Simone Update 11/24

It's been a good month. Simone has gained back the 20+ pounds she lost during her illness, and is now somewhere in the mid-80 pound range. The hard part has been cutting back her caloric intake from unlimited to something more reasonable for general weight maintenance. She's energetic, good-natured, and playful, and a lot more talkative now than she ever was. It's her new thing to walk into a room where we are and "talk" to us --not bark, per say, but make some very intent vocal sounds letting us know that something is on her mind! She used to only do it when we danced in front of her (she still objects wholeheartedly to that!), but now she does it when her water is low, if she wants to play, or if she is ready for some excitement.

We have switched vets, and were given a referral by the folks at OSU to Dr. Rosenlicht at Eastgate, on Peoria Road. Simone went in for a check-up last Saturday and had bloodwork done. Some of the results are back, and indicate that her red blood cell count is higher (up to 35 from 28). She is still slightly anemic, but this is an improvement. We're hoping the next time they check her red cell count that it's back in the normal range! Her liver values have basically dropped down to normal. Bye, bye fear of liver failure! We're excited that possibility is now no longer something we have to worry about. Her thyroid levels looked good, and she's on an appropriate level of medication for that. The only troublesome thing was her CK enzyme was really elevated. CK (creatinine kinase) is an enzyme that indicates muscle damage. It's an enzyme that can help identify if a heart attack has occurred, if muscle has been damaged, or if the kidneys are failing. Dr. Rosenlicht said this value was very high and she was concerned about it, but she was waiting to hear back from OSU to find out how Saturday's CK value compared to previous values. Since Simone's eating fine and acting happy and energetic, we're hoping that there isn't a problem and that maybe this value is lower than it used to be. We'll see. In the meantime, we're thankful to have our girl basically back to normal.

Life just wouldn't be the same without her.