Thus far, Jet looks good. Now I'm having a bit of a problem with bloody diarrhea. Normally, he is constipated, always has had IBS with straining, but after I found him in a pool of urine and unable to walk that night a week ago I noticed he had soft stools with frank blood.
Then, when the Sequim Vet said his time was over, I promptly decided to try him on steroids (even though I was aware of the small amount of blood in his stools) His response was excellent. He was comfortable with the Fentanyl patch, but wobbly on his otherwise, normally, very strong rear end.
So, now I took the pain patch off, stopped the steroids since he has developed tarry looking diarrhea :0(
I kept him on Pepcid along with the steroids in hopes to protect his tummy. Oh well. Best laid plans…Today I have started him on Carafate to coat the lining of his stomach and see if we can get the diarrhea to stop.
Today he is stronger, almost frisky, even with the diarrhea, and is hungry. He even walked our hill with little difficulty. The other day on the pain patch he fell over backwards on his stairs to our bed, landed in his water dish, and hurt himself. I removed the stairs, so he can't even attempt to get back on the bed. With a little rest, he was fine again.
I have him on chicken, beef liver, yogurt, and white rice. I already have an Rx for Flagyl in case I need him on an antibiotic for inflammatory bowel along with the Carafate to coat his tummy. I'll give him a day or so without the antibiotics and see how he does.
His sclera is white (no jaundice). His tummy is still bit tight, and I can tell he is anemic from his gums. I have not done any labs much to the dismay of one of my Vet friends. This is my thinking. So, if he is in renal failure, I'm not doing dialysis. If he has cancer, I'm not doing chemo or radiation. I'm not putting him through any exploratory surgeries at his age. He has had no vomiting, no temperature through all of this, so who knows what is going on. My best guess is cancer with metastasis. That's a three decade critical care nurse surmising.
Thank-you to the many supportive close friends who have put their heads together with me to try to figure out this delicate balance to give Jet more time. I do know this….He isn't ready to toss in the towel YET.
Me neither.
It ain't over till it's over
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