Begging for P&PT for Maddie again (not doing well)
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majorsmommy
Boxer Buddy
I'm keeping you all in my prayers!
boxers4life2001
Boxer Insane
A quick update, I rescheduled our appt. at OSU. Instead of going tuesday, we are going thursday. I rescheduled it to make my boss happy, and ONLY rescheduled it because Maddie seems to be stable at this point. If I felt she couldn't wait the extra 2 days then I never would have rescheduled it regardless of what anyone would have said.
I rechecked her bloodwork on monday and was pleased to see that her PCV was up to 41%!!! On the other hand her glucose levels have been dropping dangerously low since last thursday. Her levels were doing so well, we were almost questioning the insulinoma diagnosis. Then come thursday they started to drop and we have not been able to get them to stay at good level. Unfortunately we had to put her back on the pred for this reason. I am scared to death because if the pred is indeed what caused the bleed, I'm afraid of it happening again. We have her on an even lower dose as of right now, we'll have to see how things go with her levels and see how and if she can tolerate it again. We almost lost her due to the bleed, so it's pretty scary but we don't have much of a choice right now. We repeated the test they use to diagnose an insulinoma and I devastated to see that her test came back much worse this time, her number more than double.
I should be trying to get some sleep before we leave for our trip to OSU but I'm too nervous to sleep. I'm afraid of what they might find but I know I need to take her so... We are leaving around 3:30am, our appt. is at 8:30am. It normally should take us a good solid 3 1/2 hours driving straight there however, since we got hit with a decent amount of snow, it will take us even longer to get there.
I will post an update sometime when we get back home.
I rechecked her bloodwork on monday and was pleased to see that her PCV was up to 41%!!! On the other hand her glucose levels have been dropping dangerously low since last thursday. Her levels were doing so well, we were almost questioning the insulinoma diagnosis. Then come thursday they started to drop and we have not been able to get them to stay at good level. Unfortunately we had to put her back on the pred for this reason. I am scared to death because if the pred is indeed what caused the bleed, I'm afraid of it happening again. We have her on an even lower dose as of right now, we'll have to see how things go with her levels and see how and if she can tolerate it again. We almost lost her due to the bleed, so it's pretty scary but we don't have much of a choice right now. We repeated the test they use to diagnose an insulinoma and I devastated to see that her test came back much worse this time, her number more than double.
I should be trying to get some sleep before we leave for our trip to OSU but I'm too nervous to sleep. I'm afraid of what they might find but I know I need to take her so... We are leaving around 3:30am, our appt. is at 8:30am. It normally should take us a good solid 3 1/2 hours driving straight there however, since we got hit with a decent amount of snow, it will take us even longer to get there.
I will post an update sometime when we get back home.
Austin's Mom
Boxer Insane
Good luck and be careful driving.
boxers4life2001
Boxer Insane
Update, Back from OSU!!!
Boy, what a trip!!!! We had horrible weather we had to drive in but nothing was going to stop me from getting my baby to OSU!!! A lot of the doctors there were surprised we made the drive (and actually made it there) with the weather being so bad. I'm a determined boxer mommy and some snow and ice were just an obstacle we had to go through to get there!!!
Anyway, I guess you can say we had a good visit. They too were a little perplexed with what is going on with Maddie and I left with no new or real answers. I guess I'm okay with that in a way. They did not find anything wrong with her heart. The EKG and echo were good. The only abnormal thing on the echo was some thickening on the wall on the left side, the cardiologist said this should not cause any problems or be anything to really worry about unless she were to live to be around 19y/o (oh God how I wish she would live that long.) She was sent home wearing a Holtor Monitor which I just removed about an hour ago. So, the Holtor results will determine if she gets a clean cardiac work-up or not. They felt pretty comfortable saying that her heart should not be causing her pale episodes. So this made me happy, especially since I lost Chance to a heart tumor. Now I anxiously wait for the Holtor results.
Internal Medicine did a work-upon her and did their own ultrasound. They found a small nodule on her spleen (which freaks me out by the way) but said it most likely is nothing to worry about. They said sometimes older dogs can/will develop these and they are pretty benign. They said sometimes they can form from some type off trauma which is interesting because when we did Maddie's exploratory for her insulinoma there was a small band of scar tissue around her left kidney and part of her spleen. At the time of the surgery, the doctor said she must have had some type of trauma to her side for that to happen. The only thing I could ever think of that could have caused that was there was this one time when our other boxer ran into Maddie so incredibly hard she knocked Maddie up and over (she landed hard, flat on her side) and I was surprised she didn't break a few ribs. However just the thought of there being a "nodule" on her spleen scares me regardless. They did not see anything else, her liver, pancreas, intestines, etc. all appeared fine. So they are leaning towards the bleed being caused by the pred also. However they feel it is very unusual for it to have happened on such a low dose and after she was on it for awhile already. They said they can't say for 100% that it wasn't caused by a tumor that they just can't see but are leaning towards it being the pred as of right now. They cannot explain or give us any answers as to why she has had the episodes of paleness either. They said it might be due to hypoglycemia due to the insulinoma but I disagree with that theory. I have checked her glucose level before during one of these episodes and it was fine. I think they were just grasping at straws to try to have a reason for it to be happening. The internist there did not really like that she had to go back on the pred since thats what might have caused the bleed but we really have no choice right now since her glucose levels started to decline when it was stopped. He said there is always a possibility of it happening again since she is so sensitive to it. He has us switching her to Prilosec instead of the Pepcid, he feels it does a much better job. He talked to us about her insulinoma and discussed the possibility of taking her back to surgery to try to find and remove it, but we already made the decision before not to put her through that again. He suggested changing her diet to W/D to see if that will help level out her glucose levels. On a down note, I asked the internist there about the life expectancy of a dog with an insulinoma. He said it is hard to say but "typically" it is 6-8 months, some dogs live longer, some not even that long. I was hoping he would say "oh, at least a year or more" but that was wishful thinking on my part. I pray that Maddie is part the "some live longer" group!!!!
So we did not leave with any new answers but I guess I'm okay with that. I was soooooo afraid they were going find something really bad and that did not happen. I know that does not mean we are in the clear, there is still that possibility of there being an undetectable tumor HOWEVER I am happy and relieved with yesterdays visit. The doctors there just kept saying how all these things going on with Maddie just don't add up or make sense, things didn't fit together. Leave it up to my girl to stump everybody, even the doctors at OSU!!!! For now we need to monitor her PCV to make sure it continues to stay up. They said to keep a close eye on her for any signs of another possible bleed and to take her in immediately if any doubt. So we are just going to try to take one day at time. Yes, I'm still worried and afraid (it was really scary seeing Maddie so close to possibly losing her fight) but I have to have faith that she is going to continue to recover from this and that this truly was caused by the pred.
Thanks a million for all the continued prayers and positive thoughts, it means the world to us!!!!!
Boy, what a trip!!!! We had horrible weather we had to drive in but nothing was going to stop me from getting my baby to OSU!!! A lot of the doctors there were surprised we made the drive (and actually made it there) with the weather being so bad. I'm a determined boxer mommy and some snow and ice were just an obstacle we had to go through to get there!!!
Anyway, I guess you can say we had a good visit. They too were a little perplexed with what is going on with Maddie and I left with no new or real answers. I guess I'm okay with that in a way. They did not find anything wrong with her heart. The EKG and echo were good. The only abnormal thing on the echo was some thickening on the wall on the left side, the cardiologist said this should not cause any problems or be anything to really worry about unless she were to live to be around 19y/o (oh God how I wish she would live that long.) She was sent home wearing a Holtor Monitor which I just removed about an hour ago. So, the Holtor results will determine if she gets a clean cardiac work-up or not. They felt pretty comfortable saying that her heart should not be causing her pale episodes. So this made me happy, especially since I lost Chance to a heart tumor. Now I anxiously wait for the Holtor results.
Internal Medicine did a work-upon her and did their own ultrasound. They found a small nodule on her spleen (which freaks me out by the way) but said it most likely is nothing to worry about. They said sometimes older dogs can/will develop these and they are pretty benign. They said sometimes they can form from some type off trauma which is interesting because when we did Maddie's exploratory for her insulinoma there was a small band of scar tissue around her left kidney and part of her spleen. At the time of the surgery, the doctor said she must have had some type of trauma to her side for that to happen. The only thing I could ever think of that could have caused that was there was this one time when our other boxer ran into Maddie so incredibly hard she knocked Maddie up and over (she landed hard, flat on her side) and I was surprised she didn't break a few ribs. However just the thought of there being a "nodule" on her spleen scares me regardless. They did not see anything else, her liver, pancreas, intestines, etc. all appeared fine. So they are leaning towards the bleed being caused by the pred also. However they feel it is very unusual for it to have happened on such a low dose and after she was on it for awhile already. They said they can't say for 100% that it wasn't caused by a tumor that they just can't see but are leaning towards it being the pred as of right now. They cannot explain or give us any answers as to why she has had the episodes of paleness either. They said it might be due to hypoglycemia due to the insulinoma but I disagree with that theory. I have checked her glucose level before during one of these episodes and it was fine. I think they were just grasping at straws to try to have a reason for it to be happening. The internist there did not really like that she had to go back on the pred since thats what might have caused the bleed but we really have no choice right now since her glucose levels started to decline when it was stopped. He said there is always a possibility of it happening again since she is so sensitive to it. He has us switching her to Prilosec instead of the Pepcid, he feels it does a much better job. He talked to us about her insulinoma and discussed the possibility of taking her back to surgery to try to find and remove it, but we already made the decision before not to put her through that again. He suggested changing her diet to W/D to see if that will help level out her glucose levels. On a down note, I asked the internist there about the life expectancy of a dog with an insulinoma. He said it is hard to say but "typically" it is 6-8 months, some dogs live longer, some not even that long. I was hoping he would say "oh, at least a year or more" but that was wishful thinking on my part. I pray that Maddie is part the "some live longer" group!!!!
So we did not leave with any new answers but I guess I'm okay with that. I was soooooo afraid they were going find something really bad and that did not happen. I know that does not mean we are in the clear, there is still that possibility of there being an undetectable tumor HOWEVER I am happy and relieved with yesterdays visit. The doctors there just kept saying how all these things going on with Maddie just don't add up or make sense, things didn't fit together. Leave it up to my girl to stump everybody, even the doctors at OSU!!!! For now we need to monitor her PCV to make sure it continues to stay up. They said to keep a close eye on her for any signs of another possible bleed and to take her in immediately if any doubt. So we are just going to try to take one day at time. Yes, I'm still worried and afraid (it was really scary seeing Maddie so close to possibly losing her fight) but I have to have faith that she is going to continue to recover from this and that this truly was caused by the pred.
Thanks a million for all the continued prayers and positive thoughts, it means the world to us!!!!!
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