What The Pug??

PUPDATE

Whew! What a wild couple of weeks I've had!!

First of all, my surgery went very very well. It took almost twice as long as they figured it would. The exact location of my shunt was never confirmed by the portal scans or ultrasounds so the surgeon had to look for it. He started by my stomach and went all the way back to my intestines and finally found it in a spot they don't usually see shunts (trust me to be special) but he put the band around it to start closing it off. He took a liver biopsy just to make sure everything was okay and then he checked my bladder to make sure that no additional stones had formed since my surgery.

The big concern was for complications after the surgery. Sometimes when they close shunts off, the blood backs up into the intestines because the liver can't handle the increased blood flow. Sometimes new shunts form in response to the additional blood flow, almost like pressure release valves. Seizures were the bigger worry. They're not sure why some dogs have them post-surgery. It's almost as if our bodies miss the toxins that have been in our systems. But I didn't have any of these problems. I did so well that I got to come home a day early.

I had a HUGE incision that was closed with staples. 25 of them in fact. Mom and dad called it my zipper. Ouch! It sure hurt to move. For the first two days, I got a pain pill every eight hours and did a lot of sleeping. Mom took time off work to stay with me so I slept on her most of the time. By my third day home, I was moving around more and even wagged my tail. Mom cut my pain meds back to every 12 hours but I still was a little stiff when I moved. The surgeon said that for two weeks I wasn't supposed to run, jump, climb or exercise. HA HA HA!! Fat chance!! There's nothing that could stop me from jumping up on the couch, even though mom and dad said no. I did let them help me down off their bed though.

I got my staples out on the 19th. My surgeon said he was very happy with my progress and I need to have my bile acids checked the week before Christmas. If they are normal, then my shunt is closed. If they're not normal (which he expects they won't be), then we'll just wait four more weeks and check them again. The whole point in this surgery and the band around this extra vein was to close it off slowly. If after the second test, my bile acids are still high, then we'll have to check to make sure that no new shunts have formed and that the band is doing its job. We're not worried about that though. We're just happy that I made it through with no trouble.

The only bad thing? These &*$#**@ bumps!!! They will not go away! When I came out of the hospital, I didn't have a single one. Within 12 hours of being home, they had already started to come back. Mom and dad have run out of ideas on what could be causing them. They bought some expensive laundry soap made for human babies and have washed all of my stuff and all of their blankies in it. It has helped a bit. I don't have any new bumps but the ones I have are all scabbed over and my skin is VERY dry and scaly. Mom is trying to find some kind of moisturizer to use on me to help soothe my poor skin. I've been so itchy that I've scratched a lot of my hair off too. I'm pretty pathetic looking. If they can't figure out what's wrong, there's a dermatologist at the specialty hospital I can go see. But not for a while please. I've had enough of vets lately!!

I'd like to bark my thanks to Dr. Aiken, my surgeon, for doing such a good job and to Dr. Hansche for catching this in the first place. Dr. Hansche was sure I didn't have anything wrong with my liver but he wanted to make sure so he checked my bile acids. That was the only thing that showed I had a problem. If he hadn't been so thorough, who knows how long it would have been before it was noticed. I might have been a much sicker pup by then so I really appreciate his caution and thoroughness. He just loves me and takes such good care of me! I am lucky to have such good doctors.

Okay, telling my tail... oops, I mean TALE has totally worn me out. i need a nap now.

Good night all, from one happy, healthy, bumpy pug!