It's been a rough weekend. Started out on Friday: Tinkerbell had an appointment for an Ultrasound to verify a Liver Shunt, at her regular vet, using a mobile unit and tech (so I have my doubts). But we'll see.
So early we rise, and the caregiver for my daughter calls out with car trouble, while I was bathing Tink
. So I have a dripping, hyperdog, and a person I have to get ready for the bus to go to daycare, 45 minutes drive time, and I can't leave till the bus comes. Kick in Sonic speed. All done, but we're now late.
So I called the vet, to be sure we could still be seen... they said no problem.
So off we go.
We missed all the traffic
due to our delayed departure, so we made fairly good time without breaking any laws. We open the door to the vet's office and I peek in, only to see a cute Yorkie pup. Tink's in love and pulls to go see him. After some quick licks and continuous tail wags, we get signed in, jokingly asked 'Can I watch?", and find a seat. Short lived.... out for a potty break.
Back in, I decide to weigh her... Hmmmm... 13.5 pounds.... one pound up from last time.... good. Take a seat again. A man comes out from the exam rooms area with a very large dog and a pug. Tink and the Pug exchange sniffs and tail wags, then growls and a fight starts, but is stopped immediately by my unconscious clean and jerk reaction on the leash, and she's at my feet once more. The man was very nice, and couldn't stop apologizing! How refreshing was that! Of course I apologized too. Stuff just happens sometimes. Then the pug started this howling thing... so funny... everyone was laughing at him.
In the meantime, a few techs come out into the waiting room and call out the owners names for their appointments. Then my name is called. O Boy. Here we go through the doorway and down the long hallway. I don't remember this hallway being this long.... back to reality... the tech is leading us in the back (
) around to a surgical suite (Oh my... looking like I'm going to get to see this! O Boy, O Boy, O Boy... I think. Me and my mouth... do I really want to see this? Too late now, I'm in there.)
So, the tech turns and introduces herself, she is Andi, and blah, blah , blah, (my brain went numb) is going to do the ultrasound. Okay. So I hoist Tink onto the table into a V-shaped cradle, head towards the door. To my surprise, she's being good. Tries to get up, but really can't move, so she decides to lay there, looking at me, while Andi is turning on the unit and getting ready to start. She slips two ties around Tinks hind legs to help hold her in the cradle. Then she explains she's going to clip some fur on Tink's tummy (had been previously shaved but grew out about an inch since I did it last), I say no problem, whatever you need to do is fine with me.... and then coats her tummy with the lube so the probe can slide around. O Boy.
Tink was being so good, Andi was able to do the whole abdomen, (found stones in the kidneys), till she got to the liver, bc she had to get the probe kinda up and under Tink's ribcage. Tink wasn't bad, but she would tense up, which I guess screws up the imaging. So my vet comes in and asks if sedation was necessary? Andi says well, she was being good till you walked in here! Ha! But decided to knock her out just a tad, so my vet injected a bit of Valium into a hind leg.... just enough to make Tink a little woozie, and he put her on a monitor, and had another tech come in to help hold her. Actually, he wanted me to stand back and let the tech do the holding (insurance regulations, I think) but Andi insisted I stay where I was, that Tink was okay. So, onto the liver.
It didn't take long, with the sedation, and we were seeing the liver with 3 tube looking things coming off it. Andi was flipping a switch, which made pretty colors come up on the screen (what do I know). This was the doppler, the thing that shows the blood flow. Hmmmm. Andi explained the tube at the top was the Caudal Vena Cava, the second, or middle tube was the Portal vein, and the third tube at the bottom was a shunt! Oh no! She went on to explain that the blood flow was confusing.... so I'll have to wait for her report.....
Waiting, waiting, waiting.....
Poopie on this... calling the vet now!