Saturday, August 2, 2008

Quick Noelle Update

For those of you out there who might be concerned about Noelle, I thought I'd give the latest update. Now, this is what I understand from Brian telling me what the Vet said, so at some point I'll probably be corrected and have to re-update my update.

Noelle went to the Vet on Monday.
And Tuesday.
Wednesday she stayed home.
Thursday she was back at the Vet.
And Friday.
And today.

Now, the majority of these appointments have just been to have her blood levels checked. When she went on Monday her kidney values were high. They called with the results of the tests and gave us 4 possible diagnoses (some were scary, others not as much), but said it would take more time to have definitive answers on the diagnose. They took her off one of her "painkillers" because it's been known to cause high kidney values. She's been on the medicine (Derramax) for awhile, but at first she only got it on a bad day, then she got it everyday, and a few months ago they doubled her dose. So, now she's off. She also has to eat a different prescription food that has no protein in it because a lot of protein isn't good for kidney function. She seems to like it though, so at least she's eating!

Brian was also sent home with IV bags and needles. We are administering delivering her IV fluids twice a day. It is not fun to watch Brian's face as he sticks the needle in her. But, he always does a great job. We've been taking turns having one of us hold the bag up high while the other one pets and reassures her (we do not take turns inserting the needle). All in all, she seems to be responding well.

But, yesterday we got the call that her potassium values were too high, but that her kidney levels were dropping well. We were put on "alert" that she may need to spend 24 hours in the Emergency Vet (not good!), but that our Vet had sent everything off to another Vet (who we trust) to look over and determine if hospitalization would be necessary. Fortunately, because her kidney values are dropping, the second opinion was that she didn't need to spend last night at the Emergency Vet, but that she needed to come in today for MORE blood work and Brian needed to collect her pee to take in. Fortunately her potassium levels dropped to near normal range today! So right now she's going back in on Monday or Tuesday depending on the appointment times because we already have a Baby Girl check up on Monday. And I guess we'll have another update then (for both of our girls)!

Noelle last night. She's a little tired, but she's still happy!

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