Our welsh terrier, Lainee Lou Hou was diagnosed with Immune Mediated Thrombocytopenia (IMTP) and Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia (IMHA) almost 11 months ago during her first 8 day stay in doggie ICU. IMTP is defined as when the immune system starts attacking healthy platelets, platelets are required for blood to form clot. IMHA is when the immune system starts to attack healthy red blood cells. It has been a long road with many set-backs, but we have some REALLY exciting news to share with you!!
Update #5 from Lainee Lou Hou's gofundme account!
Sorry it has been so long since we posted an update! The good news is that Lainee Lou Hou has had so much more energy and with that, she is a little bit more of a handful! It feels like chasing/carrying a furry non-conversational toddler around the house most of the time. Her appetite has fluctuated quite a bit over the last two weeks and she has vomited a few times but that could be a result of many different factors! Lainee managed to take out all of the stitches from her front paw and somehow, even with her cone on, she figured out how to extract toilet paper from the bathroom. We will take all of this naughtiness with open arms! Increased mischief means she is feeling better and is closer to being her old welsh terrier self! Yesterday we went on our first normal walk with Lainee. It made me quite teary because I didn't know if we would ever do that again!! She was so joyful and even frolicked in the grass! We were overjoyed!!
Update #1 from Lainee's gofundme page!
At this point, Lainee’s autoimmune disorders are stable. Her red blood cells are fluctuating, but we believe it is because of the infections. Lainee has been diagnosed with a fungal infection and secondary bacteria infection. The infection is opportunistic, and has developed due to Lainee’s suppressed immune system. The drugs to treat the fungal infection are rare and in special form, liquid, because she is so tiny. Just one week of this medication costs $120 (on top of the costs for the other 8 medications she is on; Mycopehnelate, Cerenia, Plavix, Omeprazole, Atopica (cyclosporine), Prednisone, Carafate, Hydroxyzine). In addition to the cost of seeing the dermatology specialist, we think that treating the infections alone would be about $400 a week. We are hoping that the fungal infection will be treated in a month!