Sadie’s blood test earlier in the week indicated her WBC was 32.2, which way far too high. Since we were unsure if it was the lymphoma or an infection, the antibiotic Orbax had been prescribed. I will make a separate post on this subject in the future, but for now I must mention the benefits of pro-biotics. Antibiotics can be very harsh on the stomach, killing the good bacteria as well as the bad. Because of this, probiotics are a good way to maintain the good flora that is in the intestine. They must be administered several hours apart, but they will eliminate the risk of gastritis or acid reflux, which can cause perpetual nausea. The manner I gave them to Sadie was by crushing a ½ yogurt tab. I could have also used yogurt containing live cultures. I noticed that whenever I gave these to Sadie, she seemed soothed, and in fact, there was only 1 occasion where she threw up after its administration.
The new doctor phoned us with the results of Sadie’s labs. {Abnormalities: Hematocrit 35.4 (low), WBC 24.5 (high, but greatly improved from only 3 days before), Platelets 639 (high), Neutrophils 21,315 (high), Basophils 245 (high), Glucose 59 (low), BUN 35 (high), Total Protein 4.2 (low), Albumin 1.8 (low), Calcium 8.2 (low), Free T4 8 (borderline low). Sadie was put on levothyroxin for her thyroid, as previous tests had indicated very low levels. It would give her a boost. Another thing the new vet suggested to raise Sadie’s glucose level was to place a little syrup on her tongue. She seemed to perk up when I did that. How I wish I had known 2 months before! It definitely would have helped! The new vet and I had a frank discussion on how to get Sadie eating. She was honest with me, there was only 2 ways to feed a dog who will not eat on their own: 1) force feed 2) feeding tube. The appetite stimulant wasn’t al that effective anymore, and we’d been force-feeding Sadie since Feb. 4. All too often the meal would be lost because Sadie would get so hyper. My husband and I felt like we were at the end of our rope. I feel I need to repeat that Sadie still did not know she was sick! Yes, we’d had our low points, but she still had the will to live. Something was terribly, terribly wrong. For the last month, we’d believed it was the lymphoma. Yet, as so many other things with Sadie, her behavior was not typical. Maybe the thyroid medicine and raising Sadie’s sugar level would help. But that wasn’t a solution. I felt strongly that we should allow a feeding tube to be placed in Sadie. Otherwise, she’d starve while we were trying to get to the bottom of things. I could not let the reason Sadie died be because she starved to death. After much discussion, my husband agreed. We thought we were doing what was best for her, but I will pause a moment to say that one thing in particular should have been addressed from the very beginning of Sadie’s illness: her chronically low Albumin level. It had progressively gotten worse, and would end up being a major factor in her death. This was one of the reasons that she continued to lose weight. More about it later.
With much trepidation, we took Sadie in for placement of an esophageal feeding tube on Tues., March 18, only 5 days after our first appointment with the new vet. I will address the “ins and outs” of tube feeding in later posts, but immediately there was much stress eliminated from my life. I could lay my head down at night and know my baby had eaten! We would have to gradually increase her portions, as she had now gone 2 months without regularly eating and holding down food. Too much food at once would shock her. The first 2 days went like a dream! She didn’t vomit at all---we hadn’t had a vomit-free day since Feb. 27! As we began to increase her food levels, though, we had a major problem. She was keeping her food down after feeding, but after she would drink water, she would lose her food! We made the increases less progressive, but had to make the decision to give her water only through her tube. I hated taking her freedom to drink at will away. It was an exact science on how much to give her, when to give her, making sure she did not move so-many minutes after meals, etc. As happy as we were that she was being properly nourished, Sadie was becoming lethargic. For the first time during her illness, she acted sick. That really bothered us. We were doing everything we could to get her better, why was she only getting worse?
The new doctor phoned us with the results of Sadie’s labs. {Abnormalities: Hematocrit 35.4 (low), WBC 24.5 (high, but greatly improved from only 3 days before), Platelets 639 (high), Neutrophils 21,315 (high), Basophils 245 (high), Glucose 59 (low), BUN 35 (high), Total Protein 4.2 (low), Albumin 1.8 (low), Calcium 8.2 (low), Free T4 8 (borderline low). Sadie was put on levothyroxin for her thyroid, as previous tests had indicated very low levels. It would give her a boost. Another thing the new vet suggested to raise Sadie’s glucose level was to place a little syrup on her tongue. She seemed to perk up when I did that. How I wish I had known 2 months before! It definitely would have helped! The new vet and I had a frank discussion on how to get Sadie eating. She was honest with me, there was only 2 ways to feed a dog who will not eat on their own: 1) force feed 2) feeding tube. The appetite stimulant wasn’t al that effective anymore, and we’d been force-feeding Sadie since Feb. 4. All too often the meal would be lost because Sadie would get so hyper. My husband and I felt like we were at the end of our rope. I feel I need to repeat that Sadie still did not know she was sick! Yes, we’d had our low points, but she still had the will to live. Something was terribly, terribly wrong. For the last month, we’d believed it was the lymphoma. Yet, as so many other things with Sadie, her behavior was not typical. Maybe the thyroid medicine and raising Sadie’s sugar level would help. But that wasn’t a solution. I felt strongly that we should allow a feeding tube to be placed in Sadie. Otherwise, she’d starve while we were trying to get to the bottom of things. I could not let the reason Sadie died be because she starved to death. After much discussion, my husband agreed. We thought we were doing what was best for her, but I will pause a moment to say that one thing in particular should have been addressed from the very beginning of Sadie’s illness: her chronically low Albumin level. It had progressively gotten worse, and would end up being a major factor in her death. This was one of the reasons that she continued to lose weight. More about it later.
With much trepidation, we took Sadie in for placement of an esophageal feeding tube on Tues., March 18, only 5 days after our first appointment with the new vet. I will address the “ins and outs” of tube feeding in later posts, but immediately there was much stress eliminated from my life. I could lay my head down at night and know my baby had eaten! We would have to gradually increase her portions, as she had now gone 2 months without regularly eating and holding down food. Too much food at once would shock her. The first 2 days went like a dream! She didn’t vomit at all---we hadn’t had a vomit-free day since Feb. 27! As we began to increase her food levels, though, we had a major problem. She was keeping her food down after feeding, but after she would drink water, she would lose her food! We made the increases less progressive, but had to make the decision to give her water only through her tube. I hated taking her freedom to drink at will away. It was an exact science on how much to give her, when to give her, making sure she did not move so-many minutes after meals, etc. As happy as we were that she was being properly nourished, Sadie was becoming lethargic. For the first time during her illness, she acted sick. That really bothered us. We were doing everything we could to get her better, why was she only getting worse?
