Our first (and, hopefully only) visit to the emergency clinic was on the evening of May 1, 2008. We had not yet found a vet, although we had a list of potential vets from other greyhound owners. On May 1st, I came home from work and found Rolland outside the dog door looking quite unhappy. There was a trail of small blurp spots inside the house across the room to the dog door. Clearly he did not want to come in past the mess - he has always been a very clean dog. I let him inside and cleaned up all the messes.
As the evening went on he blurped several more times and refused to eat anything. In the early evening, he started looking very distressed with panting and holding his head up high. He also refused to lie down, preferring to stand. He looked so uncomfortable and we had no vet to call, so off to the emergency clinic we went. There they agreed that they thought he had megaesophagus and they presumed that he had aspiration pneumonia. However, he did not have an elevated temperature or any rales or wheezes. We gave permission for a chest x-ray, knowing that he would need sedation. He was given a single 4 mg dose of oxymorphone and a chest x-ray was obtained. Moderate consolidation was noted in the left lung and he was sent home with Reglan and antibiotics (Baytril and Clavamox). Although he was wobbly from the sedation, we took him home at 1 am.
He slept through the night, but we each woke up repeatedly checking to see if he was still breathing. The next morning I went to work and worried the whole time I was there. I came home just after lunch after my husband went to work. Roland was still completely out of it. He hadn't gotten up all day, hadn't eaten, hadn't urinated, hadn't blurped. We didn't think he would live through the night. That next night, I don't think either of us slept. However, Roland was still with us in the next morning (Sat). He actually looked a little brighter, so we carried him outside and he peed and sniffed. When he tried to eat some grass I ran into the house and got a can of dog food. He ate several spoonfuls of dog food then and again every 2-3 hours through the day. By evening he was looking at 75% of normal energy level. By Sun he was back to baseline. We finally started giving him the antibiotics on Sun since he was now eating.
The clinic had given us some metaclopramide (Reglan). We also gave this a try starting Mon morning. The clustering of his blurping and variability of the episodes makes it hard to determine whether a treatment is really making a difference. But, the metaclopramide made no difference, so we've never tried it again. Within several days of this episode at the emergency clinic, we were back to baseline. We also decided that he will never again get sedatives or go back to the clinic. We are prepared for him to have an acute worsening and understand that he has a terminal condition. We are just not going to put him or us through this again.
Roland has had episodes like the one that sent him to the emergency clinic several times. He blurps repeatedly over a few hours and looks very distressed - panting and holding his head up. After several hours he starts to relax again and by 12 hours he's generally back to normal. In retrospect, the sedative slowed down his recovery from the episode. It seems that the smooth muscle in his esophagus is having repeated spasms during these episodes. We have no way of knowing whether this is the case, but that's what it is like. Seems like it happens about once a month, although again we can't predict when it will happen.
He slept through the night, but we each woke up repeatedly checking to see if he was still breathing. The next morning I went to work and worried the whole time I was there. I came home just after lunch after my husband went to work. Roland was still completely out of it. He hadn't gotten up all day, hadn't eaten, hadn't urinated, hadn't blurped. We didn't think he would live through the night. That next night, I don't think either of us slept. However, Roland was still with us in the next morning (Sat). He actually looked a little brighter, so we carried him outside and he peed and sniffed. When he tried to eat some grass I ran into the house and got a can of dog food. He ate several spoonfuls of dog food then and again every 2-3 hours through the day. By evening he was looking at 75% of normal energy level. By Sun he was back to baseline. We finally started giving him the antibiotics on Sun since he was now eating.
The clinic had given us some metaclopramide (Reglan). We also gave this a try starting Mon morning. The clustering of his blurping and variability of the episodes makes it hard to determine whether a treatment is really making a difference. But, the metaclopramide made no difference, so we've never tried it again. Within several days of this episode at the emergency clinic, we were back to baseline. We also decided that he will never again get sedatives or go back to the clinic. We are prepared for him to have an acute worsening and understand that he has a terminal condition. We are just not going to put him or us through this again.
Roland has had episodes like the one that sent him to the emergency clinic several times. He blurps repeatedly over a few hours and looks very distressed - panting and holding his head up. After several hours he starts to relax again and by 12 hours he's generally back to normal. In retrospect, the sedative slowed down his recovery from the episode. It seems that the smooth muscle in his esophagus is having repeated spasms during these episodes. We have no way of knowing whether this is the case, but that's what it is like. Seems like it happens about once a month, although again we can't predict when it will happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment