Some of you are a bit aware of this situation but I would like to update everyone. This is completely exhausting and energy consuming to only deal with the situation but to continually explain it to everyone around me. I just wanted to share all of this, just in case anyone has any advice, knowledge, etc. Please keep us in your prayers.
In the litter that I had this summer, one of the puppies has been diagnosed with a liver shunt. She is just 11 weeks old now. Let me start at the beginning so that I may be able to fill in any gaps in the story.
Ginger went to her new home last week, so they had not had her long. They also took 2 others from the litter (3 total). This weekend the family went to visit relatives in Louisville. On Sunday afternoon, I got a very disturbing phone call. After church, they had found Ginger laying lifeless and barely breathing. They rushed to her to regional hospital and the prognosis was not good. She was comatose, temp was 94, non responsive, she had just 1 seizure (I don’t think there was more than 1), not responding to dextrose, less than 10% chance of survival (and if so, high possibility of brain damage). The family (well the lady) called me so I could say “goodbye” to her over the phone (she was my favorite puppy). I was in shock and I just didn’t feel right about the entire situation and begged the family to wait it out a few hours, at least until the next morning. They declined for financial reasons (the hospital was charging 1300 for 24 hours of care). All the hospital had the capability of doing was to keep the puppy alive and hopefully stable but critical. They could run no tests because of it being a holiday weekend. I didn’t want to give up hope and IF there was a chance, I wanted to save her. My DH and I were 7-8 hours away at this time, so its not like we could just drive over to the hospital and assess the situation for ourselves. We decided to take the gamble and we took back Ginger and full responsibility of the entire situation. We immediately drove to KY, I dropped my DH off at home and I headed to Louisville with my 2 babies. If she had made no progress and was comatose and nonresponsive, I would then make the decision to say “goodbye” (that would give her around 10 hours of no progress).
When I finally got there, they said she had eaten 3cc from a syringe. Her glucose levels were not able to stay stable and they were continuously giving her dextrose with her fluids. She was VERY stimulated by my voice and touch and even struggled to stand up and stumbled around quite a bit. She even made her way to the front of her incubator and was trying to get out to get to me. This was activity that was completely new, so I definitely decided to not say “goodbye”. Her body temp was also at 98 at this time. They suspected a liver shunt.
I remember reading on here that Dr. Tobias at UT is a wonderful doctor and would probably be the best one in the country to address this issue. The vet warned me that she still did not see this puppy surviving and the care would be very expensive and it would be very emotionally draining on our family. I didn’t care, if I saw a chance, I was going to take it. The issue was Ginger was not stable enough to transport to Knoxville. She wasn’t even close to wear we live (she was 2 and a half hours away). So we discussed that we would maybe be able to move her closer at the least, or try to get an appointment at UT.
So I came home at 5am and read until my eyes could no longer stay open Monday morning. My husband awoke me with wonderful news. Ginger’s temp was normal and she was stable enough to transport, but still critical. He had worked out everything and the doctors at the hospital had been in contact with UT and they were allowing her to be admitted on an emergency basis. I just could not believe that everything was going to work out and that we would be able to get in UT so quickly! So I packed my bags, headed to Louisville and then transported her down to UT. I did stop halfway to syringe feed her and to give her a bit of dextrose but at one point, she was kind of limp so I panicked. I gave her more dextrose (I wasn’t for sure how much to give, so I was doing it in tiny amounts).
We arrived at UT and I have just been thrilled with everything so far. The students and doctors have been wonderful. She has made progress everyday (much more than what they originally imagined). Yesterday they completed a bile acid test (pre was 129 and post was 69 - I THINK those are the exact numbers) and based on those findings, they decided to skip the ultrasonography and go straight to the nuclear scintigraphy. They are positive that she has a liver shunt. The scintigraphy did not show the shunt as localized as they’d like.
Because of her size and age (11 weeks and right at 2lbs), they have elected to wait 4 weeks for her surgery. This will not only allow her to become a bit bigger and stronger but also to allow her to be on a LD diet and before the surgery they will perform those tests again, to see if the shunt is more localized.
We have been given the opportunity to bring her home tomorrow night, stay in a local hotel (in case of emergencies) and then bring her back to KY the following day if we are interested. They feel that the stress of the situation is not helping her and that if she was with me, she would possibly eat more on her own because right now she is strictly being syringe fed. Their goal the past day has been to get her to eat on her own and that has not been going well. She needs food every 2-3 hours because her glucose keeps dropping (they took her off her fluids to see how she would react). So I am aware that she will need around the clock care, literally. I will not be able to go anywhere without her. Right now they have her on Science Diet LD with a bit of baby food pureed together. I told them I preferred Royal Canin over SD but I don’t think RC has a canned version? Anyway, whatever works, works and I am not going to be picky about it. She will most likely just be eating the canned for the next month (unless I can get her to eat the dry but I doubt that at this point). Today they are also starting her on several oral meds (Lactulose, antibiotics and something else, I think) to see how she will react to those.
Obviously, this will be a toll on my family and our lives for the next who knows how long but we are willing to take this challenge on. I am very nervous because I do not want to lose her because of my ignorance. I would rather know too much information (which is not possible) than not enough. I also feel as though if I just vomit ALL of this on YT, there may be a few people who can share any information they have. I have learned a lot from browsing and doing searches. J
I have taken a few pictures and videos on my cell phone here and there when I have thought about it so I thought I would share these with you. I get SO happy when looking at these because she was a considered a dead puppy but not anymore! Sure, she is not completely out of the woods just yet, but we are skipping through the brush on our way to frolic through the meadow!
The pictures are of her Sunday night while in her incubator. This was the 1st time I saw her before she was responsive.
Ginger up and trying to walk a bit on Sunday night
Another video of her trying to walk on Sunday night
Ginger trying to get out of the incubator
She wanted Mommy to hold her.
Getting ready to head to UT.