Today is Mom and Dad’s 46th wedding anniversary. Mom started the day early and visited Pop this morning at around 7:00 AM to wish him a happy anniversary. We will be having dinner together tonight in honor of this very special occasion. Happy anniversary Mom and Pop! We love you both to pieces.
I didn’t get a chance to do my normal morning blog post today because a new crisis was breaking that needed my immediate attention. Mom called me from Johanna’s house around 8:30 AM after she got back from the hospital and asked for my help with their almost 10 year old Golden Retriever named Sounder. Sounder had been vomiting violently and my mom needed to get him medical attention fast. Sounder has been diagnosed with and is undergoing treatment for Addison’s disease, which is the common name for hypoadrenocorticism, or adrenal insufficiency. I called the 24 hour emergency animal hospital to let them know we were on our way and raced over to Johanna’s house to pick up Mom and Sounder, and off we went to the dog hospital. Sounder was quickly triaged when we arrived, but vomited violently several more times there in the office, with a deep elephant roar sound (as accurately described by Mom).
The veterinarian on staff ran blood and urine diagnostic lab work, did an abdominal x-ray, and met with us to discuss the situation. She explained that she believed Sounder was reacting to his disease and was under additional stress due to being in unfamiliar surroundings and on a strange schedule, and also probably was missing Pop. She offered hospitalization as an option, but we decided that Sounder would be less stressed if he was at home if that was at all possible. The veterinary hospital staff gave Sounder injections of the steroid he is on to treat Addison’s, another injection to stop the vomiting, and they gave him a bolus (I sure didn’t think I would run into that word in a different context from Pop’s illness so soon) of fluids to help fight his dehydration. Sounder is resting at our house right now and my mom is busy here baking fresh strawberry rhubarb pies. I can’t wait to get a bite. Mom makes a killer pie crust!
Pop’s condition has improved slightly today compared to last night, which is not very hard to do given his situation, but at least things are heading in the right direction again. His blood pressure and heart rate are up slightly and his blood oxygen saturation is excellent. The doctors have discontinued the infusion of norepinephrine for the time being, as his blood pressure is ok for now, but that may change if they perform dialysis today. His abdomen is still distended and they are giving him drugs to help the situation, but the excess pressure in his intestinal tract is the biggest concern for the time being. Hang in there Pop!
I didn’t get a chance to do my normal morning blog post today because a new crisis was breaking that needed my immediate attention. Mom called me from Johanna’s house around 8:30 AM after she got back from the hospital and asked for my help with their almost 10 year old Golden Retriever named Sounder. Sounder had been vomiting violently and my mom needed to get him medical attention fast. Sounder has been diagnosed with and is undergoing treatment for Addison’s disease, which is the common name for hypoadrenocorticism, or adrenal insufficiency. I called the 24 hour emergency animal hospital to let them know we were on our way and raced over to Johanna’s house to pick up Mom and Sounder, and off we went to the dog hospital. Sounder was quickly triaged when we arrived, but vomited violently several more times there in the office, with a deep elephant roar sound (as accurately described by Mom).
The veterinarian on staff ran blood and urine diagnostic lab work, did an abdominal x-ray, and met with us to discuss the situation. She explained that she believed Sounder was reacting to his disease and was under additional stress due to being in unfamiliar surroundings and on a strange schedule, and also probably was missing Pop. She offered hospitalization as an option, but we decided that Sounder would be less stressed if he was at home if that was at all possible. The veterinary hospital staff gave Sounder injections of the steroid he is on to treat Addison’s, another injection to stop the vomiting, and they gave him a bolus (I sure didn’t think I would run into that word in a different context from Pop’s illness so soon) of fluids to help fight his dehydration. Sounder is resting at our house right now and my mom is busy here baking fresh strawberry rhubarb pies. I can’t wait to get a bite. Mom makes a killer pie crust!
Pop’s condition has improved slightly today compared to last night, which is not very hard to do given his situation, but at least things are heading in the right direction again. His blood pressure and heart rate are up slightly and his blood oxygen saturation is excellent. The doctors have discontinued the infusion of norepinephrine for the time being, as his blood pressure is ok for now, but that may change if they perform dialysis today. His abdomen is still distended and they are giving him drugs to help the situation, but the excess pressure in his intestinal tract is the biggest concern for the time being. Hang in there Pop!
2 Comments:
At Sun Jun 25, 03:32:14 PM, Anonymous said…
Happy Anniversary and as always, Love and Prayers to all including Sounder.. from your feline friend YoYo and his mother Carol in Hornell.
At Sun Jun 25, 08:10:05 PM, Anonymous said…
Dearest Toppings,
May God bless your anniversary.
My heart goes out to you and Sounder today. I remember Sounder as a pup and young dog. What a sweetie.
I also remember picking rhubarb from my back yard and bringing it into Hornell to be transformed at Carol's hands into a strawberry/rhubarb delight. Surely it has only improved over the years.
My prayers are with you all.
Gwen Freeman
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