Specialists, Emergency Rooms, and Deja Vu

Well, we've had quite a tumultuous few days. I took Ava in to the vet on Wednesday because she started declining again. She had lost more weight and was walking around so gingerly, seeming to be in pain all the time. One of my iggy friends mentioned Lyme's disease, so I looked it up. She had all the symptoms, so I was pretty convinced she had it - possibly caused from her vaccination in May. I had the vet test for it and no such luck. (You know it has to be bad when you are actually hoping for Lyme's disease.)

Our vet was at a loss, so he referred us to Tufts Hospital for Small Animals in North Grafton, Massachusetts. They are a veterinary hospital filled with specialists. We went up there on Thursday, through Emergency (on our vet's recommendation).

After a lot of talking and explanation of her symptoms, the vets there came up with a preliminary diagnosis - immune-mediated polyarthritis. They think that when she originally got the sores on her ears, her body went haywire and started attacking her own body as opposed to her sores. Her joints are inflamed, making it hard for her to walk around, and the immune disorder is causing her ears not to heal.

She had a lot of poking and prodding that day, and eventually got tired of it and snapped at the vet. They had to dig through three boxes to find a muzzle small enough for her, so I present our little Hannibal Lector:

Sad, huh? They sent her home with pain medication and scheduled a follow-up appointment for Monday. I have to take her back (unfortunately, Joe will be working) and get the really expensive tests done to confirm the diagnosis.

After all this, I'm just hoping everything is confirmed on Monday so we can start with the treatment. From my research, it looks like treatment will be Prednizone (a steroid) and she may have to take it the rest of her life. BUT she should go back to the spunky little girl I've missed so much these last couple of months.

So this post is not all bad, I wanted to share some super adorable pictures of the kids lounging around on the couch. (This is where we have been spending much of our time these days.)

Keep sending good thoughts, please! Thank you!

Pretty Boring

So, we haven't really done much this last week or so, so I really have nothing to report. It's kind of sad, really. We've been so boring! We're just staying home a lot, since we can't leave Ava unattended. We try to get out for walks and stuff, but that's about it right now. (Ava is still getting better, though, so that is great news. Her ears really look like they are healing, so please keep those good thoughts coming!)

Sunday we went to the local carnival/fair, and that was pretty funny. We took Ava in her carrier (which she has really taken to recently!) but by the time we got there, most of the booths were packing up, which left us listening to a really terrible cover band and dodging all the preteens who were bouncing around making fools of themselves. There was an old car show, though, and Joe saw a car that was the exact car his dad owned when Joe was growing up. That was pretty cool.

In other good news, the internet we are "borrowing" came back up, so we now have internet access again. We are going to get our own set up as soon as possible, but for now, it's nice to have it back up and running.

So, hope all of you are having a more exciting week than us!

Good News For Ava

Ava went back in to the vet on Tuesday and we got good news! The vet said that what we are doing (cone, no scratching, watching her closely, bleaching and cleaning the house) is working and that she no longer is in danger of losing her ears! He was very happy to see such a positive change because he said he was pretty convinced when he saw us last week that those ears were going to have to be amputated. The scabs are even looking better, so we are very hopeful! Thanks for all your well wishes!

Also, to let you all know, the internet we were using at the apartment went down, so I'm going to have to go to an internet cafe to get online until we can get our own internet set up. So, be patient if you don't here from us as often. We'll try to keep in contact as much as possible though!

I did get my replacement phone finally, so you can text or call me again. :) Same number.

General Update

So, amidst all of the drama with Ava, there has been some other things - good things - going on, and I wanted to share those as well.

Joe's boss went on vacation last week, leaving him in charge of the office. He saw several new patients (which are now HIS patients) and treated many of Dr. Grant's too. He seemed to make a great impression and handled everything smoothly. He had a couple records as well. The most patients treated in a day (22!) and the youngest patient ever treated (5 years old).

He was also able to treat a semi-pro golfer. The guy came in asking Joe to help him get ready for a tournament. This is huge for Joe because he has always wanted to work with athletes (golfers in particular), so if he can help this guy, that will be a huge jump in the right direction.

I have been sending out several resumes each week, for jobs that I'm very interested in, and haven't heard anything back. It's a little disappointing, but I know me not working right now is for a reason - if I was working, I couldn't be home with Ava, and I would be even more worried that I already am. Once she is better, the right job will present itself, I'm sure.

So, not all bad news. :) Hope everyone else is doing well.

Good Thoughts for Ava, Please

Thursday night Ava's ear started bleeding. She was under a blanket and something scared her, so she tried to get out and the blanket was tight around her, so she freaked out and when she finally got out of the blanket, one of her ears was bleeding. It really scared me, but I figured it was just a bloody scab. I cleaned her up and we went to bed.

Friday morning I woke up and went to the bathroom and found a blood spot on Ava's pee pad. I of course thought it was a bladder infection (ala Sophie) so I came out and checked on Ava in her bed. The whole left side of her head was bloody! The ear must have been bleeding all night - there was blood everywhere! Oh, it was so awful. So, I got a wet rag and a little doggie shampoo and cleaned her off the best I could. It didn't look so bad with all that blood gone, but I was still freaked out. Her ears just look so terrible and are so painful to her.

Right ear

Left ear

Later that day her ear started bleeding AGAIN and I decided I had to take her in. I thought I was probably overreacting, but I didn't want to chance it. And thank goodness I trusted my instincts. The doctor I saw was new to me, but he is the one who owns the practice. I really like him and he seems much more knowledgable. Unfortunately, he didn't have good news.

First of all, he is very concerned that there hasn't been any improvement in the ring worm, and he did another culture to see if he could find out anything more. We should hear back from that on Tuesday.

More importantly are the problems with the tips of her ears. He said they may be getting necropic because they are very dark in color and hard to the touch. He is worried that by her scratching at her ears that she has caused some blood vessel damage and that there is a lack of circulation. He commented several times that if it is what he thinks it might be, they may have to amputate her little ear tips. How horrible is that?? Her poor little ears!

So, he sent her home with a plastic collar so she can't scratch her ears anymore and some antibiotics in case there is an infection in those open sores. We have to take her back in on Tuesday to reevaluate and we need to monitor those ear tips to see if they get darker or harder or cold to the touch. That means the tissue is dead and they'll have to cut. :-(

Our poor baby girl!!

She really hates that cone, but she is dealing with it as best she can. I just sit with her and try to make her comfortable. She eventually snoozes off, which is good.

Anyway, please send good thought out for her. I really, really don't want to have her go through surgery!

Jackson Watching Out For His Little Sister

Jackson is so sweet. He went outside and was just laying on the deck with his head up watching Ava. He looked my way when I brought out the camera, but he was looking right at her. They are quite the pair...

Trying to Make Ava Comfortable

It seems like my job lately has just been trying to make my poor Ava girl comfortable during the day and night. Her ear infection isn't going away and her poor ears hurt her so much that I just try to do everything to make her at least somewhat happy.

Today she wanted to go out onto the deck, so I set a camping chair out there for her to sit on. She just didn't look comfortable, so I brought her bed out and put it in the chair. She loved that, but then the sun moved and she was in the shade and started shaking, so I brought out her blanket to cover her up.

Seriously, how crazy am I??