Aimee
Boxer Insane
Chris, thank you for thinking of us. I am so happy to report that Baxter is still hanging tough. Bax didn't mind the acupuncture, he actually seemed to enjoy it. However, my vet doesn't feel the acupuncture is going to help him. We did a body balancing treatment but she prefers to steer away from acupuncture when dealing with most cancers because you don’t want to stimulate an area near a tumor. Oh well.
Update!
We had Baxter’s 2 ½ month follow up with Dr. Kruesi on Monday. Sadly, Baxter’s lab work has continued to decline. Dr. Kruesi feels that Baxter is on such a steep decline because he is still on the prednisone (he calls it “slow suicide”). Baxter’s labs were so bad the lab wrote that they reran his lab work to double check his levels (off the charts were his liver levels and his lipase and amalayse which were over 5,000). We have agreed to remove Baxter from the prednisone and although it scares me to do so because of the difficulty we had previously, we now know it’s probable he will not be here to celebrate Christmas with us if we don’t.
We have a plan for Baxter, which I feel very positive about. Baxter’s biggest trouble right now is regulating his thyroid because it’s causing him the most “side effects”. The extreme wasting Bax has experienced in his head is due to his low thyroid (and exacerbated by the pred) as are the tremors that he is having. Dr. Kruesi also believes that Baxter’s level of energy will increase once the thyroid is regulated and that he may regain some strength in his rear legs. It’s hard to tell if his rear weakness is from the brain tumor, the prednisone or the low thyroid because they all cause it. Baxter has been taking a thyroid glandular but unfortunantly it’s not working. Dr. Kruesi has placed Baxter on soloxine and said we should begin to notice a difference in several weeks. Tomorrow we pull Baxter completely off the pred and switch him mg for mg over to hydrocortisone. Hydrocortisone is apparently also a steroid but a gentler form. We leave him on the hydrocortisone for 4 days and then over a 12 day period, we gradually wean him down to zero. Dr. Kruesi is confident that Baxter will respond well, especially once the soloxine kicks in, to being weaned off the steroids. He has asked us to really hang in there for 3 full weeks to allow the soloxine to do its job and then if we feel Baxter’s quality is suffering from not being on the steroids or if he “crashes”, then we will have to reevaluate. Also, Baxter isn’t getting enough arginine. Although he is going to be supplemented with arginine, we also have to add 1 TBSP chopped almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds (something of that nature) or ½ cup of refried beans or canned black beans to his food every other night because they are all high in arginine. I’ve never fed my dogs beans before, I wonder how he will handle them?
All of Baxter’s supplements/medications have changed. We will be receiving all his new stuff in the mail today. I can’t wait to get him started. We have to gradually wean him onto everything again but by next week he will be on the whole program and the weaning down of the steroid will begin. Wish us luck!
Due to the fact that it has been almost 7 months since Baxter’s initial symptoms and the fact that he has been on the prednisone for several months, there are a few things we’ve been asked to watch for. The first two are coughing and difficulty swallowing. The others are complete paralysis, seizures, fractures, and congestive heart failure. Luckily, he is having no coughing and very little difficulty in swallowing. He only has trouble with large pieces of food, so we avoid them. Baxter is experiencing hind end weakness that we pray will not turn into paralysis, for his sake. Truthfully, we worry most about the possibility of fractures. The pred leaches calcium from the bones making them brittle and even though he has been on a calcium supplement, his calcium is still a little low. We have to watch him carefully because one tumble down the stairs or one hard blow to the head against the wall (when he starts bumping around) could be devastating to him.
With all this said though, Baxter is a fighter. He truly is as tough as they come. Bax is doing extremely well, all things considered. He still enjoys all the fun things in life—eating, sleeping, walking and chewing! My man has not missed a meal or a walk yet!
We pray that Mr. B is able to be weaned off his steroid and that he responds well to his new protocol. God willing, we are scheduled for another profile and follow up with Dr. Kruesi in 2 ½ months. Please cross those fingers, toes, and paws for us! As always, we thank each of you for your loving support and words of wisdom.
Aimee
Update!
We had Baxter’s 2 ½ month follow up with Dr. Kruesi on Monday. Sadly, Baxter’s lab work has continued to decline. Dr. Kruesi feels that Baxter is on such a steep decline because he is still on the prednisone (he calls it “slow suicide”). Baxter’s labs were so bad the lab wrote that they reran his lab work to double check his levels (off the charts were his liver levels and his lipase and amalayse which were over 5,000). We have agreed to remove Baxter from the prednisone and although it scares me to do so because of the difficulty we had previously, we now know it’s probable he will not be here to celebrate Christmas with us if we don’t.
We have a plan for Baxter, which I feel very positive about. Baxter’s biggest trouble right now is regulating his thyroid because it’s causing him the most “side effects”. The extreme wasting Bax has experienced in his head is due to his low thyroid (and exacerbated by the pred) as are the tremors that he is having. Dr. Kruesi also believes that Baxter’s level of energy will increase once the thyroid is regulated and that he may regain some strength in his rear legs. It’s hard to tell if his rear weakness is from the brain tumor, the prednisone or the low thyroid because they all cause it. Baxter has been taking a thyroid glandular but unfortunantly it’s not working. Dr. Kruesi has placed Baxter on soloxine and said we should begin to notice a difference in several weeks. Tomorrow we pull Baxter completely off the pred and switch him mg for mg over to hydrocortisone. Hydrocortisone is apparently also a steroid but a gentler form. We leave him on the hydrocortisone for 4 days and then over a 12 day period, we gradually wean him down to zero. Dr. Kruesi is confident that Baxter will respond well, especially once the soloxine kicks in, to being weaned off the steroids. He has asked us to really hang in there for 3 full weeks to allow the soloxine to do its job and then if we feel Baxter’s quality is suffering from not being on the steroids or if he “crashes”, then we will have to reevaluate. Also, Baxter isn’t getting enough arginine. Although he is going to be supplemented with arginine, we also have to add 1 TBSP chopped almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds (something of that nature) or ½ cup of refried beans or canned black beans to his food every other night because they are all high in arginine. I’ve never fed my dogs beans before, I wonder how he will handle them?
All of Baxter’s supplements/medications have changed. We will be receiving all his new stuff in the mail today. I can’t wait to get him started. We have to gradually wean him onto everything again but by next week he will be on the whole program and the weaning down of the steroid will begin. Wish us luck!
Due to the fact that it has been almost 7 months since Baxter’s initial symptoms and the fact that he has been on the prednisone for several months, there are a few things we’ve been asked to watch for. The first two are coughing and difficulty swallowing. The others are complete paralysis, seizures, fractures, and congestive heart failure. Luckily, he is having no coughing and very little difficulty in swallowing. He only has trouble with large pieces of food, so we avoid them. Baxter is experiencing hind end weakness that we pray will not turn into paralysis, for his sake. Truthfully, we worry most about the possibility of fractures. The pred leaches calcium from the bones making them brittle and even though he has been on a calcium supplement, his calcium is still a little low. We have to watch him carefully because one tumble down the stairs or one hard blow to the head against the wall (when he starts bumping around) could be devastating to him.
With all this said though, Baxter is a fighter. He truly is as tough as they come. Bax is doing extremely well, all things considered. He still enjoys all the fun things in life—eating, sleeping, walking and chewing! My man has not missed a meal or a walk yet!
We pray that Mr. B is able to be weaned off his steroid and that he responds well to his new protocol. God willing, we are scheduled for another profile and follow up with Dr. Kruesi in 2 ½ months. Please cross those fingers, toes, and paws for us! As always, we thank each of you for your loving support and words of wisdom.
Aimee
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