Today is Saturday April 13, 2019 and it is James’ 9th birthday!
I am sure he had a party in mind. Or at least some fetch or frisbee. But James has been sick for a few weeks now. It started with his anal glands that we posted about here on the blog. Then just as that started to heal and we thought we were home free, James took a turn for the worse and headed to the Doggie ICU.
The veterinary specialist that we are seeing ran a bunch of tests. So far, it has been a week, and we don’t have any results. He thinks James could have an autoimmune disease, lymphoma or a tick borne disease. The original vet that saw James at the emergency room thinks it could be something that just happened from all of the drugs from his infection.
In the meantime, James is home from the ICU. He was feeling okay and eating and drinking. Then Thursday morning, he got the shakes. It was really, really scary. He wouldn’t eat and I was so scared. We ran him down to the specialist. He ran J’s bloodwork and everything was heading in the right direction. He did his pulse ox and temperature. He listened to his heart and lungs. Everything was “normal.” But James didn’t look normal. The specialist has James on a very high dose of prednisone to stop all of the inflammation and potential bleeding (they think he was bleeding internally when he first arrived at the emergency vet 9 days ago). The specialist said that high does of prednisone cause dogs to shake and pant and be uncomfortable.
By Friday afternoon, James was looking at his worst. I was wondering if we were putting him through too much when his body was trying to tell us that maybe things are not going to get any better. I was crying a lot. Chris was trying to calm both of us down. We called the specialist and said we were worried James might not make it through the weekend with this high dose prednisone. So he told us to cut his dose in half.
Now it is Saturday and James had two lower doses so far of the prednisone. He is looking better and more comfortable. He isn’t eating. But he is drinking a little bit of water. Unfortunately, it isn’t enough water. His urine is very dark and his gums are dry. So we are having to give him Pedialyte and Ensure. He is being a good sport about all of this fuss. He is sleeping and resting a lot. Keep James in your prayers and we will set up a late birthday party later this month!
I made a little gold glitter birthday crown for James a few weeks ago and Chris cut out the blue 9 for his crown.
