Tiggs- One Year Later

Today marks the 1 year anniversary that Tiggs was diagnosed with the dreadful, awful disease IMHA/AIHA (Auto Immune Hemolytic Anemia) that nearly took him from us.

He is in remission and off of medications to treat this disease as of today, and after fighting so hard, we thought he deserved a little party. We made him a big hamburger and he LOVED it! We also got him a special bandanna from the Morris Animal Foundation's Meisha's Hope Fund, which donates money to research that helps find better treatments and hopefully a cure for this terrible disease. Perfectly timed, his bandana arrived today.

We are so grateful that Tiggs is doing so well, he continues to be a joy and a friend to all, and inspires me daily with his happiness, kindness and love.

We are so proud of him. Way to go Tiggy!

 

 

 

 

Two of my Kids are Poster Children

 

 

 

 

I am so proud of my 'kids.' Honey will be the next No More Homeless Pets appeal dog. This means that she will be on a special fundraising letter with her photos and story to promote adoption, specifically special needs adoptions. This couldn't have come at a better time, because we have learned that Honey will need BOTH of her knees operated on this year, at a whopping $2500 per knee, so our in addition to helping raise money and awareness for NMHPU and adoption, we will need to mount our own fundraising goals to help pay for Honey's surgery.

Also, Tiggs will be featured on a large poster at a sale to benefit the Morris Animal Foundation's Meisha's Hope fund, which raises money for research to find a cure and better treatment for Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia. Tiggs can be seen on this poster, about the seventh row down towards the right- one of my favorite pics that we snapped of Tiggs while living on the road, in Squamish.

Bravo to my brave furkids for helping raise awareness for special dogs everywhere!

 

 

 

I got nuthin'

No news is good news, right?  Not one exciting thing going on right now.   But, if I had to come up with something:

*Was paid for my first professional interior design gig helping a very nice woman pick out paint colors for a beautiful new Craftsman home

*Finally ate at the Wild Grape Bistro and paid a very large tab...ouch, but the food was excellent- perhaps we'll go just for brunch next time?  

*Climbing A LOT in the gym, damn will it ever stop snowing here?  Nope, probably not until late May.  Yipeeee.

*Working too much- damn whiney skiers and their nasty feet.  EWWWWWW.

*Counting the days until our next trip to Best Friends January 1-4

*Collecting tennis balls from local tennis clubs to bring on the BF trip, along with a lot of donated gear from a few kind souls at Black Diamond to help with the BF Rapid Response rescue team- think Search and Rescue for animals

*Giving huge thanks to the universe that Tiggs is doing AWESOME!

Tiggs posed for the camera today

Our Cabin- the far right unit

At the gift shop with Tiggs and Adam

On Tour

The Angel Village Cafe

Update on Tiggs

 This was Tiggs a few days ago.

This is a pic from less than a year ago

 Tiggs is doing so much better- his PCV's are in the remission range, but as you can see, the drugs that have helped in his recovery have ravaged his body a fair bit. Yesterday, we were able to lower his Prednisone again- that was great! He is now on what would be considered a 'low dose.' However, as you can see, the muscle wasting around his head, and back legs is pretty tremendous. Even though his dose at it's current level would not be enough to cause this, the previous doses were so high, that this occurred over a just few weeks time after his initial diagnosis. I'm told by other survivors of IMHA that this muscle damage could take a year to reverse- but it will reverse after he is off of Pred. He has also yet to grow back the fur that was shaved off of his two front legs on July 16 for his blood transfusion. 

Through it all, Tiggs always has a kiss and a tail wag for his vet, and all of his friends- human and canine, every time he sees them. Also, he now ways 70 lbs! This is 10 more lbs than he has ever weighed, and if this picture showed his mid-section, you would think that he swallowed a barrel- this is partly from the meds, but also due to his large fan club at BD that bring him treats everyday.  He loves them so much!  Also, Tiggs has been going on long walks every night to help him get strong.  He is still able to pull me pretty hard, and he can go at a good clip for about an hour, which is wonderful to see.

Paws on Paws

Yin and Yang

Update on Tiggs

Sorry everyone, I should be more on top of updating, because a few of my loyal readers have expressed concern about Tiggs after my last post.

Well, we don't really have a lot of answers. He seems to be doing better, they added an antibiotic to his meds over the weekend, and they are continuing to monitor his blood. The PCV came up a little bit, so that was encouraging, but there were a few puzzling things in the CBC. Our vet consulted with a Pathologist, and he didn't really have a lot of answers, other than to monitor him and check the CBC early next week.

He has had more energy, so we are encouraged by that, and I'm hoping that he was just dogging a little infection that we are hopefully addressing. It's just part of the whole shitty IMHA process, and we have to remind ourselves to take it one day at a time- some of those days will be good, and some will be not so good.

Today he's psyched, and he came to work for our Scarpa ski boot clinic. So, if any of you have questions on which ski boots you should buy this year, just give Tiggs a shout, and he'll let you know the advantages of Skywalk vs. Vibram soles, or which degree of forward lean might be right for you.

Keep Tiggs in your thoughts

We seem to have a small backslide with Tiggs, his PCV dropped five points since last week, the first drop since he was diagnosed in July.

Natrually, we are really, really worried. He didn't eat his food last night or today, and seems more tired than normal. Dr. Lynette has a full panel of labs that will come back tomorrow, and hopefully shed some insight as to what could be causing this drop, as it's not entirely common for a dog that's been stable and had no med reductions to slide backwards at this stage. One possible theory is a reaction to one of his immunosuppressive drugs.

Please wish him well and keep him in your thoughts, we will update more as we know it.

Maple Canyon

Yesterday, Adam and I went climbing at Maple Canyon with Jaima, Kev, and Amber. It was a super fun crew, and we hooked up with Heath and Rachel S. down there. It was my second time climbing outside in 5 months (last week we went to AF, and toproped with Kev). Well, I felt a lot better this time around, and flashed an 11d, a 12a, and a 12b! Woo hoo! I guess the time off was good for me after all. But, then I was so tired and pumped, I could hardly move, so I layed around with Tiggs, and it was his first time on a climbing day out also in about 5 months. It was great to have him there, even if he wanted to try to steal food from everyone...that Pred makes him so ravenous!

I was so happy to be with my friends, my furkid, and my hubby climbing outside, it was a great day.

Quicky Tiggs Update

PCV at 40! Woo hoo. Reduction of Prednisone- WOO HOO! Happy dog, lots more tail wags, longer walks, and a few more Tiggy kisses. Still struggling with weakness in hind quarters...can't jump in Saturn still, and still leaking a little bit, but each day, becoming more and more himself. Even ate his stuffed pig last night. Way to go Tiggs!

I Love My Dogs

Tigg's may look a little gaunt and sleepy, but don't be fooled, he's doing much, much better.

Winn testing out her new floors.

A Slow Return to Normalcy

Well, the last week has been starting to feel a little bit more like a normal life. I've started climbing again, albeit very slowly and only in the gym, Tiggs is acting more like a dog, and we even squeaked in a quick trip to Ikea for a little retail therapy.

We decided to rip out the nasty carpet in our loft, made a little nastier by the side effects of Prednisone, and lay some inexpensive laminate. Adam and I were kinda psyched on trying a white wood anyways, and Ikea makes a white-washed wood laminate for about a buck a square foot. We even found a couple of boxes of the flooring in the As Is room at Ikea, and voile, a little elbow grease (ok, maybe a lot of elbow grease, and a few near-marriage ending squabbles) and a hundred bucks and POOF, we have a cool new floor.

Hope you like the pics.

On the Tiggs front, blood work has been great, PCV near 40 and starting to cut the Pred a little bit. Still experiencing a few unpleasant side effects, but Tiggs is handling it all like a champ, and even rolled in the grass last night- I will never take seemingly insignificant dog behavior for granted again. We love him so much! And we love his wonderful big sister Winn, who has been kind and gentle towards him.

Fort Fun

They don't call it that for nothing! Ft. Collins was just what the doctor ordered, literally! Our wonderful friends Jay and Traci finally tied the knot, and dammit, my batteries were dead for their incredible wedding and reception. Trac and Jay have been great friends and climbing partners over the years, I'm so happy we could share their day.

Coming back to Ft. Collins was so good for us, it was a wonderful homecoming, and it seemed like at every turn, we ran into a familiar and friendly face, from the minute we pulled into town, until we left. Many people came back into town and my friend Rick said it best: it was a reunion of people from the heyday of the Ft. Collins climbing scene.

Many of you have asked about Tiggs, and all I can say is that he had an amazing turn around while we were there. We were lucky enough to consult with CSU vet teaching hospital, and they spent 3 hours with us. They were great about consulting Tiggs' vet here, and they agreed that his treatment is on the right track. Not only that, but his blood work was great while we were there, and his energy seemed to triple! Also, we were able to reduce his meds slightly, which will help us manage some of the less desireable side effects he is experiencing (can you say diaper pull-ups???).

Thanks for all of the well wishes with Tiggs; he keeps reminding us to take it one day at a time. His liver is enlarged from the meds that he takes, and he is at risk of developing a clot, but overall, if we stay on the right track, we are hopefully close to a balance of drugs that will help Tiggs stay healthy without too many problems.

Tiggs hoping that Ethan and Lisa's beautiful baby Cade will drop a nugget that he can have...man, that Prednisone makes you so hungry!
So cute!
My pimp, Jimmy Jam, just back from Lusaka, Zambia! Completely serendipitous to have him in Ft. Collins after he and Melissa's 3 year teaching stint in Africa!
Da Boyz!

I love this girl! My friend, the beautiful bride, Traci.
The dashing groom Jay (in the plaid), with the Schwartz-Savage contingent
Marc and Adam, chillin with some good Ft. Collins brews
Is this the same dog? Tiggs showing what good quality of life looks like! He finally felt good enough to enjoy the beautiful Poudre river...look at that smile!

I snapped this pick last week before we left for Ft. Collins- Tiggs during a rough week with IMHA...Win was so concerned, she decided he needed a cuddle buddy.
Tiggs waiting for his docs at CSU Vet Teaching Hospital...looking much better!
Great to see Marc and Rachel!
Adam and Ethan

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!