And Then There Was Light... 6/7/17

6/7/17 Update:

Peanut was originally diagnosed with Congestive heart failure and heart murmur on Saturday due to his chest x-ray and symptoms. They put him in an oxygen tank immediately upon examination. The treatment plan was to put him on Furosemide for the fluid in his lungs. We were devastated due to the vet saying that if he doesn't respond to the diuretic within 24-48 hrs, we would need to put him to sleep.

On Sunday, close to 24 hrs, we received a call from his hospital vet who said that he was only improving by 20-30%, and normally, dogs are at 60-70% at that point. Given his age, she said it was reasonable to either put him to sleep or keep going for another 24 hrs. We discussed our next steps: Echocardiogram in the morning (Monday) and the results would determine what we needed to do. I went up to the hospital to hold my baby and that night, I just broke down at the dinner table. In the middle of the night at 3:30 am, I just sat up and started bawling my eyes out. I knew I had to call the hospital to check on him.

I received very hopeful news from Blake, his tech for the night. They lowered his oxygen level to 5 liters. I was a little at ease, but I knew that by the late morning, we potentially had a difficult decision to make. My crying woke up my husband and I told him what my plans were on bringing Peanut home and scheduling to bring him back for Euthanasia if it comes down to it.

I fall asleep and wake up every couple of hours until it's 8:30 am. I feel the anxiety building in my chest as I know the echocardiogram was happening any moment and that I would be getting a call with the results. 11 AM rolls around and I'm anxious, so I call to check in my son. They just got done with his echo and are waiting for his results. Eileen, his tech said that he was having a little bit of struggle with his breathing from being outside the chamber for the echo and that the doctor will call me.

12 noon rolls around and my phone rings. By now, my anxiety has started to get so bad I ran to my husband's office and put the doctor on speaker. And we both listened...

Peanut's echo showed pulmomary hypertension, right sided heart disease, and Pericardial effusion. She said Peanut was a special case because normally when dogs come in, they have left side issues which suggests CHF. Given the new diagnosis, she has hopes to continue with therapy but stopping the medications that have been working for his LEFT and now focusing on his right. I mentioned the other vets pushing for Euthanasia and she said that she's not ready to go down that route yet as she can now start him on a new therapy and that it should work immediately. And then she says the magic words "We are hoping Peanut can be discharged tonight." Thank God! Just less than a day ago, we were losing hope and preparing for the worst. And now, we potentially get to bring our baby home tonight! I continued to pray and ask for prayers that the medications worked and that nothing turns for the worse as they take him off oxygen. I get a call around 3 PM...Peanut is getting discharged. TONIGHT. 6:30 pm. We could hardly wait.