JJ status 10/21 - 10/24
Original sender: Eric----
So sorry for gap in updates. There was no mobile service from the trial site and then the remote email program did not recognize my shortcut mailing list.
I got a series of voicemails Sunday and then spoke with hope Monday morning. I got another message while on the plane home. My prose has gone south and I’m just typing my notes for this installment.
Good news JJ is coming home tomorrow. Not sure yet if it is because he’s truly better or just out of immediate danger so they don’t know what else to do.
10/21 Message from Hope. Doing okay today, they cultured some yeast from his wound and so are adjusting the meds. They gave him a blood transfusion last night since his red cell count was low, hoping to perk him up. He’s still not eating; getting nutrition from the tube only.
10/22 Message from Hope. He’s doing better this morning. Since the vacuum went away they moved him to a new more comfy spot in the center of the room where he gets lots of attention and seems to be like it. He ate some from Hope’s hand. The bloodwork shows his kidney values are almost back to normal. They are cutting back on fluids and he is maintaining his weight. He has perked up a bunch. He may come home Tuesday.
10/23 Spoke to Hope. JJ’s improving kidney function results could be due to reasons other than improved kidneys. Since he has eaten so little protein there is very little BUN to neutralize. His muscles have atrophied to where his Creatinine may be improving as a result. His Urine specific gravity is still bad; very little concentration of urine (may still be caused by fluids but …). It makes the most sense to pick him up Wednesday am (my work schedule and rest of check-out procedure)
10/23 message from Hope. He’s doing well today, he ate more and spent a bunch of time outside that he seemed to really enjoy. They will do more bloodwork tomorrow. Tentatively planning to discharge on Wednesday.
10/24 Spoke to Hope. The bloodwork came back and looked very good. They have weaned him off the fluids to where today he is getting no IV fluids; drinking on his own. Creatinine is still falling; could still be due to weight loss. It is good news that it is not going up. He is more interested in food though still not eating well. Stress from 2 weeks in the hospital? He will have one drain remaining when we pick him up. They will give us lessons on caring for it. The wounds are healing nicely, the one is still draining due to the amount of dead space within the leg. The bloodwork showed normal CBC levels indicating that the infection is clearing up. They will remove the feeding tube so it will be up to me to get him to eat enough to provide energy for his body to heal.
I will be glad to have the little shit at home. I feel more involved when I’m seeing him all the time. I will find out more tomorrow when I chat with the actual vet more about his longer term prognosis.
When he was in the Internal Medicine department I got calls from both the Vet and the Student. Since his transfer to the surgical unit I have gotten calls only from the student and don’t feel like I’m getting the same energy that I got from the other student. Dogtor Wallace has hinted that the quality of communication has gone down on her end too. The pessimist in me is afraid that Hope just doesn’t know how to tell me all the horrible news.
I had the other dogs boarded at a different vet in St. Cloud this weekend and as part of the process they all got checkups and whatnot. It seemed to go well I just don’t know what to ask to be sure they’re up to monitoring the rest of JJ’s recovery.
So sorry for gap in updates. There was no mobile service from the trial site and then the remote email program did not recognize my shortcut mailing list.
I got a series of voicemails Sunday and then spoke with hope Monday morning. I got another message while on the plane home. My prose has gone south and I’m just typing my notes for this installment.
Good news JJ is coming home tomorrow. Not sure yet if it is because he’s truly better or just out of immediate danger so they don’t know what else to do.
10/21 Message from Hope. Doing okay today, they cultured some yeast from his wound and so are adjusting the meds. They gave him a blood transfusion last night since his red cell count was low, hoping to perk him up. He’s still not eating; getting nutrition from the tube only.
10/22 Message from Hope. He’s doing better this morning. Since the vacuum went away they moved him to a new more comfy spot in the center of the room where he gets lots of attention and seems to be like it. He ate some from Hope’s hand. The bloodwork shows his kidney values are almost back to normal. They are cutting back on fluids and he is maintaining his weight. He has perked up a bunch. He may come home Tuesday.
10/23 Spoke to Hope. JJ’s improving kidney function results could be due to reasons other than improved kidneys. Since he has eaten so little protein there is very little BUN to neutralize. His muscles have atrophied to where his Creatinine may be improving as a result. His Urine specific gravity is still bad; very little concentration of urine (may still be caused by fluids but …). It makes the most sense to pick him up Wednesday am (my work schedule and rest of check-out procedure)
10/23 message from Hope. He’s doing well today, he ate more and spent a bunch of time outside that he seemed to really enjoy. They will do more bloodwork tomorrow. Tentatively planning to discharge on Wednesday.
10/24 Spoke to Hope. The bloodwork came back and looked very good. They have weaned him off the fluids to where today he is getting no IV fluids; drinking on his own. Creatinine is still falling; could still be due to weight loss. It is good news that it is not going up. He is more interested in food though still not eating well. Stress from 2 weeks in the hospital? He will have one drain remaining when we pick him up. They will give us lessons on caring for it. The wounds are healing nicely, the one is still draining due to the amount of dead space within the leg. The bloodwork showed normal CBC levels indicating that the infection is clearing up. They will remove the feeding tube so it will be up to me to get him to eat enough to provide energy for his body to heal.
I will be glad to have the little shit at home. I feel more involved when I’m seeing him all the time. I will find out more tomorrow when I chat with the actual vet more about his longer term prognosis.
When he was in the Internal Medicine department I got calls from both the Vet and the Student. Since his transfer to the surgical unit I have gotten calls only from the student and don’t feel like I’m getting the same energy that I got from the other student. Dogtor Wallace has hinted that the quality of communication has gone down on her end too. The pessimist in me is afraid that Hope just doesn’t know how to tell me all the horrible news.
I had the other dogs boarded at a different vet in St. Cloud this weekend and as part of the process they all got checkups and whatnot. It seemed to go well I just don’t know what to ask to be sure they’re up to monitoring the rest of JJ’s recovery.
posted by Elf at 12:18 PM
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