Thank you so very much for your post and for sharing your experiences with GME. Crissy's mom, Deb, is a wonderful person, we have communitated by email and phone about her Crissy and my LacieBug who also had some form of encephalitis.

I am so glad that you two found each other and that you found the University of Georgia. What a fantastic hospital. When I took LacieBug back in the early 90's they were a fantastic group of medical professionals that were very compassionate and loved their patients.

I am sure that your post will help others with this and similar type conditions. I will keep you and your little Nikki in my thoughts and prayers.

We are still awaiting the pathology results to determine which type of encephalitis. They started her on predizone (sp?) and she is walking much better, her eyesight doesn't seem to have improved much, though we feel that there are times when she can see us out of one eye. She has started to sneeze a lot and ever so often shakes her head like she is shaking out the cobwebs. The neurologist who is treating her is Brian Cellio and he is the only board certified neurologist in the Kansas City Metro area and we are told possibly even in the midwest. We were very lucky to get to see him. Dr. Cellio is hopeful since we have seen improvment in her walking within 24 hours of taking the predizone. She is only on 1mg every 12 hours. We find out more on Monday when the pathology report gets in. We are just trying to keep her comfortable until then. Last night she actually barked for the first time since this all happened so we are cautiously optimistic. I hope that everyone's dogs who have this stay strong and live a long life. I never knew about this disease and it makes me sad and frustrated that these sweet babies have to go through this. Thanks for everyone's suggestions and support!

Did your pup by any chance receive any of their yearly shots in the last 30-45 days? a lot of people are noticing out breaks after the shots.

I am glad to hear your baby is doing better. That seems like a really low dose of prednisone. My yorkie who is only 4 lbs was on 15 MG for for 4 days and then it was taken down to 7.5 MG for 11 days and now it is down to 5 MG. If the dog is responding to the pred. then it most likely isn't the infectious type which is treated by antibiotics. I'm not a vet by any means, I'm just telling you the information that I have found from others that have gone through this. If you would like to give me your e-mail address I can e-mail you a paper that a specialist in Boston has written about his latest protocol for the disease. You may want to get show that to the vet treating your dog. He has had a 90% success rate.

Can you send me the information about the doctor in Boston who has had a lot of success? Thanks, Lee Ann my email address is gidget.ann@hotmail.com.

Diagnosed - Please pray for Gidget
 

Gidget was diagnosed this morning with necrotizing encephalitis and we have started her today on a higher dose of predizone. She will be on 5 mg daily for two weeks and then we have a follow up visit. My dog weighs 4lbs like ashmack's yorkie, so was wondering why the dosage may be different? Did your yorkie have any seizures? To date, Gidget has not had any seizures although she is blind and has trouble walking.

Thanks!
 

Almost forgot a special thanks to jerry and karyn, Nikki's parents as I phoned them right after Gidget was diagnosed and jerry was wonderful giving me some hope :) it was comforting to know that there is hope. I am so glad i found this site.

I am so very sorry to hear that your baby was diagnosed with this horrible disease. Brownee has never has any seizures. He just had problems walking and seeing out of his left eye. He then started walking in circles to the right. I am not sure about the difference with the prednisone dosing. I think that most vets are cautious about giving such a high dose to little dogs. But I am sure that every case is different.

Update on Gidget
 

Gidget had her first chemo treatment yesterday. So far no side effects. She continues to be on 7.5 mg of pred daily and will have another chemo treatment in 4 weeks. Although she still can't walk perfect, and she can barely see out of only one eye, she has started barking again and we are so excited. Tonight we even went for a short walk and her tail wagged the whole time. I want to thank everyone again on this forum for all your advice. How is everyone else's babies doing? I hope they are responding well to their treatment.

that's great news! Success stories this yours give me hope that others can be treated and cured

That"s great news. We are still trying to get Nikki straight on her Pred. She was doing good until the vet reduced her dosage,but its something they have to try.

The North Carolina State Vet School is studying GME. A family who lost their little Maltese to GME has set up a fund to provide financial help to people dealing with this terrible disease.

You can read about the CREATE fund and Stormy's brave battle with GME on the Yorkie Angel Patrol website. I urge everyone to make a donation to this fund.

gme

My thoughts are with all of you and your babies. It sounds like a horrible disease, but there is hope, and they have wonderful families caring for them!:thumbup:

Another Update on Gidget
 

We are so excited, Gidget had a CBC today to check her white cell count since she had her first round of chemo last week. Her count was 2520 and our neurologist wanted it between 1000 and 3000 so that is wonderful news. Gidget continues to improve, she remains on 7.5mg of pred a day (2.5 in the morning, 2.5 in the afternoon, and 2.5 in the evening). She hardly wobbles anymore at all, her eyesight hasn't improved much but her personality has come back, she is starting to take charge again, but most of all she is walking around with her tail up and wagging all the time and she is licking everyone. We appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers and we hope that everyone's else's dog with this horrible disease is seeing improvement as well. We know we still have a long road ahead of this but there is definintely hope :)

Well thats great news. So glad to here it. We continue to fight the dosage of the pred. Frustrating . But I think I may take charge of the treatment, No disrespect to the Docs. , but I think we almost know as much as them about this disease.