Still The Queen

As you can see, Bethany is doing well, and she still picks on Tristan. Not enough room? No problem, I'll just lay on top of you...

She's doing great. She still has to wear her little blue flower since she thinks it's ok to take out her own sutures. I will take those out Wednesday or Thursday, and then she can groom all she wants. I took her back up to CSU last Friday so they could adjust the pacemaker. It was set a bit high and whenever it kicked on, her whole body shook. It affected her breathing a little bit, but wasn't bothering her otherwise. But I thought it would be best to get it fixed.

Otherwise things are great around here. I'm trying to get myself into cleaning rampage mood. The litter boxes and guinea pig cage all need to be changed. And laundry is neverending. Very fun stuff!

Healing Sucks

Bethany's done well the last few days. I brought her to work with me Sunday and yesterday so I could give her the pain medicine on schedule. Her poor skin is still red and irritated on her abdomen and chest. Her legs where the tape for the EKG leads were are better though. She has a lot of mats in her hair that I'm dying to get out, but I think some of them will require clippers and those are never fun for her. She literally jumps up vertically when they touch her.

She started licking at her incision so now she gets to wear a fun little e-collar. As the mean mommy I am, I took a picture - look at her poor little shaved legs (her Ugg boots). It's a soft collar so not as annoying as the clear plastic ones. But she still looks a little mad about it. Her pain medicine makes her get over it - she loves that stuff. She's rubbing against the walls, the cabinets, me, the dogs even. The dogs don't understand that kitty behavior and look worried whenever they do it, it's kind of funny!

I think I saw the pacemaker kick in last night. It was so weird, her whole body twitches. I told her doctor and he said that they may have to adjust the voltage at her 6-week checkup, but since it didn't seem to bother her, we can wait. I find it fascinating that they can remotely adjust the thing - it is inside her after all. That would suck to have to open her up every time they had to adjust it.

Anyway, just wanted to give the update. I'm so happy and relieved she's doing so well. She's almost like herself again. Once we're totally off the anti-seizure drugs (we have to wean her off slowly), then she'll be back to her sassy tortie self.

Home At Last

My baby is home!

My friend Stephanie took a road trip with me up to Fort Collins to get Bethany. My poor baby has a huge incision but it looks good. I felt the generator in her side - it's kind of cool. Her poor legs are all irritated and red and raw from the tape that held the EKG leads on. She's all shaved and looks weird, but I'm so happy to have her back. Her pain meds are making her a bit skitsy, but at least I think she's comfortable.

Hopefully things will get back to normal soon.

Hope everyone's having a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The Hard Part Is Over

I got the call that her surgery is over and she woke up fine. The pacemaker is doing its job and so far so good. They had to go into her chest which wasn't a part of the plan, but all is well. Skip to the next paragraph if you don't want the graphic details... They were supposed to be able to just make the incision into her abdomen, then a small hole into her diaphragm and through that hole they could attach the leads to the heart. But her heart was too far away for that approach, and they had to cut into her chest (breaking some ribs in the process) in order to do it all properly. It all worked out. She has a chest tube in which should be able to come out later tonight. And she's on some good pain medication and antibiotics.

Hopefully I can bring her home tomorrow. I am so impressed with how well they keep me updated with everything. I've gotten 3 calls today so far and should get another one tonight. It's nice that I don't have to chase down anyone to hear about how my baby is doing, they are on the money. My boss tells me they are just as good about keeping her informed too (she wrote the referral letter).

So, keep your fingers crossed for us - I want her home!!!

Now that my stress level is lowering, my body has decided to let itself get a cold. If I was thinking more clearly, I would have started the zinc/echinacea when I started working again. Work is such a germ party. I forgot about that part! Luckily I'm just stuffy and tired right now. That's ok though, I wasn't planning on celebrating St. Paddy's Day this year anyway. Everyone must drink a Guinness in my honor tomorrow!!!

Game On

Here's a picture of what Beth's heart does on an EKG (Dr. Miller's drawing):

The top drawing is a normal rhythm - what we're used to seeing. Beth does the second one when she has her episodes (2nd degree AV block). Basically those little bumps are the electrical impulses that fire to start a contraction of the heart, but the signal is blocked for some reason and the contraction doesn't start. Your heart has a back up system though, and will jump start itself after a while. Our bodies are pretty darn cool when you think about it, all the back up systems that are in place so we don't just keel over and die.

The third line is what Beth's heart does sometimes (called 3rd degree block) and animals that have it do not show clinical signs and don't need pacemakers. But since she usually reverts back to the bad one (middle), she still needs the pacemaker.

I went to visit her today and she's doing well. The leads came in and so the surgery is happening today, and I MAY be able to bring her home tomorrow if she does well. I'm soooo happy that I actually know the doctor who is running her anesthesia - she used to work at Care and is a brilliant and wonderful vet and I trust her completely. It takes a little weight off of me to know that she's there. I had completely forgotten that she was up there and so asked about her and she had time to come in and say hi.

I'm hanging in there too. Just worried and can't wait for this to be over.

The Verdict Is In

So, I got a call about Bethany. She's doing well. They did the echo and didn't find any problems with her heart itself. Usually this kind of arrhythmia is caused by structural defects of the heart. Because the heart is normal, they are suggesting putting in a pacemaker. And because the heart looks good, she actually has a really good prognosis after it's placed.

So, I'm doing it. Like I said in the last post, I am a sucker. It sounds like the procedure isn't any more painful than a spay (they actually go in through the abdomen) and recovery is pretty fast, and she could live a normal long life afterwards. If they had found problems in the heart, I wouldn't have done it, but the decision was pretty easy after talking with Dr. Miller.

I'm going up today to visit with her and talk to the surgeon. They don't have the leads that they need for a cat though, so the surgery probably won't take place til tomorrow or Friday.

I'm a bit relieved, but still scared, as surgery with a heart problem is risky and she could still die under anesthesia. But at least she has a chance at a normal life again...

I Was Out Til 2am Last Night!

Too bad it's not cuz I was partying...

I brought Bethany to work with me yesterday to do chest x-rays, an EKG, and to check her thyroid. Wow. Luckily, our radiologist was there to look at her x-rays and said she had a prominant aortic arch (yeah, I don't know what that means either), and she should get an echocardiogram ASAP. Her EKG was scary. It was normal, normal, normal, then almost a flatline for 5-10 seconds, then it would kick start up again.

We called a cardiac specialist to get an emergency echo yesterday and she was willing to meet me up in Boulder at 8:30pm, but then she called back because she herself was on her way to the emergency room b/c her little boy was having trouble breathing!

So, onto Plan B... I took her up to CSU Vet Hospital on an emergency basis where they could hook her up to a continuous EKG to monitor her all night and then transfer her to cardiology this morning. Everyone is telling me that this type of arrhythmia is very rare in cats. Of course it is. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is what's known as the curse of the veterinary professional. We all have animals with rare crap. It's like animals seek us out b/c they know we are suckers and will do whatever we can for them.

I'm so grateful that Joyce (friend and vet at Care) came with me for the ride. Fort Collins is about an hour drive away, and she distracted me from dwelling on how serious it was. I almost lost it when they asked me if I wanted them to resuscitate her if her heart stopped and didn't kick back in on its own. Especially when I said no. It's only a small percentage of animals that actually leave the hospital after being resuscitated, and I didn't want to put her little body through that.

So, I'm just awaiting a call from them to see what they find and what the plan is. They are talking possible pacemaker and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I will have many questions if it comes down to that. Hopefully it will just be drug therapy, but we'll see.

The Wrong Path??

So, I took Bethany to see Dr. Cuddon today (the neurologist who "fixed" Pacey). I love that man. He just makes me feel better about life. He has this soft spoken voice with a slight accent and he makes me feel like there's hope. And he remembered Pacey!

He thinks these could actually be fainting episodes due to a heart problem. He noticed she had an arrhythmia and when he watched the videos, he felt like they could be more of a fainting spell. And lack of oxygen to the brain b/c of the arrhythmia can cause seizures too. Also, even if it was a brain tumor, the drugs should be working right now. So maybe the drugs aren't working b/c we're treating the wrong problem. So before we do an MRI, we will do an echo and a workup of her heart. It would sure be nice to take her off of the Keppra since that's given every 8 hours. I have a curfew now.

I saw the movie "300" on Sunday night at the IMAX theater. It was SOOOO good! I'm not a huge fan of war type movies, I get bored with the excessive killing. But it was really good the way they shot it. I highly recommend it.

That Time of Year

It's that time of year again. I'm participating in the Furry Scurry to help benefit the Dumb Friends League. It's a great animal shelter that really is trying to help reduce the amount of animals in shelters, through spaying/neutering and educating people. More animals are euthanized due to behavior issues than health issues, and what's sad is that it's preventable. I adopted Bethany, Tristan and Greta from this shelter and I love what they stand for. If you would like to sponsor me, please visit the donation page (link on the right). Thanks!

I Knew It!

I knew I wouldn't be able to manage both blogs at the same time... I've been neglecting this one.

So, Bethany is still having her episodes. I put a video of it on my MySpace page. Here's the link if you're interested in this sort of thing. Picture that a few times for an hour, twice a day. We are adding on another drug and of course it's new and expensive. AND it's given 3 times a day. That means I will have less of a life than I already do because I'm a perfectionist and won't want to miss a dose. My dog is on something 3 times daily, but for him, I can just stuff it inside a treat and set his automatic feeder and he gets it when I'm not home. I don't see Bethany willingly eating some grape flavored crap liquid. Oh well, I guess if it works it's worth it. Luckily, I did find it cheaper in Canada so if it works, I'll get it through them. That's how I get Tristan's drugs that are way expensive.

I'm now working part time at Care again. It's nice to feel appreciated. My first day back I got lots of hugs and lots of "I'm soooooo glad you're back!" I'm a little rusty, but it's slowly coming back. Steph told me if I want, she can probably get me full time hours starting next month, but no promises yet. So that's good. And it's good that I get a month of part time to ease me back into working again. After 2.5 months of not having to work, I might have gone into shock being thrown back into 40+ hour work weeks right away.

The personal trainer thing is still going well. I can barely move my right arm today. But I'm seeing a difference, and I've lost 5.5 pounds of fat so far! Yea! I've got about 7 more to go. Now if I can just get rid of this pesky headache I've had for the last 2 days, I'll be fine.