When I first decided I wanted to adopt a dog to be a companion for Sampson, I said I wanted a dog close in age, mostly because I wanted them to have similar energy levels.  I couldn’t think of Sampson dealing with puppy energy, nor could I think of an older dog dealing with Sampson’s energy.  Enter Delilah who is approximately 18 months younger than Sampson.

WHAT I didn’t consider was a scenario where I would deal with two dogs aging, and how heartbreaking and nerve wracking my life would become.

Monday we had Delilah’s blood drawn to check her liver levels.  Unfortunately the antibiotics and the Denamarin did nothing to reduce her levels, instead her levels increased slightly.

The next step my vet advised was to have an ultrasound done to rule out a mass on her liver or somewhere else in her stomach that might be contributing to the elevated levels.

My vet’s office does not have an ultrasound machine, instead there is a Dr. with a portable machine who travels New England.  He typically makes his way to my vet’s office on Wednesdays.  Since it was late Tuesday afternoon, my vet suspected we might have to wait until next Wednesday to have the procedure done.

THANKFULLY the ultrasound Dr was available yesterday, so we scheduled the procedure.  I spoke with another vet from our practice who explained the procedure.  They would try and do the ultrasound without anesthesia, but if Delilah was too wiggly or uncomfortable, they would have to anesthetize her.  If the Dr. discovered something and felt it warranted it, and could do it safely, they would do a fine needle aspiration if I was agreeable.  I was.

Or course, the test is done on an empty stomach.  Nothing to eat after 9:00 pm the night before, nothing to eat the morning of, although she could have water.

So yesterday, my sweet baby girl missed her breakfast.  This went over like a loud fart in church. (Which actually happened at a wedding I attended.  It was awesome!)

Every time I moved, Delilah moved with me.  Here’s how our conversation would have gone, had she been able to talk.

D: It’s BREAAAAAAAKFAAAAAAAAST time.

Me: No sweetie, I’m sorry, you get no breakfast this morning.  But I will bring a half serving of a meal for you to have after your procedure.

D: How ’bout some liverwurst to wrap my meds in?

Me: Oh honey, no.  Today you don’t get your meds in the morning.

D: BUUUUUUUUUUTTTTT I’ll get cookies on my walk, right?

Me: No darling, I’m super sorry, but you can’t have any cookies on your walk either, here have a bit of water.

D: This is bullshit!!

Me: Yes I know love and so is waiting.

The easy part was dropping her off.  I felt more comfortable dropping her off because 1) it was at my own vet’s office and I love them dearly, 2) my favorite vet tech checked us in and promised to be me while Delilah was there.

They gave me a window of between 11:00 am and 3:00 pm for the procedure.  I jokingly told them the cable company gives me a better window. 🙂

Finally about 2:20 I got the phone call and it was good news!!  Delilah’s liver looks normal.  There are no masses!!  They  recommended she have a Bile Acid test, which they were able to do while she was there.  They also recommend a biopsy, but based on what the Dr. saw during the ultrasound it’s okay to wait a couple of months for that.

The bad news is we might be looking at Chronic Hepatitis.  Which according to Dr. Google (I know, I know don’t listen to Dr. Google) can still be life threatening.  I am however taking hope in the fact that we have time to perform more tests.  I think if it was really bad they would insist on the testing sooner, rather than later.

 

Of course, I’ll be having another conversation with my Vet once the Bile Acid test results come in and hopefully we will know more then.

In the meantime the Dr. said whatever is going on it looks like we caught it early!

I’m going to take that for the win, Alex!