A bit of an up and down 24 hrs
Original sender: Eric----
Good morning all,
A bit of an up and down 24 hrs.
Phone call last night from Hope letting me know that JJ’s blood work results from the morning showed his BUN going up (mid forties) and his creatinine improving. A quick check with the Internal Medicine folks confirms that this is not great news but not unexpected. The food he was fed contained protein and that combined with the decrease in fluids would be expected to stress the kidneys. Kidney tissue can regenerate; it takes time.
Drove to Gainesville last night, slept in a motel and went to the hospital first thing this morning.
JJ was not looking very perky. He had had his urinary catheter removed. We went for a short walk outside and he urinated several times. His esophageal feeding tube was removed because there signs it was beginning to abscess at the incision sight on his throat. Since he continues to not eat they are planning to put in an intra-nasal feeding tube while he is under anesthetic this afternoon. He is scheduled for a 2pm surgery to remove the vacuum foam bandage and hopefully close the wound with a drain installed.
I told him about all of your support and love and that he needed to work harder at getting better. He liked getting his head and ears rubbed, moving his head to be sure the scratching continued. He did lay down on the bad leg, generally a good sign. His legs are swollen and can’t be much fun. I offered him some cat food and he avoided it. I put a morsel in his mouth and he spit it out.
The batteries died soon after this photo so apologies for the darkness. (Ellen notes: I brightened it up in photoshop.) On his neck (yellow) you can see the 3 catheter ends (fluids, blood pressure & ?). On the right rear leg the black over his foot is a poop bag to keep everything dry, the green is a pressure bandage to try and reduce the edema, the yellow (saran wrap) to the hip is the vacuum bandage (some of the black under the yellow is the foam, the red and white are holding the vacuum hose (clear tubing) that is usually attached to the vacuum in the ICU.
Had a discussion with the vet and she is also worried that he has no appetite yet. She promised to tell me when it made no sense to continue to treat him and said he’s not there quite yet. I am worried about the word “quite” but don’t know what else to do.
Hopefully when they get some more food into him he’ll feel better (hungry). I left my phone in the van and so expect I’ll get a message after work tonight with the results of the surgery. I also took some photos with the phone so I’ll see what they look like later.
Good morning all,
A bit of an up and down 24 hrs.
Phone call last night from Hope letting me know that JJ’s blood work results from the morning showed his BUN going up (mid forties) and his creatinine improving. A quick check with the Internal Medicine folks confirms that this is not great news but not unexpected. The food he was fed contained protein and that combined with the decrease in fluids would be expected to stress the kidneys. Kidney tissue can regenerate; it takes time.
Drove to Gainesville last night, slept in a motel and went to the hospital first thing this morning.
JJ was not looking very perky. He had had his urinary catheter removed. We went for a short walk outside and he urinated several times. His esophageal feeding tube was removed because there signs it was beginning to abscess at the incision sight on his throat. Since he continues to not eat they are planning to put in an intra-nasal feeding tube while he is under anesthetic this afternoon. He is scheduled for a 2pm surgery to remove the vacuum foam bandage and hopefully close the wound with a drain installed.
I told him about all of your support and love and that he needed to work harder at getting better. He liked getting his head and ears rubbed, moving his head to be sure the scratching continued. He did lay down on the bad leg, generally a good sign. His legs are swollen and can’t be much fun. I offered him some cat food and he avoided it. I put a morsel in his mouth and he spit it out.
The batteries died soon after this photo so apologies for the darkness. (Ellen notes: I brightened it up in photoshop.) On his neck (yellow) you can see the 3 catheter ends (fluids, blood pressure & ?). On the right rear leg the black over his foot is a poop bag to keep everything dry, the green is a pressure bandage to try and reduce the edema, the yellow (saran wrap) to the hip is the vacuum bandage (some of the black under the yellow is the foam, the red and white are holding the vacuum hose (clear tubing) that is usually attached to the vacuum in the ICU.
Had a discussion with the vet and she is also worried that he has no appetite yet. She promised to tell me when it made no sense to continue to treat him and said he’s not there quite yet. I am worried about the word “quite” but don’t know what else to do.
Hopefully when they get some more food into him he’ll feel better (hungry). I left my phone in the van and so expect I’ll get a message after work tonight with the results of the surgery. I also took some photos with the phone so I’ll see what they look like later.
posted by Elf at 11:37 AM
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