Wednesday, December 30, 2009

12_30 Update

My company left on Monday and yesterday was a day of extreme rest. :)

Like I mentioned in my last update, Elvis handled all of the activity here over Christmas very well. He was quite engaged in what was happening, and if someone rang the doorbell and came in to the living room, he was quite curious about them and wanted to at least come in and sit across the room and observe. A far, far cry from his earlier actions with company.

He's been on the 1/3 Pred a day regimen now for several days, and will continue it through Friday. Beginning Saturday, he starts on the 1/4 tablet per day for two weeks. Though I've noticed a bit more coughing in the last day or two, I'd say the Prednisone treatment has handled 85-90% of his cough/wheezing. This is very good. Now what will transpire when he moves down to the 1/4 tablet, we won't know until it happens. And then we'll have to see where we are when he comes completely off of it. Currently the improvement is such that he's not really being given any Torbutrol, and his Guafinisen is reduced.

Sunday night will be another heartworm pill. This is to treat the incubating heartworms again...just like last time. Once we see how he responds to the reduced Pred dosage (and then life without it), Dr. Walthall will make the decision on whether to treat the adult heartworms.

So that's where we are. Unless there's some extreme change, I suspect I won't post another update until sometime Monday or Tuesday after he's cleared the treatment hurdle. I don't expect any problems since there weren't any last time, but I do want to keep a close eye on him three or four days after the treatment because that's when he started having problems with the serious cough/wheeze.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year, and I'll see you next week. :)

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