This is topic Good Thoughts Please... or a sick Doberman Pinscher (Update: More encouraging news) in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.
Some of you know that I've been training a Doberman Pinscher named Lazarus. I don't own him, but I've been the one giving him TLC since just after Kama Con. He has always been thin, and one of the things I was doing was trying to get him to eat. His name is Lazarus because he came back from the dead 3 times as a puppy.
He caught an infection in December and never really bounced back, but had been in steady decline. He went into a serious decline Thursday of last week and we got him into the vet on Friday thinking he quite possibly had an intestinal blockage, and knowing in that case he'd probably have to be put down.
The good news is, that he's still alive. The bad news is, that he's got two things going on. 1) The thing that had him in slow decline was an infection involving his liver. He had high white blood cell counts. They think they've gotten this under control
2) What made him suddenly spiral downward was acute kidney failure. It was probably borderline before, but he managed to drink toilet bowl cleaner (my fault) and that was what pushed him over the edge. They've had him on IVs, and weren't sure if his kidneys would come back or not. If they shut down completely he will have to be put to sleep, dialysis on dogs just isn't feasible, nor are transplants. The kidneys came back stronger than they were expecting but are still in the critical 10-11 range for gravitation levels. They would prefer 12 or higher.
So I'm getting him back, because his owner didn't have the time to spend on a "special needs" dog to begin with. They say he is eating, but will have to stay on prescription low-protein diet for his kidneys. He is happy but still lethargic.
If there is another crisis he will behave exactly as before, and at that point we will have to put him down. He's only 2.5 years old. They don't know if he will live days, weeks or years. I'll give him the best care I can, in the mean time.
AJ
[ February 10, 2005, 02:35 PM: Message edited by: BannaOj ]
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
((AJ)) ((Lazarus))
Good luck and good wishes...
Posted by dread pirate romany (Member # 6869) on :
((((Lazarus))))
{Poor doggy, you can't even explain to him that you're trying to help him}
Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
Awwww. I'm so sorry to hear about the sick puppy. I'll definitely be sending good thoughts your way.
Poor dumb puppy drinking toilet bowl cleaner. That stuff is noxious. I'm surprised he'd stick his tongue in it. Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :
Best of luck AJ. I hope the little guy pulls through.
[ February 07, 2005, 03:33 PM: Message edited by: Beren One Hand ]
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
(( LAZARUS!)))
give the one-eyed doggy a big hug from me.....
FG
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Poor dog *hugs him*
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
(((AJ))) (((Lazarus))) Good thoughts and vibes for a full recovery.
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
Awww...puppy...
((Laz))
(((((((AJ))))))))
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
(((((((AJ)))))))
Hobbes Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
(((hugs all around))) Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
Po' Lazarus.
((((Doggy + AJ))))
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
I appreciate all of the warm thoughts. I feel very drained right now. I left work early on Friday. My boss understood I had to do what I had to do. And it got him to the vet in time to save his life in the short term.
But trying to catch up now at work seems overwhelming and I'm emotionally drained. Blacwolve and ceila were at my place for the weekend too (why I was worrying about clean toilets in the first place ) We had a great time, and having them here kept me from fretting as much as I would have otherwise.
Hopefully things will get better. But he's still in a pretty touchy state it sounds like. But if he's happy and eating I think he'll come back. You could see in his eye (only one, because of one of the puppy hood infections) how sad and miserable he was. He was suffering and on Friday putting him down seemed like it might be the only kind thing to do.
Otherwise as long as he is happy, its worth the extra effort.
AJ
Posted by Christy (Member # 4397) on :
((Anna)) Its a hard thing. I'm glad to hear that Lazarus is showing signs of recovery.
Posted by punwit (Member # 6388) on :
Wishing Lazarus the best. And here is a doggy kiss, Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
Oh, AJ. I'm so sorry for the distress, for both of you.
He sounds like he knows he is really well-loved. Poor baby.
[ February 07, 2005, 05:30 PM: Message edited by: ClaudiaTherese ]
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
It will be interesting juggling this with the upcoming puppies in 2 weeks. On the other hand Laz was getting so much of my attention before, because I was worried about him, that it may be about the same for him even though he's now technically more convalescent. I'd sit there with him every night and watch him eat, either holding his bowl while out on the couch with the TV on, or back by the computer.
Now at least we know what is going on. Before, I was inadvertantly doing some of the *worst* things for him. Normally if a dog isn't doing well you add more protein to the diet, which is what I was doing. But, in the case of kidney issues, it's the opposite.
AJ
CT you are going to come down and see Ciara's babies right??? You know you like babies... even if they are the furry kind. Dave is welcome too, of course. I realize Sophie is closer for your baby fix, but playing with puppies is fun too.
AJ
[ February 07, 2005, 05:40 PM: Message edited by: BannaOj ]
Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :
He's lucky to have you taking care of him.
space opera
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
I would adore playing with your puppies. Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
Sounds like he's a lucky dog to have you looking after him AJ.
(By the way, Tony and I now have a new dog named Chelsea. German Shepard/Kelpie cross, almost a year old. She can *jump*. And she'd be the kind of dog to drink toilet cleaner also.)
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Poor Lazarus. I hope he gets better soon.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
I heard a story on the radio today that a baby Orang got out at the National Zoo and drank Windex. Don't know if anything happened to it, though.
The mama Orang got a pitchfork and wouldn't give it back until they gave her a cookie.
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
Poor Laz.
Hope he gets better.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
I had a cat and dog both with kidney failure. The dog lasted a really long time on a restricted diet. The cat did less well and we ended up doing the daily bolus of saline solution under the loose skin of the shoulder. Even as sick as he was, though, he lasted about another year.
As with you, had either critter been miserable, I would've had to put them down (eventually did). In both cases, however, they perked right up with the change in diet and, in the cat's case, some extra fluids to flush things out.
I was surprised at how well the cat tolerated the saline loading. He would sit there and let us pet him for the time it took to get the fluids into him. He didn't fret over the lump riding on his shoulders (where the fluid sat) and he didn't make us chase him each day when it was time for the treatment.
I was more bothered by it than he was.
Anyway, good luck with Lazarus. I hope he snaps back from this latest trial.
Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
Poor puppy. Lazarus is lucky to have such a caring person as you, AJ. *hugs*
Posted by Danzig (Member # 4704) on :
He is in my thoughts. Best of luck.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Poor guy! We had a cat who hung on for years with kidney issues. She would slip, we would be about to make "the decision," and then she would bouce back. I hope he makes it through this.
"I realize Sophie is closer for your baby fix, but playing with puppies is fun too."
Banna, when I was pregnant with my first child, I dreamed, quite often, that I was having a litter of puppies. I had two dogs at the time, who were my babies, and we rented our house from a woman who raised German Shepherds.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
What I e-mailed to Cindy this morning... I picked him up last night from her. He was asleep in their van and wasn't hugely excited to see me, but was awakened I think from a pretty sound sleep.
After we got home, Laz seemed happy to be back. Ciara sniffed him all over and licked him a couple of times. He got his stuffed cat out of his crate and played with it for a while, terrier-shaking it in the living room, which was really encouraging. Then he curled up on the couch with me and Ciara. I wrapped him up in his favorite comforter and he snoozed with only his nose sticking out. He had his pill and about 3/4 a can of dog food I tried mixing it with the dry but he only ate the wet. He's definitely sleepy and I'm not sure how much of that is anemia from the kidneys or if he just didn't get a decent nights sleep with all the needles stuck in him.
He ate a full can of food this morning and maybe a third of another can. I left a bit of it in his crate for him to snack on if he wants it. Betty is going to feed him the rest of that can at lunch time to see if he'll eat it. At this point he's too weak and if he insists on only wet, that's what he'll get, though I know he'll take advantage of that if he does get better. He's smart enough to figure it out. He drank Ciara's water but not his own, even though it is fresh and clean. He's got a full clean water pail in his crate.
He's got a little weakness in his rear but more on one side than the other, I wonder if that corresponds with which kidney is painful. He peed this morning ok, and it looks like he pooed when Steve let him out earlier. Not a lot, but it was there. He also hopped up and curled up on the couch by himself while I was getting ready for work, and gave me the old "you aren't going to make me move, because this is so soft and comfy" guilt trip when I escorted him back to his crate. (He did that every morning more often than not when he was healthier so that was encouraging too.) He's got two extra pads on top of the 2 he normally has in his crate along with his blankets, and the entire crate except the front is covered with a quilt so it isn't like he's actually suffering in there, even if the couch is softer.
AJ
Bob thank you for the idea as far as the saline injections go. I'll ask Cindy whether the vet would even suggest them. The one thing they said that could help the anemia at this point is EPO like they give to cancer patients (and athletes sometimes dope with) to improve his red blood cell counts. It was prohibitively expensive though, and I don't think the vet even had it on hand.
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
(((AJ))) (((Lazarus)))
Good luck! I'll be sending good doggie-type thoughts your way.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Sounds encouraging. I hope he keeps improving.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
Today's update that I e-mailed to Cindy. He hasn't really improved, but he's stopped getting worse. From yesterday morning to evening he did get a bit worse.
*** I called the vet this morning because I had a couple of questions. He's very stiff and weak. He isn't putting a lot of weight on his front right foot (I thought it was the back first because the back was thrown off balancing.) I wanted to know how much to encourage him to move around, because I think some of the stiffness is just from lying around so much. Dr. Bob said that encouraging to move wasn't going to hurt him. What happens is, when he gets up, he's really really stiff and unsteady for about the first minute or so, but as he moves around he loosens up. Then after about 10 minutes of moving around he's tired, but even at the end when he's tired, he's much freer in movement than he was when he first got up.
Last night he wasn't doing as well IMO, but this morning he was happy and wagging his tail and he actually followed me into the kitchen of his own accord. He's definitely no worse than last night and probably slightly improved.
He ate a total of 2 cans of dog food yesterday which is encouraging. But I don't think he's drinking enough and that part of the reason he isn't doing as well as when I got him is because he isn't on IV fluids. He only drank about 4 cups of water yesterday though he drank another 2-3 this morning with a couple of bites of wet food. The water had to be "flavored" water off the top of the wet dog food, he wouldn't drink the plain water in his crate bucket. I discussed this with Dr. Bob as well and he agreed with my concern.
I know saline injections work with cats, but cats are so much smaller and Dr. Bob said it just wouldn't work for a 50lb Dobe. We are going to try mixing electrolytes into his water. Betty (my neighbor) is wringing her hands and needing something to do, (even though there isn't much you can do) so I'm going to have her call up our local vet and see if he's got a good powdered electrolyte mix. Otherwise I'm going to tell her to try feeding him diluted gatorade (also Dr. Bob's reccommendation).
I almost wish they would have left the IV port in, so I could give him fluids every evening. But his system has to take over at some point too. Keep him in your prayers.
AJ
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
Ok, looks like I'm taking him to my vet, and having them put an IV port in and give me fluids.
AJ
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
I hope this helps.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
Yes it may just be prolonging the inevitable, but I have to feel that I've done everything we can do.
AJ
Posted by Lady Jane (Member # 7249) on :
It sounds like you are doing everything you can. You're such a good doggiecaretaker. Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
Well he's getting subcutaneous electrolytes now. 150mL 2x per day.
He had his first doese last night and was definitely improved this morning. My vet wanted to take bloodwork so I let him. If it comes back saying that his red bloodcell production has shut down completely, then we will probably have to put him to sleep.
However I'm guardedly optimistic. I think the results are going to come back borderline and as long as they are borderline, he's got a chance.
The amount of improvment, to me, seems disproportional to the actual amount of electrolyte he recieved. So I'm hoping my theory is correct and that he just needs a little bit of an extra push to help him heal. Otherwise at least it is keeping him more comfortable and I'll continue the fluids until Monday when I would take him out to his real owners so that they could say goodbye before they put him down.
AJ
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
Encouraging news. I just got a call from the vet office with the test results. The vet (who is off today) called in very specific instructions. The kind of instructions he wouldn't give unless there is hope.
The results were sent directly to him at home so the hospital couldn't convey them on just the instructions, but I'm supposed to be giving him 1L of subcutaneous fluids every day and also pick up a phosphorus binder, that is available over the counter at human drug stores.
They are currently figuring out the doseage on the binder based on his weight and are calling me back. What this means to me is that his anemia isn't as bad as the doc feared, and that he is still producing red blood cells. This vet wouldn't tell me to put this much work into the dog if it was hopeless so I'm more optimistic.
AJ
[ February 10, 2005, 02:40 PM: Message edited by: BannaOj ]
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
WOOOOOO!
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
Not going to be able to start him on the phosphate binder until tomorrow. If I ordered it online it wouldn't get here any faster. It is an OTC antacid called Amphogel or Atlernagel but an exotic one that major pharmacies don't carry. (Where's Allucard.. wonder if he could get it for me, though it would take just as long.) Mylanta II has some of the correct stuff in it, but the magniesium might interfere. It might be worth getting some Mylanta II tonight to give it to him now and then go to the better stuff tomorro when I can get it.
AJ
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
And I'd like to thank ya'll for thoughts/prayers/good vibes. Please keep them up.
AJ
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
I thought amphogel was pretty standard. Someone in CHicago should carry it. *fingers crossed for you
Posted by Christy (Member # 4397) on :
((Anna))
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
CT, most of the big chain store pharmacies aren't carrying it. It was most commonly used as an antacid rather than a phosphorus binder, and prilosec OTC, Zantac etc. have made it much less profitable. I would bet you could find it in hospital pharmacies because it is commonly used in humans with renal failure, though not always when they get on dialysis. (I've now massively read up on this stuff.) It is readily available online, where I'm guessing many humans with kidney problems get it from because it is cheaper.
I have the actual number of milligrams per day he needs and so it is a matter of figuring the unit conversions. We are going to put him on mylanta for tonight (I cleared it with the vet) and tomorrow morning, and then I will get him switched over to the better stuff once I pick the Amphogel up from the pharmacy tomorrow.
AJ
*grin* my mad scientist hat was on. If I really couldn't have gotten any anywhere I was pretty sure I could synthesize it here in my lab. We have the raw materials needed and it is a very simple compound.
[ February 10, 2005, 06:03 PM: Message edited by: BannaOj ]
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Go Lazarus!
AJ, you are my hero.
I hope this is really an upturn and the treatments are temporary. This doggy sounds like a good one.
Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
That's super, AJ! Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
Well he hasn't been eating much. I actually had to force feed him some syringes of blended food when I gave him the mylanta tonight. I'm hoping the extra fluids perk him up enough so that he's hungry in the morning. Overall I see a slight improvment. More weight on the swollen paw and it isn't as swollen anymore. He still needs help getting up but is walking around a lot more on his own once he is up. I've got to give him 200 more mL of fluid tonight, but he's already got 300mL in him this evening. He's now starting to give me dirty looks when I stab him. I'm *not* his favorite person. But oh well.
AJ
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
Continued best wishes for Lazarus. AJ, I don't know many people who would go to this much trouble for someone else's dog. You rock.
edited for spelling
[ February 11, 2005, 01:29 AM: Message edited by: Derrell ]
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
AJ you are truly amazing.
Best wishes for Lazarus. He really does have an appropriate name.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
He got 300mL more fluid this morning. Very encouraging news. He ate, by himself, nearly an entire can of food. Yesterday voluntarily he only ate about a half can, and I put the rest in a blender added water and syringed it down his throat. I had to do this partially because he needs to have food with the phosphate binder, and I had to give him the mylanta on my schedule, not his, so that he could get two doses last night. One when I got home from work and the other at 11pm. Today I only had to syringe the mylanta down him because he ate the food.
He walked into the kitchen by himself and gave me a dirty look until I pulled the food out of the fridge and gave it to him.
The one thing I have to do though is talk to my vet today and get him to give me a prescription for the fluids he's getting. (If he won't give it to me I'll call Cindy's vet because I'm pretty sure I could talk Dr. Bob into it.) The reason why I need a prescription is because they are charging me $18/L for the lactated Ringer's solution(if this is redundant I apologize.) Online through valleyvet.com I can get the same stuff for $3/L. I have a feeling he's going to need fluid supplementation for a couple of weeks, and may always need a little bit, but hopefully we can wean him down. Once he's eating better and gains some reserves of his own, then we will take the fluids away.
AJ
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
Also, please, if you see me posting elsewhere on Hatrack a lot today holler at me. I'm really behind at work as a result of all of this and I need to focus on it today. It's so hard though when half my thoughts are always with Laz.
AJ
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
This is a doggy update. So its ok that I'm posting. Still haven't gotten enough done at work but oh well.
I talked to the vet this morning and he went over the bloodwork. His blood nitrogen levels (BUN) are very high at 103. They should be around 25. His creatine levels are high which is to be expected in conjunction with the high BUN.
The big concern, and if you want something specific to think or pray about pray that he starts producing more red blood cells.
They did a reticulocyte count, which is an indication of "baby" red blood cells forming (to my understanding). His level is 0.1. It should be between 1.0 and 1.5%. Because there are some, it means his system hasn't shut down completely but it's not good.
Pretty much its one of those situations, where they are either going to come back or they aren't. But now I know specifically what we are looking for and why. We will know they are coming back if the anemia starts lifting. Probably will have a re-check of the levels in a week or so, if there hasn't been any noticable improvment at that point we'll make a final decision.
The vet also gave me very specific instructions on how much fluid he needs every day. If he drinks water himself, that is good. I basically need to track how much water he drinks and then compensate with fluids for the extra amount. He needs 1650mL of fluid per day to keep his kidneys going. This morning he had 300mL injected, and he drank about 2 cups of water by himself. 1cup=237mL So we are at 774mL for the day, which is nearly half.
He did write the prescription for me, and it will be cheaper to get the fluids online even though I'm having them delivered 2nd day air. Dr. Fetzer found it hard to believe it was the same stuff, but it is, I know other people who have bought from this place and it is completely reputable.
AJ
Posted by Stray (Member # 4056) on :
You're such an amazing caretaker, AJ. If only all pet owners could be so loving and conscientious. I'll keep on thinking good thoughts for the both of you.
Posted by Theca (Member # 1629) on :
Sounds like you're doing a great job, AJ. The fluids are very important.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
WOOO HOOO!!!! He's up, he's walking around. Not quite as spry as before all this happened, but definitely himself. If there is a corner, I think we've turned it. Hopefully those red blood cells are churning away. He's certianly not at the extreme anemia he was before.
He heard some sort of varmit outside just after midnight and woke us all up barking. That would be highly energetic for him when he is well. Normally he doesn't bother to bark.
He also ate THREE cans of dog food yesterday. I'm going to have to go to the vet to get more. It is kind of crazy when I've got a pregnant dog that is supposed to be on a high protein diet and then Laz on a low protein diet but so far I've been managing to keep them separate.
AJ
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
I'm glad to hear he's feeling better. Lazarus is fortunate to have someone like you to take care of him.
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
It sounds like you have turned the corner. You're still in my thoughts.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
I hope this trend continues!
Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
Yay! Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
AJ, how wonderful.
You have healing hands.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
How is Lazarus today? And how are you holding up, AJ?
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
Well I'm doing much better after getting lots of quality sleep this weekend. I was getting some nasty tension headaches from the stress, but it isn't as bad now. I'm not worried that he's going to die on me tomorrow.
After the 3 cans of food in one day Laz hasn't been eating as much. I think he overdid. But at the time I wasn't really willing to cut him off either because the more nutrition the better. Yesterday we were at about a can and a half.
Today he really wasn't interested so I threw a can in the blender with water and syringed it down him. He really hates it but he needs the nutrition. He's still acting much better, but right now I can't let him stop eating for his own good. He's always been a picky eater and I just don't have the time to mess around and wait for him to decide he's hungry.
Hopefully all of the fluids I ordered will show up tomorrow like they are supposed to. I also ordered needles. They are smaller gague so even though it will take slightly longer, it won't be as painful.
If they don't show up, I think I can use the blender w/dog food method to get most of the fluids he needs down him orally. At this point going a little low for a day, isn't going to kill him, though even a few days ago it might have.
On another note, we weighed Ciara tonight. Her weight at the vet 4 weeks ago was 32lbs. Now she is at about 46. That's 14 extra lbs of weight for the puppies! Now obviously some of that is fluid and not puppy but still. That's a huge percentage of her actual weight she's carrying around! 1 more week and then I'll have puppies too!
AJ
[ February 14, 2005, 12:45 AM: Message edited by: BannaOj ]
Posted by Stray (Member # 4056) on :
Puppies!!!
Weren't you saying something about setting up a puppy-cam so you could watch them while you're at work? If you do that, will you give us the link so we can watch them too, pretty please?
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
Yeah we haven't debugged the system yet to figure out how to get it to the internet properly. It will probably run out of a Microsoft Net Meeting application if we can get it running. I'll let you know if/when we get it up.
AJ
Posted by Stray (Member # 4056) on :
Yay! Hope we don't exceed the bandwidth with too many Hatrackers trying to look at it or anything...I don't know much about how these things work.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
Well he ate about a can of dog food on his own, and got another can forcefed with fluids in a blender. The saline bags didn't arrive today. I'd still feel better if he was getting some supplementation with them, the electrolytes are good for him. Also force feeding in the volume of fluid I had to do tonight without the saline injections was a pain and he's still slightly short of the doc's 1650mL reccommendation, but he's stable enough I'm not too worried.
(Yes Ela I'm going to bed I signed off IM but am sipping my sleepytime tea.)
Posted by whiskysunrise (Member # 6819) on :
I hope he continues to improve. Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
laz was in one of my dreams last night. O_O
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
quote:(Yes Ela I'm going to bed I signed off IM but am sipping my sleepytime tea.)
Gee, and here I thought you went to bed when you said goodnight to me. Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
Ate about 2/3 of a can on his own this morning. After he went out to potty, he came in, marched into the kitchen and kept casting meaningful looks towards the refrigerator, til I pulled out the can that was in there and began feeding him. Apparently it is better cold, because when I opened a second can, that was at room temperature, he wouldn't touch it. So (sneaky me) I put another unopened can in the fridge so he has an unlimited supply of cold food.
I'm going to call the vet today and give them an update. Theca was very helpful last night in telling me about how kidney disease works in humans. Given that dogs and humans are both mammals there are a lot of parallels. I think the anemia is lifting somewhat, but we will probably have to wait another week to be sure.
I may just take Laz in when I get the puppies dew claws removed so they can see how much he's improved. Eventually we are going to need more bloodwork done to see how much he has progressed. But I think I'm going to wait another week for that to give his blood cells as good of a chance as possible.
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) We had a great time, and having them here kept me from fretting as much as I would have otherwise. ![[Kiss]](graemlins/kiss.gif)
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Not going to be able to start him on the phosphate binder until tomorrow. If I ordered it online it wouldn't get here any faster. It is an OTC antacid called Amphogel or Atlernagel but an exotic one that major pharmacies don't carry. (Where's Allucard.. wonder if he could get it for me, though it would take just as long.) Mylanta II has some of the correct stuff in it, but the magniesium might interfere. It might be worth getting some Mylanta II tonight to give it to him now and then go to the better stuff tomorro when I can get it.![[Hat]](graemlins/hat.gif)
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I'm glad to hear he's feeling better. Lazarus is fortunate to have someone like you to take care of him.
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