I quickly fed the younger kids while he stood there watching -- not the normal begging for his bowl first, just watching. The “not begging” was another clue and when I offered his bowl he turned his head away. We went out for a walk, but now he didn’t want to run and play as normal. The next day was Saturday, plus New Year’s Eve no less, so a quick call to the vet and we were on our way. After many x-rays, blood panels, and barium contrast our vet had come up empty. Chance had no symptoms of bloat/torsion on Friday only signs of a painful abdomen. She sent him home with a few meds, but I wasn’t sure what they were helping. He didn’t seem as painful on Saturday morning, but still not his usual bouncy self.
I’d taken Chance’s entire health file with health testing results, every CBC/Superchem he’d ever had including the one from two days before -- even recent photos. Chance had aged what seemed years in just 2 days and the photos from just the week before showed it big time. The vet’s eyes grew huge as he looked at the difference. We were told they needed current x-rays and permission for surgery if it became necessary. I quickly shared our wishes about ACE, and forced myself to say if the news wasn’t good permission was given now to perform full necropsy including his heart and then a blood draw to send to the Broad Institute. I’d have gladly slept in the lobby, but due to no sleep the previous nights, my husband had driven and he had to be in another state the next morning by 5 AM. I hugged Chance good-bye ever mindful it might be the last one.
We’d not been gone an hour when the cell phone rang. The internal medicine vet asked if Chance had ever had abdominal surgery. I told him he had six years earlier when he’d eaten a toy. The reply was that might explain some things they were seeing on laparoscopy. He shared they were going in to try and repair a problem they suspected in the small intestine.
Chance went into shock less than an hour after we left him and the only way to save him was surgery. Once inside they saw it wasn’t a bloat/torsion but a section of small intestine outside the mesenteric lining that had tangled itself up in the lining, cut off blood supply and died. Bacteria and toxins were going everywhere. Approximately 30-35% was removed, but thankfully the problem was beyond the valve, so that was saved. The surgeon felt Chance had enough good small intestines left with a good diet he shouldn’t suffer from Short Bowel Syndrome. But, he added, “He’s not out of the woods--we’ve done our part, now it’s up to Chance.” They also looked for masses or tumors (I’m sure when an old boxer walks in this ill, they really suspected some type of cancer) but found nothing while repairing the intestine. Hopefully, pathology on the dead intestine would yield some answers.
Sunday Evening, January 1, 2006
Chance is awake and alert, blood pressure is almost back to normal. Prayers now the antibiotics will do their job and the septic matter can be kept in check. Doc said the fact we got him to UT/Knoxville without Chance going into shock was a miracle. I didn’t even try to explain about homeopathic Traumeel, but I’ll always believe it stabilized him those 3 hours. The next miracle was a smart internal medicine guy who’d just started his shift on New Year’s Day and a radiologist, anesthesiologist, and surgeons who all felt it a worthwhile effort to interrupt their holiday and help save an old boxer.
Monday, January 2, 2006
The surgeon is pleased with Chance’s progress this morning. He stood up and is walking under his own power.
His temp is normal, his BP is back to normal and the single PVCs they saw as he started going into shock before surgery (89 singles from 7:30 AM, Sunday to 6 AM today) have tapered down to just 1 single in the last 4 hours. I asked if they’d keep the monitor on him for a few more days as I was about to holter him shortly anyway. They agreed to do it as long as it wasn’t needed for another emergency. He’s now on IVs of amino acids and glucose and will be on a cocktail of Baytril, Flagyl and one other antibiotic for now.
Doc said again, “Old boxer, big, big surgery -- very lucky dog.” Doc said he wiggles his tail when you pet him and said, “He’s a sweetheart and a people magnet so he’s getting lots of attention from everyone.” He would prefer us not visit yet as he doesn’t want Chance excited to see us and then depressed when we can’t take him home. Then he added, “Mrs. Bogner, I promise you Chance won’t be neglected here.”
Tuesday, January 3, 2006
He’s walking under his own power and loose stools so at least the new bowel arrangement is functioning – seems odd to be so excited about such.
He’s also trying to pull his drains out this morning so a good sign he’s feeling even better than yesterday.
The monitor is still on; the PVCs have tapered way down…this morning to less than 20 singles from yesterday AM to today. The same comments keep coming; his sturdy constitution and previous good health have done him well through this ordeal. Doc said he appears to be, “A dog with incredible heart and will to survive.” He also said the opening that let the small intestine outside the mesenteric lining was just beside scar tissue where it looked as though there had been the earlier surgery. Without something else on pathology he’d have to consider it a freak thing.
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
Chance is very lethargic this AM. Heart is good, lungs are clear, but infection is there like it wasn’t on Monday night and yesterday. They don’t know why unless a suture has broken loose. They want to go back in at least via laparoscopy as the peritonitis is worsening -- bacteria on the drains they removed really worries them. So far he hasn’t thrown up like before, but he’s had no bowel movement since yesterday morning so they worry things aren’t getting through. He can’t survive if toxins and bacteria are seeping out into his system so permission was granted. This has all been a nightmare and such an awful thing for Chance to endure. Trying to be positive, but I must force myself to answer how much is too much to put a sweet animal through. I’m as worried today as I was on Saturday night and Sunday. I asked about his quality of life afterwards and Doc said he’s a strong dog and considering his improvement on Monday and Tuesday he thought with healing time it would be good.
He’s out of surgery and sleeping and didn’t throw nearly as many PVCs as Sunday. Apparently the infection was so severe it dissolved the dissolvable stitches, albeit too early. More of the small intestine was taken to make sure viable tissue was being used in the new connection; hopefully, he’ll have enough left to avoid short bowel syndrome. The hope is that antibiotics will get the infection under control quickly before it does it again.
Thursday, January 5, 2006
It’s 9:30 AM, in Knoxville and no phone call from UT yet. This means things haven’t worsened and Chance isn’t the most critical case in ICU this morning…for that we are so grateful.
It’s 8 PM and the ICU intern says Chance had a pretty good day. He is walking to potty and his vitals are all improving. He is perking up his ears and a tick-tock of the tail when they talk to him.
Friday, January 6, 2006
He is having his best morning yet; antibiotics seem to be doing their job. They think today would be a good day to visit so we are on our way.
It is early to get hopes too high, but we’re encouraged.
We’re home and yes, he looks tired and old and has lost a lot of weight. But, in every way but the edema, he looked better than when we left him on Sunday.
Chance 72 hrs post 2nd surgery...
The student assigned to Chance just phoned and there was an excitement in her voice I’ve not yet heard until now. Chance’s lungs are still clear, heart is good, and his albumin level and total protein are way up this morning. Not just halfway to where they wanted it, but solidly at the normal number they were hoping for by tomorrow or Monday. They feel his liver has taken the biggest hit from all the toxic matter, but since it has more of a capacity to regenerate they would rather see that than his kidneys. The edema has gone down and he is up walking and relieving himself. As a side note, Doc told me they feel no need to continue monitoring his heart. In nearly 6 days, the most arrhythmias they saw were last Sunday and that was only singles when Chance was in shock and near death. Since then his highest day’s number was 18, then 12…the other days were in single digits. He said, “We have no reason to believe Chance suffers from an underlying ARVC of the boxer dog.”
Monday, January 9, 2006
Chance finally ate for them last night…turned his nose up at the canned I/D, but when they offered baby food chicken he dove in. Today was a repeat with turkey Juniors. They said he was “ravenous” this morning. I guess so; his last solid meal was 10 days ago. His hematocrit is up another 3% today so not the worry there now. Total Protein is holding steady, liver enzymes have come down even more and BUN is at normal now. Doc said he couldn’t be more pleased with Chance’s progress and credits his prior good health and sturdy constitution for this 10-yr-old’s ability to survive 2 surgeries in spite of being in shock on Sunday. He feels he has every chance of recuperating completely. With continued eating they expect his bowels to move by tonight and if so, he can be released Tuesday or Wednesday. I’ve had boxers all my life and you think you’ve seen or read about so much and then this experience -- always a student, always learning. Shan agrees and she’s been at this for nearly 60 years.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
The student’s words this AM were, “Mrs. Bogner, Chance is doing fantastic. He’s eating everything in sight except the I/D. He is bouncing around like a puppy when anyone stops to talk to him.” She said his tail is going non-stop and he does this funny U-turn thing with his body; he gets so excited!!! Apparently she’s not been around boxers much to know this is a standard greeting. His bowels moved last night and no blood to be found. YIPPEE!!!
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Chance was released from UT today. He’s trying to eat everything in sight, but we were cautioned to take it slow for the sake of his GI system that would need lots of time to heal.
His blood work continued to improve until sometime in late February when it seemed to level off. His stool was okay some days but other days you understood why he wasn’t gaining weight as quickly. More testing was done with the Texas A&M GI Lab, and everything returned normal except a Cobalamin deficiency. Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency and numerous other GI issues were ruled out. Chance was given B-12 injections along with iron dextrium shots for a few weeks, but we didn’t see continuous improvement --- just holding his own. Because B-12 is absorbed in the ileum, Doc worried about adhesions from the surgery that could be hindering absorption of nutrition in general.
The pathology report on the small intestine removed in both surgeries yielded no clues. No small bacterial overgrowth, no tumors or cancer were found and even though I was frowned at when I explained his raw diet on New Year’s Day, in the end nothing could be found to point to his diet as the cause.
Late March, 2006
By now his stools were nearly water and he’d lost to 52 lbs (he’d weighed in at 72 lbs on Dec. 30th) so past time to figure this out. We made another trip to UT for a full exam. Chance went through an afternoon of x-rays and full ultrasound only to find a small nodule on one adrenal gland and a possible bladder infection in the works. Neither symptoms nor blood work said Cushing’s or Addisions, but he was tested for it anyway as a rule out. The other option was endoscopy and Shan had decided no more anesthesia or surgery. His ACTH Stim was normal.
The weight gain finally started again for some weeks until we had a day that was reminiscent of the day the whole nightmare began. Chance refused all food; his bowels seemed completely plugged so back to our local vet we went. X-rays yielded nothing; blood work was improved over the last time with just a few areas just out of normal range. We’d not been home from the vet an hour when up came this big mass of food along with the chewed up remains of two puppy toys used with our last litter the previous summer. We don’t leave toys that small out for adult boxers to get to and as best we can remember they were sterilized and packed away with other small toys -- or so we thought. They were greatly discolored, but I knew what these large pieces had been the minute I saw them. Another bump in the road and Chance was back on track.
Chance once again stopped gaining weight. Days later he had a noticeable limp in the front legs and seemed to favor his pasterns a bit. We went for a checkup and our local vet immediately noticed a difference in his demeanor, but nothing remarkable on her exam except favoring the front pasterns. We were waiting on blood work, but by the time we arrived back to the clinic a few hours later the pasterns were huge. For the first time this stoic old boxer was showing real signs of pain. Blood work was questionable so more was drawn and sent to the lab for other tests. Spring 2006 was a huge tick season and in spite of tick checks each day I was dreading the results…been there, done that.
Tick panels over the next few days were positive for both Lyme and Erhliciosis canis. The Lyme was negative on the next few, but the E. canis was positive each time. So Chance began a daily Doxycycline drip because his vet didn’t want to disturb the GI tract anymore than absolutely necessary. He was dripped for over a week, but vasculitis is a problem with tick-borne infections and Chance wasn’t any exception. He’d garnered the nickname “Job” by now, but we pressed on because even with every setback Chance had shown such determination and will to survive. Memorial Day weekend we went to oral Doxy and Chance handled it like a trooper. The swelling and lameness had disappeared the first few days on the drip so he was back on track once again.
Five weeks of Doxy later the weight started piling on like we’d not seen it since that dreadful New Year’s Day. His blood work continues to be good and he has as much energy as our five year-old littermates. Now to see if he’d come back reproductively and once again Chance didn’t disappoint. His sperm collections are better than we could have ever expected, and his last 4 collections have been superb with two collections 36 hours apart yielding a total of 16 straws at 92-94% (abnormalities subtracted from the total count). The test slide lying on the counter still had more than 50% active “swimmers” nearly 5 hours after the collection, and when the same slide was chilled overnight, they were not only moving the next morning, but swimming forward. As Theriogenologist, Dr. Julia Adams says,”Chance is back.”
To all that kept Chance in your thoughts and prayers this year, thank you. To the staff and students at the University of Tennessee School of Veterinary Medicine, our deepest appreciation for saving Chance’s life. To Marina Zacharias at naturalrearing.com, your experience and understanding of traditional and natural healing was invaluable. And, to Dr. Heather Gentry and the staff at Indian Lake, who in spite of all the setbacks believed this old guy could be well again, our deepest gratitude.
Vangie & Harry Bogner & Shan Shiver
