Hello,
 
Thank you to the people who keep writing me.  I appreciate it.  There's
been so much stress outside of Bailey being sick that combined with it,
sometimes I feel a couple marbles short!  The letters help, and so do the
postcards from the Round Robin people.
 
We've decided to stop all of Bailey's meds except the Amoxicillan and
Biaxin, and her Pred and Proglycem combo.  We took her off Carafate (which
seemed to give her amazing amounts of airy gases in her stomach and
throat), Chloramphenical and Flagyl.  The two combo meds we have cut back
to once a day instead of twice, to give her poor stomach a break.  We give
her small amounts of Pepto frequently to help with the still constant teeth
grinding, and the airy gas that doesn't seem to want to go away.
 
Does anyone know what this could be?  When she breathes in, you hear it.
It *almost* sounds like she has a cold, but it's not phlegm, it's bubbly
air.  I wish I could describe it better.  You pick her up and the poor
thing just burps her head off.  Could this be a side effect of the meds
killing the bacteria in her tummy?  It seems worse at night for some
reason.
 
She had a poop that wasn't that horrific, awful, terrible, heart stopping
black tarry last night.  I know because I stepped in it (her revenge for
the meds), but I didn't care, I was so excited at it being normal!  I even
hobbled all the way down the stairs on one foot to show Phil... (I told you
I was losing marbles).
 
She has done a very good job the past 48 hours of not throwing up her meds.
She had vomited a few times, but not her meds.  To make it easier, we are
masking them in Duck Soup which we are syringe feeding her.  I am still
terrified of re-activating her Aspiration Pneumonia with this, but she will
not willingly eat, and doesn't like anything.  I refuse to watch her
starve, so she eats.  She's only eating about 10 to 15 CC's a day, but she
is keeping it down.
 
My main scare now is she is weak, she can not walk well.  Last night I kept
my hand under her tummy so she could explore, and explore she did.  She
tried to stuff us both under the couch, in the entertainment center, behind
the fish tank, tried to drag me up the stairs... She's been cage bound for
almost 2 weeks, so we're going to start physical therapy tonight by putting
a leash on her and keeping the tension taunt so she can walk without
staggering over.
 
She also now is skin and bones.  In three weeks time, she went from 875
grams to 825 grams to 750 grams and now is around 700.  She is incredibly
thin.  Bones, bones and then some more bones.
 
I am hoping the reduced meds give her a break and allow her to get an
appetite back.  I have stopped sleeping completely now, have either intense
headaches or stomach aches daily, but that was my bargain - I'll gladly be
sick so she can get better.  I swear she giggled last night when she saw me
choke down a big `ol cup of Pepto myself.  Ugh.  Gads.
 
One last question: we goofed with the Biaxin.  We refrigerated the
suspension.  Did that harm it in any way?  If so, that would explain
why we've seen no big improvement.  I felt so stupid last night when I
re-read the pamphlet.
 
A good thing: Bailey won't drink from a water bottle, but she will drink
from your hand if you cup it under water.  So after the yucky pink stuff,
we go into the bathroom and she drinks like a damn camel.  And then, after
she's done, I wet a cottonball down with hot water and gently clean her
face.  She *loves* this.  She closed her eyes, sticks her neck out and
lets you do it until she has to go back to sleep.
 
My sweet, sweet brave girl.  She will never know what she has taught me and
how she had my entire heart on a string around her neck.
[Posted in FML issue 2871]