MP_the4pack

I do have the ability to take her BP, but.........I thought about it. What if atenolol isn't working? It's not down? I can't do anything about it until we go back tomorrow. Except cry and turn my insides out. So, even though I have it out, I haven't taken the BP. If it does come down tomorrow and I need to monitor it I will. But I just can't make myself take it yet. Oh.......and to add onto the pigpile, I go into the garage tonight to get their food and I hear a hissing. My *&(#$*^ front tire has a screw in it. I know how to change a tire, but at my age, these suckers are HEAVY. And there's not enough room in the garage to do it, I have to move the SUV into the driveway where it is COLD and DARK. It's a slow leak so I'll just fill it up tomorrow morning and drive to my local tire store. I've already called my boss and told him I have to use up the first of this years vacation.

I too am Catholic. Actually non-practicing. Too many things the Church preaches which I don't agree with. Just somebody with power somewhere down the line made that decision. God made man. Man made religion.

Farewell Master yet not farewell. Where I go ye too shall dwell I am gone before your face, A moment's time, a little space When ye come where I have stepped, Ye will wonder why ye wept.

Any update?

She looks like she's doing fantastic. I hope she heals fast and has no problems.

Other than the ministroke she had yesterday, she shows absolutely no signs of having heart disease or hypertension. None. She's perfectly happy. Which makes decisions more difficult. If she was sickly, putting her to sleep would be an option. But nothing about her says she's sick. Currently she's on enalapril, digoxin, lasix, aspirin, phenoxybenzamine, amlodipene and just yesterday atenolol. I'm just snuggling with her as much as I can and hope I can make some kind of decision on monday. If her BP hasn't come down I don't know what kind of options are out there. If it comes down a little I can opt for a CT scan. Thing is, if the CT is positive, I want the surgery done right away while she is still under anesthesia so that she doesn't have to go under twice in a short time. If she needs surgery it is called adrenalectomy and prognosis is poor. But I think I would rather have her leave me on the surgery table than sometime in the middle of the day while I'm at work. If she has a stroke while she's outside in 20 degree weather, or is partially paralyzed and panics inside........I can't have that happen to her. I can't crate her, both she and her sister are claustrophobic. Even locking her in a room doesn't work. Diamond did $200 damage to the bedroom when the babysitter accidentally locked her in there. Not to mention, she's on lasix, which means she needs to go outside frequently. She would try to hold it in and that in itself is not good. She'd would start to get upset needing to go outside and can't. Any change in schedule would up her BP, and we are trying very hard not to do that. They didn't do an ultrasound yesterday because her BP was so high. They were afraid she would stroke out. You know if it was cancer, I could at least have options like pain management or surgery. But there just doesn't seem to be a lot of choices for out of control hypertension.

I took my girls for their usual walks this morning and halfway thru it Pearl began to stumble and she had rapid eye movement. It looked exactly like what I had with benign positional vertigo. It's an inner ear thing. In 30 secs she had snapped right out of it. We finished the walk and I remembered today is Friday so I called her cardiologist because Pearl does have hypertension. We were asked how soon could we get there. They took her right away and did a BP. It's over 260 (and it was under control this past spring and summer). The Dr. checked for any damage and saw none and put her on another med for the weekend. We have to go back to get the BP checked monday. But she said it wasn't vertigo or vestibular disease. She had a ministroke. A couple years ago when it was high, the vet thought it was pheochromocytoma (adrenal tumor). We took a CT scan, removed an abscessed tooth and upped her meds. We got it under control. THe scan was negative so we figured it must have been the tooth which caused kidney damage which caused the hypertension. But she's thinking it still is a pheo, just slow growing. If we can get her BP down just a little, she's going for another CT. Two years ago I was ready to put her in surgery to remove the adrenal. but now she's 11. I'm not so sure. I don't know what to do. I cried all the way home. She's my heart and soul girl. Even though I have 4, she's the only one in here with me now. She sleeps with me and cuddles on the sofa with me. Please pray we can get this under control again.

My Pearl was diagnosed with heart disease and hypertension 5 yrs ago. She was give 2-3 yrs. She's now 11 and shows no signs of slowing down. She's on a plethura of meds (also for the hypertension) enalapril and lasix being some of them. If you haven't already, I would suggest going to a cardiologist. Good luck.

God speed sweet boy. Kris

I'm going thru the same thing as you right now with my 4 yr old. I'm going to check her for corns, but she's already been xray'd. They're currently clean, but she still has a bad limp (3-legged). good luck with your xrays!!

I sent an email to Dr. Couto. He said to check for corns. To date I've never had to deal with corns. Are they readily easy to see/feel? Or do I need to go to a vet to find them? My vet and chiropractor still feel the problem is in the hips, but I want to rule out everything before I break down and take a 10 hr trip to Ohio. (which I will do!)

So young!!! His granddaddy is my Bwat's daddy. She's just 4. Run free nephew.

I have a girl with hypertension. She's on norvasc and phenoxybenzamine for that and it is now under control. She's also on lasix and other meds for her bad heart. I watch her carefully for any fluid buildup. But. I did lose a grey to liver disease. Her liver enzymes were normal, which is what is usually tested for. But when they did a liver function test, the values were off the charts. She had a protein losing enteropathy. So, hopefully putting your grey on a BP med will help with the hypertension. But I would ask for a liver function (not enzyme) test. The function test is not part of the regular chemistry panel.

The bulge could be a hematoma........which means you shouldn't give aspirin either. Aspirin is a mild anticoagulant. Definitely no Tylenol or Motrin or Advil. If she is okay and not in obvious pain....don't give her anything.

Have you tried norvasc? My Pearl has hypertension. We have it under control now at 150. She's also on phenoxybenzamine for it. If she has tumors of the adrenal, that would cause high BP (along with numerous other reasons). Phenoxybenzamine works on that cause.

Nothing like a little bit of good news to start off the new year. I hope she continues to improve.

Thanks for the info. The chiropractor also does accupuncture. I'll ask her tomorrow.

My favorite sentence!!!

On Dec 1st, I took Opal into the vets to be checked because she had been 3 legged limping for over a week. They said it was her hips and that's she's too young for cancer. She went on Rimadyl (which I hate) and sent home to rest (yeah right) Dec 6th she went to the chiropractor who said her hips were way out of wack........she's rarely had anything off kilter since she's been going to the chiropractor from age 2. After her adjustment, she was terrific for 4 days then started 3 legged limping again (it's the hind left leg). I put her back on Rimadyl. On the 19th I took her for xrays. It had been at least 3 weeks, closer to 4, since she started. Even I could see the xrays were extremely clean. Beautiful bones! When we had an ice storm and that crap was on the ground for a week. She walked very carefully and stopped limping until a day or so ago and she's 3 legged again. We see the chiro tomorrow, but I'm still worried that it could be osteo since she's been limping for about 6 weeks now. Any thoughts? Oh, by the way, she isn't quiet. Like nailing jello to the wall. But would even soft tissue injury take this long? The vets are almost positive it's in the hip. I'm also thinking along that line. Mary Pat (worried about the baby in the family)

Oh poor baby...........feel better Soul!

Oh Susan, I just saw this. I'll keep Alan in my prayers. He's gonna come around and feel better soon. Mary Pat

I'm so sorry for Ranger. but you now have scared the crap out of me. I posted yesterday that my little girl Opal (Bwat) is scaring me. This is her EXACT symptom. Her hind leg. It comes and goes. And it improves after being up and about. I guess we're going to the vets tomorrow.

I remember you posting that he still had 4 legs when he had his surgery. Is he not a candidate for amputation? I'm sorry to hear such horrible news.

Opal has been limping 3 legged off and on for about a month. I took her to the vets and he said it's in the hip. He seemed pleased it wasn't the cruti-whatever ligament around the knee. But I kept referring back to possible osteo. He said he didn't think it was that since she's only 4. But alas, I know of young'uns from this board that have gotten that dreaded disease. Anyway, he said it would still be too early to xray anyway. He gave us rimadyl and sent us home telling me to keep her quiet. Yeah, I can also nail jello to a tree successfully too! Luckily her chiropractor was coming into the area within a week. When we went, Dr. Lesser stated that her hip was REALLY out of whack. For 4 days after that, Bwat was doing fine. I had taken her off the rimadyl a day before the chiropractor because I didn't want to mask anything. I didn't put her back on. Then on the Wednesday after her adjustment, she went 3 legged again. She's been like this off and on for a week now. It's worse when she just gets up and seems to be able to walk out of it a little. Not completely. I think we'll get xrays. She's starting to scare me now. Other than holding up her leg, she actually doesn't seem in pain. She's running around like the idiot she is, head high, tail high........just on 3 legs. (which at least tells me that if -gasp- it is osteo, she can do 3 legs). Anyone who had rear leg osteo, did they seem more in pain just after getting up, but able to put weight on after moving around a bit?