Amazing tales of survival, recovery, and medical triumphs

Meisha's Hope

When I hear the words “success story” my 11 year old mixed breed dog, Meisha, comes immediately to my mind. Meisha was diagnosed with autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) in January 1992. AIHA is a very serious and often fatal disease. For some unknown reason the immune system believes the red blood cells are the enemy. This causes the immune system to “kick in” and destroy the red blood cells. The dog becomes very anemic and if proper and aggressive treatment is not sought and given the dog can die.

I was not given a lot of hope when Meisha saw her vet on that cold Minnesota day in January. But my vet assured me we would do everything we could for my gal. Meisha was started on prednisone and responded quickly. In a short time, I believed we were out of the woods, but every time we lowered the prednisone she would relapse. She was also plagued by almost constant infections. I started to have an overwhelming interest in this disease thanks to my vets encouragement. He would print out information for me to read from the veterinary manual and the veterinary drug handbook. At first it was like reading a foreign language, but my vet assured me the more I read the more I would understand. He feels it is very important for an owner to know what is going on with their animal and understand the drugs and treatments that are being used. I remember once he told me “the more I watched Meisha the better chance she would have”. This caused me to start to take her temp twice a day and keep a log of it. I could almost see an infection starting to come on by the rise in the temp.

Finally we got Meisha into a sustained remission. She was kept on a maintenance dosage of 10 mg prednisone every other day and continued to do very well. But in early 1995 her liver enzymes became very elevated and it was decided the prednisone should be lowered and finally discontinued. It was hoped that after 2 years on the drug Meisha would be able to live without it.

In November 1995, 6 months after discontinuing the prednisone Meisha relapsed again. We knew then that if we could get her in a sustained remission once again we would not take her off her of the prednisone again. Thankfully that remission happened, and today at 11 years of age, Meisha is not only surviving but totally thriving. She has lived with the disease for nearly 8 years now but to look at her you would never know she has been sick a day in her life.

For me there are two heroes in this success story, first of all Meisha, who has endured innumerable blood and other tests, and constant medication as well as many complications including Pancreatitis, infections and low thyroid function. Through it all she has never lost her zest for life, and her happy easy going spirit. During the days when she was so ill she could barely walk, that wonderful tail would still wag.

My wonderful vet is the other hero in this success story. Four years into Meisha’s illness he left our town to move 70 miles north of here to practice in another town. We decided to continue to see him so each trip to the vet is nearly a 150 mile round trip. He has done much to make the distance between us easier to deal with, including phone calls to check on how Meisha is doing, and even the offer to come into the office on Sunday to draw her blood if that would be easier for us. In addition when I wrote my web site on the disease called “Meisha’s Hope”, he proofread every word and gave me helpful suggestions. It is his belief that there needs to be a partnership between owner and veterinarian. When this partnership happens the animal is the one who benefits. But this partnership can only be achieved when the owner is informed. He continues to encourage me to learn all I can about the disease and other aspects of veterinary medicine as well as answer my nonstop questions with patience.

To call Meisha a success story is a vast understatement, many would say she is nothing short of a miracle.

Joanne Dickson

Email:
jdickson@cloudnet.com
Meisha's Hope URL:
http://www.cloudnet.com/~jdickson