Baby Girl Update

Happy Dogs on Thursday (Thorsday) / Thankful Thursday.  It's been a little while since I've done an update on Lola's autoimmune disease, so I thought today would be appropriate.


Lola (and Sophie peeking around) shortly after I got home Tuesday


We had a little scare when I got home from work on Tuesday and found her acting extremely mopey.  Thankfully, we had a check up at the vet that night.  Other than her being really down and not very active, I had noticed anything else in particular... until we got to the vet's office and were sitting in the waiting room.

That's when I noticed that the right side of her face/snout was quite swollen.  It seemed to bother her a tiny bit... until I (feeling bad for her) gave her a cookie and she bit down.  After that, she was in very obvious pain and would shake her head if you tried to touch it.  I was able to see her gums and realized they were indeed swollen.  

Fortunately, my baby girl was very distracted during our time in the waiting room.... especially by this talking box! 



Lola wants to play with the "talking box"


That box contained the most vocal cat I've ever seen.  He was a fat little guy who meowed and meowed the entire time.  I wish I got a picture snapped when he was facing Lola.  She really wanted to play with him and was doing all those cute sideways/tilted head moves. 

Once we got in to see our awesome vet, things began sounding a little bleak.  Lola lost another 3.5 pounds of muscle mass from being on the prednisone and she really is looking a bit weak because of it.  When we pointed out the face/gum issue, Dr C was quite concerned.  It was a good thing that we had just noticed this swelling, however since we weren't sure what it was, our vet had to tell us that it could possibly be a tumor or something else going on in conjunction with the autoimmune disease we are treating.  She wasn't able to rule out anything at that time, and flat out said she was very concerned.  She stated it could be the result of a brain or nose tumor, talked about possibly having to go for an MRI, and of course, that we may have to consider a conversation about quality of life sooner than we would like.  --insert panic, and Mama having all she could do to hold back tears--  Of course, it could also just be an abscess that has absolutely nothing to do with the autoimmune thing... but because of Lola's rare diagnosis and everything going on, she really had to share all possibilities.

Lola was sent home with a pretty blue antibiotic (one that Dr. C says she loves for any nose/gum/throat issues), some pain meds and a decreased prednisone dosage of 15mg a day (which meant we're giving her 3/4 of a pill twice a day now... do you know what a pain it is to cut pills into 3/4?).  My poor baby girl was even more mopey and immediately curled up with a blanket on the couch.

Not feeling well...

I was a bit worried, indeed, but cautiously optimistic.  After being home for a few hours, it dawned on me that Lola had broken a large chunk of a marrow bone off on Sunday.  When I noticed it had a sharp pointy piece, I had tossed it.  Could she have possible pierced her gums with it?  I'd never hoped for an infection so badly before...

I woke up Wednesay morning, relived and nearly doing a happy dance.  The swollen had all but disappeared and my baby girl was more alert and upbeat!  When I got home from work last night, she was wagging her tail and feeling even better!  I was able to take a look at her gums and sure enough, there was a bit of puss coming out from the spot... eureka, we have an infection and the antibiotic is doing it's job! 

She's nearly back to her good 'ole self this morning, except for all that muscle mass she's lost on the prednisone.  It's a little scary to see her looking so boney, but the vet assures me this is a normal side effect. 

Thank you all for the continued good vibes... keep 'em coming!