Columbia, TN 38401
09/02/2010 05:38 PM
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Suzie has been improving nicely until recently. She underwent the first of three heartworm treatments and shortly after the first treatment became ill. She has been in the hospital for the past few days and her care continues to be expensive, but we still believe that she is worth every penny. Below is an update from Suzie’s foster mom and the vet’s thoughts on what could be causing Suzie’s current problems. We don’t have an estimate for her current charges; as well she will need two additional heartworm treatments when she recovers for this current illness. Below the current update is a PayPal donation button if you wish to donate to her continuing care. Update July 31, 2008 Suzie is making incredible strides in becoming the beautiful, healthy dog she was always meant to be. She is learning to play with a new foster that came in and she is surprise attacking our other dogs as they come into the house. She is still destuffing ducks and bobos but her favorite toys remain the contraband she can find- socks and underwear. If a dresser drawer is not pushed in tight she has learned to fish her nose in and grab what she wants. We may end up making that her toy box. She is a happy dog and loves people. She especially loves my mother in law and those two will sit together in the recliner and love on each other. Suzie is working hard on developing her leg and back muscles as it has now been a month since she has been allowed to play. She was on crate rest and restricted activity following her surgery and heartworm treatment so her weight gain has been mostly.. uh.. flab as she did feel a bit doughy. In one more month she will return to the clinic for her blood test to confirm her heartworm status as well as to check her kidneys. Below are pictures Traci took of Suzie blissfully drying in the sun after a bath. Update July 14, 2008 Suzie has been very busy. She was given the all clear to play by the vet and wasted no time destuffing ducks, bobos, and squirrels! I have tried to get a picture of her doing this but she drops the toy and runs to the camera when she sees it. She also now loves to run in the backyard barking at the wind and enticing all of the dogs to play with her. The vet is impressed with Suzie because she managed to gain a pound while undergoing heartworm treatment. Most dogs lose weight so this is great news. The vet now wants Suzie to exercise and gain some muscle (she is sort of soft now) before we test her kidneys and take care of Suzie's teeth. Right now she shows no signs of kidney disease and we are trying to keep it that way. The kidney issue was revealed when Suzie had an ultrasound during her gastrointestinal distress episode. Her kidneys appear to be missing some cortex and instead of the nice scalloped edges where the renal pyramids would be Suzie has nothing in spots. We don't know if this was congenital or if Suzie was also kicked in the kidneys (the vet said this is a very real possibility as she was kicked in the chest) but we are taking steps to lessen the load on Suzie's kidneys. Any drug that is known to be hard on the kidneys is not used on Suzie unless absolutely necessary. We are not going with the kidney diet at this point because it is very high in fat and the vet is balancing the possible benefits with the negative effects of a more limited diet and doxie weight gain. Update June 11, 2008 Suzie went to the vet for her two week heartworm check. The vet said that her heart and lungs sound pretty good. Suzie wanted to play at the vet clinic with every dog and cat that came in which is a good sign. However, because she is still recovering, Suzie cannot play. I keep reminding her that she has just two more weeks of being quiet left but she definitely isn't happy. Suzie will go back to the clinic in two weeks to discuss the date of the ivermectin injection to kill the microfilaria in her bloodstream. We are also going to take her to Petsmart to pick out a nice selection of toys to play with as much as she wants. The vet also said that once her heartworm treatment is completed we will do her kidney studies to get a baseline function and take care of her teeth. She doesn't have issues now with her kidneys but because of the damage to them she will need to be watched. The vet isn't sure at this point (we will know more later) if the damage is from being abused or if she had congenitally malformed kidneys. Depending upon the results of the kidney function studies, she will receive blood work every 3 to 6 months to monitor kidney function.
Update June 2, 2008
Suzie went to the vet for her second and third heartworm injection. She is now home. Suzie was kept in ICU as a precaution. The vet told me that they would like to keep her a second night in the ICU just to err on the side of caution. She did very well. She is slightly sore from the injections and you can tell she is worn out from kicking heartworm butt but she is happy. She has been sleeping next to her daddy and he has been keeping a watchful eye on her.
Update May 28, 2008
Suzie went to the vet this Monday and the vet said that her heart and lungs sound pretty good. We discussed trying to finish Suzie's heartworm treatment holistically. After much thought it was decided that it would be in Suzie's best interest to complete the treatment traditionally. Many factors went into this decision. The holistic treatment could take 6 months to a year to rid Suzie of the worms so traditional treatment will be in a much more controlled fashion as she has already had complications stemming from worm death. The holistic treatment has a 75% success rate according to one study so if it doesn't work for Suzie she could end up with a superworm infection as these worms survived the first round of the heartworm treatment. Suzie will go to the vet on Tuesday to stay for two days in ICU while the heartworm treatment is completed. Suzie will then come home and rest for 4 weeks (she won't be happy about this) while her body takes care of the dead worms.
Update May 8, 2008
Suzie was well enough to come home on Saturday, May 3rd to the screaming delight of her foster brother and sisters as well as her foster mom and dad. The doctors felt that she would continue to improve at home since her IV fluids were stopped that morning. Her foster mom lives only 5 minutes from the clinic so getting Suzie back quickly if needed is not an issue. Suzie went for a recheck on Monday and the vet said that her heart and lungs sound good. Her heart is enlarged from the heartworms and her heart rate is lower than that of most small dogs so we will continue to watch it. Suzie will go back to the vet on the 19th of this month for another check up and to discuss how/when to proceed with heartworm treatment. Treatment may be delayed a bit to let Suzie get stronger from her last ordeal and to give the vets time to research possible treatments for Suzie. There are now three vets actively working on her case and one is an internal medicine specialist. Suzie lost 1/2 pound while hospitalized for vomiting so the vet would like her to try to regain some of that weight. Holistic treatments are being considered as well as all other options to rid her body of heartworms.
Update May 1, 2008 I just got back with David from visiting Suzie. They wanted to hook her back up to her fluids. She wagged and LICKED both of us but especially her Daddy! She is definitely more alert than yesterday. She isn't normal but this is so much better than yesterday where she was limp in my arms and not acknowledging me. As soon as I got there she went out with me and limped a few vet (she has an IV catheter) and squatted to make her BIG pee pee. Neither the vet or the vet techs could get her to urinate today which is why they called us in. She is a urinary camel. The vet said that her bilirubin level was normal indicating that her gall bladder is ok and likely just enlarged from not eating. Her blood work is all normal now which is good. She ate 6 little cubes of food while I was there and has held it down. We are waiting to see if her intestines start to work again. She has less gas in her stomach according to the Xrays today. The vets were talking about her ultrasound results and they are sort of feeling that we will just watch these adhesions and how she does. Unfortunately dogs with surgery but especially diaphragmatic hernias usually don't receive ultrasounds to see how the adhesions form to see if this is a normal healing process or not. We will keep an eye on it. At this point the barium swallow will NOT have to be done if she can keep food down and her intestines start to work. If she doesn't get those intestines working than a barium swallow will have to be done so we can see if any adhesions are in her intestines causes her issues. To recap what it could be: Some sort of idiopathic gastroenteritis. Possible causes are the prednisone she was on, adhesions, something she ate, or some type of heartworm intestinal problem that is very unlikely. In addition I talked to the vet more about the findings from the ultrasound about her kidneys. They look ok on the outside but on the inside they are not formed well. Her kidney values were slightly elevated (less than 5 points above what they should have been) but they are down now as well but she is on IV fluids so that could account for her good readings. The vet said her kidneys look older than a 2 1/2 year old so yearly when she goes for a visit she should have her levels checked to watch it. I felt better today because they were talking about Suzie in the future tense so that is all a relief and hopeful. She is going to spend the night and the day tomorrow but may be able to come home tomorrow night if all is continuing to improve. I will keep you posted. We will try to get back this afternoon after she has had time to rest. We have received an outpouring of support both financial and emotional and every member of AADR would like to thank Suzie’s supporters from the bottom of our hearts. The response has been so great that we have received enough funds to meet all of Suzie’s known health concerns. She has fought an astronomical battle to stay alive, and is now recovering peacefully in her foster home. Many people are touched by Suzie’s story and would still like to donate in her honor; we will therefore be accepting donations and selling raffle tickets until Friday 28th at midnight in her honor to help other needy Dachshunds. The drawing for the toy box raffle will be on Saturday, March 1st. Thank you again for helping Suzie.
Hi! My name is Suzanne but my foster mom calls me Suzie. I am a 3 year old black and tan dachshund. As you can see I am very cute and a cuddle bug. What you cannot readily see is how very sick I am. My story is sad but true. As painful as it is for me, I'm told that it is important that my story be told. I was kept outside by a lady who 'forgot to feed me' and never took me in even when it was cold. When I was rescued the lady who picked me up saw how thin I was so she drove to McDonalds to buy three hamburger patties for me. They were delicious!
My foster mom noticed that I was breathing hard so off to something called the vet we went. I was diagnosed with heartworms, intestinal parasites, and more horrifically, the vet discovered that I have apparently been kicked in the chest before because I have a diaphragmatic hernia. My diaphragm ripped from some serious trauma and now my abdominal organs are in my chest cavity!
I have to be fed many small meals over the course of the day and night because my intestines are pressing on my lungs making it difficult for me to take deep breaths. My foster mom told me that I need to have a serious surgery to repair the damage done by those mean people who mistreated me. My foster mom said that she will take good care of me but we need help paying for surgery and heartworm treatment. Can you please help me?
Please help Suzie by making a donation through Paypal. If you would like to make a donation by check, please mail your check to: AADR, C/O Jamie Shea, 805 Brownstone Court, Nolensville, TN 37135. Please indicate on the check that the funds are for Suzie's care. Thank you. Any donations or ticket sales received in excess of Suzie's care will be donated to the general medical fund.
Update April 28, 2008
Suzie started her heartworm treatment last Monday. She is handling the treatment well although she does not like to be calm and quiet. She is trying everything in her power to get us to play with her including flipping on her back in her crate and kicking her legs up into the air while she watches us for any sign of weakness. She is very hard to resist but for her health we have to. Suzie spent the day of her injection in ICU and will go back for her recheck on May 5th. If all goes well with her visit then on May 19th she will receive her second and third injection and spend two days in ICU. This morning while Suzie was resting on the sofa she flipped onto her back which is her favorite resting position and took a DEEP breath and let out a sigh. She only did this once but this is the first time that I have ever seen her take anything other than a shallow breath. I am hoping that she will continue to improve her lung capacity.
Update April 16, 2008 So much has happened for little Suzie this month and last. Suzie has spent most of her days lounging in the sun outside and taking care of her foster brother, James, in between cuddling with her foster mom and dad. In March, Suzie went to the vet for her checkup. The vet was pleased with her progress and it was discovered that she gained a pound! The vet said that if Suzie could gain another pound then we could begin heartworm treatment as early as next week. Suzie's lungs continued to have some harsh sounds in them but the vet is hopeful that this will improve with time. Things were going nicely until this past Saturday when Suzie's respirations shot up from 34 per minute to over 100 per minute. She was rushed to the vet with glassy eyes and pale gums. The vets diagnosed Suzie with reaction to heartworms with possible pulmonary embolism. Suzie has been placed on prednisone and her respirations returned to normal. She will be treated with heparin if necessary. The vet feels that the treatment can still be started early next week. Suzie's big sister, Lucy, went through heartworm treatment as well 5 years ago and had a rough time of it. Lucy has been giving Suzie pointers on how to make it through this treatment and the toys and fun she will have once it is finished. Suzie asked that everyone keep her in their prayers. Cute Update March 9, 2008
Suzie is adorable. This morning she LAUGHED I swear (I know she supposedly can't but she was laughing) when her coat came undone and came to around her waist. I turned the corner and she had an amused look as she was wagging her tail as if she was saying, "Can you believe it FELL off of me?" Her entire body was wiggling with delight at her situation. She also gets this amused look when David puts TWO coats on her to go outside in the morning. She marches around and wags at us as she is trying to find her potty spot.
Update March 6, 2008
Suzie had two appointments today- one for her recheck at The surgeons at LSU and Suzie's regular vet are pleased with Suzie's progress. Her incision is healing and her gums are pink for the first time since she came into rescue. She does have a few concerns that the vets are hoping improve with time. Her heart is an hourglass shape most likely from being pressed and moved out of position by her intestines, liver, and stomach. Her right ventricle had to work harder to push blood to her lungs as they were so compressed which is likely why it has a funny shape to it. She also is not fully expanding her lungs. The vets are hoping that within the next few weeks and months the shape of her heart will improve and she will learn to expand her lungs more when she gets more exercise (she has had to stay in a crate to heal). She can now come out of the crate for very mild exercise but caution must be used because of the heartworms. Suzie's vet would like to see her gain more weight and breathe better before heartworm treatment so she will be monitored. She is being dewormed again as she had hooks and whips when she came into rescue and she is being treated for a minor skin infection (from the remnants of a flea allergy). Suzie doesn't seem to realize that anything is wrong with her as she just loves to eat and be cuddled.
Update March 2 Posted Late
Suzie's vet student called me a few minutes ago. The biopsy results of the mammary tumor are in---- THE TUMOR IS BENIGN! I am so happy for Suzie - she has enough to deal with without having a tumor as an issue as well.
She will go back to LSU on Thursday for her follow up visit and we will discuss HW treatment. On the day of Suzie's discharge last Sunday it was noticed that she also has a crack in one of her teeth. That will be taken care of at some point when it is safe to do so. It doesn't seem to hurt her right now but she is on a soft diet for now anyway.
Update February 26, 12:02 p.m.
Suzie continues to make a peaceful recovery from her surgery like the little fighter that she is. Her foster mom sent in a few pictures for us to post. The first is picture of Suzie incision, and the second is a picture of Suzie thanking everyone who helped to pay for her surgery.
Update February 24, 10:31 p.m.
Suzie is Home!!! We just got in about 20 minutes ago with Suzie. We have her resting in her crate after I gave her a small amount of food to eat and gave her some water. She is more alert than she was when I first met her and she is like a velcro dog- loves to be held by me and wants to know where I am at all times. She is on canned ID right now and she seems to tolerate it well. I wanted to take a picture of her but she seems exhausted from such a long drive home (took about an hour an half).
Her incision goes from her pubic bone to a little past her breast bone but she doesn't seem to mind it. I am watching her to make sure that she doesn't want to chew at it. She licks faces like it is her job in life. She is a happy happy girl. My mom is becoming extremely attached to her as is everyone who sees her.
Suzie needs to go back to LSU in two weeks for a recheck. I might bring her into my vet for a good listen during the week. The vet student didn't think it was a bad idea.
I will hopefully be able to take a picture of her tomorrow or maybe tonight.
Update February 23, 2008 9:40 p.m. From Suzie's Foster Mom: The doctor on duty in ICU called me about 30 minutes ago to let me know that they are indeed discharging Suzie tomorrow! They said that she is breathing well and they believe that she will do fine at home. They feel like she could be moved to the regular ward but she is already in ICU for the night and going home tomorrow so she will just stay in ICU for extra monitoring and to stay comfortable. I am going to pick her up at 12:30 pm in
Update February 23, 2008 3:00 p.m. From Suzie's Foster Mom: Suzie is doing MUCH better this morning! She is not glassy eyed and she is out of the oxygen tent. They manipulated her this morning in different positions for awhile to check her breathing and she has not shown a need for supplemental oxygen. She is breathing even better today but is still doing some abdominal breathing but the vets think this will resolve too. She has been switched from IV pain meds to oral pain meds and they will watch to see if that is ok. She was given a small meal this morning (this is important because if she vomits it could be horrible) and she will have to be fed several small meals of canned ID for awhile. She is still in ICU for monitoring (they think I should not visit today) and the rest of the plans for her are contigent upon her continuing to improve.
If all goes well then she will be able to come home in the morning!!! She will have to be on strict crate rest for 10 to 14 days to let her diaphragm and lungs continue to heal. It may have to be extended. After that no jumping even then for a long time. (and never since she is a dachshund
 ) They don't have any answers yet about her HW treatment because she needs to heal fully before that is a thought but they are thinking that possibly the spring would be the earliest that could happen.
Update February 22, 2008 10:07 p.m.
From Suzie's foster mom: The clinic called with another update on Suzie. She is still in the ICU oxygen tent but she is alert. She is still breathing hard but I was told that it isn't as hard as she was breathing when I took her in. She was uncomfortable so they have upped her pain meds that she is getting through her IV. They are hoping that the extra meds will help her feel more comfortable so that she can rest and heal. Tomorrow if all goes well she will be moved to a regular cage in ICU and not the oxygen tent to see how she does with her breathing. She does have diminished sounds in her lungs but the vets are pleased with her progress so far and there is no indication that she has fluid in them. It is too soon to tell if she is going to have some compromised lung function so they are watching her. I may be able to see her tomorrow but that depends on how she is doing, which cage she will be in and if they think that she wouldn't get too worked up and excited having me there. She wags like a loon and stands up whenever she sees me so we need to make sure she won't be stressed by it.
Update February 22, 2008 4:43 p.m.
From Suzie's foster mom: Keep the prayers coming! I just spoke to the vet student. Suzie is holding her blood pressure! She is even standing up and taking a few steps in her oxygen tent! The vet student told me that she really had them all scared for awhile but now she is doing better. She is still critical but stable.
I was also told that her entire nipple was removed along with a lymph node because it was swollen. We will know the results next week.
Update February 22, 2008 1:49 p.m.
From Suzie's foster mom: I just got a call from one of the surgeons on the team taking care of Suzie. She is in critical condition right now as her blood pressure is very low and not responding to meds to bring it back up as much as they would like. The next 4 hours will be very critical to see if her blood pressure can come up and her lungs do not fill with fluid. Surgery was finished about 20 minutes ago. They were able to use her abdomen to do the surgery instead of cracking her chest. She had a big hole in her diaphragm that was stitched up and her liver, stomach, and intestines were pulled from her chest to their correct places. I was told that she is back in her oxygen tent and being monitored. She has not yet woken up from surgery and she is on pain meds. Her body temperature is running low right now but they are working to bring that back up as well. Keep the prayers and thoughts coming.
Update On Suzie February 21, 2008 Thank you to everyone who has donated to help Suzie. Suzie is at LSU and is scheduled for surgery at 9 a.m. Friday, February 22nd. While at LSU it was discovered that in addition to all of Suzie's problems she also has a mammary tumor that needs to be removed and have a biopsy. Please pray for her and for her doctors as she goes through this surgery. We will update the website as soon as we hear how she is doing.
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