Rough Day
Well, we won’t know the results of the biopsy for a week, but the vet said that Nigel’s liver enzymes had improved quite a bit since his last bloodwork on Friday. He’s to continue on antibiotics for another cycle, while we await the labwork.
Thus, it looks as if Cushing’s is probably not what’s going on (assuming he continues to improve), and that his heart is not of any more concern than it’s been for the past year. The distended stomach we saw on his X-ray last week was presumably either from systemic irritation or, possibly, the mass in his liver that they found on the ultrasound. The vet sounded upbeat about that, even, saying that they had to biopsy it to be sure, but that there was a fairly good chance it would be benign. (I’m trying not to think about the possibility that he just didn’t want me to have hysterics in reception before there was any hard evidence that it was hepatitis, or some other liver problem.)
Better safe than sorry, I know. It’s just been a difficult day — for Nigel, for obvious reasons, and for me because I worried about him all day. He’s still not entirely happy, because the biopsy site seems sore. I’ll have to check whether I can give him half an aspirin with his antibiotics. (He also didn’t eat all day, until he got home. The vet tech said he refused the food I brought for him, which I suppose means he was pretty keyed up. For that matter, though, I didn’t feel much like eating, either, so I guess I can understand.)
Apologies for the inelegant writing tonight. It’s only just past 7:00, and I am so exhausted I could go to sleep right now.
I’m sending my best wishes for you and Nigel. I certainly feel ya. I spend New Year’s Eve at the emergency vet (these things always happen in my house on weekends, nights, or holidays) and have been worrying over Andy the Greyhound ever since. I picked him up yesterday and my head is a whirl of medicines, test results, bills, special foods (no more V-dog for him, either), etc. At least he’s feeling better but after all that we still don’t really know what’s wrong w/ him. (He must have sensed I was writing about him because he just came over and laid his head on my lap.) My own sensitive tum is slowly untwisting from the knots of worry I get whenever one of my babies is sick. Good luck to you.
January 4th, 2008 | #
Oh, man — I’m so sorry! I’m glad that Andy’s doing better (that’s the only really important thing), but to go through all that and not know what happened, or how to prevent it from happening again in the future, is just awful. And for him to have had to stay at the vet’s while all this is going on . . . I don’t know that I would’ve held it together as well as you have. It’s scary not knowing what’s going on with them, and not being able to explain to them why you’re leaving them with people who do uncomfortable things to them, and how it’s all meant to get them better.
Thanks for the good wishes, and consider the same sent to you and yours. I’ll keep a good thought for Andy’s continued improvement — and take care of yourself, too.
January 4th, 2008 | #
Thanks for your good thoughts for me and Andy. I think Mummy & Daddy were (almost) as bad off as Andy through this whole event; the trip to the emergency vet was reminiscent of previous such trips that didn’t end well, but I tried to put that out of my mind and concentrate on what was happening w/ Andy. I tried to be brave but as always I ended up crying. Saying goodbye to Andy and leaving him there was the hardest, wondering if he knew we’d be back for him.
Right now he’s on a couple of antibiotics and the ID food for sensitive tum dogs. That stuff looks even less appetizing than regular commerical food, but thankfully he’s eating it. He’s likely going to have to stay on that or something like it. He had extensive bloodwork done and I guess nothing spectacular showed up because none of the vets mentioned anything that would explain his problem. Next (if his tum doesn’t straighten up) may be cultures (same deal for my cat Coco; I’m not looking foward to bringing THAT sample in!)
Andy was dehydrated and received lots of fluids. Thankfully he still seems to be doing well; he’s not lethargic or depressed and he’s eating and drinking well. I’m still somewhat nervous, though, since I can’t monitor him like they were doing at the vet. He kept getting a temp which is why he had to stay over for a couple of nights.
I don’t know how you and my brother who have only one dog can stand it when something happens to them. The only thing that gets me through is love of my other animals. Even w/ my houseful, there was a huge void when Andy was away.
January 5th, 2008 | #