Dear friends,
Well, it is the 10th day of me being so sick, and a lot of you have written to me and told me that you hope I get better. All of your cards and e-mails are really helping me, I know. Did any of you hear about that study that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine a few years back? The one that looked at the effect of prayer on really sick people? The scientists who wrote it studied a lot of people who either got all their medicine and that's all, or they got all their medicine and they got prayed for, too, and they found out that the people who got prayed for did a lot better than the people who didn't have anyone who prayed for them. The scientists said in their paper that there was no scientific explanation for what they found and that they didn't know why the people who got medicine and prayers got better faster. But I think that I, Lizzie, know more than those scientists do! Jeepers. Did their mommas teach them nothing??? So I hope you all will keep thinking good thoughts for me.
I still don't want to eat. At all. So Mom is getting a new medicine for me to start today that she hopes will give me an appetite. Mark Drugs in Roselle is sending it to the hospital for me today. Did you know that if you are sick and you need a special medicine made for you, that they can make it so it doesn't taste bad? They can take a pill and make it into a yummy-tasting liquid or paste for you. Mark Drugs can even make some medicines into a cream that you rub into the inside of your ear and it will work as good as a pill. It's true! It goes right through your skin and it gets into your body just like when swallow a pill, and even faster and better sometimes. A lot of our cat patients like that. And dogs who have to take medicines every day, like dogs who get seizures, like it also. (And their owners do, too!)And, it makes having to take a bunch of medicines easier, if that ever has to happen to you. So anyway, we hope it works for me because right now I don't even want roasted chicken or crackers or anything at all, not even the cat's food.
And I have some more to tell you about Leptospirosis, too, based on the questions that some of you are asking me in your e-mails and cards. Some of you are worried because you play in water and you think that you ought to get a titer - but you are worried that it would be too early to tell if you have Lepto, and that is true, it could happen. Or that if you have been vaccinated in the past, that it might show up on a titer. True again. And some of you don't know if you should just get the vaccine and be done with it. I will tell you that usually, a good veterinarian can decide what is best for you. So get your furry butt into your vet's office quick, and have her check you out!
If you are at risk, my Mom says you should be titered and your vet might even want to start treatment. You will usually have to get 2 titers, about a month apart. By looking at the differences between them, your vet can decide what to do and how long to do whatever treatment your vet thinks you need. Or if your vet thinks you are OK based on the first titer, your vet might think that vaccinating you is best. You will need to get 2 vaccinations, about 4 weeks apart.
If you don't have Lepto, what can you do to avoid it? Well, that is tricky sometimes. You need to stay out of marshy and muddy areas and out of ponds, especially if they are shallow and have lots of stagnant water. And you have to be careful around pastures and wet areas, even if they are in your own yard. All wet places like this can have Lepto bugs growing in them. Rodents carry Lepto too, so proper rodent control is important. And if you live in a kennel, your owner must be especially careful to clean up urine so it isn't staying in your kennel. Remember, I was only ever in my own fenced yard at home and I STILL got Lepto. So if it happened to me, it could happen to you!
And guess what? We just found out that Canuke has it, too, but not as bad as me. He is not sick. But we started antibitoics for him as soon as we knew that I was sick, so that probably helped him a lot. Hebert does not have it at all. So we will be taking medicine at our house for a good long time, I guess.....and I hope that everyone else stays healthy.
What about getting vaccinated to protect you? You have to remember that the vaccine is not 100%. Remember those Lepto "cousins" I told you about? How there are so many kinds? Well, there are kinds of Lepto that there is no vaccination for so even if you are vaccinated you could get a cousin kind of Lepto. And, the vaccine only lasts about 6 months, so if you really, really like to be in risky areas you may need to get vaccinated several times a year to protect you better.
I will have more Lepto information for you in a couple days, but it's time for my fluids again. And *sigh* more medicine, too. I am getting pretty good at spitting pills out, but unfortunately my Nurses are getting even better at making me eat them a second time! I will have some more blood test results back on Thursday, too. I sure hope that I am looking and feeling better by then.
Your friend,
LIZZIE
