Karma Coaster

First off, thanks to you all for the kind words.  It is always amazing when something like this happens how there are always others who have gone through something similar and are willing to share their stories.  I really appreciate that. 

This week was quite the roller coaster with Karma.  We came home from work Monday night & she was peppy & playful.  By 9PM she was shivering & really lethargic.  She kept readjusting but couldn't get comfy in her bed.  Her breathing was really short & shallow.  At 10PM , for the 3rd time in her life I brought her into our bed & wrapped her in the blankets.

I really thought this was it.  Steve didn't think she would make it through the night.  He wanted to take her to the emergency vet but I didn't want her last night to be at the emergency vet.  I wanted to keep her home & take her to our vet in the morning.  Steve's argument was that maybe it is something they can treat & we should at least find out what is wrong.  I was convinced.

At 11PM we headed to the ER vet.  The vet said she couldn't hear any sounds from her left side. She  wanted to do xrays & a full blood workup.  The blood work came back pretty close to where it was the other day.  The xrays showed she had fluid built up on the left side.  The vet didn't know what was causing it but mentioned CHF (congestive heart failure), tumor/cancer or some other unknown.  She attempted to drain the fluid but said that either there wasn't enough to drain or that the image on the xray was a solid.  She wanted to keep Karma overnight so they could monitor here.  She also wanted the internist to do a ultrasound in the morning to determine what the issue was.

I absolutely hated leaving her there.  It sucked royally.

Around 7AM the vet called & said Karma was stable.  I called my vet to discuss the options.  At 9AM I decided to transfer Karma there to have a radiologist take a look.  There was nothing wrong with the level of service at the ER vet - I just felt so much more comfortable having Karma at her own vet since they know her history & they all adore Karma. 

Around 3PM the vet called to let me know that Karma has pneumonia.  The vet almost sounded giddy when she gave me the news.  She said this was the best possible outcome.  We can treat this with antibiotics & she should be OK.  She also said her heart is just fine.

I had no idea dogs got pneumonia.  The vet said she probably aspirated when she was sick the week before.  Just crazy!

So after 5 days of antibiotics & her daily Sub-Q regime she is so much improved.  She wants to play, she runs to the door after potty, she is gobbling up all her food.  I am starting to believe that a dog can live a good quality of life while in renal failure.

Two of our friends drove up from KC for the day to visit Karma this weekend.  They have known Karma virtually since the first weekend I brought her home from U of W.   It was so great to see them even though it was a super short visit. 

Karma waiting for N & R to arrive on Saturday

Karma - Hoping R will share some of his Stinger Waffle!

Hopefully life with Karma will be uneventful for a while.  I should be back blogging about workouts & stuff shortly.