5C's Que Pasa

…or so we hope.

Before continuing with the IV yesterday morning we wanted to discuss the situation with the vet. BTW we were only planning on getting the IV catheter removed and taking her home.  The vet ( for those in the know, this was Dr. Susan as opposed to Dr. Jessica, the daughter and the new young vet who treated Carmeh on Thursday ) suggested another blood panel as this would give us an idea if the IV flush was working.  So we agreed and were told that we would have results in 45 minutes.  So rather than staying in the office which was causing Carmeh great stress we took off in the car and did a few errands, one of which was stocking up on some vino blanco.  Sixty minutes later we returned to the vet’s office.  They were supposed to call us once the results were in.

Apparently they were being printed off as we arrived, however we were not allowed to know the results until the vet saw us.  Dr. Susan was occupied with another patient.  Colin had only 15 minutes left before we had to leave because of an extremely important meeting with a client.  We waited and waited and finally I said to the staff that we were leaving.  I guess I would have to take the catheter out myself.  Just as we opened the door to leave, someone rushed up and said that the vet could see us now.  Long story short, Carmeh’s enzymes had come down, but not by much.  Further IV therapy was recommended. We went back and forth.

We had two minutes to make up our minds as Colin truly had to leave.  We left her there. Gosh we wasted close to two hours farting around in my  humble opinion, when she could have been getting the fluids to flush her system.  It was really tough walking away watching her squirm in the arms of the technician.  But it was for her overall good.  I asked them to not give her anymore morphine but to give her something to calm her.  They did not.  She did receive an anti inflammatory/pain medication and an antibiotic but nothing to calm her stress.  Colin went to work and I worried myself silly back at home.  I called a few times to check on her and was told that she appeared to be happy.  It was pouring rain out and so they did not take her out to pee.  They are a great vet clinic but no one can look after my girl as well as me.

We were there to pick her up 15 minute before closing but had to wait  a long time before we saw the vet.  Finally they allowed us to see her as we were taken in to see the vet.  She was so happy to see us and licked our faces.  First thing she did was rip off her bandage covering her IV site.  So the big news was that we had to make a major change in her diet.  We had been told earlier that we should put per her on Royal Canin low fat gastrointestinal diet which based on my research yesterday is pure crap. Much back and forth between us and Dr. Susan and it was decided that we would keep her on a canned dog food only, fairly low fat at 4%.  No more kibble.  For Carmeh’s health and to try and prevent another pancreatitis episode we agreed.  Of course that means changing Caeli’s diet also.  We just can’t have them on two different diets.  They are always smelling each others breath to see if the other got something they didn’t.

When we got home Carmeh rushed into the house and was running in circles before she started to play with her toys.  I was told that I would have to give her Tramadol twice last evening for pain and up to four times per day for several days.  She had no pain and she was fine.  Colin took Carmeh outside while I fed Caeli as Carmeh was still not allowed to eat.

What is very difficult for me is that Carmeh was only allowed 1 tablespoon of food this morning.  It consisted of 3/4 rice and 1/4 chicken.  She gets the same this evening.  Tomorrow she gets 3 tablespoons and the next day 4 and so on.  The plan is to work her up to 1/2 cup twice per day with a ratio of 2/3 chicken and 1/3 rice which is to be her diet for two weeks.  Then I can start to transition her to 1/2 can ( 13.2 oz is a can )  per day for the rest of her life.  That is it, nothing more.  No treats nor any extras of any type.  It won’t be easy for either of us.  When I boiled her chicken I added lots of water to the pot and now have a lot of chicken stock.  So I put a large amount of chicken stock with her tablespoon of food.  I guess we have to do what we have to do.  She refuses to drink water but is drinking the broth so she is getting some liquid.

Not a lot of food but I do understand the reasoning is that they want her pancreas to very slowly get working again.

Since being home last night she is sticking close to us, Colin especially.  He did have to go out to do some exterior photography today for a few hours and took the girls with him.  Less stress for Carmeh and time for me to do a bit of my work that is backlogged. It also took her mind off being fed.  I did speak with the vets office today and there is no way I can increase the amount of food she is getting even though she is pain free  and extremely active.  The road ahead is not easy.  One of my concerns is that the transition to the canned food will have the girls on their new diet for just under two weeks before we depart.  Of course I have to buy $600.00 worth of canned food before we leave and can only hope that it will be tolerated.  I am glad that we have just over two full weeks in the US in case we have to make a change.  None of the food they eat is available where we are in Mexico, possibly in Mexico City.  For now we can only take it one day at a time.

She did spend most of the day resting, curled in the fetal position,  in the bed between our desks.  Yes we both worked today.  It makes no difference the day of the week to us.

Thank you all so much for your support via emails and the comments here on the blog.  You are my family and it means a lot.  We are anticipating another great winter on the beach for the girls and especially Carmeh.  She has been through so much this past year and a bit.  If she can pull through her paralysis she can cope with this new change in her life.