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Wednesday, June 1, 2011
In addition to her nose job, Luna also got a haircut last week.
They shaved a big spot on her back so they could inject dye for her CT Scan.
Overall, Luna is doing very well since her surgery. Her breathing is noticeably better. I am really surprised how much she already appears to have benefited from the breathing surgery.
Her shaky legs and troublesome neck appear to be about the same. It is hard to tell if the medicine is making much of a difference at this point. But, we are keeping a close eye on her so that we have lots to report to the neurologist when Luna goes back in a few weeks for her checkup.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Luna came through her breathing surgery with flying colors. The vet called and gave us an update at 5pm and told us that Luna was out of surgery and awake and looking around. She was alert and seemed to be in good spirits. Her only issue is that she had a noisy neighbor 
During her breathing surgery they shortened her soft palate, widened her nostrils and removed her saccules.
We also received the results of her CAT Scan. The test revealed that Luna has a prolapsed disc in her neck and two prolapsed discs in back. Surgery is not recommended at this time and we meet with the neurologist tomorrow afternoon when we pickup Luna to go over a treatment plan. I'm not sure what the plan is going to be, but I sure do not want it to be 6 weeks of keeping Luna still. To me, that doesn't seem like a feasible option.
I will let you know more after we pickup Luna. I sure can't wait to have the little girl back home with us!
Monday, May 23, 2011
As you open today’s OBP news, you may be asking, "Why is Luna in the Solsey pouch?!" Well, it is a long story, so readers, brace yourselves.
This photo was taken on the same day that Benny was in the Solsey Mobile. Last Monday night Benjamin dislocated his shoulder and we went to the emergency vet that night. Well, Tuesday was a pre-planned visit for Luna to go to AVS (Affiliated Veterinary Specialists) in Maitland about 50 miles from our home.
Luna has been in need of what they affectionately call the “nose package” which is the same surgery that Benjamin had done about a year or so ago. It is when they remove some soft tissue from the back of the throat, widen the nasal passages, and remove the air satchels all in the efforts to assist with breathing and respiratory challenges.
Additionally, over the last year, we have been noticing some other small but recently increasing concerns with Luna’s gait. During breaks on walks (like while waiting for her brothers to go potty) she stands still but her rear leg or legs will tremble. She is no longer confident jumping up on the sofa or bed and she has simply just fallen over for no apparent reason twice.
When her legs first started to twitch or shake we didn’t really think much of it. In the beginning, as it would usually happen towards the end of long walks we figured she was just tired (like a marathon runner whose legs are like cooked spaghetti noodles at the end of a race). Since she has to take about 3-4 steps for every human step and a step or 2 for each of her brothers then her pace was always quicker in relation to her body size.
Well, when we realized that Luna was hesitant to eat we knew there was a major issue. We sort of put the whole thing together when offering her food closer to her face she would gobble it down as usual. Luna was apparently hurting so badly when bending her neck to get to her food dish that she would just rather not eat than to have to put herself in that position to eat.
So, we took her to our usual vet and he put her on an anti-inflammatory medication in order to see if that would help by reduce any back/neck swelling. It is also a pain reducer (its like doggy Tylenol). This was a 2 week dose. And while it helped some, it did not work considerably well.
Over time, we worked on managing the problem in other ways, too. We created a raised food dish for her so that she doesn’t have to bend over so far to eat. That has seemed to help tremendously in the area of eating. We shortened her walks so that the condition wouldn’t continue to be exacerbated. And when all of these things were not correcting the problem sufficiently, we took her back to our vet who recommended x-rays and warned that while that was a good start, a CT scan and/or MRI would likely be necessary to see what the problem was truly.
So, you can fast forward (or rewind-depending on how you look at it) to Tuesday. Tuesday was the day that she had the appointment with the specialist to decide how to move forward with the nose package and the neck/back issues. The appointment was for 10 AM. This means leaving the house around 8:30 AM (and Luna had to fast for this appointment since at the specialist’s office they never know if they will have to sedate the patients to do testing). So, out we went.
We got to the specialist’s office and the internal medicine doctor consulted with the neurologist. X-rays were performed on a mildly sedated Luna. They showed a "lesion" on her vertebrae in her neck. We were reassured that it was not a tumor or cancer but more like an area of swelling or a slipped disc.
In discussing the options for treating Luna, between us, the specialists and our own vet, we are all on the same page with the upcoming events. That is: today, Luna will go under the knife to get her nose package done. While under, they will perform the CT scan. If the CT scan shows something that needs to be surgically repaired, then they will do that surgery tomorrow. The specialists shared that two short episodes of anesthesia is better than one long episode. And hopefully, she will not need the second go ‘round. Hopefully, whatever the CT scan shows will be able to be treated some other way.
So, getting back to why is Luna in the Solsey pouch? Well, the specialists tell us to keep her "on bed rest" for 6 weeks (regardless of surgery or not but if neurosurgery could be even longer). This is no small feat! She is a wiggly, feisty, willful little alpha female pug that won’t be stopped! So, we are doing our darnedest to keep her still. This is why last night we took Benny out in the Solsey Mobile and Luna out in the Solsey pouch. Henry actually had to walk. Benny is on rest until the end of the week and Luna for 6 weeks.
We are definitely not sure how exactly we will accomplish all of this but we will make it work. Somehow we always do. And somehow the pugs always get with the program, too.
So, we will keep you posted with the details of today's surgery and what the C/T scan reveals about Luna's back.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
I am very happy to report that Benny's tail was back in its regularly curled position yesterday. After a great night's sleep and a very restful day, Benny was feeling much better. He still has some soreness, but overall he is doing much better. Now, the tricky part is keeping him still until Sunday. The vet's orders was to restrict his activity until next week. That means no walks, no running, no jumping and not too much milling around the house. The better he feels, the harder it is to keep him quiet. But, I much rather have the problem of trying to keep him still than to see his little tail uncurled.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Benny Update: Sorry for the delay in getting a Benny update posted. We took Benny in to see our normal vet today and get another check on his shoulder. The good news is that everything looks good. Our regular vet had a look at Benny's x-rays and said his bones look strong and joints look great. His shoulder popping out of place was more than likely just a fluke.
Other than his trip to the vet, Benny mainly rested. While his shoulder is back in place, he is still very sore. He has a little bit of limp, but mainly he is just tired and groggy. The hardest part for me is seeing his tail uncurled. It just breaks my heart.
For the next 5 days we need to restrict his activity. Which, so far, hasn't been that hard. He has been happy resting on his pile of pillows. Hopefully, tomorrow he will be a bit less sore.
Thanks for all your support! We appreciate all your kind wishes for Benny!
Last night on our walk, Benny dislocated his shoulder. How he did it we are not exactly sure. He was walking out of the grass to the sidewalk and the next thing we know his arm is at a 90 degree angle to his body. He was howling in pain and we got him to the emergency vet as quickly as possible.
When we arrived at the emergency vet, he got a rush of adrenaline and managed to pop his shoulder back in place. This made things better, but he was still pretty uncomfortable. He was pretty restless in the evening as well.
I will keep you updated as best I can.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Luna had an eye checkup yesterday and received a very good report. Her eyes are holding steady, which for Luna is great news. The tear production in her bad eye was even up a bit from her last visit.
Not only did she get a great report, but she was a really good girl at her appointment. She got to meet a few dogs and she was a very good girl while having her eyes examined.
After the long car ride there, the excitement of the visit and then the long car ride back home, as soon as we got home, Luna plopped down in her puff pillow and sawed logs for the rest of the afternoon.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
On Tuesday, Luna had her purple stitches removed from her ear and her elbow. She did such a good job sitting still while they removed her stitches. She really is a very good girl at the vet.
It looks like everything healed up nicely. The area on her ear, where they scraped one of the tumors out, is a big scab, but they said that is to be expected and it is looking good.
The only bad news of the visit for Luna is that she is now allowed to get wet again! She was really liking that 14 day bath embargo due to her stitches.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Yesterday, we received the results of Luna's pathology tests. Unfortunately, all 3 tumors were cancerous. The bright side is that our vet got clean margins on all 3 tumor removals. The two tumors removed from Luna's ear came back as a Grade I's. The lowest grad you can get. The tumor on Luna's elbow came back as a Grade II.
Since the vet got clean margins, no further treatment is recommended. We just have to be very diligent about checking for any new bumps and getting them tested right away.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
When we took Luna in for her surgery on Tuesday, it was happenstance that we marked all her spots in purple washable marker. We thought purple would show up the best on her fur and we really wanted the spots we marked to stick out. On a side note, coloring on a dog isn't really that easy. But, it did make me feel like a mischievous toddler.
When we picked Luna up from the vet, she had purple stitches and the vet let us know that they picked purple to specifically match her spots.
There has been a lot of purple power this week and I hope it is a sign the Baltimore Ravens are going to win their next playoff game. I know they do purple Fridays in Baltimore, but Luna took it one step further and got purple stitches to support the team.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
First, I want to start off by thanking everyone for the well wishes and positive thoughts. It means a lot and is very helpful when trying to get through stressful days like yesterday.
Luna has been doing very well since coming home yesterday evening. As soon as she got some dinner she was ready to snooze. She was happy to snuggle on the couch with us, but when we went to bed, she got super excited. She couldn't wait to get up on the big bed and do some serious snoozing. About 1 minute after I put her on the bed she was sawing logs.
I haven't had a chance to get pictures of her stitches. I know she has 6 stitches in her ear, but I'm not sure how many she has on her elbow. When I normally pet Luna, I usually give her a scratch behind her ear, so I have to be really careful not to fall into old habits and pet her stitched up ear.
She doesn't seem to be in much pain, although she is on a pain med for the next few days. Today, she seems very content to sleep, so that is what we are going to let her do.
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