Prayers and Goodvibes: WORKING!

Hello my blogger pals! I've missed you so! Thanks you for your prayers & sending the good vibes, they've worked tremendously!

While my Mommy was researching Eosinophilic Myositis she noticed there weren't enough pictures of animals for her to compare to me. After talking to my Daddy about it, he encouraged her to add a new tab to my blog using pictures & describing lengthily from personal experience what Eosinophilic Myositis is and what it does and what it takes to overcome it! Please bear with me as my blog will be going through these changes.

You've probably been wondering what I've been up to this past couple of weeks? Well, the roids are doing their job. I have been opening my mouth to it's full capability. Chewing & playing tug-of-war like never before! Mommy says sometimes the good outweighs the bad and in my case while being on prednisone this is very true.

The good: I can open my mouth! I can play bitey face, I can eat whatever I want! I can even carry my big rawhide bone around(I've been doing it lately JUST to do it!) Mommy goes into fits of laughter when I pick up my big ol' rawhide bone & prance around the house like a muscle boy!

The bad: I have fevers constantly, the boo boos seem inevitable. And sometimes I just lay around almost depressed like not wanting to go outside or play.

We know I won't be on prednisone for a long period of time as prolong use carries the increased risk of osteoporosis, cataracts, & can affect lipids(Cholesterol). If it is something our vet wants to keep me on according to Mommy's research we will be doing screening for latent bladder infection is important. Monitoring blood tests are recommended with long term use as well. Whatever our vet decides we will keep you updated so you know where we fare in the battle! So far it looks like all your love & prayers are pulling us through & we are going to win this battle & the war! No matter how bad I feel I can't pass up a chance to play! Once again, we love you all! Thank you so much for the good vibes & prayers they are working!

Update on ME!

Hello my friends! Thank you all for your kind thoughts & prayers! I am doing better as far as pain goes.(Mommy doesn't think so because I've been making a sad face A LOT.)

I'm doing a lot of sleeping(more than I usally do), Mommy thinks this is because of the medication. And every now & then I get little burst of energy, where I run around like a mad dog & act crazy! Then minutes later I'm knocked out!

Mommy was "relieved" from work so she is spending some quality time with me. My next vet appointment is in about a month and a half. That's how long I'll be on the steroids. So, some good news: we've changed my diet! My pal Preston sent me some of his food to try & I'm telling you it was a perfect fit! Mommy was so happy to find out about it, and we ordered me some! If you don't already eat it, you should try it! Also here is an update on my cheeks & temples, as you can see they've went it a little more & they get a lot of negative attention from humans at the dog park.

Alrighty everyone me & Mommy are going to snuggle bug & watch a movie!

Thank you so much again, we love y'all!

The Disease and My Snuggle Puggle

Eduardo's Mommy Here:

I've been crying a lot lately, every time I see my sweet snuggle puggle(which is every time I look down) I break down and sob. When I hold him like a baby and stroke his face I cry and don't even realize it. He tries so hard to kiss the tears away but it only makes me cry harder. You see, we thought Eduardo had TMJ and that we would be treating him with an anti inflammatory for the rest of his life for the pain. Well long story short my husband & I decided to take Eduardo to a highly recommended vet for a second opinion because Eduardo was still in unbearable pain most days.

Yesterday, Eduardo was diagnosed with Eosinophilic Myositis. Eduardo's immune system is attacking his Masticatory Muscles causing them to be inflamed. See the Masticatory Muscles are made up of 2M muscles fibers, no other muscles have these unique molecular structure. When a dog gets Eosinophilic Myositis the immune system targets their "chewing muscles" for some unknown reason. This makes the muscles weak and in my personal opinion completely useless.

Eduardo can only open his mouth about the size of puppy kibble, when he yawns (something I gave him his first treatment of steroids yesterday and because yesterday his muscles were inflamed(which causing swelling) I wasn't prepared to see just how bad his Eosinophilic Myositis really was.

I want to show you some pictures, kinda like before & after:

His temples were always more sunk in than most dogs, but we thought that was normal.

Today I took some pictures:

See in the before picture his face was inflamed & swollen, so when we started the steroid treatment the swelling went down. Making his face look a little "hollow".

The vet says eventually he will not be able to open his mouth. Then we will place him on a liquid diet. I'm not crying because of that, I'll cross that bridge when I get there. I'm crying because my love is hurting. No matter how much he tries to keep it from me I see it in his little puggle eyes. Every time he eats I hear him gasping for air because he mostly swallows his food, instead of chewing, because of the pain. I cry because I couldn't prevent this!

But I swear on everything I will make it better. I know I haven't been blogging much but the blog is going to take a backseat for a little bit. Please everyone just bear with us. Snuggle with your loves(persons and fursons!) as often as you can! And if you have a moment, could you send some goodvibes? Some sites I read said with treatment dogs can regain full movement back in their jaws. That's what we're praying for. Eduardo is already down to 20% working, the rest is damaged and we want so bad for this treatment to make this muscles healthy again!

We love y'all!

Eduardo the Snuggle Puggle's Mommy

Ana