwing ketones and combined with lack of appetite I'm not taking chances (plus she needs to be checked for UTI just in case given the white counts). If her PCV tomorrow is much lower, we may have to give a blood transfusion soon to tide her over until the aranesp can work since that takes a few weeks that she likely doesn't have as low as she is already.
She's still her sweet self and getting around, though she's far less active which isn't surprising given the severe anemia. Though I haven't been posting her blood glucose numbers, any comments on her SS are welcome. I've increased her dose a bit in order to try to get her numbers down. She seems to have gone back to going through insulin like jet fuel again. Will see how she does today on the higher dose, but at least her AM pre-shot was below 300 again which was good. We'll take good news where we can.
I've been checking in daily to see how you all are doing, so even if I'm not posting know I'm thinking about you all. Interesting conversations about TID and dose reductions, etc. in Kitty's threads the past few days. Hopefully if we can get Shaikha's anemia under control I can put some of that wisdom into use. I've definitely done the dose reduction thing too often and lost ground as a result so I've been trying to not reduce even if she surprises me and holds a dose longer than expected.
I'm hanging in there and will be okay, but this is hard. This week marked four months since I lost Tabriz to complications from renal failure and anemia, and to see her going down the same path in a way is a little scary. I'm hoping Aranesp works out for her better than Epogen did for Tabriz.
She's had good and bad days since last week. Some days she eats okay, but too many times I have to either assist feed entirely or encourage her tons and assist feed the rest. She didn't eat at all on her own yesterday, but this morning she ate pretty well with encouragement. Her glucose has risen the past few days, which is a concern given the white counts, so I'm hoping she's not got an infection stilll hanging around the antibiotic isn't covering. I've increased her insulin slightly to see if we can get her back below 300 on pre-shots. She had a better pre-shot this AM, so hopefully that will work.
As for plans, we hopefully will get the aranesp ordered today from Walmart's Specialty Pharmacy and get that in on Friday or Monday. We'll start her on that and see how it goes. I plan to take her to the vet for more tests tomorrow on urine, as she's still throwing ketones and combined with lack of appetite I'm not taking chances (plus she needs to be checked for UTI just in case given the white counts). If her PCV tomorrow is much lower, we may have to give a blood transfusion soon to tide her over until the aranesp can work since that takes a few weeks that she likely doesn't have as low as she is already.
She's still her sweet self and getting around, though she's far less active which isn't surprising given the severe anemia. Though I haven't been posting her blood glucose numbers, any comments on her SS are welcome. I've increased her dose a bit in order to try to get her numbers down. She seems to have gone back to going through insulin like jet fuel again. Will see how she does today on the higher dose, but at least her AM pre-shot was below 300 again which was good. We'll take good news where we can.
I've been checking in daily to see how you all are doing, so even if I'm not posting know I'm thinking about you all. Interesting conversations about TID and dose reductions, etc. in Kitty's threads the past few days. Hopefully if we can get Shaikha's anemia under control I can put some of that wisdom into use. I've definitely done the dose reduction thing too often and lost ground as a result so I've been trying to not reduce even if she surprises me and holds a dose longer than expected.
I'm hanging in there and will be okay, but this is hard. This week marked four months since I lost Tabriz to complications from renal failure and anemia, and to see her going down the same path in a way is a little scary. I'm hoping Aranesp works out for her better than Epogen did for Tabriz.
