a little strength returning

first off, sways PCV was around 22% on saturday.
its still holding in the general area so thats very promising.
we WERE going thru transfusions on a weekly basis so the current holding pattern has really been a blessing.
as of today it has been 26 days since her last blood transfusion...

within the last 48 hours she's started to eat alot better as well.
i took sway to dr. woods' office on wednesday (durabolin shot) and they were all very happy to see her walking around on her own power and showing the curiousity to inspect the food hallway.

you can tell that some of her strength is slowly returning...
its very subtle but she is now able to support herself when she walks down a decline, and for the most part she can turn without her legs buckling.
her walk is still rather slow, but its a revelation compared to where she was.
i might post a video of her walking tonight, its inspiring to watch her bouncing back in any form.

still makes me stress...

sway continues to have a love/hate relationship with her foods...
its challenging and envokes alot of worry when she refuses to eat for days at a time.
she was refusing again yesterday but to my suprise today she ate and wouldnt stop.
hot dogs, AD & yogurt, all down the hatch.
it really seems like they relate foods to how they are feeling that day, and if a pill or a certain medication makes them feel bad, they begin to deny that food with which it came.
mixing the options up is a way to stay ahead of the curve, and doesnt allow the animal to single out any specific food for denial.
thats the advice i was given & thats how it seems to be going with sway.

my friend patrice and i have been emailing back and forth about how our dogs are doing, and she sent along a really appropriate quote that could be applied to any kind of setback...
its good-

Courage need not Roar. Sometimes it's the quiet voice at day's end saying "I will try again tomorrow"

scares happen...

i had one last night.
maybe not the hugest concern, but if you knew my dog like i do then this was a pretty big problem under the circumstances.

we had been rolling for 7 days now, literally almost flawless in our attempts to dodge any setbacks.
...well, until tuesday morning, and sway deciding (again) that she was no longer going to eat.
ok, that was cool, it was the morning and i was rushing to work.
when i came back for lunch, tried again, ... she still would not touch the same stuff she had gulped down 3x daily during the previous week.
this was a big deal because she is so frail to begin with...
if she starts refusing food then we could have a repeat of what played out 2 weeks ago.
(5+ days of no eating, mega weakness, feeding tube, etc.)
after work, i had to pull out the big guns, so i cooked sway a steak...
she had to eat that right? of course not.
she wouldnt touch it.

i was fearing that we were tipping the iceberg,
then i woke up this morning and she was all about eating first thing...
& she did, ate like a charm.

i guess what i am trying to say is, practice patience...
im not very patient to begin with so this issue was something that had me worrying.
its a very tough thing when you are dealing with something as multi-dimensional as AIHA, and then you see red flags that could potentially snowball ... devastating all her efforts from the past week in the process.
luckily, it was okay and things worked themselves out.

now, i also want to say that you should try and be as pro-active as possible in your approach to all things related to an AIHA dog,
but its a balancing act ... sometimes it could hurt your cause more than help if you freak out too quickly and overreact.
scares will happen.
just try to remain on an even keel ... you know your dog better than anyone else does, so react accordingly.
im just glad sway started eating man...