Coby's first Saturday at home this month!!

FINALLY - after almost 2 weeks of hospitalizations this month & over $5000 spent, Coby is home!!!

Here is a brief summary of what happened from Thursday to today:
Thursday morning Coby had another CBC done. His neutrophils had increased to 1900 from Wednesday. He had a Neupogen injection both Wednesday & Thursday, but no more unless needed. I flew out to Boston & went to Angell Animal Medical Center to get Coby! I met with Dr. Sisson for some time to review Coby's medications & discharge instructions. Coby's meds included: Meropenem (injectable antibiotic), cholesttyramine (liquid used to remove all the leflunomide from his body) & Keppra (seizure medication) - all given 3 times a day. Dr. Sisson switched Coby's seizure medications - he really doesn't really thinks he needs an anticonvulsant because Coby has not once had a seizure since his intitial GME symptoms - the few he had were probably because of the GME/inflammation. I think we will taper the keprra down eventually & maybe d/c it all together. He thinks there is a 10-20% chance of him having a seizure without the meds, so he seems fairly confident Coby doesn't need that either! I was also given the vial of Neupogen just in case Coby needs another dose once we are back in Milwaukee. I was worried about taking all these meds & needles in the airport & thru security. Coby looked crazy with his legs & belly shaved, but he definitely looked much better than the day he was admitted. He was excited to see me & ready to get back home. After a 1 week stay at Angell, it cost $2000, plus an additional $600 for the airfare = $2600. (That does not include the weeks worth of hospital stays in Wisconsin the week prior). Below is a picture of Coby & Dr. Sisson. Friday morning we flew back to Milwaukee. No big problems at the airport, but my carry on bag did get carefully examined. As soon as we got home, Coby was playing with Olive (the cat). He was obviously feeling much better than the week prior. That afternoon Coby had another CBC done at our local vet. Coby did fine with the medications, he ate well & enjoyed sleeping in our bed again. This morning my local vet called with the CBC results. Coby's neutrophils are up to 3400!! The neutrophil response is very good. The platelets and anemia (red cells) are also slightly increased. We will do another CBC on Monday. Everything looks great for now. All 3 of his bone marrow lines seem to be recovering nicely according to Dr. Sisson. Coby appears to be back to his usual playful, yet aggressive self. It's so great to have him home & on the road to recovery. It's highly unlikely Coby was suffer a GME relapse at this point. His bone marrow is obviously damaged, but it is recovering right now - we don't know how long it will be for Coby to have a "normal" CBC, it could take weeks or months or years...but the bone marrow is recovering & Coby is doing great!!