Patch has Jaundice

Hello Blog Friends,

So sorry I haven’t been here to respond to comments or to post any Blog Karaoke! I am not in a singing mood right now! This is also me rambling on and I apologize in advance if it doesn’t make sense. It has been a rough night and I also just can’t seem to turn my leaky eyes off right now!

We took Patch, my 11 and a half year old dalmatian, to the Doc again today for his imazol shot! He has been diagnosed with ehrlichiosis, a tick born autoimmune disease. The treatment for this disease is antibiotics forever and a shot every month. The Doc mentioned that Patch needed to lose some weight to aid in his arthritis and/or difficulty to walk from the disease. Well, you asked for it Doc and you got it. He weighed 47 pounds today. That is entirely too much weight loss in such a little time! My poor baby is wasting away. He weighed 42 pounds when I got him almost 11 years ago.

The last two weeks he hasn’t hardly ate anything. I am usually good at checking on signs of various ailments he has but I feel soooooo horrible that I completely missed the sign of jaundice. We explained to the Doc his eating habits and that he was drinking plenty of water but his pee was bright yellow (a sign of hepatic failure). Doc lifts his eyelids back and wallah~his whites of his eyes are yellow. Doc said he has jaundice and hepatic liver. At that instant it was like his skin turned yellow immediately. While the Doc discussed with me what we need to do Patch got sick right there in the Doc’s office. It was just liquid with a piece of a milkbone. He also got sick in the car. Since we got home (about 5:30 p.m.) Patch has had straight up liquid poop and can’t control it. I have been scrubbing carpets, mopping floors, washing dog towels, and wiping Patch’s butt all evening. Doc said to give Patch Milk Thistle to aid with his liver. We got it but we can’t get him to take it-with anything-or even force it down. Aaaahhhh!

Doc said that if he isn’t holding down his water he would have to be brought back in and be put on an IV. Well either everything has hit tonight and/or he is having a major reaction to the shot. I just don’t know what to do! I am calling the Doc first thing in the morning (8:00 a.m.) and telling him Jedd will be bringing him in after he gets off of work (10:30 a.m.).

Please continue to pray for Patch right now and I would appreciate your prayers too as this is soooo difficult for me at such a crazy time too! I haven’t missed a day of work this year, but I am tempted to call in the morning and try to get a sub. When I do need a sub though for some reason our Sec. can’t seem to find one. Anywho~prayers for Patch are being accepted right now!

Thanks so much!

Mere

p.s. For those that don’t know what we have been through since Thanksgiving 2007 trying to figure out what is wrong with Patch, please read my Dogs page to catch up on all of the stories!