If you could spare a prayer for my "baby" Toby..Updated

[Luv2Roam]

Oh Lauri!!!
we had a female Toby who we had to put down last Fall. (yellow lab/shepherd mix -- 14 years old)
My heart breaks for all of you!
I wish you all the best.
Our Toby went rapidly, which was a blessing for her and us. She also had white gums. The vet said this was a sign of internal bleeding. Without doing an autopsy, the vet came to the conclusion she had a cancerous tumor that burst inside.
I hope your situation turns out better and improves.
Just a month after our Toby's passing, out of the blue someone e-mailed me for a trade. One of the pins they offered -- Toby's Trek Home. I never thought about that and this pin has a special meaning for me.
Please keep us updated.

 

[MeanLaureen]

Toby spent the day at our family vet on Monday. They hooked him up to an IV and did some Xrays and monitored his Red blood count.

He did have blood in his urine the night before and that continued through the day. They did see a mass on his stomach on the x-ray but couldn't conclude what it was due to the positioning.

On the plus side his red blood cell count was stable all day.

They did come up with three distinct possibilities of what could be wrong with him.

1. Tick borne illness like Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. This one is highly highly unlikely since it has been so cold and Toby is strictly an inside dog that is only out for minutes at a time to do his business. One of the dogs did have a tick on them over the summer that we removed but for the life of us we can't remember which one it was. We just know it was one of the boy dogs (Reilly or Toby) since it was on a light colored dog. More than likely it was Reilly since he is more likely to go exploring in areas that would have ticks.

2. An autoimmune disease - some that were described were like some of the ones that I suffer from. Most of them are fatal in dogs. They are starting to medicate him for these illnesses to see if it does help... ironically Toby and I are taking some of the same medicines

3. Cancer

So he got to spend the night with us last night which is a good thing because poor Reilly wouldn't do anything but cry in Toby's absense. Poor Reilly always plucks Toby's last nerve but that little dog loves his big brother so much.

Since Matt has left to go out of state for a few days I'm going to be handling this myself which scares the you know what out of me since at times I can barely take care of myself anymore. Toby will be going to work with me today so that he can be monitored and given his medicine. I'm sure my boss will trip over but if she can't allow a small dog in a carrier in the stockroom for one day she can kiss my... well, you know what. Good thing she is at a DM Boot Camp in Atlanta. SM's really got the better deal out of the last trip - we just got to tour the artists areas and meet some of the artists.

He goes back in on Weds to check to see if he's still stable and to find out where to go from there. Please keep good thoughts that his body has stopped destroying his red cells and that he is remaining stable.

Thank you all for your support.. it means so much

 

[atlnewf]

Here's hoping it's something 'easy' to fix and that everyone pulls through ok.

Many hugs to you Laureen.

Ashley

 

[suzanneb]

with you, Lauri, and your dear little boy. I do hope he is able to get his red cell count up..my thoughts are with you, Matthew and all the pups..
Fondly,
Suzanne

 

[3kids4me]

Lauri,

My thoughts are with you and Toby. I hope the little guy is doing okay.

You should know that ticks live and even thrive in the winter. It is heat that kills them, which is why you rarely find them in direct sunlight in the summer. If it is a tick-borne illness, make sure Toby is on a high dose of antibiotics, as normal ones don't usually do the job (this is all human information, but I imagine it applies to dogs too).

Hang in there.

 

[Luv2Roam]

{{{ }}} Lauri.

 

[KathiWithAnI]

Hey Lauri
I just read all of this and am so sorry to hear about what Toby and all of you are going through. I know HOW MUCH your babies mean to you and I remember how hard it was when Lacy was so sick.. I hope all of this clears up fast for Toby!
Hugs and prayers,
Kathi and Rick

 

[buggin']

Lauri...

Were sendin' you lots of hugs & prayers & pixie dust that Tobys red blood count stays stable & is better soon.

Buggin'
Amber

 

[3kids4me]

I just want to say...doesn't illness just SUCK? (Am I allowed to say suck here? Oh wait, it's a real word....)

Sick kids, sick pets, sick parents, sick friends....I'm just plain sick of it!

Okay...back to your regularly scheduled thread....

 

[Joanne]

But friends, love, prayers and pixie dust definitely DO NOT suck and I think we are blessed to have a lot of those on this board.

Lauri, I'll be saying prayers for Toby and for you.

Joanne

 

[perndwler]

Lauri, How's he doing?

 

[MeanLaureen]

Hey Robin.. I was going to post an update last night and forgot... thanks for the reminder.

Yesterday Toby went back in to see if his red blood cell counts remained stable of if they dropped again. If they had dropped there wasn't much hope of doing anything for him.

After 15 minutes of anxiously awaiting the test to be done the doctor told me that not only was he stable but he gained a few points as well

Doesn't mean that we are out of the woods yet. There are still several severe or fatal problems that could be causing this. At least we know it's not something that is so aggressive that it is just eating him alive.

They have him on several medications including steriods. The doctor thinks that the steriods might actually be what is helping him so they are going to do more blood work Monday and if he continues to improve they will leave him on them instead of weaning him off as planned. I guess at that point we will be looking for reasons that are autoimmune based instead of cancer.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. They definitely are working! It's amazing. This is the third time I have run into a health issue with one of my dogs where the doctor lets us know there is little hope yet they start pulling out of it.

 

[perndwler]

I'm so glad to hear things are going in the right direction! I'm sure the medicine the vet is giving Toby is helping, but I know the love and caring you guys are giving him is the best medicine.

 

[suzanneb]

Lauri, I'm happy to hear that Toby red count has gone up! That's wonderful...I hope the steroids do the trick!