Wheeee!

Been a bit since I posted. Had my 3 month follow up thyroid blood work, only TSH this time. It came back normal at 3.84. Some articles I've read online are calling for lowered normal limits tho. This lab has normal ranges of 0.27 to 4.2 tho what I've read says better high limits should be more around 3.0 : http://thyroid.about.com/od/gettestedanddiagnosed/a/tshtestwars.htm

Ive been feeling a bit better. No random migraines yay!!! I can still have one triggered by lack of eating or sleep as I'll explain in a bit.

I've also been seeing a new allergist who is doing skin testing instead of relying solely on the blood work my PCP did and merely throwing different meds at me to try. Found out I'm allergic to everyone of the molds tested for as well as guinea pigs!!!! When we found that out he simply asked me how important the guinea pigs were to me, and at my answer of "Very!" he went on to figure a way to limit my exposure. Hubby will clean the cage and I have to wear a mask and wash thoroughly after feeding and handling. And be very careful to not pick up any moldy hay since I get my hay by the bale from the local horse feed shop. Still one more round of skin testing to go. He also put me on a two week course of clarithromycin to be sure my snuffles weren't due to a chronic sinus infection.


The last few days have been quite eventful.

Early in the week I'd been feeling rather icky but figured it was due to the dampness causing mold and bothering my allergies. Thursday was the last day of work, since they were giving us a 3 day weekend for Easter. Things were winding down and my supervisor asked if I wanted to go home early and I eagerly agreed since I was not feeling well. I was getting a cough, shortness of breath and coughing up some nasty nasty stuff.

Got home from work and was not greeted at the door as usual by an exuberant Maxine. Instead she slunk out of the bedroom and promptly vomited yellow bile at my toes. She's done this in the past when she gets too much hair in her belly from licking herself so I thought it was one of these episodes. Got it cleaned up, and then she vomited again. Not unusual to get two vomits with the hair thing.

Cleaned that up, took her out to potty. She peed as normal. Took her back in and gave a treat for a successful potty. Two minutes later she vomited again, yellow bile with red flecks and of course the dog treat. Cleaned that mess up and she vomited again, starting to get worried, there's more red in this vomit. Cleaned that one up and she vomited again. LOTS of blood in this one, about half and half foamy bile and blood.

Off to the emergency clinic we went. Four hours later she was diagnosed with pancreatitis using a "cPLI Snap Test" according to the invoice, her CBC and other chem came back normal. She did not once vomit on the drive to the ER or at the ER while waiting four hours in the waiting room. However she was maybe a smidge more quiet than she would have normally been in a new environment. No X-rays taken.

One anzemet, famotidine and hydromorphone injection and a huge subque of fluids later we were home with instructions to fast for 24 hours, bland diet afterwards, antibiotics (amoxi), pain killers (tramadol) and more famotidine for the next few days. She acted drunk as a sailor on shore leave, whining, and drooling copiously. I took her out to potty thinking she may need to be rid of some of the fluids and she did pee but then strained and strained for a bowel movement with no success. She had a decent one just a few hours prior. I felt so bad for her. She did not whine like this after her spay or her luxating patella surgery. I do know she was not acting like this prior to the injectables. I wonder if she had a reaction to the hydromorphone. I called the clinic back and they stated it does have a sedating effect and can make them pant (which she was doing).

We ended up going back to the ER for her after being home 4 hours because she did not improve. She had abdominal xrays that came out clean and opted to hospitalize her w/IV fluids for atleast 24 hours.

Which was good because I ended up in the ER myself, pneumonia in my left lung. I had been feeling bad for a few days yes but the stress of Maxine being sick and the looooong night of worry and stress seemed to bring it to a head. My chest was burning, pain in my left side, shortness of breath, weakness, the whole boatload.

Got a right nice migraine while there since I went almost 24 hours with no sleep and only thing to eat was a bagel with cream cheese. They ran all kinds of tests!! Geisinger is nothing if not thorough. Chest X-rays, blood work, ultra sound of my legs to check for blood clots, contrast CT of my chest to make sure no blood clots in my lungs. My bill should be interesting. I have a $100 ER copay and have to pay 2% of any tests up to a $1000 yearly max. I also have a right nice bloody hematoma on my left elbow where they tried to put a catheter in. Ugh I HATE my veins. They got one in the back of my hand but it was too small of a needle to get enough blood out of so they had to draw blood from my right elbow. I'm a pincushin!

We're both home now and recouperating. The animal ER sent home some different meds. Metronidazole to replace the amoxicillin and cisapride to replace the famitodine. They also sent home panacur liquid. I'm on levaquin and medrol.

Maxine was doing great until I gave the panacur this morning against my better judgement. She's always had negative fecal tests and doesnt come in contact with any other dogs really tho I suppose a stray could have contaminated the yard with something. She didnt finish all her breakfast and did vomit a small bit. She did keep down her pills tho. Called the clinic and will hold off on anymore panacur (think I'll just toss the stuff!) and if she continues to vomit will take her back in. She seems perkier now. Fingers crossed.