Guess Who's Home?

Due to Emma's PCV "stability," they decided to send her home with us today so we can monitor her here at home. Her PCV was 27 again at lunch today. We are so very glad to have her home! And is she ever glad to be here. The kids were so happy to see her, as were Nana and Papa. She's definitely not nearly her old self yet, nor will she be for a while. She just isn't getting enough oxygen yet (needs to be 40-55). It is with cautious optimism that we can let ourselves relax a little bit and rejoice tonight! The deal is... the vets keep telling us about the 30/30/30 rule with this disease. And its too early to tell which 30% Emma will fall in. 30% of dogs will bounce back, and be slowly weaned off meds and not need them anymore. 30% will need long term meds and 30% won't be able to get their immune systems under control and won't survive. Emma has so far had two transfusions to boost her RBC's and buy time for the meds to kick in, and at this point, we think she may be holding at a PCV of 27. So, she HAS to hold at 27 and start to increase on her own with medication (not further transfusions). She HAS to keep herself out of that last 30%! We have to bring her in on Wednesday to get her PCV tested again. We are watching her like a hawk right now for any signs of crashing. It's nerve-wracking being "in charge" of her health rather than the experts at GVS. She crashed 48 hours after her first transfusion. Now it is almost 48 hours after her second transfusion, so I really want to get past this next day or two before I can really let my guard down! Poor thing, I keep looking at her tongue and her gums to look for "pink" not pale. Anywho... that's the update for now. I'll sign off with a few pix of Emma doing what she loves best.