Hi! I'm Samantha. If you haven't read my story, I encourage you to do so. It provides a little background on why I am here. I never thought IMHA would affect me at such a tender age. One minute I was going for a walk and enjoying life, the next minute, I started having seizure like symptoms due to the reduced amount of circulating red blood cells (not enough oxygen). Other than that, I was displaying no other clinical symptoms. I was eating and playing just like I normally do. Thankfully my vigilant care-taker (aka mom) knew something was not right and off we went to the emergency vet. All looked well to the doctors who reported out that I may have a pinched nerve. Being the ever so cautious mom that she is, she asked the doctor to go ahead and perform blood work to be 100% certain nothing else was lurking. It was a good thing she did as my packed cell volume (PCV) was at 23%. Normal is between 35-55%. Needless to say I was not as healthy on the inside as I looked on the outside. Several blood transfusions later, I was still not stabilizing. It was then that the TPE treatment was offered as a potential option. TPE was successful in removing all the "bad stuff" from my plasma, allowing my body to recover. It wasn't an easy battle but almost two years later, I am going strong and still in remission. I am down to my last immunosuppressant but I'm keeping my paws crossed that I will be able to wean off this last one. Here's some good reading on the process in case you're interested in learning more about TPE. https://www.mspca.org/angell_services/therapeutic-plasma-exchange-an-emerging-treatment-strategy-for-canine-imha/ Thanks for stopping by! -Sam
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Samantha is a 6-yr old Pekingese who has signature cow spots on her front paws. When she's not authoring and starring in children's books, she spends the days playing with her ball. co-Author
Sophie is a 6-yr old Peke who is the older (by a week) and wiser sister of Sam. Archives
October 2023
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