Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Getting Back in the Swing of Things

Wow! So my intention to update the blog last week with pictures of all the fun the pugs were having with G-Ma & G-Pa didn't work out at all. That's not to say the pugs didn't have fun with G-Ma & G-Pa. They had a blast, but Solsey had a very rough week that at one point had us thinking she would not be here to celebrate Christmas or her Gotcha day with us.

I'm not really even sure where to start. There were so many ups and downs and twists and turns last week, that I decided to hold off updating everyone. Plus, I didn't want everyone to worry and I didn't really have much free time to stay on top of blog updates.

On Friday (12/18), I called our vet to give him an update on how Sol was doing on her new meds to help with her cough. Sadly, she was not doing any better at all. This prompted our vet to ask us to come in on Tuesday to do a scope of her throat. Our vet wanted to check around to make sure there were no growths. This was a logical next step considering Sol's history of oral cancer.

In the days leading up to her scope appointment, Sol's coughing became constant. She was alert, hungry and acting like her normal self, but she was coughing with every breath. She wasn't sleeping through the night and neither were we.

When we arrived at the vet's office, he was surprised at how much she was coughing. To help alleviate the cough, he gave her a shot which sedated her. In a matter of minutes I had a sleepy puppy in my lap that for the first time in a long time was not coughing.

Our vet performed the scope and called us to discuss his findings. He found no tumors in her throat, but another chest x-ray revealed that Sol's trachea was fully collapsed. Looking at that x-ray was the hardest thing. We had seen other x-rays that showed a narrow trachea, but this x-ray really hit home how severe the collapse has been.

While doing the scope, the vet said that Sol had a lot of mucus in her airways. The mucus was very cellular and because of that and Sol's history it was sent out for testing.

Then the vet did something that really made me nervous. He suggested that we take Sol to AVS in Maitland (veterinary specialists in our area) and that we do it on Wednesday. He even called and made the appointment for us. Never before had my vet pushed to get a test or an exam done so quickly. The holidays were throwing a real wrinkle into making sure we got Sol taken care of.

Sol was tired and groggy when we brought her home from the vet on Tuesday. But her sleepiness helped her remain calm and not cough. However, around midnight things changed and one of the worst nights began. Sol started a coughing fit that went on for hours. We had a pill that we could use to sedate her if a fit started, but it did not work. There was nothing we could do to help settle the little girl. At around 3 AM we were thinking a trip to the emergency vet was in order. At this point, we were afraid that their only suggested treatment to us was going to be to put Sol down. We certainly weren't ready for this, but we knew that Sol could not go on with the chronic coughing.

The appointment with the specialist kept weighing on us and we really wanted to hear what the specialists had to say about Sol's condition. After a few more panicked hours Sol finally settled. We settled shortly after that and about a half hour after that the alarm went off and we started on our way to Maitland for our 8 AM appointment.

Sol couldn't eat before her appointment, but she was one hungry little pug in the morning. She was coughing a lot, but she was also zipping in and out from the yard to try and get breakfast. For having such a serious condition she had so much spunk. It was breaking my heart, because a large part of me thought that we would not be bringing Sol back home with us and the last thing I wanted was her not to get breakfast.

In the waiting room, we clung to her like it was our final moments with her. After our consultation, the specialists wanted to do a full scope on Sol. This is similar to the scope that our regular vet did, but would be able to go much farther than her first scope.

The main reason for doing the scope is to find exactly where Sol's collapse was happening. This is very important as it determines treatment options. Basically, there are three points of failure. The larynx area, the middle section of the trachea and the section of the trachea were it splits to the lungs. If the issues were with the larynx or the part of the trachea where it branches to the lungs then Sol would not be a candidate for surgery and the condition would be considered terminal. In some cases in can be managed for a bit with medicine, but the condition is still terminal.

We nervously agreed to have the scope done because we thought knowing exactly where the collapse was happening would be beneficial.

The scope revealed that Sol's collapse was not only happening throughout her trachea, but also at the section where it splits to her lungs. This means that she is not a candidate for a stint and that our only option is to try and manage things with medicine. So far, we have not been very successful in managing things with meds, but the specialist got us started on a new course of meds designed to help suppress the cough and get rid of the excess mucus that is giving Sol a hard time.

Our hope is that the mucus is exacerbating the collapse and that if we get that cleared up we will be able to manage the collapse for a bit with medicine. Ultimately, the condition is terminal and we will need to keep reevaluating Sol's quality of life to make sure she is comfortable and not struggling too much to breathe.

The antibiotic treatment will be completed this Friday and we will head back to our vet next week for a re-check. At this point, we have noticed a huge improvement from our panicked night last week, however, I'm not sure it is enough to say that Sol has a good quality of life right now. But the good news is that the specialists warned us that we would not notice much improvement at all until 7 - 10 days and we have not hit that mark yet.

We will have to cross that bridge when we come to it, but right now we are doing everything we can to make sure Sol is enjoying life. Sunday night, she went for a walk in her pouch and didn't cough a single time. And last night we took a little car ride and she smelled around while the Benjamin, Henry & Luna ran around the tennis courts. She didn't cough very much at all while we were out and she was so very happy to look at all the site while we drove around.

We are taking it day by day and moment by moment right now. Doing all that we possibly can and doing our best to do what is best for Solsey.