Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 - Sick little Bridget

Hiya Bloggy,

Well, not much to report on my medical update. I did have the pre-surgery assessment on Monday and that went just fine. Basically, what the surgeon was concerned with is, after all is said and done, having gone through 8 months of chemo and 6 weeks of radiation therapy, was my heart strong enough to now undergo 2 surgeries (or even one). So a wonderful doctor, Dr. Kahn, did my assessment, went through my medical history, what kind of symptoms (if any) have I had recently with my heart, etc. The end result being, she had to weigh the risk factors and decide what risk factor I had for having a potential heart attack or stroke while on the operating table. She said that I'd be happy to know she thinks I am a very low risk factor so I have the green light to go ahead with the surgeries. So yayayaya... this is a good thing! I want these tumours OUT OF ME!!

So, next step is for Dr. Meneghetti's office to call with the surgery date and that will be my first surgery... getting rid of the adrenal gland/tumour. So, stay tuned, I will obviously be posting here that date, once I know it. If all goes according to plan, that surgery will be done laparascopically which means the recovery time will be much quicker than if it has to be done with the traditional longer surgical cut.

Now... as for my little darlin'. Oh, what a sad day she had today! This morning, she got sick to her stomach... no major big deal. Sometimes dogs get a funny tummy just like us people and they get sick, bring it up and then feel much better... or so I thought. When I figured she was ok, I then went off to work to meet the gang from work for lunch (thanks, you all... that was great seeing you all again!!! And much thanks for the lunch!!!). When I got home, Toby, my neighbour from across the hall, left a note that she had taken Bridget out... so phew! I didn't need to dash home... Bridget was with the neighbour. Well, the two of them got home about 10 minutes after I got home... and poor Bridget! Toby explained that when she had come over to get Bridget (about 30 minutes before), the poor darlin' had had diarrhea on about 4 different spots on the rug. She (Toby) cleaned it up and cleaned the spots on the rug, then took her out... where she tried to go some more outside but was obviously empty... but was straining to go. She had a little bit more and that's when Toby notice a couple of drops of blood. Ack!! Needless to say, this freaked me out. Being that it's Wednesday, the animal clinic where Bridget goes was open until 8pm... but Dr. Joan had called me on Monday to tell me that she was going to be out of town for about 4 days and did I know yet when I was going to be in the hospital... so I knew she wasn't in. But Char was there and calmed me down. She said it definitely sounded like Bridget had an upset tummy or even a touch of colitis and with having the diarrhea, it is not uncommon that there would be some blood from the straining and irritation. Had she eaten anything today? I said no.. I knew with an upset tummy it was best not to feed her until it calmed down. Good. She suggested giving her some broth, or ice cubes or anything to keep her hydrated since dehydration would be the biggest concern... then in the morning, try her on a teaspoon of rice with some chopped up hardboiled egg. If she keeps that down, try it again in about an hour and see how she tolerates that. If she is having problems with that, then I am to bring her in. But so far, she is doing much better. We've been taking her out every 1 1/2 hours and she is definitely over the diarrhea now... and has been sleeping comfortably this evening.

My goodness, if it's not one thing, it's another!! But I'm certainly relieved to see her resting comfortably. Hehehe... when Jenn and Lexi came down to take her out for a quick, short walk just to do their business about 10:30pm tonight...

... when they got back, Lexi decided to help put Bridget to bed. Here Lexi is getting Bridget's bed ready for her.

And here is Bridget, sound asleep after her friend, Lexi went home. She is definitely resting comfortably.

It is now going on 1am, so I'm about to crawl in bed with her... and hopefully we shall both wake up in the morning and she will be back to her little diva self.

Nitey-nite!

Cheryl