Last week, when I was looking through the blog for a resource to link to another post.  I read through some posts from a couple of years ago, and it made me really sad when I realized I use to be super funny.

I wonder if it has to do with my stint where I had trouble posting, or more along the aging of my dogs, and me not finding any of it amusing?

When you blog about aging dogs that have joint problems, vision problems, adrenal growths and heart issues, I guess you lose your funny.

During a routine exam, Delilah was diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia. It was severe enough to send us to the cardiologist for an ultrasound and echocardiogram of her heart.

At the first visit, the cardiologist discovered a shadow in the tricuspid valve of Delilah’s heart. She strongly felt it wasn’t a heart tumor, just the design of Delilah’s heart. But the only way to know, was to bring her back in 45 (or so) days. The belief was, if it was a tumor, it would have changed within that time period. In the meantime, she put her on some heart medication, and wanted to use a Holter monitor to get a good idea of what the arrhythmia was doing over a 24-hour period.

Yesterday was the ’45’ day follow up. I put that in quotes, because truthfully, it was more like 53 days, due to scheduling.

The first part of the exam is what I call….triage. The vet tech takes Delilah’s blood pressure, weighs her, listens to her heart and takes her temperature. Since Delilah never learned to hold a thermometer under her tongue, the temperature is taken rectally. Like many of us, sticking something up that area of her anatomy, makes Delilah want to poop. Thankfully, once the mean ole thermometer had been removed, Delilah ceased squatting, making both the vet tech and myself breathe a sigh of relief.

When the vet tech asked how Delilah had been, I had to inform her, Delilah has missed two major deadlines in the last week. I say deadlines, but they are more like highlights to Delilah’s day.

The first thing that happened was 9:00 pm came and went, and Delilah slept through it. She only got up when she heard me open the freezer door to get snack.

The second event, also happened within the last week. Most mornings, Sampson and I get up, and Delilah gets up, checks things out and goes back to bed. By the time Sampson and I get back from our walk, Delilah is at the door waiting. But one morning, she wasn’t. She was still in bed.

It’s hard to determine if it’s related to the arrhythmia or not. I mean, we’ve been in the midst of a heatwave (no-one wants to move), Delilah is 12 1/2, she started a new medication for her heart. How do you know if it’s related to any these changes?

When the cardiologist listened to her heart, she said something didn’t sound right, and got her right up on the table. I asked if I should be freaking out, and she told me, “What’s the point of freaking out, if you don’t know why you’re freaking out.”

I said, “You don’t know me, I can freak out over anything.” 🙂

The good news is, the shadowy part of Delilah’s heart, hasn’t changed. The Dr. said she could measure it, but we both agreed, if it was a heart tumor, it would have grown significantly since the last ultrasound.

The bad news is, the arrhythmia is still going fairly strong. So the 3/4’s of a tablet of Sotalol that Delilah has been getting twice per day, has been increased to a full tablet, twice per day. The Holter is still recommended, but she’d like to get the arrhythmia under control with medication, before putting on the Holter, as it should give us a better idea of what might be going on.

Naturally, I expressed my frustration. You know, I want it fixed, and I want it fixed NOW.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m ever so grateful to have ruled out the dilated cardiomyopathy as well as the tumor, but I want to know WHAT is causing it.

The cardiologist confessed, that 80% of the time, they never find the cause of an arrhythmia.

I’m thinking, maybe I should have been a cardiologist, or a weather person, they only get the weather right 20% of the time too. 🙂

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