Monday, November 24, 2014

Zeus Update - Continued Power of the Paw Request

Excuse the lack of update post since Thursday, but if we're friends on Facebook, then you already know a lot of what we've been dealing with since then.  For everyone else, here's the cliff notes...

Zeus was supposed to go in to see Dr. C on Thursday afternoon, however she noticed he was on the schedule for what I had thought were mega esophagus issues and called to have us come in earlier.  She felt as though Zeus was actually vomiting all night long on Wednesday, and not regurgitating from his mega-e. 

Waiting to see Dr C... He had a really bad night with his #megaesophagus We could use some good vibes! #dogstagram #seniordog #ilovemyseniordog

They gave my boy fluids, as well as anti-nausea and Pepcid injections.  After I got him home, I went back to work for a few hours hoping he would settle down.  But when I returned home, he was still dry heaving and clearly not feeling well.  After calling Dr. C, she made me realize that the best place for Zeus to spend Thursday evening was at the 24/7 emergency vet where he could get fluids by IV and be monitored overnight.  Much to my crazy-protective-Mama habits of never wanting my kids to be away from me (some of you may remember way back when Zeus had his TPLO surgery and we elected to bring a 130 pound groggy boy home that night), I agreed.
2014-11-22_09-07-34

The staff at the 24/7 vet is wonderful as well.  We had been there twice before with Lola (although not for any overnights) and already knew how much we loved them.  The Dr. was wonderful with Zeus and straight away she had thought he was now coughing and not "wretching."  They hooked him up to IV fluids and gave another anti-nausea injection, and the plan was for abdominal x-rays overnight if he began to vomit at all. 

Dr. C thought that we'd get a good night's sleep with Zeus in good hands, but boy was she wrong - I tossed and turned all night, making for 2 sleepless nights in a row.  The 24/7 called us at 7:00am Friday, as planned, and informed me that while she did not see any vomiting, he did develop quite a cough overnight.  She was pretty confident he had aspiration pneumonia again and they gave him an early morning injection of antibiotics.  We picked Zeus up shortly after that, and scheduled an 11:00am appointment with Dr. C for chest x-rays and further diagnosis...

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Aspiration pneumonia was confirmed, but thankfully his chest x-ray did not look as bad as the first time we battled this back in August (after his vestibular disease).  The reason for Wednesday's vomiting was not found in any of his blood work, which all came back normal (elevated liver levels, of course, but we've been watching those for years), and his pancreatic test was negative.  Dr. C opted to start Zeus on 2 antibiotics, and back home we went.

The happiest sick dog you'll ever meet... He spent the night at the 24/7 vet for fluids & observation. Not we're at our vet... Confirmed he has aspiration pneumonia again. Please continue to send good healing vibes... #dogstagram #instadog #seniordog #ilo

He spent the rest of Friday resting, and ate a few very small meals (although he was clearly asking for more food).  Saturday was pretty uneventful... lots of sleeping, he ate well but did have one very small regurgitation after a big drink of water.  Yesterday it was rather unseasonably warm outside, so he got to spend some time lounging on the back porch.  There was a lot of sleeping, but also a bit more coughing than on Saturday.  I'm hoping that's just the "productive cough," as Dr. C calls it, getting all the junk out of his lungs. 

This morning he was coughing, and he did spit up a few kibbles overnight.  I'm hoping that was just a little regurgitation and we're not slipping back to the vomiting.  We're all a little tired and our wallet is pretty empty, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  Please keep the good vibes coming... we could really use them right now!

9 comments:

Sue said...

I choose to see good news in the blood work and xrays. It's so hard to go thru this with them. I'm thinking of you and hoping for improvement.

The Ladies of Beaglebratz Manor said...

Mom Kim here - yes, test results are good and can't beat a good vet who knows how to read them right. We also are keeping up the POTP, prayers and healing vibes for Zeus,

Brian's Home Blog said...

We sure hope the all best finds dear Zeus really quickly.

Marjie said...

Poor baby! It's wonderful to have a great 24/7 clinic around. Continued best wishes for Zeus.

tubby3pug said...

We love you Zeus and are thinking of you

retro rover

Golden Daily Scoop said...

Poor Zeus and mom, thinking of you guys!!

Murphy said...

We added Zeus to our POTP page. If you would like us to put a photo with it please send us one to cecampbell@msn.com.

Your Pals,

Murphy & Stanley

Ruby said...

Oh poor sweetie!!! I'm with Sue, the good blood work is a very good thing, and I have my paws crossed REAL tight that he gets all better soon!
I am sendin' all of you AireZens and healin' vibes and lots of {{{hugs}}}
Kisses,
Ruby ♥

Tweedles -- that's me said...

You don't know me,, but I am saying doggy prayers for Zeus,, and Power of The Paw
love
tweedles

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