Our home will by no means ever win the ‘House Beautiful’ award.
But it is getting to be highly functional. We bumpered all the hard edges of the chairs and sharp corners with foam pipe insulation. It was inexpensive and it works great. That in combination with the Tracerz scent markers and things are moving smoothly. It is a small apartment so we don’t know if the size is a hindrance or a benefit to Byron when losing his site is still so recent. Everyone is adjusting to the new situation and with love and patience (and maybe a little luck) anything is possible.
Lady Isabella finally had her long awaited spa day today. Her wounds are healing nicely and the hair that was shaved for the surgery is ever so slowly starting to grow back.
The Pugsville Royal Staff was on hand for the occasion with a supply of warm towels, scented oils, and Isabella’s favorite shampoo and creme rinse.
A wonderful warm cleansing bath was first. That was followed by a relaxing massage. Then it was on to the “paw”icure.
While loungeing afterward in her robe, cooling cucumber slices were prepared to rejuvenate tired eyes but before that was posssible somehow they were eaten.
Well guess where we were again today. That’s right, the vets office. Fear not though, it was just for MORE testing.
Here’s the run-down on what Lord Byron went through today:
- Ultra Sound: They were looking to see if any organs were enlarged, tumors, or anything else that wasn’t suppose to be there. Also because they wanted to rule out Cushings, they did look at the adrenal glands for tumors and found nothing.
- ACTH Stimulation Test: The test may identify adrenal exhaustion (also known as atypical Cushing’s disease), the test is also known as cosyntropin, tetracosactide, or Synacthen test (I don’t know how they get ACTH from that). The test came back with a normal level for Byron.
- Urine Cortisol Test: This came back negative which is another indication that rules out Cushings. We brought in a sample from home as the catheter at the vets office is stressful and can cause a positive result (who wouldn’t be stressed).
- Blood: They looked at his blood levels again, concerned about the anemia, and was at levels not to be worried about, check that off too.
Byron went to the vet again today for chest x rays to see about the pneumonia and how everything else looks. His chest is fine, just a slight trace of the pneumonia remains. He doesn’t have to use the nebulizer any more, even though he kinda liked that part. But he has another nine days of antibiotics to take. Thank goodness for ‘Pill Pockets’. They make giving pills so much easier.
The doctor took a urine cortisol/creatine level test, and we’re waiting on the results. Doctor “A” also took some blood for a few other tests, including those for thyroid and estrogen levels. The complete CBC blood panel came back already and he is little anemic, and his liver looks okay after all those steroids. Continue reading “Lord Bryon Update: More Tests”
Byron is customizing the new Pugsville royal pet carrier. The staff needed an actual pet carrier for all the frequent trips lately to the vets office. We are assured that it has gotten the royal stamp of ‘Pug Approved’.
Isabella was really trying hard to be a good patient. She calmly waited for her name to be called. But she was just so happy because today was the day she gets her stitches out. She was so pleased with how everything went that the famous Izzy yodel was heard throughout the office.
Byron has a new leash on life. Thanks to Cody’s Creations on Etsy. Byron seems to be enjoying his new accessory. And Isabella approves also.
There was a great deal of fanfare this morning; Byron is coming home! He’s well enough to leave the hospital but still not 100% as he will have to be nebulized and coupaged every few hours, with lots of pills to take for the next two weeks. We went out and bought a nebulizer (not as easy as you’d think in Manhattan) and watched several videos of how to coupage small dogs.
Coupaging is giving him firm, but not too firm, alternating pats on each side of his chest with a cupped hand. This would help to break up the remnants of pneumonia still in his lungs. Continue reading “The Pack Is Whole Again!”
Isabella is home form the hospital and on the road to recovery. We bought the inflatable collar for her which seemed to work better than the cloth collar she had while in the hospital. We also needed to cover her back feet with something so that if she scratching her stitches in her underarm, there wouldn’t be any accidents. We tried socks for dogs but that was a wasted of money, they kept falling off. We bought a pair of Ultra Paws Durable dog boots (Izzy takes a petit size, and Byron takes an x small) and those did the trick. We got little dog tee shirts that she had to wear to keep the sutures covered as we had to be putting ointment on them. I found one that said ‘recovering from surgery be gentle’ on Zazzle.com. Continue reading “Isabella Home and On The Mend”
