In June of 2018, at Delilah’s annual exam, our vet discovered an arrhythmia affecting all four chambers of Delilah’s heart. (You can read the posts about it HERE and HERE.)

We were lucky enough to get an appointment with a cardiologist within a couple of weeks. Despite echo cardiograms (EKG’s) and Holter studies, the cardiologist could not find the cause of the arrhythmia.

The cardiologist said it could be a small, unseen scar on her heart, but she also said we might never know the reason for the irregularities.

The treatment plan for Delilah was medication. The initial medication was Soltalal, which reduced the occurrence of the irregularities, but they were still occurring.

The cardiologist then added Mexilitene. Both the Mexilitene and Soltalal is available at our local pharmacy.  The Mexilitene is very expensive (over $200 at the vet’s office for a 30 day supply, but our local pharmacy could fill it for about $95 {the last time I bought it, it had gone down to $75} there is also an online pharmacy out of California that fills it for about $95.)

The next EKG showed the irregularities while decreasing, were still occurring.

At this point I became concerned that the Cardiologist was missing something. I spoke with my vet and inquired about getting a second opinion. I explained how the other cardiologist in our state required you drop your dog off and that I wasn’t comfortable with that and she said, “Then take her to Tufts.”

And so I did.

I have to confess, I’ve always been sort of in awe of Tufts. I mean, anytime someone in my area has an animal that needs specialized care, they go to Tufts.

I’m not sure what I expected Tufts to look like, but I was still surprised. Upon arriving I realized, it looks like a University Campus. (Because it is bozo!) There are houses, cottages, barns, pastures and this amazing hospital.

I had given myself an extra half hour, so we arrived in plenty of time. I parked the car and went in to scope it out, leaving Delilah in the car.

I checked her in, then went out, took her for a walk around to sniff and do her business and then brought her in to settle on one of the many couches. I tried to get her to sit with me, but she chose the floor instead.

We didn’t have to wait too long before were brought into a small room by a very personable vet tech. She asked a lot of questions and then left us while she went to get Dr. Karlin.

I loved Dr. Karlin. She was super nice. She looked at Delilah’s records, listened to her heart, then asked if she could do an echocardiogram. The room they use for the test was small, so I was asked to wait in the exam room. Delilah seemed very comfortable with both Dr. Karlin and the vet tech, but I was told if Delilah seemed at all concerned, they would come get me and we would squeeze into the room.

Delilah was back in less than 10 minutes and then Dr. Karlin and I discussed what’s going on.

In the six-minute echo, Delilah showed no irregularities, this was good, (I still have concerns because her arrhythmias tend to show up more during the night, but without running another Holter monitor, there’s no way of knowing.) Dr. Karlin said the only change she would make to Delilah’s meds, were a different strength of Soltalal, which would be easier to administer. We had 80 mg that she was getting ¾’s of, (about 60 mg, twice a day) which was changed to 120 mg which could be halved. Otherwise it was stay-the-course.

She did advise me that Delilah was still at risk for a fatal heart event, but that was something we already knew.

Dr. Karlin was kind enough to let us out the side door, so I didn’t have to deal with the waiting room full of animals.  I walked Delilah about, put her back in the car and went to pay my bill. The bill came to $507. Now some people would say we spent a lot of money and found out nothing new.

I disagree. For me it was confirmation we are doing everything we can for Delilah, and my friends, that takes a heavy burden off my heart, and that is something I am truly thankful for.

Today is the Thankful Thursday blog hop hosted by our friends over at Brian’s Blog. Hop on over and say hello.

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