Cornell Visit

[JMM]

Mikey saw Dr. Center at Cornell this past Thursday. His student and resident were super nice. We'll be working a lot through his resident, Dr. Ramstedt, and I'm very pleased with her.

Dr. Center wanted to educate me so I would really understand Mikey's disease process. She explained about the lesions and treatment. Then she showed me normal liver slides and Mikey's first and second ones. It really helped seeing them. She also showed me his GI biopsies. I feel like I have a really good handle on things now.

She wants to focus on the allergy component to his inflammation with diet and environment. Environment is a tough one because I ripped out all of the carpet and am very, very careful about cleaning products. I'm getting a floor vacuum with hepa filter and will get Mikey an air filter, too. I am going to make his list of diets for them and fax it up. She wants to do home cooked (no preservatives was a big thing for Dr. Center) and have me force feed him since he doesn't like home cooked. We'll figure out his diet in the next week or so. For this disease, protein restriction is not so much the big deal as is finding something he's not allergic to.

For medications, they are stopping most of his meds. I'm happy about that. He'll stay on Carafate and Metronidazole. He'll stay on Pred until his Dexamethasone suspension is ready and then we'll switch. He tolerated Dex better and Dr. Center wants to use steroids. Dr. R said to just call her if he starts vomiting a lot. Right now it is 1-2x/week which is managable, but we're stopping the anti-emetic so he may need occasional doses if the vomiting gets bad again.

He has another appointment at Cornell on June 15th for an ultrasound and recheck type thing.

We're rechecking his TLI/cobalamine/folate since we haven't done that in a while. I sent it out yesterday.

Dr. Center said that he probably has a lot of scarring in his intestines, so we may have to consider some of his meds as injectible so that he absorbs them properly. That's ok, too, since I can do that at home easily.

Dr. Center was very factual and this is what is wrong, this is what we do without a lot of sympathy, but she was super confident and after absorbing everything, I feel pretty good about his visit. His resident was very sweet so she'll make up for it in loving on Mikey LOL

Wish us luck with the new plan!

[davet]

good luck wtih what your having done...you got top notch people there.....did you get a chance to view the campus and sross that bridge....beautiful place....again good luck

[JMM]

I didn't get to see much of the campus, but we drove through some of it just to look. It was lovely, but having gone to such a tiny school myself, I was definately overwhelmed LOL. The Companion Hospital facilities were fantastic!

[Traci]

Thanks for the update, JMM, please keep us updated on his progress.....and give him lots of hugs for us

[davet]

just for kicks JMM what was your tiny school?????

[JMM]

davet, University of Mary Washington...total campus is about 4,000 students. No teaching assistants and everyone knows your name. I knew my WHOLE graduating class. You can walk across campus in 10 minutes...the whole campus LOL

[Guest]

i thought it was in Pennsylbvania rather than fredrixksburg (?) I got out of buckenll in `1951 and there were onlay about 3-4 thousand then...it was considered small at that time but no more

[JMM]

Just a little update. We're going back up for an ultrasound and visit next month. Mikey started Dexamethasone this week. He has been vomiting a lot more frequently and has lost some weight, but really seems quite happy and bouncy when he's awake. His TLI and cobalamine were normal. His folate was elevated which is not surprising. His PLI should be in next week. We also recheck his ALT next week. I'm still waiting to hear about the diet. The annual ACVIM conference is this coming week in Baltimore so it is a bit of a crazy time I understand.

[JMM]

Another little update.

His PLI was also normal. We did his ALT Wednesday, but his local internist is out of the office at ACVIM so we should hear Monday or get a fax.

This week he did much better - ate well, less vomiting. He still has some good stool and some diarrhea, but that doesn't bother me any.

His resident wanted to double his dose of Dexamethasone because of the vomiting, so we increased it to 0.25 mg every three days. He got one dose Wed and yesterday pee'd a ton but today seems more normal on urination.

He is still pretty obviously lethargic but continues to be mentally normal.

[davet]

anaother "so what episle" by mne.. i think i posted this before someplcae but forget but before i ever got into vet school i worked for a vet in Ft. Lauderdale...He wqs good friends with ?Dean Hagan of the vet school at CCornell...this was in the late 40s.. So my boss took the Dean and a couple other biggies on a fishing charter trip...Little old me was the deck hand...did the baiting and setting the rods etc take the fish off the hooks all that fun stuff...but i got to talking to the Dean for a while...Then a few years later i was at Bucknell univ. in Lewisburg, Pa..one day my then present girlfriend drove up to cornell for me to make a quick visit to see the dean..He welcomed me with open arms and we discussed my chance of getting into vet school...not Cornell but the then alabama poly technic institues from which i graduated and the following year they changed the name of the whole university to Auburn (the town)..Anyway can't help but think that sometime he put in a call that helped to get me in...I don't know for sure but i think they named a Hall or Building at the vet school after him;...if youget a chance see if there is such a building, named Hagen Hall< cause they did a lot of growth since 49 or 50 when i went to see him...i"ll make itlook like i mnade him famous and he made me famous, ir is the infamous??