Friday, January 4, 2008

Not off to a good start in 2008


I've talked about my Scotties before...
Tulie, 12; Emma, 10; and Harley 10. The day after Joseph arrived, we were just quietly talking when Tulie, who had been sleeping soundly, suddenly went into a seizure. After five days in the hospital and many, many tests, we had to let her go on Christmas Eve. The tests had shown that in addition to an enlarged heart, three vital organs were failing at the same time: kidneys, pancreas and liver. Of course, we knew she was slowing down and getting older, but we had no idea about the all the other issues.

Our Christmas was very subdued and no one feels much like doing anything since we lost her. Even the other pups are unusually quiet and just not acting as usual. After a few days, Harley was back to his old happy, carefree self but Emma continued to seem very depressed. Then we noticed she was losing weight and was refusing even roast beef. Emma never turns down a treat so we were sure, after nearly two weeks, it was more than depression.

So now our Emma has been in the hospital since yesterday. We're awaiting more blood test results and an ultrasound today. We've known she has Cushings disease since she was about 4, but it's been under control with Lysodren. When we took her in her temp was 105, very, very high. Initial blood work showed some imbalances in her readings and an indication of her kidneys not working.

It's very hard to wait and not know what's wrong with her. We pray whatever is causing her illness will be treatable with adjustments in her meds. And so I'm hoping later today we'll get some good news.

Obviously, the picture is an old one, but from the left is Emma, Harley, Hugo and Tulie. We lost Hugo three years ago (when he was only 8) to bladder cancer while our regular vet was in Argentina for the holidays, just as he was this year when Tulie passed.


1 comment:

Laura Lynn said...

Marlys I am SO sorry! I'm sending lots of good thoughts for you and your fur kids this year. LOVE the photo... they look adorable!