On Thursday, October 2, I took my girl Lulu to the vet for a routine blood draw to continue her anti-inflammatory medication. Or, it was supposed to be routine! It showed very low platelets so the vet wanted to re-check the next day. The blood draw the next day was even worse and showed ZERO platelets in her system. She was put on steroids and we went home with an appointment made to re-check in a week. However, my mom brain wasn't okay with this and I felt that I needed to do more. Within a few hours, I had made the decision to drive her the 1 1/2 hours to Madison to the Emergency Center. They re-ran the blood and confirmed zero platelets. At this point, all of the vets were saying that they had never seen ZERO platelets before and that it was pretty serious. She was then admitted to the hospital and put on a long list of medications to help stabilize her. Needless to say, this was the longest weekend and I got a hotel room in Madison so I was a few minutes away in case things went bad. I would visit her daily for my 20-30 minutes that I was allowed with my heart breaking the whole time. Finally, on Monday afternoon she was stable enough for me to bring her home...with a loooong list of restrictions and warnings and medications. Far from being out of the woods! We also had a possible diagnosis but some labs were still pending. Today, she had a follow up appointment to re-check blood. Her counts are almost back to normal range!! This means the possible diagnosis is now a diagnosis and we also finally got the remaining results ruling the other illnesses out. The vet today also told me that I saved her life by taking her to Madison and getting help. The fact that she was so close to death just swirls in my head. Lulu has been diagnosed with ITP which is an autoimmune disease. Basically, her immune system started attacking her platelets and destroying them. Why? We will probably never know. It could have been an infection, a medication, basically anything. We might not know the cause, but we know how to manage it. This will require expensive medication and very regular vet appointments with blood draws. With the ER hospitalization and 1st follow-up, we are already around $6,000 in costs! Not to mention trying to find foods she will eat in order to get her life saving meds into her body and also give her the nutrition she needs. But, it's worth it to save my baby. I adopted Lulu when she was 9 months old. She is now a sweet, loving 8 year old who loves cuddles and gives kisses. She has gotten me through my own autoimmune diagnosis that took me out of the work force, my battle with breast cancer, the loss of other pets, and my divorce. She isn't just a dog, she is my everything. She is my soul! I don't know what I'd do without her. Any help I receive will be going to help pay the medical bills from her hospitalization so I can continue to pay for her medications to keep her stable. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and please give your fur babies an extra hug and kiss today!!