Ike' story, up until now.
Mar. 4th, 2008 02:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
outsdrI had an appointment last night, and didn't get home until 7:30 p.m. I called the emergency phone number at that time, but no one answered, so I left a message. I hadn't gotten a call back by 8:30, so I called again, but there was still no answer.
At 9:00 p.m., I was getting ready to call again, when the vet finally returned my call. She apologized for missing my call earlier, and told me that Ike was doing about the same. The barium was passing through, which was good, because it meant there was not a total blockage. There had been two instances of arcing explosive bloody diarrhea while he had been there, but otherwise, there wasn't much new to tell me. She said that the barium would collect on any pieces of rawhide bone that might still be in his intestine, and that an x-ray in the morning would show this if there were. She asked me to call again in the morning after 9:00 a.m.
The worst thing was that she strongly hinted that she was hoping that surgery would not be necessary, because Ike wouldn't be strong enough to survive it. I thanked her, hung up the phone, and headed to bed.
I called the vet a few minutes after 9:00 a.m. this morning. She told me that Ike was feeling better and wasn't passing as much blood. She said the barium is actually very soothing, like a giant dose of pepto bismol. While the barium had passed through, it did collect in some spots in his intestines, which were most likely chunks of rawhide bone, so the x-rays were being sent to a radiologist to be reviewed.
The radiologist might say the pieces were small enough to pass through on their own, but the vet was thinking that she would probably need to go in surgically and remove them. She said she would call me in the afternoon when she get word back from the radiologist.
Luckily, I have just put in a lot of extra time at work, so my last paycheck had an extra $400 on it, and I have $300 in savings. If that doesn't cover the costs outright, hopefully it will be enough of an initial payment that they'll allow me to make payments on the rest of the balance. I don't have any idea how much it's all going to cost yet, of course, but it was starting to sound expensive.
Not that it matters to me.
She also said that he was doing better enough that he was a much better candidate for surgery, if it was necessary. So I guessed that the pancreatitis was starting to clear up, due to the lack of food and water.
The vet called back just a little over an hour later. The radiologist didn't think Ike had anything lodged in his intestines, and won't need surgery after all. However, his intestines have unusually thick linings. This could be either an inflammation or intestinal cancer, she said. The only way to know for sure is to biopsy his intestines. But, considering that he's not had problems like this before, the vet thinks it's unlikely that it's cancer, so she's going to treat the inflamation of his intestines with anti-biotics, a bland diet, and medicine to coat the intestines. He's going to stay there for probably a few more days before he can come home.
And that's how things are right now. I'm going to go visit him after work today. Hopefully, my dog can come home soon. But he won't be getting any rawhide any more.
At 9:00 p.m., I was getting ready to call again, when the vet finally returned my call. She apologized for missing my call earlier, and told me that Ike was doing about the same. The barium was passing through, which was good, because it meant there was not a total blockage. There had been two instances of arcing explosive bloody diarrhea while he had been there, but otherwise, there wasn't much new to tell me. She said that the barium would collect on any pieces of rawhide bone that might still be in his intestine, and that an x-ray in the morning would show this if there were. She asked me to call again in the morning after 9:00 a.m.
The worst thing was that she strongly hinted that she was hoping that surgery would not be necessary, because Ike wouldn't be strong enough to survive it. I thanked her, hung up the phone, and headed to bed.
I called the vet a few minutes after 9:00 a.m. this morning. She told me that Ike was feeling better and wasn't passing as much blood. She said the barium is actually very soothing, like a giant dose of pepto bismol. While the barium had passed through, it did collect in some spots in his intestines, which were most likely chunks of rawhide bone, so the x-rays were being sent to a radiologist to be reviewed.
The radiologist might say the pieces were small enough to pass through on their own, but the vet was thinking that she would probably need to go in surgically and remove them. She said she would call me in the afternoon when she get word back from the radiologist.
Luckily, I have just put in a lot of extra time at work, so my last paycheck had an extra $400 on it, and I have $300 in savings. If that doesn't cover the costs outright, hopefully it will be enough of an initial payment that they'll allow me to make payments on the rest of the balance. I don't have any idea how much it's all going to cost yet, of course, but it was starting to sound expensive.
Not that it matters to me.
She also said that he was doing better enough that he was a much better candidate for surgery, if it was necessary. So I guessed that the pancreatitis was starting to clear up, due to the lack of food and water.
The vet called back just a little over an hour later. The radiologist didn't think Ike had anything lodged in his intestines, and won't need surgery after all. However, his intestines have unusually thick linings. This could be either an inflammation or intestinal cancer, she said. The only way to know for sure is to biopsy his intestines. But, considering that he's not had problems like this before, the vet thinks it's unlikely that it's cancer, so she's going to treat the inflamation of his intestines with anti-biotics, a bland diet, and medicine to coat the intestines. He's going to stay there for probably a few more days before he can come home.
And that's how things are right now. I'm going to go visit him after work today. Hopefully, my dog can come home soon. But he won't be getting any rawhide any more.
Type your cut contents here.
