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[travel_buzz]

Hello all,

My 8 year old Goldendoodle Naya was diagnosted by our amazing Vet back in October.  Like most, we thought she had kennel cough...  We were among the lucky ones.  Our vet asked us about camping near Kenora, she immediately insisted on XRays, after taking a sample from an innocent looking cyst, we found out her hunch was right. 

Here we are at the end of her 90 day treatment  .  Expensive isn't it! $10/day for pills, plus XRays, etc.  Glad the pills are done (yesterday)!

Here is our new problem.  Over Christmas, she got a series of oozing skin skin leisions, one under her paw, the other on her arse and small pimple type ones on her head. We were told that the natural balance in her system was off allowing bacteria to take over... So, more pills, creams and shampoos. She took the last of the antibiotics today.  But the leisions are still not good.  Has anyone else had this issue.

Another question...  She has a pocket that has balooned in her lungs where the scar tissue formed.  Has anyone had this happen to their dog?

Poor girl. I just want her to be better now.

Thanks.

[Algonquin]

In Zekes case he was diagnosed Sept 9th  as "guarded" meaning he was severe. He has been on Sporonox since September and we just ordered another another batch, enough to last us until August.  Yes, it is expensive - we order it through Big Mountain Drugs, in British Columbia.  Problem is that they will not ship to Canada.  Three months seems like a very short period of time for your dog to be "cured".  Zeke does have a pocket in his lungs and the follow up x-ray he had in November showed that it had shrunk.  We just got his second Mira Vista test and sent the results to the University of Guelph. The vet we are dealing with was very pleased but reminded us that even when he gets a zero he will need to continue the sporonox for at least a month.  The Mira vista along with x-rays will be our marker as to when we can stop the medication.  We do not plan to get x-rays again until the mira vista is much lower.
As one post here points out it is as if this Blasto has a brain.

If you are in Ontario you may want to consider taking your dog to Guelph or at least try the Mira Vista test to ensure there is no more Blasto. The bacterial growth due to lack of fungus in not something I have read about.

[Lolasmom]

Have you done a Mira Vista Antigen test?  Many vets will treat for 90 days and then just stop.  I assure you if the Blasto is not registering negative on an antigen test it will return.  PLEASE have an Antigen test done.  Very, Very, Very few dogs are anywhere near negative from only 3 months of treatment.

[Lolasmom]

Oh my goodness.....this doesnt sound right at all.  Blasto has a tendancy to wall itself off ie the baloon in the lung and move to other areas such as the skin.  Plus 3 montgs is VETY short for treatment.  Please.....insist on an antigen test from Mira Vista and dont stop treatment until a negative is teached.  I am very veru concerned about this post.  Also an antifungal med shoudnt effect bacteria in ANY way whatsoever.  Ithink you should get a second opinion asap.  Most dogs sre not even out of the high range in three months.  Please get another opinion.

[lisakuhlmann]

What is this lung pocket business? Scar tissue? Is this normal with all lung afflictions! What are the dangers?

[Lolasmom]

I can be scar tissue or pockets of walled off Blasto.  Scar tissue is a serious concern but Lola didn't seem to have many problems.  Walled off Blasto is another matter.

[lisakuhlmann]

Soooo what is the meaning of "walled off"? Jake is doing so great, gained 8 lbs this past week. He's almost normal again, but tires easily. I'm still restricting his outside time because it's still in the 40's here. He'll be off the Prednisone this week (cut him down by 1/4s).  Don't think I'll attempt  another test until the end of NEXT month. He's going to be a pain in the butt when he's totally back to normal I tell ya!! SPOILED SPOILED SPOILED. We take him bye-bye now just to make him happy. I've always tried to avoid feeding from my plate but now find myself just giving it ALL to him. I'm not complaining...I'd give him a kidney! Should I be concerned about this walled off stuff and scar tissue? How do you know if he is at risk for it? Is there a test?   

[Lolasmom]

Walled off means just that.  It walls itself off from detection and it walls itself off from the meds.  I will give you a very good example.  There is a dog named Logan on the board.  Logan had skin Blasto.   He was a big old boy and was on treatment Sporanox for a year or more.  He finally got a negative Mira Vista test and was doing great.   Anyways, his owner worked at a vet and she took him back in to get him neutered (primarily because the testicles and lungs and eyes are prime areas where the Blasto tends to wall itself off, but it can be anywhere.  Anyways, the Blasto WAS hid away in Logans testicles.  Days after the surgery the fungus filled his lungs and he died in her arms on the way to the vet to put him down.   My personal vet never made any bones about this.  It was as though we were always waiting for the floor to fall out. 

Don't be fooled by Jake looking good. Both Lola and Logan looked great for months.  You would have never known Lola was sick after about the first month or so of treatment, but the Blasto was still there in large quantities.  It took 6 months to get her to a readable level. 

I am a little concerned about how long Jake has been on the Predinisone.  You want to get him off of it as soon as possible.  I really don't know of any dog who has been on it longer than the first 10 days to 2 weeks.  Fungi LOVE steroids.  The will HELP the fungus grow.  The meds won't stand a chance.  Also, its great that he is eating but don't let him get over weight.  That will make it more difficult for him to breath.  I wouldn't be concerned with the cold weather, its the hot weather thats a problem.  Humidity makes it very difficult for them to breath due to scar tissue. My vet advised me to never leave her out in the summer.  Lola was just fine with this.  She didn't want to go out until the evening.  It wasn't until fall that she really wanted to get out and run. 

No there is no test or way to know if they will relapse.  And there is no way to protect them from it.  My best advice is to pray.  Pray and read through the site.  On this site you will find 3 contradictions to what is reported.  1.  The Mira Vista test isn't as accurate as they claim.  False negatives are actually pretty common early on.   2.  The survival rate is not as high as they claim.  Which you will sadly learn over the course of the next year (next spring and fall) as you see more and more dogs who do not make it.  I would say maybe  1 in 7 or 8  survive the initial treatment.   And 3. relapses are quite common.  I would say about 1/2 or more will suffer some sort of relapse.  And there just isn't a true understanding for why. 

I've said this before, you have to think of Blasto as though it has a brain of its own.  Its objective is to kill your dog. It doesn't matter how it accomplishes that or how long it takes.  It will move around, hide, and disguise itself.   It will even try to trick you into thinking its cancer or something else to get you to kill the dog for it.   You have to try to stay a step ahead of it at all times.  You cant ever feel too confident or let your guard down. 

Praying for both Jake AND Zeke.  Hugs and kisses!  Please keep me in touch. 

[Lolasmom]

OMG......I wish they would log back on.

[lisakuhlmann]

Jake is off the Pred and holding his own. I cut him back by 1/4s which made the transition easier. I suffer respiratory problems and just assumed the cold dry air would be hard on his already compromised lungs too. Thanks for scaring the **** out of me with this "walling" stuff! Can this Blasto be any more EVIL? When do you think we should test again?
     I had a photographer here yesterday to take pics of my lil herd in the forest. A fresh snowfall had just dusted the trees. All 5 got their time in front of the lenz and I will post some pics soon. I plan to have her back for pics in each season.
     Did you know there are at least 6 pages of Lisa Youngs on FB? I think I did some darn good detective work but still couldn't find you. I have the same avatar on FB as here which is Jake. I can't tell you how happy I am to see your posts! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[Lolasmom]

IM SORRY!!!!  I didn't mean  to scare  you.  But you have to know what to expect and what to plan for.  Blastomycosis is just that.....EVIL!  Its like it has a brain of its own and you have to stay a step ahead of it.   In order to do that you have to be told what to POTENTIALLY expect.  I hope not, but you have to be ready for it.  Don't let it consume you, enjoy each day you have with Jake and don't let what the future could potentially hold take away from that.  I DID let it consume me.  I worried about it constantly.  I think the stress of that took something away from the time we had together and in the end it didn't matter anyways.

I'm glad your off the Pred.  I was sort of freaking out about that last night.  I feel relieved now.  It sounds like he is doing really good.  Your still very early into treatment and I wouldn't waste a lot of money testing too frequently.  Probably more important right know is that you take him in for regular checkups and make sure your vet does a GOOD exam.  Spornax does carry the risk of kidney damage as well as heart failure.  My friend Bard had a grey hound named Bennie who had Blasto.  He suffered heart failure from the Spornax.  Make sure that your vet is running regular CBC and kidney function tests.  I would probably make that my next investment.  And then repeat them every 2-3 months.   Jake last reading was off the scales....right?   Really I probably wouldn't even expect it to be in a measurable range for at least another couple months or so.  Don't waste your money with a lot of Mira Vista tests just to sooth your couriosity.  He has a long way to go and honestly until you can get him in a measurable range where you can actually see an improvement, they can be very discouraging anyways. With Lola it took 6 months to get a measurable test and almost 11 months to get a negative test.   

I think their lung capacities are deminished from the Blasto due to unescapable lung scaring.  Cool, dry  weather is much better for them than hot, wet weather.  My vet had a dog with lung Blasto, he survived but he said he was never the same dog again.  He had bad lung scarring.  Lola didn't seem to have really bad problems.  But she did prefer the cooler weather and did MUCH better in it.  She was more active and "wanted" to be outside.   The summer was hard on her.  She liked to go out in the evening for a while but she took it easy.  During the day she "wanted" to be inside, on the couch, in the AC.   My vet told me to NEVER leave her out in the summer.  Of course, its very humid here as we are right on the TN river.   

My avatar is Lolas picture.  Whats name your FB page is under, I will look you up.  There are a lot of us on there from here.  Somehow it refreshing to have a site to communicate as friends and not just fellow Blasto victims.  Although, I think I said this to someone yesterday, once you have the misfortune of joining this club you seem to be a member for life as, regardless of the outcome, Blasto will continue to haunt you.
 
I will continue with the prayers too.  Give Jake a big hug from me and Lola.