Cerri: Update
The short version: Cerri's doing better now.
The long version (according to my current understanding):
Since I don't think I posted about this when she first got sick: She has a disease called "hemobartonella", which is caused by a parasite (hemobartonella felis, now renamed Mycoplasma haemofelis) that infects the red blood cells. Apparently, it's crazy hard to diagnose because the bacteria has no cell wall and will periodically "hide" in the organs such that that it's visible in a blood sample one hour and totally gone an hour later. Which would be damn cool, if it weren't killing my darling.
The major problem with it is that the immune system responds to the infection by destroying the infected red blood cells (which is most/all of them). So they have to treat both the infection and the immune response.
For whatever reason--either because mom slipped up with her Prednisone or because they just tapered her off too fast (or because the infection came back? not sure...)--her immune system started going crazy again around Tuesday. They're treating her again, but she needs blood transfusions to keep her alive until the Prednisone kicks in and calms down her immune system. They gave her one transfusion when we first brought her in, which I guess didn't hold because her immune system was still freaking out. This morning they started a second, but she reacted badly to it and they had to stop. Instead, they're giving her this other stuff that's basically just pure hemoglobin without the actual red blood cells so that her body can't react to it. (Apparently, it's derived from cow blood, which I thought was pretty cool. I didn't hear what the vet called it, but google indicates it may be referred to as "bovine hemoblobin oxygen carrier" or HBOC.) And according to the vet, that's working well.
We visited her twice today. Once around 11-ish, just after they started giving her the cow hemoglobin. There was a reasonable possibility that she wouldn't make it through the transfusion. When we got there, she was looking pretty terrible. Just lying there with her eyes mostly closed. She perked up a little at one point, lifting her head and staring out at us with gigantic, dilated pupils, before laying her head back down and closing her eyes again. They have her in an oxygen tank to help her breathe, so we couldn't pet her at all. I wanted so badly to gather her up in my arms and hold her, but of course I couldn't.
We came back around 3, and she was looking a whole lot better. She was sitting up, awake and alert. When she noticed us, she started mewing at us through the plastic and begging for skritches. They opened up the oxygen tank so we could pet her, and she really seemed to enjoy it. It was so good to see her looking so alive. Even if I know it doesn't mean she's out of the woods yet--by any stretch--it makes me feel a lot better.
The vet said she might be able to come home Saturday.
And now I should go eat dinner....
The long version (according to my current understanding):
Since I don't think I posted about this when she first got sick: She has a disease called "hemobartonella", which is caused by a parasite (hemobartonella felis, now renamed Mycoplasma haemofelis) that infects the red blood cells. Apparently, it's crazy hard to diagnose because the bacteria has no cell wall and will periodically "hide" in the organs such that that it's visible in a blood sample one hour and totally gone an hour later. Which would be damn cool, if it weren't killing my darling.
The major problem with it is that the immune system responds to the infection by destroying the infected red blood cells (which is most/all of them). So they have to treat both the infection and the immune response.
For whatever reason--either because mom slipped up with her Prednisone or because they just tapered her off too fast (or because the infection came back? not sure...)--her immune system started going crazy again around Tuesday. They're treating her again, but she needs blood transfusions to keep her alive until the Prednisone kicks in and calms down her immune system. They gave her one transfusion when we first brought her in, which I guess didn't hold because her immune system was still freaking out. This morning they started a second, but she reacted badly to it and they had to stop. Instead, they're giving her this other stuff that's basically just pure hemoglobin without the actual red blood cells so that her body can't react to it. (Apparently, it's derived from cow blood, which I thought was pretty cool. I didn't hear what the vet called it, but google indicates it may be referred to as "bovine hemoblobin oxygen carrier" or HBOC.) And according to the vet, that's working well.
We visited her twice today. Once around 11-ish, just after they started giving her the cow hemoglobin. There was a reasonable possibility that she wouldn't make it through the transfusion. When we got there, she was looking pretty terrible. Just lying there with her eyes mostly closed. She perked up a little at one point, lifting her head and staring out at us with gigantic, dilated pupils, before laying her head back down and closing her eyes again. They have her in an oxygen tank to help her breathe, so we couldn't pet her at all. I wanted so badly to gather her up in my arms and hold her, but of course I couldn't.
We came back around 3, and she was looking a whole lot better. She was sitting up, awake and alert. When she noticed us, she started mewing at us through the plastic and begging for skritches. They opened up the oxygen tank so we could pet her, and she really seemed to enjoy it. It was so good to see her looking so alive. Even if I know it doesn't mean she's out of the woods yet--by any stretch--it makes me feel a lot better.
The vet said she might be able to come home Saturday.
And now I should go eat dinner....