06/22/2024
Sophie is home with me. We do not confidently know what is wrong, or what caused the IMPA. (Immune-Mediated Polyarthritis). It is a condition where the dog's immune system mistakenly targets and inflames multiple joints, leading to pain, swelling, and stiffness. It can cause disfigurement of her joints similar to Rheumatoid Arthritis in humans.
She is only 19 months old. If you know anything about Belgian Malinois, laying around, is not their thing at all and we are hoping the mysterious hair plucking she is doing all over her legs and abdomen is pain related. It is a symptom that has us scratching our heads right now and we don't know how to treat it. The 4 antibiotics she is on should help prevent infection but we have to watch her closely.
She has, we hope, many more weeks of treatment and follow-up appointments. She will be on 6 medications for a planned 3 month minimum and will require regular check-ins with the Vet to re-evaluate the efficacy of this treatment and make adjustments as we move forward. We are still looking at many more appointments, homemade bland diet, loads of medications and a lot of coaxing to eat. We are focused on her trying to walk without falling and hoping we manage to treat the root cause as well as the symptoms she's dealing with. There are several types of IMPA and each one is linked to it's own underlying condition. This is our best guess at this time. She is in a lot of pain still with the expectation that this will last a while. She's still not eating or holding food down but we have meds to help with that. We'll be starting those tomorrow along with frequent meals to help with medication side effects and allow her to keep the food down. She's lost 5 pounds in less than a week. At this point, the plan is to simply enjoy each moment I have left with her. We hope to see good results but we are guessing at the treatment plan and hoping that what we are doing will work. Treatment plans will change as we go and see symptom improvement or lack of.
I appreciate everyone who has helped so far. We are still not out of the woods yet by any stretch. Any continued donations will be used to cover all the upcoming appointments, remaining balances still owed and medications. Appointments will be with her regular Vet, as well as the diagnosing team at the Emergency Clinic. You may reach out to them directly to offer to pay a portion of her remaining balance or go through GoFundMe. The GoFundMe, I learned today, can take up to a week to 10 days (5-7 business days) to be available for payments to the Vet Clinic. Not very helpful when you need the money for immediate payments but it is what it is at this point.
Portland Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Clinic still has a balance owed. If you want to contact them directly for "Sophie Madachik" the link below has the Emergency Vet Clinic number.
https://www.pvesc.com/contact-directions/
Medications, I will find out cost on tomorrow. I will have an idea of monthly costs tomorrow.
Continued Vet visits will be every week to 2 weeks with any emergency visits as needed. Some photos of her at home are attached below.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/M6Fu9qCBz2aBynhU/?mibextid=oFDknk
This gorgeous little girl is my malinois godchild, Sophie. She’s currently o… Christine Cannon needs your support for Urgent Assistance for Sophie's Vet Bills
