[LaviniaHyacynth]

Hi Everybody, I decided to keep writing in the hopes that I can, at the very least, help someone else out there that might be struggling with this alone. Liver Shunt is a sad journey....especially if your dog, like Vivi, has an inoperable situation. It seems that every time I think we are heading in a positive direction something else comes along and sets us back. Yesterday I wrote that Vivi had a great day and she did...she seemed so energetic and happy.Today she is crouched in her bed and sleeping fitfully.I have given her pain meds and they make her very drowsy so all she can do is sleep. I have learned so much about how the liver works and part of my helping Vivi has been balancing her diet. This is a shot in the dark. It is a day in and day out struggle to provide her with enough protein to keep her going but not enough to cause neurological symptoms like head pressing and circling. Lactolose helps with this but sometimes things get out of balance. Too little protein and her albumin level will drop and she will develop ascites which is a liquid build up in her body that can cause organ failure if not controlled. Last night due to the fact that she had a great day and was finally hungry I reintroduced protein to her diet....a neccesity to keep the albumin count up. She woke up this morning in a fog and didn't want to eat and has been shaking all day....tremors are another neurological sign that I look out for. So we took 3 steps forward and 2 steps back. It is so frustrating to know that this will not end well....she is not going to get over this. I want to help her with all my heart and soul but I keep hitting a brick wall. To all of you that are experiencing this You know what I mean. Today I returned to feeding her baby food with a syringe and if the tremors continue I will give her a teeny tiny bit of valluim to stop them. Once again a risk due to the pain meds so we always give her far below the dosage to see how much she can tolerate and still help the situation. This is a 24 hour job and one that all of us would gladly take on to save our babies. I have and will continue to care for Vivi until the bad days take over the good ones. I do not want her to suffer. She has been such a fighter and when her will is gone...it will be time to say goodbye. I hope that is a long time off but at this point I just don't know....we are in medical la la land because she has defied all the clinical studies and by definition should not have lived this long. I hope her story will shed some light on this horrible disease.