Wednesday 24 December 2008

He's home for Christmas!

Had another long day on the road today but im happy my boy is home:)

Im just going to type out the sheet the vet gave me of their findings it will be more accurate than me trying to do my own interpretation sorry if this is boring-
////Clinical examination revealed Buster's salivary glands to be enlarged.We have also detected a mild heart murmur(interesting as this has never been detected before vet doesnt think its linked with current illness or anything to worry about)
Blood tests revealed evidence of mild dehydration and one of the parameters relating to his liver was also increased.However,a further blood revealed no evidence of abnormal liver function(this was the test done this morning).
X-rays taken of Buster's chest releaved no evidence of significant abnormality.
Endoscopy of Buster's oesophagus,stomach and upper small intestine.Biopsies have been taken from his stomach and upper small intestine and have been sent for analysis at the lab.
Samples taken from both his salivary glands revealed no evidence of inflammation,cancerous changes or infection.(huge relief there)////

Vet wouldnt confirm a diagnosis until the other lab results are through he said he has 'some' of the symptoms of two conditions, it could be either or both.
But his is confident he'll have a firm diagnosis once these are in and a course of treatment,I get the feeling he's pretty sure what it is but doesnt want to commit himself until the results are in.We should have those by Monday or Tuesday next week.
Vet seemed really pleased and positive so im feeling much happiers and optimistic.
At the momemt the meds are treating his tum its pretty much the same as if he has ulcers!
When he brought Buster out to me vet said there are lots of disappointed people in the back as he's been are huge hit so Buster now has a Scottish branch to his fan club.
I could tell instantly he was much brighter, he's had a few more swallowing episodes when he saw me and when he saw Minx,Mouse and Ted but since he's been home ive not seen any which is brilliant as it was happening every few minutes the last few days.
I cant praise the vet and the University enough they are absolutely brilliant and have been lovely with us both throughout.My bill was at the bottom of the estimate so I managed to pay for it without hammering my credit card...granted it was still nearly £900 {gulp} but he's worth it:)

My mum is still in hospital and will be for the next few days yes Christmas in hospital!
She's on a drip with antibiotics and morphine,she's not allowed to eat or drink either the ultrasound showed she has gall stones,I think they are hoping it all settles down so they can take the gall bladder out at a later date but the doctor hasnt rules taking it out in the meantime.
Visiting is betwen 2and 8pm so we'll all be going down tomorrow afternoon to visit and open pressies!

Huge thankyou to Claire for the offer of driving today I wished there had been more time to take you up on it ive done a LOT of driving in the last two days and needed matchsticks coming home.
Jean thanks for the lovely comment yesterday it helped a lot and obviously worked!

Hope you all have lovely Christmasxxxx

7 comments:

Jean said...

I am so happy for you. Now all we need to know is exactly what the vets have decided is wrong. Since they are confident in the course of actions, that's great. Leave it to Buster to come up with something exotic. Bet some of the dehydration was due to whatever the original problem was that had him vomiting. One thing just led to another.

As for your Mom, while hospital is not the ideal place for Christmas, at least she is being well taken care of. Not being home bums out the holiday, but better she be there and comfortable.

Please give her my best wishes from the USA. And may all your family share the joy of being together.

More prayers coming your way and a special bit of cyberhugs for Buster. His fan club reaches across the sea too!

Claire said...

good news about buster, shame your mother couldn't have come home as well, but at least you know what's wrong with her and it's eminently sortable.

I thought later I should have just come up to yours to be there ready for the vet ringing, but hindsight is such a wonderful thing...

hope you manage to have a good christmas anyway, despite the disruptions...

Muriel said...

{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}

I wish you a Great Christmas. I hope you all (Mum and Buster) will get better soon.

Take care.

Jean said...

Update on Buster???? Vet's prognosis??

Nicola said...

No news yet Jean I should hear tomorrow or Tuesday depends when the results come through.Im going to ring the vet either way tomorrow as he's been vomiting a lot over the weekend despite being brighter in himself.I know he gave him an injection before we left to help with this so even if the results arent in maybe he can advise my vet to give him something to help for now!

Nicola said...

Didnt hear today Claire so will be tomorrow.
I didnt ring in the end as he's not been sick once today and barely any swallowing episodes. So I decided to wait till the vet school calls with the results,think im half afraid to get them!
Ive been doing more googling and one of my theories is inflammatory bowel disease.Its not cureable but treatable and diet seems to be key so over the past few days ive totally cut out the dry food and increased the meat that I usually mix in with the dry food, which is a lightly steamed meat with veg and rice.I probably shouldnt do anything till the results are in but figured he's so bad it couldnt hurt.
I had tried Krugger on the BARF diet years ago when he had all the skin allergies and he loved it and was much better on it so this maybe an avenue to explore if needs be.
Plus there are some natural remedies it might be worth trying to sooth and line the stomach such as Aloe vera juice/milk thistle etc.Its all hypothetical at the moment but after reading what goes into these processed feeds im not sure I want to continue using them anyway!

Jean said...

Do check into NAET treatments for whatever is wrong. I have now had my kitty treated by a local vet for allergies and it's made a huge difference after only one session!! I am a total believer.