Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Tummy Troubles

Right before Henry had his eye removed, he was experiencing some tummy troubles. He was throwing up a little bit and his poopies were not exactly normal as they had been throughout his life. At the time we chalked it up to the stress of his eye situation. After that, it was the stress of losing Benjamin, then Luna and so on. And since he didn't seem in otherwise poor health and sadly we were having "bigger fish to fry" with the medical needs of his siblings, these issues seemed like they would probably work out on their own.

Well, now almost 5 months later and firm poops still eluding him, we knew this issue needed some attention. We brought Henry for a "day trip" to the vet. This means he was dropped off for a battery of tests. Our vet had recommended a sonogram first. This would be compared to the sonogram we had right before Henry had his eye out to see if there had been any changes.

Changes indeed. :( First, the vet noticed, in his words, "a gigantic cyst on his kidney the size of a lime" and also a bulge in his small intestine (like if a snake ate an egg). Holy moly. Talk about not really prepared for this! So, the plan was to see what the doc could pull from the cyst with a needle and to also do a needle biopsy on his "gut" (again the vet's word---even though we do not prefer that expression). That is what we had him do. Henry was sedated for that part, of course. We discussed what we "wanted" to come from the cyst. First choice would be clear fluid. Next best would be syrupy stuff. Worst case would be bloody matter. We got almost our first choice. It was yellow but clear-ish (like pee). Now that is off to the lab for testing to see what is going on.

The results from the needle biopsies did not provide clear results that could help us make a diagnosis. So, on Thursday, we had a "punch biopsy of the gut" or a biopsy where they cut him open and removed a portion of his small intestine. A small piece of the cyst was also removed from his kidney and sent off for testing.

We are hoping for the better case scenario, of course, which would be IBD or Irritable Bowel Disorder. This is a chronic condition but is manageable. We do not, of course, want it to lead to a lymphoma type result. That would be worse case scenario. Henry does not act like a dog who has cancer. He has not lost weight (even during a low appetite grieving time) and he has only really perked up in attitude since his post grieving time. So, we are hopeful. And really all our eggs are clearly laid in the Henry basket these days, so while we may often be optimistic and trying to stay positive, this time it does truly feel more desperate in this case as the terror surrounding the possibility of losing him is beyond belief at this point.

So, Henry had a "day a the spa" but he'd argue that. He did a great job and even got a Certificate of Bravery for his good behavior while being poked and prodded. He was awake for the pre-sonogram shave and the actual sonogram itself. He was lightly sedated for the needle biopsy and fluid pull, though. That night he wasn't even as exhausted as the OBP people though! Now THAT'S a strong dog right there! Not a cancer dog!