Monday, June 17, 2013

EKG

Last Friday, Benjamin and Luna took a trip to the vet to get some things checked out. Henry, even though he didn't have an appointment, went along for moral support.

Our biggest concern of late has been Luna's breathing. Since "unofficially" being diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension we have tried a few different medicines to help with Luna's labored breathing. However, things have not been going so well as of late, so we took Luna to the vet to have an EKG done so we can find out more about what is going on.

The EKG as it was explained to us sounded like a simple procedure. Four alligator clips would be attached to the loose skin by Luna's elbows and knees. Once the clips are attached, the machine will be able to monitor Luna's heart. Sounds easy enough. But, then they informed us that Luna would need to lay on her side for the test and that she would need to not be panting during the test. That was the real issue. With her labored breathing, Luna is pretty much always panting. After all, that is why we are coming to the vet! Luna has been panting more and more around the house and we knew that the excitement of going to the vet is sure to get Luna worked up.

Luckily, we found out this information the day before the appointment, so we had time to come up with a plan. We called the vet and asked if Luna could go into the room where the EKG would be performed as soon as we arrive. Skipping the waiting room, would spare Luna from interacting with the other dogs and the nervous excitement that comes with waiting. The other key to this plan would be that Benjamin and Henry would not accompany Luna into the EKG room. This would keep Luna away from all of their nervous energy. This plan sounded like a stretch, but we knew it was really our only hope of keeping Luna calm enough for the test.

Step 1 of the plan, whisking Luna away to her own private waiting room, worked so well that Benjamin and Henry were left sitting in the waiting room wondering what happened to Luna.

Surprisingly, our plan worked and Luna was able to lay on her side, without panting, and have the EKG done. She did such a wonderful job and I was so incredibly proud of her!

Now that the test is over, the hard part of waiting for the results begins. We should have the results later in the week and will let you know how things went.