Ullaluv

Princess left peacefully, at home in my arms, surrounded by her canine family. My heart is broken in a million pieces, but my girl is running free, whole and healthy again, with her many friends on the other side, and I know she is waiting patiently for me, when my work here is done.

Pat, I cannot begin o put in words how sorry I am for your loss. She has been met my so many who have gone before her and will be waiting to greet so many who will join her there, until it's time for all of your pack to join you, many, many years from now. I know, because I, too, have many waiting for me. Hope

I'm going to lie close to her and hold her for a few minutes before I call the vet again.

We're down to my lying with her on the bed, holding her, which is the one thing she seems to want. Doing a little hydration, about 20 ml in her feeding tube 3 or 4 times an hour. She is not in any pain or distress, and I do think she would let me know. (She did this morning before she vomited.) I'm not doing any more feedings or meds at this point, and I'm not loading her in the back seat of a cold car to take her anywhere. I think she'll leave peacefully, in her own time, and then her Mom can finish falling apart. Thanks for being there, everyone, We're down to my lying with her on the bed, holding her, which is the one thing she seems to want. Doing a little hydration, about 20 ml in her feeding tube 3 or 4 times an hour. She is not in any pain or distress, and I do think she would let me know. (She did this morning before she vomited.) I'm not doing any more feedings or meds at this point, and I'm not loading her in the back seat of a cold car to take her anywhere. I think she'll leave peacefully, in her own time, and then her Mom can finish falling apart. Thanks for being there, everyone,

She's stopped vomiting - there's nothing left to come up. But she's also stopped responding to anything except my holding her.

I talked to my vet. We agree it doesn't make any sense to haul her around to do a chest x-ray when we wouldn't do anything differently. Right now she's resting comfortably on my bed. Vet said to just let her rest and not try to give her anything at all for now.

It's not blunt at all. It's actually what's foremost in my mind. As long as she told me she was not ready to quit, I had to honor that. Now that may be changing. I'm waiting for a call from my vet.

We had a reasonably good night. I gave her her first meds, along with about 90 ml of water, at 8:15 this morning. At 8:30 she vomited, probably a couple of tablespoons, then about the same 5 minutes later. Around 9:00 she got up, restless, went outside, came back in and vomited about 450 ml of mostly thick mucous, with water and food. (Amazing what you can get off a vinyl floor with a flat sided platter, a big rubber spatula and a big measuring cup.) I called OSU. Talked to an emergency doc, since it's a holiday, and they want me to take her for a chest x-ray to be sure she didn't aspirate. (This is the first time she's vomited through all of this. I'm waiting for my vet to call me back. Fortunately my vet is only about 15 minutes away - 4 miles and one 4-way stop. I'll post again when I know more. Right now she's resting comfortably on my bed.

Brief update: Princess has had all her meds for the day, and we just have one more feeding to go. Her weight has dropped again, from 34.0 pounds to 32.2 pounds. We increase the size of her feedings tomorrow, and she is tolerating them well. I've also started giving her lots of (warmed) water through her feeding tube, since she hasn't runk on her own since this morning. She does seem to have perked up some with the fluids. I don't think oral fluids are utilized quite as well as IV fluids, so I'm giving her about 30% more than she was getting IV before she went to OSU. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for us.

Holding Dude in our thoughts and prayers.

I am so sorry for your koss. Run with the wind, beautiful Tatum.

If she didn't have a family waiting, I'd be offering her a home here. It's great that she won't have to travel far to her new home.

Not an update, but I thought you'd like to see the most recent email from my friend in Michigan, that I work with in Saluki rescue. Makes me realize all over how proud I am to be part of the Greyhound community. Hello Hope, That is quite a plan of action, good thing you are so organized and knowledgeable. Princess is such a great patient and a magnificent girl, it would not surprise me if she beats all odds by making an amazing recovery. She probably will have potty accidents with all the meds especially the prednisone since that makes her want to drink more. Hope, you have been "super mom" for Princess, you have given her every possible chance to beat this, and she knows it. She is giving her all too. I am proud of your other hounds (including fosters) for being gentle and understanding with Princess. The Greyhound folks have once again shown what a great bunch of people they are. I am thankful how much they have been able to support you and Princess. Over and over again in all my days with rescue, it is the Greyhound people that always step up to the plate and make things happen. Lori

Sending lots more prayers for Dude and his family.

Yes, she's getting Denarmin twice a day. I had her on SAM-e and milk thistle before. She's getting Denarmin and Ursadiol twice a day, without food: Clavamox and Tramadol twice a day, with food: Prednisone, Batril and Vitmin E once a day and Ondansetron and Pepcid twice a day; and sub-Q Vitamin B12 weekly. Eating Max-Cal, diluted with water to thin it, 60 ml 4 to 6 times a day today, moving up to 90 ml tomorrow, then 120, then 180 ml. She'll be getting blood chemistries done by my vet and faxed to OSU on Thursday if all goes well. She's tolerating the feedings and the tubed meds very well. She is such a GOOD girl, and very easy to work with. She's drinking water on her own. Yesterday she pee'd in the hall, this morning she asked to go outside. The other dogs are being very good with her, so she's back with her pack as well as with her Mom. She's very weak, but again, I'm trying to remain optimistic and just give her all the love I can, along with her nursing care.

We just did our 4th and last feeding for the day, and the last of the meds. Going to try to get some sleep.

Princess update: From OSU discharge - "Based on Princess' blood work and histopathology findings we are strongly suspicious that she is currently in liver failure. The fact that her total bilirubin and ALP increased and her cholesterol decreased after removal of her gallbladder are less consistent with an extrahepatic cholestasis and more consistent with liver failure. We have placed Princess on several hepatoprotective medications to improve her liver function. We are placing Princess on two broad spectrum antibiotics in case there was an underlying bacterial infection and to prevent an ascending infection of the liver. Long term prognosis for Princess is very guarded to poor and will depend on her response to medical therapy and if she is able to get adequate nutrition and maintain or regain her weight. More importantly, her bilirubin needs to improve, which will reflect better liver function." I am trying very hard to remain optimistic. Her weight has dropped from 41 pounds on Friday, Jan 7, to 34 pounds today, and she definitely is weaker. But she is tolerating her feedings well. We're done with everything today except one more feeding, her evening anti-nausea pill and her prednisone. I am grateful for everything OSU has done for her and for their kindness and concern. I especially want to thank Jane and Carol, and RobinW for steering us to OSU. And thank all the rest of you for your continuing prayers. Princess and I are both glad that she is home with her Mom and we're both still fighting this.

We are safely home and Princess is settled in on my bed. Time for a feeding and some of her meds. I'll post more when we're done with all that.

Carol (Sirocco_Nikki) is on her way to pick me up to get Princess. I'll update when we get back.

Carol - what a wonderful offer!

Sending many prayers for Dude. Keep us posted.

I agree with trying to avoid surgery, but I don't think I'd classify the laser treatment as surgery. Any chance you vet could talk with Jey's vet?

Many prayers from us for Wendy.

Where to start? I just got home from having the leak in the tire fixed, so I can get to OSU safely. And just got off the phone from my most recent call from OSU. Bottom line is: No one has been able to figure out what's going on with Princess. They had a big conference this morning with Surgery, Pathology and Internal Medicine. Her bilirubin has continued to rise (0.2 0n 12/23, 6 on 1/2, 11 on 1/7, over 17 last night.) Her liver enzymes continue to be sky high, and her cholesterol is still falling - all signs of liver failure. But all the biopsies that they did on Monday have only mild, non-specific changes. Liver biopsy does not look like liver failure, and no sign of fatty liver. Her pancreas appeared normal when they did the surgery, and biopsy unremarkable. The duodenal and jejunal biopsies came back with only non-specific inflammatory changes, not lymphoma and not diagnostic for IBD. When they put the esophageal feeding tube in yesterday, they went back and looked at the duodenum again, and the stent in the bile duct is draining. We've ruled out anything infectious that we could think of. Tick titers, fungal titers, etc all negative, and she's been on antibiotics since 12/19, when she first stopped eating. She has not had any vomiting, and her stools have been consistently normal consistency and color. And she doesn't act anywhere near as sick as her labs make her look. As the Internist said earlier today, no one has told this girl she's sick. They've started feeding her, small amounts through her feeding tube and are switching her meds to oral. She's tolerating the feedings much better than they expected, given her extreme wasting. I think they'll start steroids today. If there's no change for the worse between now and tomorrow morning, I'll drive to Columbus and bring her home to continue her feedings and meds, and probably take her back sometime next week. We seem to be all out of ideas about what's causing all of this. Maybe the best I can hope for is that she'll somehow recover without a diagnosis. If she recovers, that's what really counts. Thanks for your continued prayers for my soul mate, my precious Princess.

Thanks, Jey.