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Really worried about Jax...again

Mooshi's Mummy

Well-Known Member
manda - Ive just come across this thread and wanted to let you know you and Jax are in my thoughts. Good luck for today, I hope Jax is going to be well very soon. BTW - my brother is called Jason Farmer and my sister in law to be Amanda!!
 

Bailey's Mom

Super Moderator
Super Moderator
Bailey and I are praying for you. You will be in our hearts all day. Let us know as soon as you know what is going on. :pray:
 

jersey girl

Well-Known Member
I just saw this thread. I am so sorry Amanda....I know how much you love your sweet Jax. Please let me know if there is anything you need. I'm sending good thoughts to you guys, hang in there.
 

Amanda F.

Well-Known Member
Thank you all for you kind words and support! I appreciate it more than you could ever know :) So we just got home from Purdue. We first met with a 4th year student, who was awesome. She was enamored with Jax. She took down his history (which took over an hour!) and went through his medical records. Then she did a full exam. He just laid there and took it all, he is such a good boy. Then she took him to see the clinician they did their own exam and a neurological exam. Then they all discussed what they thought the problem was and how to treat from there. I met with the doctor and the student again. The doctor believes he does have MMM (masticatory muscle myositis). It is an auto-immune condition that attacks the muscles around the jaw. It can be caused by an infection or just be idiopathic. They took blood for titers of antibodies against masticatory muscle fibers (2M), Toxoplasma Gondi and Neosporum (both infectious causes of myositis). They also took blood to check his phenobarb and potassium bromide levels. She believes they may be high and that is why he is having ataxia. MMM is treated with his doses of prednisone but they will not start the prednisone until it is confirmed. If it is caused by an infection, more harm would come from giving the prednisone. His mandibular lymph nodes were enlarged all others were normal. They aspirated his lymph nodes to check for infectious or cancerous cells. His muscle enzyme creatine kinase (CK) was elevated. That is another sign pointing to MMM. God I wish my scanner worked and I could just scan the summary!! We won't have the test results back until at least Friday. They were very impressed with his overall body condition and hydration. They said keep doing what your doing, cause your doing great! That was nice to hear :) If he has any changes I am supposed to call. For now he is home with me :) So I think the day was overall a success. I was very pleased with the facility and the people were all fantastic. Jax was very good and everyone was in love with him. They said he was the perfect patient. Oh and he sat on the vets lap before we left, too funny!
 

BlackShadowCaneCorso

Super Moderator
Staff member
Awww Amanda, love that even feeling like crap he is a great ambassador for the breed! Hope the results reveal that the treatment can be done and he is on the mend ASAP so you can relax a bit about him, and he can go back to just enjoying life.
 

angelbears

Well-Known Member
Wow! Sounds like a wonderful place and hopefully they can find answers. Did they say anything about his seizures?
 

fila4me

Well-Known Member
just awesome!!! I hope you guys are able to relax a bit while waiting
sounds like you were in very capable hands and I know that makes all the
difference in the world.I can imagine it is a huge relief to have some answers.

look forward to hearing the results on Friday!!

he sounds like an amazing boy!!!
 

fila4me

Well-Known Member
just awesome!!! I hope you guys are able to relax a bit while waiting<br>
sounds like you were in very capable hands and I know that makes all the<br>
difference in the world.I can imagine it is a huge relief to have some answers.<br>
<br>
look forward to hearing the results on Friday!!<br>
<br>
he sounds like an amazing boy!!!
 

Bailey's Mom

Super Moderator
Super Moderator
So glad to hear that the staff at Perdue were highly professional and gave you peace of mind that they would do their best for your Jax. I know if I was standing in your shoes that I would feel some relief now as a treatment plan is being devised. Kudos to you for your strength, your commitment and your deep and abiding love for your precious Jax. I will continue to raise you and Jax up in prayer. Bailey's Mom.
 

Amanda F.

Well-Known Member
manda - Ive just come across this thread and wanted to let you know you and Jax are in my thoughts. Good luck for today, I hope Jax is going to be well very soon. BTW - my brother is called Jason Farmer and my sister in law to be Amanda!!
Thanks MM! and how weird is that! Now if you tell me his GF's last name is Wright...that would be too much!
 

Amanda F.

Well-Known Member
Awww Amanda, love that even feeling like crap he is a great ambassador for the breed! Hope the results reveal that the treatment can be done and he is on the mend ASAP so you can relax a bit about him, and he can go back to just enjoying life.
He really is. When I walked in another client commented on how handsome he is and asked what he was. I told her and she said huh never seen one before lol The receptionist knew what he was and went on about what fabulous dogs and how terrible it is to see them with people who don't know what they have. That comment from her gave me a good feeling about the place from the start. Jax has an amazing temperament. He can be such a PITA when he's well but in public he is always a perfect gentleman!
 

Amanda F.

Well-Known Member
Wow! Sounds like a wonderful place and hopefully they can find answers. Did they say anything about his seizures?
All they said is that they do not believe they are connected to what is currently going on with him. He has been 8 months without one. With all he currently has going on, the seizures are on the back burner at the moment! I forgot to say in my earlier post, they put him on clindamycin just in case the MMM was caused by something infectious. Also depending on the amount of time his jaw is locked, it could be permanent. But they said that mostly happens when the dogs jaw is completely shut before treatment is started. They said it varies case by case so we won't know until treatment is done.
 

musicdeb

Well-Known Member
Good news that you may have found the diagnosis and it appears it can be treated. Jax is such a good boy!
 

CeeCee

Well-Known Member
I'm glad to hear that things went well at Purdue and you now travelling down a path that might lead to a desired resolution. I was curious after reading your follow up post so I did some QUICK research on holistic treatments (specifically acupuncture) for MMM. I ran across a couple of posts/articles that make me think it might be worth investigating further.

http://csuvets.colostate.edu/pain/Articlespdf/Acupuncture%20for%20Oral%20Problems.pdf

[URL="http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Holistic-Care-For-Pets/Masticatory-Myositis---URGENT/show/1102260"]http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Holistic-Care-For-Pets/Masticatory-Myositis---URGENT/show/1102260



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