Progress!

Yesterday was a little quiet. The vet was closed, and Tiggs was very, very tired. He perked up a little towards that later part of the day, but I will admit that I was quite worried that he might be sliding back a little bit.

But, when we went to the vet today, Tiggs PCV had jumped between 28.5 and 29! Yayyyyy! Good progress, and definitely in the right direction. I was so happy, I screamed and clapped in the office. He is still so tired, but we are seeing a few more tail wags and even a little kiss from him on my nose!

Keep the good thoughts our way, it's working!

We Made it One Week!

Tiggs is such a good boy! His full blood panel showed that his body is 'turned on' now from all of the meds. This means that he has been producing new baby red blood cells called Reticulocytes. His PCV is still holding, and has even crept up ever so slightly. We'd like it to go up much faster, but Dr. Lynette feels his body is working as hard as it can. Today his PCV was between twenty five and 26. The lowest end of normal would be thirty seven, so we have a ways to go. It could take a long time, but we hope not. I had to type twenty five and thirty seven because my keyboard at work is malfuntioning!

Anyways, he is still so tired. Not really moving much, but his eyes are more open and his ears have perked up a little. He even lifted his leg to pee! Oh, about that though...he is drinking so much and the Pred ramps up the pee so fast, that he continues to have some accidents. It's ok, though, we don't mind...He is at least trying to get to the door, it's just hard when you can't move real fast.

He's gotten lots of love and toys. His friend Laurel even gave him a cute squeaky pig and some squeaky balls. He really appreciated it!

Thanks for all the well wishes.

Monday's Update

Tiggs had what appeared to be his best day yesterday, at least outwardly, he was more alert, his pee looked more yellow, and he at alot of food. The PCV, however, had dropped to 24 last night. It is hard for us to understand how he could outwardly look so much better, but the number went down.

This morning's blood, however, had held steady somewhere between 24 and 25. Dr. Lynette said she didn't want to say 25 and get our hopes up, but that it was at least holding at 24, and hopefully inching up towards 25.

He is here at BD with me today, and he has been excited to see his friends Lee, Jason, Kathy, etc. He even ran into John, Ellie, and Mason when we stopped to get a coffee before work, and he gave Ellie a big kiss. That was really uplifting to see!

Keep rooting for him! He is really a strong little guy.

The Numbers Game- Sunday

Tiggs had a lot of ups and downs yesterday. In the morning, he had held steady with his count at 27, and he was really excited when Jaima and John, Tina and Joe, and his Uncle Kev all came to visit. He got a really cute sheep from Jaima and John, and a beautiful, colorful photo collage that his Aunt Tina made from a beautiful picture she recently snapped of him. His spirits really lifted.

I think he got really tired from all of the excitement, and he had an accident later in the day because he was too tired to let us know that he had to go. When we brought him to the vet for his check last night at 10pm, his levels had dropped 2 points to a 25. Of course, that is not the direction we want to go in.

This morning he went back to the vet, and his am number is still at 25. We are really worried that it hasn't climbed yet, but Dr. Woodworth said that it is good that it hasn't dropped. So, another check tonight at 7pm, and he will get lots of love and food today to try to bolster him.

Please keep thinking positive for him!

Update on Tiggs- Saturday

Yesterday morning, Tiggs' levels were holding steady. By 5:30, however, they dropped a few points, which is somewhat to be expected, however, very disconcerting and stressful. He was very tired all day and would not get up at all, but when his Aunt Wendy came over with treats, he got up to greet her, gave her a kiss, and even a tail wag. These are things I will never again take for granted.

Because his levels had dropped a few points, our vet suggested we go back to the Hospital again at night for another blood test. Tiggs is always a little more alert there, probably because there is always alot going on. He even met another little dog who was also just diagnosed with IMHA. His levels were holding steady at the hospital, so his vet there decided he could come home again last night. He did get a shot for nausea, because he hasn't held anything down.

Once we got back home last night, the nausea meds must have helped, because he actually ate a little bit of food on his own, instead of Adam and I having to force feed him. He even jumped in the bed (upon invitation of course) for a few hours of nighttime cuddles.

This morning he is somewhat alert, but still needed some help to go outside and relieve himself. He is still urinating blood, which is very stressful for us. He will soon get the rest of his morning meds, which include a high dose of Prednisone (a steroid), plus Azathioprine (an immunosuppressive), plus an antibiotic, and Pepcid to help protect his tummy. We will also go to the vet at about 9 am for his morning blood count.

All of our hope seems to hinge on this one number: A Packed Cell Volume (PCV) test. Normal is between 37 and 55.

When Tiggs was diagnosed, his was at a 10. As of last night, he was holding at 27. Keep your thoughts with him, he is fighting so hard!

Thank you all!

Update on Tiggs- Friday

Tiggs is doing a little better today. He went to the hospital again last night, but when we got his blood tested, his numbers were actually looking much better. Today he is still very weak and tired, but he has been a little more alert and has been pretty bright eyed. He even wagged his tail a little bit. He is still in critical condition, but we are hopeful that he might respond to the medication. He is home with me today, and he is getting a lot of love from Winnie and I.

Please continue to pray for him and send out any happy, healthy thoughts that you can. The name of this auto immune disease is called AIHA (auto immune hemolytic anemia) or IMHA (immune mediated hemolytic anemia). If you are curious about this disease, you can find some good info here: http://www.geocities.com/aihadogs/faq.htm.

Update on Tiggs

Hi Everyone,

Many of you know, but some of you don't, that Tiggs has been diagnosed with a potentially fatal blood disease called Auto Immune Hemolytic Anemia. In laymans terms, it is when your body begins attacking it's own red blood cells. Tiggy was diagnosed yesterday after several days of lethargy and lack of appetite. He was hospitalized last night, and given high doses of prednisone, a steroid that will hopefully squash his immune response, and also given 2 blood transfusions. His prognosis is very guarded.

We picked him up this morning from the hospital and brought him back to his regular vet for more treatments. He looked much better than he did yesterday, but eventually his body will attack the new blood he was given. Our hope is that it will buy him some time while the Prednisone takes hold in his system. All of you, in addition to being our good friends, have also been good friends to Tiggs. He needs all of your love, prayers, and good thoughts sent out to the Universe, and wishes for his recovery. He is always happy, smiling, and has nothing but love for life, all of you, and everything else in the world. He is a wonderful ambassador for the Pit Bull breed and a little happy love and cuddle muffin.

We are truly hopeful that we can get him into a remission, and we promise to keep everyone posted on his condition. In the meantime, many of you have asked how you can help. Here's a couple of things: Go to www.bestfriends.org or www.obamafamilydog.com and sign the Obama family dog petition. The Obamas plan to get a dog after the election, and Best Friends is trying to raise awareness for the adoption of homeless pets over pure bred dogs. Tiggs was adopted almost four years ago exactly, from the Larimer Humane Society in Colorado. Also at the Best Friends site, you can learn about Breed Specific Legislation (pit bull and other bans) and learn how to sign petitions or send emails to communities considering such bans. For example, Sandy, Utah was just considering such a ban.

Keep us in your thoughts and we will keep you in ours.

Thanks for your love and support,

Melissa and Adam

The day we brought Tiggs home.
Getting to know his big sister.
He was pretty little!
One of Tiggs' many talents...last summer balancing a stack of graham crackers on his head in Flagstaff.

The tongue

Maharam Memory Game

see below photo...here are some in the loft, we keep playing with them and rearranging them. simple and fun!

I got this really cute memory game with all of these vintage designer fabrics on them by Girard, Eames, Pantin, etc. I put them on the wall above my little saucer chair under the stairs. I bought these little removable adhesive glue dots at the drug store, and they can be easily rearranged.

Kim and I had to Leap Frog for 5 leaps each for our round of Quelf.
Kim's friend Shanny from Moab made this delicious and rich cake with rasberries and lavendar from Kim's yard. It was amazing!
Wendy will kill me for posting this, but I love this picture of her. She is so cute and still a sexy mama to be....any day now!

Bday prequel

Here is Winn, now nearly 13 years old. She is so sweet to people, but she does want to eat other dogs...

We played Quelf Saturday night, this is a hilariously random game, where players have to do ridiculous things, like play a round with their hands on their heads...

I Love the DI

A quick run to the DI thrift store yesterday yielded some really cute yellow vintage plates. You can see from the date stamp that they are from 1957! They are a sunny happy yellow, and they put a smile on my face. Some research showed that they are a mid century classic, and Gilkes was an Ohio ceramicist who worked for TST during that time. Sunburst is the color.

The Roots!

Salt Lake City is so fun in the summer time. At night, it cools off to a balmy breezy 70 degrees. We rode our bikes to the Gallivan center for the FREE concert that happens every Thursday night. The opener was hip hop giants The Roots, from Philly. We love the Roots, it's unbelievable that they played for FREEEEEEE. SLC rules! On July 24, the also legendary hip hop group De La Soul will be playing the free show. Sweeeeet. Check out the lineup for other great free shows:

http://www.ci.slc.ut.us/arts/twilight/lineup.htm

Our photos are up!

Here is the finished product of our photo collection. I think it came out great, and it reminds me of some of the great places and times that we spent on the road!

New Danish Modern chair

I admit, lately I have a little furniture problem, especially chair problem...I found this on Ebay, but the great part was that it was a local seller, so I contacted them directly, made them an offer, and picked the chair up. They wanted $125, I gave them $65- not a bad deal! Best guess is that it is late 60's or maybe early 70's but it's hard to say. It's solid walnut, and even though the chair isn't too big, it's really heavy!
You may also notice that my dresser is gone...I sold it on cl.com, but it was premature you see...the replacement dresser from Ikea was too big for the space. Now I need to find a new dresser, or just bag it and try to find a new home for the clothes that were occupying it.

Inspiration

Last night, Adam and I decided that our struggles with picking art should be OVER> we're sick of trying to figure out what we want on the walls, and we decided that we should revisit our own photography from our year of living on the road. This seems obvious now, since it was one of the best years of my life thus far.

Here you will see some of the pics that made the cut, and we plan to make the prints in various sizes from 4x6 to 11x14. If you have any feedback as to which ones you think would look best large and which would be best smaller, we'd love to hear from you. Also, if you have ideas for groupings let us know that too.

Hope you enjoy some of our favorite pics!

Chairs in Position

One of the chairs in it's new home up in the loft.
The other chair in it's new home in the living room, to which I have tried to throw in more color, after being accused of on Rate My Space (hgtv.com), of being 'bland and mundane' with color...bitches! Whatever, I'm still trying to figure out the artwork. I like this artist on Etsy- her name is Rachel Austin, check her out, her stuff is super cool and beautiful colors. I'm going to order some prints. www.http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=44863