It's amazing how things can change in a week. Last week we were so excited that finally we could decrease the steroid dosage for Sailor and, hopefully, have her steroid-free in a month. We started stepping down on Tuesday. Everything was going well until Wednesday night. We had been crating Sailor at night because in the past month because, as I had mentioned in my last post, she has had intestinal difficulties. Specifically, she has had diarrhea with blood in her stools three times in the last month and a half. On Wednesday night (or actually early Thursday morning) she woke up my husband whining. He took her out at 2 a.m. and she had diarrhea again (this was the 3rd time). In the morning, she had another episode. Thursday was her second day to get the half dosage of the steroid. Thursday night (or rather Friday morning) she again woke my husband and he took her outside where she once again had diarrhea. On Friday, I took her back to the vet. She put her on a different antibiotic (called Tylon - a powder administered twice a day with food) for four weeks, because she considered her to have chronic diarrhea. There was some bacteria in her stool. Although she had these intestinal problems, Sailor was still the same sweet dog she's always been. However, on Friday evening, my husband wondered where Sailor was. I went to look for her and she was in our office, just standing there, glassy-eyed, not really acknowledging my presence. I sat down and she lay down, but was not really responsive. We had to help her up to take her outside. Her gait was unstable and she didn't relieve herself. When we came back inside, she went straight to her crate and lay down. We checked on her periodically, but she was not very responsive. At 1:00 a.m. we helped her up and she was able to go outside and relieve herself, but then went right back to the crate and collapsed. Needless to say, we did not get much sleep that night, wondering if Sailor would be with us in the morning. On Saturday, I gave Sailor her steroid, but not the antibiotic and scheduled an emergency visit with the vet. By the time we got to the vet, Sailor had perked up. Diagnosis - steroid withdrawal, though I have my suspicions that the antibiotic may have had some influence. The vet put her on a different antibiotic and said to give her 1/2 the dosage of steroid on Sunday; then on Monday give her the 20 mg. He called the neurologist, and today the opinion is to give her 10 mg. steroid in the morning and 10 mg. at night, every other day. We will see how this works out, and, hopefully, we won't have another relapse. We're now dealing with two problems - the chronic diarrhea and the steroid withdrawal. Hopefully, we can cure them both - just don't know right now. I'll post again soon.

After almost a year!

Yesterday, we traveled yet again to visit with the neurologist who had saved Sailor with an over-the-phone diagnosis of SRMA. Sailor has been on the same regimen of steroids - 40 mg. every other day - for the past 6 months. She has had some physical ailments - mostly about her intestinal difficulties - which have resulted in numerous vet visits (and bills) due to her weakened immune system. But, for the most part she has been relatively healthy.
The neurologist said that Sailor had gained muscle mass and no longer suffers from Cushing's disease. She weighed in at 55 lbs. which has been pretty much what she has weighed every time she's been to our local vet.
Thankfully, we have begun to reduce the amount of steroids Sailor is taking. We are going from 40 mg. every other day to 20 mg. every other day for the next 4 weeks. Then, if all is going well, we will eliminate the steroids altogether - about 1 year after her initial diagnosis. We were surprised to learn that eliminating the steroids might eliminate her constant stumbling. We thought that would always be a part of her life and was a residual effect from the SRMA. It would be wonderful if we could get her back to her "pre-SRMA" life, but we were warned that she still might retain some of the deficits.
We feel so fortunate that Sailor is still with us - thanks to our local vet and the neurologist in an adjacent city.
By the way, the neurologist said that although highly unlikely, Sailor could be suffering from a condition known as GRE (the neurologist told us the exact name which was quickly forgotten) in which the condition requires continued steroid treatment throughout the dog's life. He felt that since Sailor had gotten ill when she was so young that this GRE was not the cause of her problems, but he felt he should at least mention it. We will know more for certain as we decrease the steroid dose.
As always, Sailor captures the hearts of all those who see her. Our local vet says that she is the sweetest dog that they treat, and every time we go in, the vets and vet techs, and receptionists all have to come give her tummy pats and love because she returns all of the attention so affectionately. The neurologist and his staff constantly tell her that they love her, and what's not to love about this beautiful, loving, long-suffering pup.