Complications

 

A little nervous panting but pretty relaxed for the ex-Cujo Vet dog. 

I had Luke back at the Vets yesterday.  Recently I noticed that his eyes looked like they had sunken.  With his loss of weight I assumed that this was the cause, and I was correct.  Luke's face was getting quite furry and I couldn't see well enough to be sure what was going on.  He'd also been having goopy eyes so I shaved his face nice and close making sure to get the hair right around his eyes.  Luke has amazing eye lashes, although those gorgeous lashes grow so long that they go over his eye, so off they came.  Once I could see his eyes better I was sure that they had sunken.  In the next few days the shaved hair did not seem to help with his goopy eyes so we head to the vet.

I met a new vet which I really, really liked.  He was very kind, caring and gentle with Luke.  As are the vet techs out front; never have I met a nicer bunch of techs.  So the vet took one look at Luke's eyes, checked his chart and agreed that his eyes had sunken.  Luke is suffering from Cachexia which is the loss of muscle and fat due to his cancer.  This has caused the muscle and fat behind his eyes to deteriorate causing his eyes to pull back. 

After talking to the vet he said that Acquired Entropion is common in old dogs.  Entropion can be genetic and is common in many breeds and can seen in dogs from birth.  Acquired Entropion is different. Luke has never been a big and buff guy so his loss is bad.  He has always been light on the muscle scale which has nothing to do with his exercise but how he was built, light.  His loss of muscle and fat behind the eye has caused the skin around his eye to pull inward which is very irritating.  His bottom eyelashes are pushing directly onto his eye. 

Canine cancer link

So what do we do about it?  First we are trying lubricating drops.  It seems to have already helped; Luke looked much better by bedtime last night.  At this point I can try to keep weight on Luke by feeding him the great diet that he already eats but the loss will continue.  The only other option for his eyes are staples which are placed about 1/2 inch below the eye itself and pull the skin down to keep it off of his eyeball.  We'll see if we need that.  The Vet joked that it would be just like a piercing that humans get.  Luke already has a tattoo so it might be a good look.  :)  Just kidding.

Luke in general

So we now have an eye issue.  Luke is having more tired days but he is still very happy.  I'd have to say that this eye thing has been bothering him so once we get that fixed up we should be good again.  He has good days and bad, I hope today is a good one. His spirits are great and he loved the fresh batch of cookies I made for him yesterday, he chowed down. 

Rough night

I opened my eyes and tried to read the clock.  It took a minute as I focused on it across my bedroom.  2:38am.  Why was I awake?  Then I heard Luke stumbling around and jumped up to see where he was; he was standing in front of the door.  Funny how you just know when things are not right.  The smallest  noise that means Luke is up can wake me from a deep sleep.  I threw my covers off and grabbed my bathrobe before opening the door.  Luke had to go out and when he's in that frame of mind I have to get a hold of him.  Otherwise he will charge down the stairs without even giving it another thought; and he can't do that anymore.

I grabbed the hand towel that sits at the top of the stairs; and wrapped it around him quickly.  We ran down the stairs together with Elsa following.  Into the kitchen and out; but where was Elsa?  My house is all windows in the back so I looked out the kitchen door to see Elsa looking out the living room window, watching.  I called to her and she went out too; although she was back in a flash.  Luke was out a long time. 

This is becoming a more regular thing.  Finally he came back in and we all head up to bed again.  Unfortunately sleep was illusive for me as is customary these days as well.  So for two hours I lay there listening to Luke move around.  I'm not quite sure what the pacing is about.  He wants up on the bed; so he stands staring at me with his pleading eyes.  The bed has been off limits for a long time; unless it is morning and I am awake and watching.  He spends some time on the carpet; tries to fluff it for a while and then settles again.  He has a couple of drinks, looks outside and is on and off his bed again and again until hours later he settles for the night. 

He is always in the same place when I wake up each morning, his place.  He has his place in many different locations in the house.  His corner of the couch in the living room, his corner of the couch in the family room, his spot in my office and his corner in the bedroom.  The unsettling pacing is new; but it is also a symptom of liver disease.  Last Saturday, Sunday and Monday were bad nights; then he had two good nights until last night.  It is all about watching and figuring out what is okay and what is not at this point.  I fell asleep last night researching blood panels and results. 

I'm tired and no doubt Luke is tired as well.  But he'll have a chance to catch up on his rest today in one of "his" spots.  I feel like it was just yesterday that I was in the same place with Jessie and Tilley.  The sleepless nights of old dogs; I feel blessed to have had such old dogs to be sleepless with.  Early to bed tonight.   

When you get the bad news

I listened intently as the Vet specialist explained what was likely going on.  An ultra sound had confirmed a liver mass and the blood panel results were off the charts for liver cell damage, it looked bad.  As she explained, I stopped her regularly; I needed further breakdown of what she was telling me.  I had so many questions, my unanswered questions were the reason I was there.  In my hand I had the proof of a damaged liver; it was the details of it all that I needed to know. 

Lets go back a bit, so you can better understand where we are today and how we got here.  Luke has had raised liver enzymes for several years; they were only slightly raised but we kept an eye on them in case.  In May he had another blood panel done which showed his enzymes slightly higher than his normal range; which was then a worry.  While Luke was at the Vet, my Vet did a quick ultrasound on his liver. She came to the front to tell me that although she was not an ultrasound specialist; she was pretty sure there was something on the liver.  Her recommendation was to have an abdominal ultrasound done.

We got our appointment in July for Luke's ultrasound.  It took me a while to find a place where I could bring Luke in and he would be done at a certain time.  Many places have you bring the dog in early in the morning and they sit in a cage maybe hours until they are done.  That is not okay with  me so I had to find a place where they could give Luke a time, an actual appointment.  So we found our specialty Veterinarian facility and we headed to our appointment. 

There was indeed a mass on the liver but when aspirated; the sample was benign.  Since receiving this result I have done extensive research on the whole liver mass thing.  It is quite common to get a benign reading when there is in fact cancer.  Not all cancers give up their cells easily so a reading can be misleading.  The only way to know for sure was a biopsy; this meant opening Luke up which was not an option at nearly 14 years of age.  So we hoped for the best; we would monitor Luke and let the vet know of any changes.   

Two weeks ago yesterday Luke had a fall; he was not sick, he simply slipped and fell.  But that fall was devastating to him because he was stuck in an extremely uncomfortable position and couldn't get out of it.  I found him when I got home; he was sort of sitting with his leg splayed out on either side, crying.  Yes, heartbreaking.  Luckily I had not been gone for a long period of time.  I got him up and he passed out on the couch; it had completely exhausted him.  The first few days after the fall were scary; he wasn't eating and could barely walk.  I could just imagine what his poor old body felt like.  I gave him pain meds to help him through but after a few days I thought a Vet visit was a good idea.

I took him in for a full physical, blood panel and urine analysis.  His blood panel results came in and I got the call.  I could barely believe what the vet was saying; how could his levels have gone up so much?  She (a new vet) recommended an ultrasound and biopsy.  Then I explained that Luke had one done only three months earlier; so she said to call the specialist and give her the results, which I did.  I also made an appointment to see her which was yesterday.  Until our appointment I scoured the internet trying to find anything on the results of Luke's panel; everything pointed to liver cancer.

Her explanation was that it is most likely cancer.  Luke is drinking a large amount of water and urinating a lot, it is the liver.  The specialist was alarmed by Luke's blood panel and the fact that he looked so good.  We had a long discussion on what the next steps were and agreed that the best thing for Luke is to enjoy his life.  "Enjoy every minute with him" is exactly what she said.  We could open him up to see what is going on, but then what?  Then he would have to recover from that; if he even made it through the biopsy.  We could do more ultrasounds; "but what we do with the results?" the vet said. 

Our dogs live a long time these days; when cared for properly, they easily outlive their wild ancestors.  Because of this care, we are faced with illnesses that would never arise in the wild, because they would never live that long.  I remember meeting a wolf with Vestibular disease at a wolf sanctuary and asked the woman who worked there "wolves get vestibular disease?"  She said "not in the wild they don't, they don't live long enough." That statement has stayed with me.

Luke is epileptic; he has had grand mal seizures for eleven of his fourteen years.  The idea that he might make it to the ripe old age of fourteen was something I dreamed about.  Well, he made it and he is happy, eating and loving his life.   My liver fear was confirmed yesterday; what do I do with this information?  What do you do when you get the news that you didn't want?  You live life to it's fullest.  We came home from the vets and ate chips in my office.  Luke loves sleeping in my office and we all LOVE chips.  He had roast beef for dinner, his favorite and he ate like a horse.  This news has changed nothing for us; we will continue to do the things that Luke loves as we have been doing for most of his life.  One of the greatest things in life is watching someone you love, enjoy life.