Remember Bella, and her rescuer Dalai Rasta (Scott)? They could use some help right now….
Unfortunately, everything hasn’t been well. Bella had her first phenobarbital level taken on July 27. Her vet slightly reduced her dose because Bella was close to a toxic level; unfortunately, she had a seizure the following Saturday morning, so she had to go back to the original dosage. Bella’s behaving normally now and hasn’t had another seizure, but I’m still very concerned about her health going forward.
In other news, my father had to go to the hospital on July 28; his white blood cell count was very low, and he contracted a respiratory infection. He was diagnosed with streptococcal bronchitis and congestive heart failure. The hospital treated him for almost a week, then sent him home on August 3 and, to me, it all felt a bit precipitous. He’s been improving, but he’s still got a bad cough…
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Here is the link for my father’s GoFundMe campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/eugene-p-carter-chemotherapy-fund
He was able to resume chemotherapy, and his time in the hospital has proved to be something of a positive, since his medications have been adjusted for his current condition. It’s also just nice to spend a bit of time out of the house with him on the days I can accompany him for his treatments.
Bella is doing fairly well, though I am rather troubled that we weren’t able to reduce her dosage. The cats have been introduced to laser pointers, and our two torties are big fans of the red dot. I’m adding a few pictures of Bella and Dobby playing with my father on the night he came home from the hospital.
I’m not on any social media other than this blog, so even if you can’t donate, it would be a mitzvah for you to post the GoFundMe link on Facebook et al. Positive pings also encouraged!
raven
ding
Keith P.
I just took on another cat a couple of days ago. Some stray was showing up in some friends’ garage, and it was gonna get eaten at some point by their 2 hunting dogs. Extremely affectionate, wants to be outside, and will not touch moist food(!) My current cat keeps trying to check her out, but she wants nothing to do with another cat. And to make it even better, both are all-black females.
raven
@Keith P.: This is not really a cat bleg.
Keith P.
@raven: Delete the post, then.
tobie
thanks for posting, al.
dalai rasta, i hope your father finds comfort with you and your cats in your home. he looks pleased as punch in the picture you sent.
raven
@Keith P.: I’m juts a schlub, I don’t have the keys.
WaterGirl
It’s been a really long time since then, but one of my pervious dogs started having seizures. He was on the traditional meds, but my vet at the time was also well versed in alternative medicine. I wish I could recall the name of what she gave him, but the vets at the vet school could not how well that supplement worked. As a result, my dog was able to be on a very low dose of the traditional medicine that is so hard on them.
Maybe check to see if there are any vets in your area who specialize in asian or alternative medicine? Or perhaps even googling might turn something up? Hoping for the best for you and your family.
satby
What a hell of a country, that people need to have fundraisers for chemotherapy.
MazeDancer
@satby:
Hoping for good recovery for all.
But this nice man is a Veteran. Surely, VA covers chemo. Hope they’re getting all the best advice on navigating that system.
raven
@MazeDancer: It depends on his “rating”. When and where he served and such. I just had a buddy who has multiple myeloma turned down for compensation. Wow were sure that since agent orange ruling are almost a sure thing for people who served in country he’d get it but now it’s appeals.
Alex
Just a thought: see what the vet thinks about using potassium bromide and/or valium instead. We had a dog allergic to phenobarb, and so the vet went really old school and prescribed a bromide. We had to get it from a compounding pharmacy because the drugstore didn’t carry it. It didn’t work completely, but better than nothing, and wasn’t notably sedating. We kept liquid valium on hand for when she had a breakthrough seizure. She lived to be 11, which is pretty old for a german shepherd with a lot of chronic health problems.
Dalai Rasta
@tobie: Bella spent much of the first week after Spaymart brought her back to us with my father, and my mother and I started referring to him as Bella’s Pawpaw; that was what I used to call my paternal grandfather when I was small. They’re still quite close, so it was no surprise that he unwound after nearly a week in the hospital by playing with her and Dobby.
Dalai Rasta
@raven: Dad spent ’64-’67 in West Germany; he’s considered a wartime veteran. He applied for a VA pension, but my SSI payments put our income just over the limit; he should be able to reapply based on his medical bills, which would help a little.
Dalai Rasta
Just on a personal note, my parents and I deeply, deeply appreciate the kindness and love all of you have shown us and the little ones. It’s genuinely helped in ways well beyond our finances.