Brandy's Medical Bills
Donation protected
This is Brandy's story. We are raising money for Brandy's Medical Expences / Fund. She does not have Pet insurance.
The week of January 10, 2014, Brandy was sneezing a lot and I thought she was getting a cold. On Sunday January 13, 2014, Brandy did not seem like like herself during play time she only caught the Frisbee 2 times and she had no energy. I also noticed that her eyes looked different. Her eyes looked droopy and the bottom of her eyes were Red. Her head also tilted to the left and she was sick a couple of times.
On Monday January 13, 2014, Brandy went to her local vet where he examined her. She had no temperature. Her lab work was OK, just the liver test was a little high. The Dr. gave her fluids in her back and sent her home.
On Tuesday January 14, 2014 Brandy's symptoms worsened. She could not walk to the car so that I could take her back to the vet to get her rechecked at 8:00 a.m. I had a hard time getting her to the car, I had to guide her and hold up her body as we walked to the car. Upon examining her, she still had no temperature and the Dr. made a comment that he did not know what was wrong with her and he would have the team of doctors look at her at 1:00 p.m. He said she may have something wrong with her head / neurologic and I asked if I should bring her to Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston and he said yes they have specialists there.
I rushed her to Angell Medical Center while sitting in traffic on a busy 93 commute to Boston. Upon arriving at the Boston Animal Hospital she was brought into the Hospital on a stretcher because she could not walk.
The Doctors at Angell Animal Hospital said that she was a real Emergency when she was brought in on Tuesday through the Emergency Department and she would of only had about 3 more hours to live when she arrived.
Brandy had severe swelling of the Brain and she was Blind in 1 eye. The MRI and Spinal Fluid Analysis showed she had 3 inflammatory masses on the Right side of the Brain causing a lot of brain swelling. The types of cells seen in the spinal fluid are most typical of the Autoimmune Brain Disease called Granulomatous Meningoencephalitis [ G M E ]. She was admitted to the ICU Ward. I visited Brandy each day in the ICU WARD.
The Doctor would call each day to give us an update twice a day. Upon arriving on Tuesday January 14, 2014, the Doctor gave her medicine called mannitol that would take the fluid out of her body. She was quite disoriented and confused. She was also walking into the walls. On Wednesday evening, Brandy needed another dose of the mannitol medicine to take the fluid out of her body to help her with the Brain Swelling to help her symptoms. On Thursday January 16, 2014, The Doctor called at 7:30 a.m. and said that Brandy had a set back about 2 hours ago and she could die and have seizures at any moment. I asked why I was being informed after the fact and he said the doctors were busy with the dogs treatment. While I was rushing to the Animal Hospital to see her, the Doctor called about an hour later and he said Brandy was doing much better and she is responding to the treatment. The Docter gave her another dose of the mannitol medicine that takes the fluid out of her body. She continued to improve each day in the ICU Ward and on Saturday January 18, 2014, Brandy was able to go home.
Brandy will be taking 3 oral immune suppressive medications at home: Prednisone, leflunomide and mycophenolate
3 pills in the morning and 7 pills in the evening. She will also be restricted with her water intake to 6 cups a day. The water restriction was very hard on her because she is used to having her water bowl full at all times. Brandy would lay on top of her water bowl asking for more water, but we had to measure it each day and only give her the 6 cups a day.
On Tuesday January 21, 2014 Brandy went in for lab work and it was all OK. While she was home, I noticed that she was saving her back leg.
On Tuesday January 28, 2014, Brandy went in for a recheck to see the Docter. Upon examing her, Brandy had a temperature of 104.7 and she had a puncture wound on the inside of her back leg / infection and I do not know how this injury happened. Her lab work showed her white blood cell count was only 300 and it should have been around 1000. She remained in the ICU WARD from Tuesday January 28 - Wednesday Febuary 5, 2014.
Brandy's Diagnosis:
Severe bone marrow suppression affecting neutrophils, platelets and red blood cell production caused by an adverse reaction to leflunolide and or mycophenolate therapy. The very low white blood count lead to a Staphylococcus bacterial infection in the Right Hind Leg that was becoming systemic.
Her white blood count was 300 when she came in then it went down to 100 at the end of the week. The doctor was giving her human medicine at $350.00 a dose to see if that would rapidly bring up her white count. She had about 5 doses of that medicine and her white count did not change. It was a scary situation. Her body was not responding to the medicine. She also had a high temperature all week in the ICU WARD. Finally, towards the end of the week her temperature cleared up and her white blood cell count finally started to improve. One day it rose to 2000 and the next day it was up to 5000. She was able to come home on Wednesday night February 5, 2014 during a bad snowstorm.
While she was in the ICU WARD the 2nd time she could have died at any moment and she also could have lost her leg due to the severe infection in her leg. Her white blood count was very low due to the medicine she was on for the GME brain disease and it was toxic to her body. Her body could not handle the strong doses of the medicine she was taking for the masses in her head / brain after her 1st ICU visit and her body could not fight the infection due to the white count being so low.
Brandy's at Home Treatment:
*She needs to take 750 mg (two 375 mg tablets of the
antibiotic Clavamox every 12 hours for the next 3 weeks to
fully resolve the infection in her leg.
*She will have Chemo Injections
She will take 50mg ( 0.5mls ) of Cytarabine for 4 total doses
on the 5th and 6th days of every month for a year to treat
her GME.
*She will have lab work ( CBC ) done 6 days after the last
of these 4 injections.
*On the 21st day of every month she needs to take 40 mg of
Lomustine.
*She will have lab work ( CBC ) done 6 days after that.
Brandy has fought to live and she is a survivor. While she was in the ICU WARD the 1st and 2nd week she could have died at any moment it was touch and go. It was a very scary situation.
Brandy is a Black Lab who is 6 years old. She is to young to have to go through all that she has so far. She loves to play Frisbee on the grass and swimming and playing ball at the beach. People would just stop and watch her play Frisbee because she is so good. She catches them all the time and she taught herself how to play Frisbee which amazes her on lookers.She is a smart dog who is a cutie. Everybody that meets her falls in love with her and they become friends. When she goes for a walk she walks by those houses and they give her a dog bone and they say Hi to her.
She does not have pet insurance and she has huge medical bills. Her medical bills so far totals $ 13,500.00 and her continuation monthly medical bills is about $300.00 a month.
Will you be able to make a donation to Brandy's Fund to cover her medical expences. A small donation of $ 6.00 dollars to $10.00 dollars each will add up. If you cannot make a donation can you please help spread Brandy's Story so that others can donate if they can.
Thank You for donating and helping spread her story.
MARIE
The week of January 10, 2014, Brandy was sneezing a lot and I thought she was getting a cold. On Sunday January 13, 2014, Brandy did not seem like like herself during play time she only caught the Frisbee 2 times and she had no energy. I also noticed that her eyes looked different. Her eyes looked droopy and the bottom of her eyes were Red. Her head also tilted to the left and she was sick a couple of times.
On Monday January 13, 2014, Brandy went to her local vet where he examined her. She had no temperature. Her lab work was OK, just the liver test was a little high. The Dr. gave her fluids in her back and sent her home.
On Tuesday January 14, 2014 Brandy's symptoms worsened. She could not walk to the car so that I could take her back to the vet to get her rechecked at 8:00 a.m. I had a hard time getting her to the car, I had to guide her and hold up her body as we walked to the car. Upon examining her, she still had no temperature and the Dr. made a comment that he did not know what was wrong with her and he would have the team of doctors look at her at 1:00 p.m. He said she may have something wrong with her head / neurologic and I asked if I should bring her to Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston and he said yes they have specialists there.
I rushed her to Angell Medical Center while sitting in traffic on a busy 93 commute to Boston. Upon arriving at the Boston Animal Hospital she was brought into the Hospital on a stretcher because she could not walk.
The Doctors at Angell Animal Hospital said that she was a real Emergency when she was brought in on Tuesday through the Emergency Department and she would of only had about 3 more hours to live when she arrived.
Brandy had severe swelling of the Brain and she was Blind in 1 eye. The MRI and Spinal Fluid Analysis showed she had 3 inflammatory masses on the Right side of the Brain causing a lot of brain swelling. The types of cells seen in the spinal fluid are most typical of the Autoimmune Brain Disease called Granulomatous Meningoencephalitis [ G M E ]. She was admitted to the ICU Ward. I visited Brandy each day in the ICU WARD.
The Doctor would call each day to give us an update twice a day. Upon arriving on Tuesday January 14, 2014, the Doctor gave her medicine called mannitol that would take the fluid out of her body. She was quite disoriented and confused. She was also walking into the walls. On Wednesday evening, Brandy needed another dose of the mannitol medicine to take the fluid out of her body to help her with the Brain Swelling to help her symptoms. On Thursday January 16, 2014, The Doctor called at 7:30 a.m. and said that Brandy had a set back about 2 hours ago and she could die and have seizures at any moment. I asked why I was being informed after the fact and he said the doctors were busy with the dogs treatment. While I was rushing to the Animal Hospital to see her, the Doctor called about an hour later and he said Brandy was doing much better and she is responding to the treatment. The Docter gave her another dose of the mannitol medicine that takes the fluid out of her body. She continued to improve each day in the ICU Ward and on Saturday January 18, 2014, Brandy was able to go home.
Brandy will be taking 3 oral immune suppressive medications at home: Prednisone, leflunomide and mycophenolate
3 pills in the morning and 7 pills in the evening. She will also be restricted with her water intake to 6 cups a day. The water restriction was very hard on her because she is used to having her water bowl full at all times. Brandy would lay on top of her water bowl asking for more water, but we had to measure it each day and only give her the 6 cups a day.
On Tuesday January 21, 2014 Brandy went in for lab work and it was all OK. While she was home, I noticed that she was saving her back leg.
On Tuesday January 28, 2014, Brandy went in for a recheck to see the Docter. Upon examing her, Brandy had a temperature of 104.7 and she had a puncture wound on the inside of her back leg / infection and I do not know how this injury happened. Her lab work showed her white blood cell count was only 300 and it should have been around 1000. She remained in the ICU WARD from Tuesday January 28 - Wednesday Febuary 5, 2014.
Brandy's Diagnosis:
Severe bone marrow suppression affecting neutrophils, platelets and red blood cell production caused by an adverse reaction to leflunolide and or mycophenolate therapy. The very low white blood count lead to a Staphylococcus bacterial infection in the Right Hind Leg that was becoming systemic.
Her white blood count was 300 when she came in then it went down to 100 at the end of the week. The doctor was giving her human medicine at $350.00 a dose to see if that would rapidly bring up her white count. She had about 5 doses of that medicine and her white count did not change. It was a scary situation. Her body was not responding to the medicine. She also had a high temperature all week in the ICU WARD. Finally, towards the end of the week her temperature cleared up and her white blood cell count finally started to improve. One day it rose to 2000 and the next day it was up to 5000. She was able to come home on Wednesday night February 5, 2014 during a bad snowstorm.
While she was in the ICU WARD the 2nd time she could have died at any moment and she also could have lost her leg due to the severe infection in her leg. Her white blood count was very low due to the medicine she was on for the GME brain disease and it was toxic to her body. Her body could not handle the strong doses of the medicine she was taking for the masses in her head / brain after her 1st ICU visit and her body could not fight the infection due to the white count being so low.
Brandy's at Home Treatment:
*She needs to take 750 mg (two 375 mg tablets of the
antibiotic Clavamox every 12 hours for the next 3 weeks to
fully resolve the infection in her leg.
*She will have Chemo Injections
She will take 50mg ( 0.5mls ) of Cytarabine for 4 total doses
on the 5th and 6th days of every month for a year to treat
her GME.
*She will have lab work ( CBC ) done 6 days after the last
of these 4 injections.
*On the 21st day of every month she needs to take 40 mg of
Lomustine.
*She will have lab work ( CBC ) done 6 days after that.
Brandy has fought to live and she is a survivor. While she was in the ICU WARD the 1st and 2nd week she could have died at any moment it was touch and go. It was a very scary situation.
Brandy is a Black Lab who is 6 years old. She is to young to have to go through all that she has so far. She loves to play Frisbee on the grass and swimming and playing ball at the beach. People would just stop and watch her play Frisbee because she is so good. She catches them all the time and she taught herself how to play Frisbee which amazes her on lookers.She is a smart dog who is a cutie. Everybody that meets her falls in love with her and they become friends. When she goes for a walk she walks by those houses and they give her a dog bone and they say Hi to her.
She does not have pet insurance and she has huge medical bills. Her medical bills so far totals $ 13,500.00 and her continuation monthly medical bills is about $300.00 a month.
Will you be able to make a donation to Brandy's Fund to cover her medical expences. A small donation of $ 6.00 dollars to $10.00 dollars each will add up. If you cannot make a donation can you please help spread Brandy's Story so that others can donate if they can.
Thank You for donating and helping spread her story.
MARIE
Organizer
Marie Cheney
Organizer
Tewksbury, MA