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Pebbles
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Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia

In March, our  3 1/2 year old, Boston Terrier, Pebbles had surgery for Luxtating Patella and was on the road to recovery, when I noticed she was eating dirt and gravel.  As a young child I remembered my grandpa telling me that meant an animal was lacking something.  I next looked into her mouth and her gums and inside of her mouth was so very very pale.  I remembered this could be a sign of some worms, but also anemia.  I called the vet and made an appointment and we had blood work done.  Initially, we felt that maybe the surgery and blood loss was the culprit so vet started her on iron supplements .  About 2 weeks later I did not feel there was any improvement with Pebbles so made another appointment and she was also becoming more listless and tiring easy.  Did another set of bloodwork and still very anemic and count a lot lower.  He also referred us to Dr. Chris McReynolds a specialist in the Springs for a possible bone marrow test.  Our vet felt that at this point another vet should be referred and also other possible blood work that our vet did not do.


We were able to get into see the Specialist the following week.  Upon seeing Dr. McReynolds I was very comfortable with him.. He actually got down on the floor at her level to exam her.  He wanted to order some other blood tests before he made  the decision to do a bone marrow.  Pebbles was so good and not a peep out of her with the drawing of the blood.  He told me he would get in touch with me the next afternoon and that most of the results would be back then.  He even tested her for tick disease due to the fact that we lived in Florida prior to moving here.  Believe me, that was the longest 24 hrs I have ever spent in regards to my boston kids.  I called the vet office the next afternoon and some of the tests were back and he would return my call. I was on my way home and as soon as my cell phone rang, i got to the side of the road with my heart in my throat.  I was devastated.  She was diagnosed with Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia!!!  Lick on the underlined and read more about this disorder.She was to be started on Prednisone and Imuran right away.  These drugs supress the immune system from attacking her red blood cells.  We started her on the medication and after one week, I still did not notice any diff and she was getting less active.  Took her to our vet and did blood work again; and it was even lower.  Called Dr. McReynolds and within 30 minutes I was headed to Colorado Springs with her for a blood transfusion.  The specialist was amazed at her stamina with such a low count and with us living in high altitude.  She had to stay overnight and watched and the next day her blood count was up to 28 considering it was 11.9 before we were happy with this.  The specialist told me if her count continues at this or even goes higher that is great.  And that is what we pray for. She is becoming more and more her active self as each day goes by.  It is so nice to see pink nail bed and even her actual color is so much better the brown and the white.  She will have to be monitored as far as her blood work on a regular basis.  Eventually we are hoping to decrease medications, especially the Prednisone.   After the blood transfusion he added another medication called Cyclosporine(used in humans with transplants) for her to take.  We just say our prayers everyday and hope that she lives a long life.
6/17/03: Pebbles is doing much better..  Due for more blood work today.  Her nail beds are so pink as is the inside of her mouth and gums.. She has more energy like her usual self.  Hoping for good results today on her blood work
11/22/03: Had a great visit today to Dr. Joel.  He checked her nail beds and inside her mouth and make the comment that he did not need a blood test to tell him that she is doing great.  We changed her three meds to every third day.  Will bring her back to see him in January and he is hopeful that we will be able to reduce at least the prednisone. 
Hope to get blood work done soon and see where she stands.
9/19/04: Pebbles is 5 today!!!  She has been off the prednisone for almost a month and doing great.  I still keep a close eye on her.  The next major deal will be to get her spayed. 
3/04/05: Pebbles has had a setback..  I noticed her eating dirt and appetite not the best;had her bloodwork and  results were low so she is back on the prednisone along with her Imuran.  Hopefully since she has been on the Imuran all along it will not take long for pred to work.
9/19/05: Pebbles is 6 years old and doing well.  She is still on pred and Imuran
02/28/09: Sadly we lost Pebbles in Nov 08.  Not from her disease, but before they cremated her they discovered she had cancer in her abdominal cavity.  She had gotten to where we could not get her to eat without her finding a place to hide when she would  vomit.  She did not ever want to disappoint us.  It was a rough time at first as we were second guessing ourselves if we did the right thing as we did not know what was wrong; even after numberous blood work, endoscopy.  Our vet knew we were so distraught that she had a friend do a sonogram (free of charge) before she was cremated.  This helped us but this little girl touched our hearts more than we ever thought.  I am slowly working on a memorial page for her. 
Prednisone Information
Imuran Information
Pebbles - Sept 2005
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