October 24, 2008

I swear I have angels surrounding me! A very dear friend of mine who is a nurse read my last blog and showed it to another nurse friend (and fellow animal lover). They both agreed I should contact Jack's vet and tell her how Jack has been acting as he could have some steroid psychosis. Thank you Carolyn and Karen!!!!!! As soon as I got the email, one quick Google search of "Prednisone steroid psychosis" and a list of sites came up. That's all I needed to see and I was immediately on the phone his vet's office and explained the situation with the vet tech. She said she the vet would call me back between 5:00-5:30pm. Pretty much at 5:00pm on the dot, my phone rang and it was her. I explained what was going on with Jack including the rat cage incident. She agreed that Jack has some steroid psychosis and wants to try weaning the Prednisone further.

The plan: 1 tablet per day for Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday. On Friday (today), start him on 1/2 tablet per day for 1 week. On the Friday the 31st, start Jack on 1/4 tablet of Prednisone for 1 week and then call with an update. Jack is doing well so far and we have found him cuddling with Roxy on several occasions which I think is a good sign.

Roxy is eating again without having to be spoon fed. As long as we keep Jack away from her, she's fine. However, if Jack comes anywhere near her, game over - she won't eat and walks away. If only I could hear what Jack is threatening her with....

After months of stomach problems, I about had it and went to the doctor on Wednesday. They took blood and so far, all of the results are coming back within normal limits. Phew! They also sent me home with all these containers which I have to return to them with.....yep you guessed it. You've got to be kidding me. THEY are doctors, shouldn't I just be doing that at the office and letting THEM take care of it? That's what I pay THEM for. I'm so not looking forward to this. The doc also prescribed some meds to help. So far, I haven't seen a huge improvement...but I do seem more calm, so maybe that's a start.

Yesterday morning when I woke Daisy up to give her her meds, her eyes didn't seem to have that *alert* look to them as usual. At first I thought I was overreacting out of fear of losing her or maybe she was just tired, however last night when I got home, I checked on Daisy. Oh dear.

- a bit wobbly/unstable
- a little disoriented
- the look in her eyes is different - not so alert and she has a "lost" look about her now
- startles quickly when we touch her (this is so unlike her)
- when we stroke her head, she quickly pushes/jerks her head up
- she had specks of porphyrin around her face and feet
- she'll sit with her head to the corner, or up against a wall or the side of her cage
- she's not using her front paws to pick up food, but rather just stuffs her face in her food bowl to eat
- if we aren't holding her, she sorta looks like a porcupine (which I know is a sign that she's not feeling well)

The first thing that comes to mind is a pituitary tumor. Shit.