Sandi did survive. I believe it was mid-October when the autoimmune disease took over her body, and around March we finally had weaned her off the steroids. As soon as she was off the steroids she became nearly her old self. She had a zest for life that had been stolen from her for so many months. Joey and I watched her closely. I scrutinized her every move, always checking her joints for swelling and watching for any sign of lameness. She appeared to have developed arthritis in her hips and a front ankle, and after exercise she would get sore and move like a dog twice her age. Eventually I learned to ignore this and appreciate the fact that arthritis is at least better than the disease. People often recommend miracle drugs for pain that they use on their own dogs. The problem, I have no idea what could spur the return of the disease and am afraid to give my dog anything that she hasn’t already been on. Plus, I will always remember how hard it was to watch her suffer while we waited for the pain medicines to clear her system. If the disease were to come back, I want to be able to treat immediately.
So finally here we are. October 7, 2011. Sandi has officially been limping for 4 days now. Her ankle is swollen and unlike every other time she has been sore from exercise, she is getting worse instead of better. The thing I have dreaded since the day of her last steroid pill appears to be happening. It’s back. I’m a mess. When I try to tell my friends I cry. When I look at her I cry. Basically all I’m doing is crying. That unsettled feeling in my stomach that lingered for months is back. I arrive at her 9am vet appointment white as a sheet. Dr. Jones looks her over. We discuss the options. Maybe it really is Lymes this time. Or maybe it’s a broken bone. Or maybe it’s back. He asks me to leave her so they can run tests.
The trick with autoimmune disease, is you have to shut down the immune system to fix it. BUT if it is misdiagnosed and you shut down the immune system, whatever the true problem is (tick disease, infection, etc) would be able to take over and kill her because her body would not be able to protect itself. About 2 hours later Dr. Jones calls – the test for Lymes and other tick diseases came back negative. My heart sunk to my stomach. I would rather battle Lymes that this.
He called a couple hours after that. Her xrays were all clear. Not only was there no sign of a break, but there was no sign of arthritis. If arthritis were bad enough to cause this amount of pain, most certainly it would show in the xray.
So he says it. “It looks like we are dealing with the autoimmune disease again, but we need to run more tests so we can be completely positive before we put her on the medicine.”
Sorry about this, but
to be continued…
Soli deo gloria,
Sarah
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