What The Pug??

Eeeeewwww! Surgery!!!

Well, it's now 100% official. I have an external liver shunt and I need surgery to close it off.

They gave me not one but TWO meds to make me hold still for my second portal scan on Friday. Wow! That stuff sure had quite a kick! I was pretty out of it most of the day Saturday. I just wanted to sleep. At least it didn't effect my appetite. I went over 24 hours without food, don't you know. They couldn't get me to eat at the hospital but I chowed down as soon as we got home. They just didn't have the right flavor I guess.

My surgery is scheduled for November 6th. It's straightforward in itself, but it's afterwards that now has us all a little nervous. I'll spend two days in ICU and one in intermediate care after my surgery. I may have seizures and liver failure. The seizures are a possibility because my blood pressure will fluctuate when the extra vein starts closing down. My liver could shut down because of the increased blood flow. My liver is smaller than it should be because not all of my blood was circulating through it so it kind of shrunk. Even a slight increase in blood flow could cause it to freak out and decide to stop working.

My mom and dad are worried about something bad happening to me. However my age and good health are definitely on my side. Usually this surgery is preformed on much younger dogs and puppies and they have usually been sick (which is what leads to the discovery of the shunt in the first place). If it hadn't been for my bladder stones, who knows when we would have caught this?

We will all be much happier when this is all over and done with.

My poor little tummy is going to look like a road map!!! I'll have my spay scar, the one from my umbilical hernia surgery, the one for my bladder stones and then the one for my shunt. ENOUGH! I don't have all that much hair on my tummy to start with so there's nothing to hide them all with!!

~Sigh~

Just call me zipper tummy....

PS - I've been promised a ride in the car and a WHOLE plain hamburger with some fries once I'm well. Yeeee haw!! Something cool to look forward to! :)