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Dear Kyle
Good to hear Brissle is feeling better!
Just a thought--everything I've read about tuna is that it's
to be avoided by cats except for a rare treat (Anitra Frazier won't even use it
as a treat). I'd dump the Friskies as well, and give them a high quality wet
food like Wellness, Innova, Petguard. ("You are what you eat" and all
that.)
I don't know anything about diet for urine crystals, but am
wondering if anyone else out there can weigh in with a diet recommendation that
would work for them both while ensuring they get the high quality wet food.
Good luck with Brissle's marrow test. I'm rooting for you and
the little honey.
hugs, Kerry
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2005 10:15
AM
Subject: Re: Brissle crashing again,
bloodwork looks grim.
Brissle is doing okay now after the transfusion.
She drank a ton of water last night. She has eaten a little bit. It's a cruel
trick, the way they appear to make a complete turnaround after a transfusion.
Maybe I can make this one take better. I could have done a much better job
with food and supplementation. I started getting complacent not adding the Pet
Tinnic to her food, probably worried that she won't eat it. I never did get
around to buying some Transfer Factor either. Brissle's diet has been nothing
but Science Diet cd/s (because of brother's urine crystals), Friskies wet
food, and tuna. With her missing upper canines, I should really focus on more
soft food. Only problem is keeping her brother away from it. He really needs
the special food. Good thing is that he's finicky and Brissle isn't - so I
could probably just buy wet food he doesn't like.
I will definitely be doing the marrow test on
Monday. The $750 cost is rough. But I owe that to Brissle to at least find out
what is going on. If we're real lucky, the problem will be something
wierd not related to leukemia.
-Kyle
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 10:49
PM
Subject: Re: Brissle crashing again,
bloodwork looks grim.
If transfusions last a month or two and they
will give them to her without waiting for her HCT to drop below 20, then I
think it makes a lot of sense to keep giving them to her as therapy. I
certainly would have kept giving them to Simon if they could have kept him
going like that.
Simon had the bone marrow biopsy and it was not a
big deal, so do not worry about doing it in terms of Brissle. A lot of
people on this list recommend against doing it because it is painful, but
they do it under light anesthesia so they do not feel it and it did not
bother Simon at all afterwards. He just had a small scab that looked like a
tick bite on his shoulder, and did not even seem to notice it.
I am
rooting for Brissle. I thought she was our miracle girl the way she
bounced back for so long from such a low HCT. I hope I did not jinx
her. She still is our miracle girl, in a way, since she did so well
for so long and maybe she will again.
Let us know how she responds to
the transfusion.
Michelle
In a message dated 4/22/2005 6:05:37
PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Well Brissle is having her transfustion now. My internist
feels that she
really needs to have her marrow tested in order to be
sure about how to
proceed. If it is erythroleukemia, this is a rare
form, that's very hard to
treat. He said there's a small chance that an
oncologist may be able to move
forward without the marrow test. He just
doesn't know. That's not his
expertise. Of course the only oncologist
is about a four hour drive away. If
Brissle's rbc is high enough on
Monday, I will probably go ahead with the
test. These people are not
cheap. $750 for the marrow test.
The other option the internist
mentioned, as crazy as it sounds, would be to
use the blood
transfusions as her main therapy. He believes that considering
what
looks to be going on with Brissle's bone marrow, the interferons
and
immunoregulin may have only been helping slightly. But the
transfusion itself
was the main catalyst towards Brissle recovering. I
told him I thought blood
transfusions only lasted a few days. But he
said they can last a month or two.
If we do decide to go with
chemo, he is not sure what form would be used.
Again, that's better for
the oncologist. This would be his first go at
treating erythroleukemia.
I just don't know what I'm going to do. I'm working
on closing a house
that's way over my head with payments. Three or four
hundred dollars a
month on vet bills just won't be doable.
Nina, thanks for the
offer. Hopefully, this won't be necessary. Brissle's
transfusion should
last long enough for me to place an order. Did you see my
note that the
approval came in to my vet? Right now, I'm wondering if I should
even
order a batch. I'm sure this will depend on the marrow test. I have
alot
of things to think about for sure.
Thanks for
listening!
-Kyle
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