Jana Rade’s Rottweiler companion, Jasmine, has suffered a variety of health problems in her seven years of life, ranging from chronic diarrhea and numerous soft tissue injuries to anterior cruciate ligament injuries in her knees. As we left Jana and Jasmine, Jasmine has visited her veterinarian for evaluation of her legs and Jasmine’s veterinarian has detected a mass in her abdomen. Jana is now waiting for her veterinarian to receive the results from Jasmine’s blood test. Her greatest fear is that Jasmine is suffering from some type of cancer.
Jasmine’s Ordeal Continues
by Jana Rade
We were so scared! But we couldn’t really believe it either, there was so much life in her eyes, she wasn’t ready to wrap it up!
The blood tests came back negative. That didn’t really mean we were out of the woods, but it meant that we could do an exploratory surgery to see what is going on in there and take it out if possible. So that’s what we did.
What a relief—the “C” word was off the table! Her mass wasn’t actually a mass at all, but as a biopsy confirmed, esionophilic infiltrates instead. Yay—we’d take that! What would cause this? Either parasites or food allergies. No parasites. Given the condition of her stomach and intestine this was caused by food allergies which she likely suffered from birth! There we have an explanation for her chronic stomach and stool issues! Why didn’t anybody think of that before???
Spot allergy blood test, dietary changes. Ok, with this issue out of the way we could return to the knee. We decided to go ahead with the stem cell therapy. However, as fate would have it, just the day before the treatment Jasmine came home limping substantially worse than before. Our fear was confirmed—her ACL was now completely gone. Surgery was inevitable. TPLO? No, we decided to do a combination of extracapsular repair in combination with the stem cell treatment to help the operated knee to heal and hopefully save the other knee.
When the vet opened her up, her bones were so soft he almost couldn’t do the surgery! Malnutrition as a result of the eosinophilic gastroenteritis? Probably.
The new vet also found that Jasmine had arthritis in her shoulders, her jaws and her neck, and that her front teeth were wobbly, among other mouth issues. Nothing wrong with her mouth, huh? So onto an oral surgery also.
As if all that wasn’t bad enough, Jasmine’s episodes returned. Thyroid levels were fine. What was going on?
Her surgery went well, however, and she was at least on her way to get her legs back. We were praying that her other leg would hold up through this. The first month post-op her new vet seemed disappointed at seeing no difference the stem cells would have been making. Shortly after that, though, his disappointment turned into excitement. Jasmine was doing so well! Three months after surgery she looked as good as new. She had a bounce back in her step, her mucles built up and she’d hardly ever limp after a long day. Her other leg looked good and strong. We were so happy!
Boom! On one of her walks she ran into a little Shnauzer. He was barking and lunging at her and she gave a little lunge back. She started limping immediately. It looked exactly the same as when her first ligament went. Next morning her vet took us in even though we didn’t have an appointment. Yes, this ligament has now gone too. We did the second surgery as soon as we could schedule her stem cells to be ready. They made such a difference the first time, we decided to combine the treatment again.
Fortunately, her operated leg was already strong enough to carry her through. Healing and recovery went just as fast as the first time. Three months later she had he bounce back again.
Her episodes, however kept getting worse. What do we deal with first? Blood tests. X-rays. Pain from her arthritis? Not likely and non-responsive to pain meds. Pain from her IBD? Possibly. Solution? Strong pain killers or steroids with a coin toss between the two.
Perhaps her heart or lungs? In for another exam and x-rays. Severe hyperthermia as a reaction to Buprenoprhine. Muscles and blood fried. Jasmine couldn’t get up or walk on her own and the next day her urine was brown.
Emergency hospital. Liver or kidney damage and possibly a perforated intestine. You can’t be serious! Transfer to a teaching hospital. Liver in trouble but kidneys ok. No perforation, but a large abdominal abscess. Have to operate but have to wait for her platelets to get up to minimal safe level first. Is she going to pull through?
Weekly Pet Lover’s Blog Hop Spotlight and Jasmine’s Story Concludes
Tomorrow, we’ll be back with our weekly Pet Lover’s Blog Hop Spotlight and you won’t want to miss our featured blog and the blog hop. Then, we’ll return with the conclusion to Jasmine’s story. Join us to find out what happens to Jasmine and share some final thoughts with Jana about her experiences.
Jana Rade is a graphic designer by profession and never aspired to learning about dog health issues until she met Jasmine. Unfortunately, she received a crash course in the subject due to Jasmine’s many health issues and has since become an advocate for other pet owners and their four-legged friends. In her blog, Dawg Business, Jana shares her experiences and the lessons she has learned with others. She shares this message with all dog owners: At the end, your dog’s health is up to you!
Follow Me on Google+
{ 3 trackbacks }