DAY 61

OK Vince, here is your update.  If you would have stayed awake long enough tonight you would have had it today (Monday).

Took Gracie in this morning at 8 for bloodwork to see how she was doing off the IV and the the round-the-clock emergency care she was receiving last Monday thru Friday.  As the Dr said "good news - bad news".  Good news is she has not vomited since last Thursday and seems very alert. She has to eat though. Per the Dr. we have changed her diet to brown rice, boiled chicken breast and a little chicken broth.

Bad news is the blood work continues to be more negative.  Her best numbers occured early after her first 24 hours on the IV last Monday/Tuesday.  Significant improvement after the initial day. Dr was worried taking her off of it for the weekend might cause numbers to go the wrong way. They did!

So we left the office this morning (with Gracie) not knowing what we would do next.  More specialized treatment is available in San Diego or LA but very, very costly.  They can put a dog on  dialysis but as the Dr. put it "we might as well plan on getting a second home near the hospital".  It would be  lifelong treatment and doesn't always work. Every situation is different.

I can't give you all the options we considered today for our next step, but the Dr. called us around 5:00pm and said there was a more affordable treatment he thought of.  He said it bothers him when he can't fix a problem and he came up with something we can do ourselves without the cost of hospitalization for Gracie - subcutaneous injection.  We do that ourselves - basically give her the IV three times a day at home (motor home).  He offered  to set us up tonight if we could come in soon.  We went in, got our instructions, gave her the first 500ml of subcutaneous injection of fluid under the  nurse's watchful eye, and out the door after passing the test.  We'll repeat  that injection here "at home" three times each of the next two days without the expense of hospitalization and 24 hour care.  And maybe for an even longer period if results are positive.  After this morning's news we were really depressed, but how have hope that an alternative plan of treatment has formalized. One that she would have to be on for the rest of her life.

Day by day, that's all we can do.  Gracie really seemed to have a good day today.  We are planning on an even better one tomorrow.