Maple and her unexpected crisis

(and an angel story)

We had a hard last 10 days with Maple and I want to share our story, in case it saves another dog! She got very sick from an infection called Blasto - she will be ok but she did lose partial vision in her right eye from it and was so sick we almost lost her. It was a horrible time!

Blasto is an airborne fungus found in the soil that they inhale when digging. It is VERY rare in Michigan! So the vet didn't even know what it was initially. Maple had an open wound appear on her back, was very lethargic for several days (I thought she was being moody over the puppy!) and her back leg swelled up - all of it - not just the ankle. The vet initially treated her for a likely venomous spider bite. But that night, several more spots appeared all over her body - sores all over!

Her second night of treatment

In a few days, hoping to give the antibiotics for the spider bite a chance to heal her, the TC vet suggested we rush her to the ER to be seen by an infectious specialist in Grand Rapids. By that time, she was very ill and we were told we might lose her. It was astonishing and so out of nowhere!

By this time, we were in Gulf Shores, and Tim's father rushed her to GR (we told him to keep it under 100 mph, but he said no promises!). There, they thought it might be lymphoma (cancer) or Blasto, this rare infection. Neither were what we wanted to hear and he prepared us for the worst.

They did a biopsy and found the infection in her lymph nodes (and no cancer). The good news is that the Blasto test results takes days, which we didn't have - and the biopsy catching it in her lymph nodes bought time for her! (They usually have it in their lungs, which is how it kills them with respiratory issues.) The specialist at BluePearl started the treatment for Blasto immediately.

But Maple was quite ill at this point - and the thing is - the treatment kills the organisms in her but then her body has to flush them out - a dangerous balancing act. The vet said they had to go fast enough to save her but slow enough not to overwhelm her system.

The doc said the first 48 hours were critical and would make her extremely sick.