Jasper (12 yr old Mini Schnauzer) is now at peace

I will watch for you Tina, I am planning a reasonably early night too... hope it does not wake you up and those two sweeties sleep right through! :)

Yes, that's it!! Look at you, watching my weather! :D That's too funny, because lots of times I'll look at the radar map for New Zealand to see what's happening down there for you guys too. I love the Internet!

Yay, it seems like it's just continuing to weaken which is awesome. It's windy and raining but I can handle that.

Yes, well the rain is only there for the next 52 minutes... LOL how can they tell that!?????! Like down to the last minute :eek: Please set your watch Tina LOL I want to check that out :D

Aww, thanks Trish. :)

Off to bed for me. Have a good rest of your night, and a good Monday, and I'll see you later. Great chatting, and I hope we can catch up again soon. Smooches for Flynn, and hugs for you from me Jasper and Shelby. xo

Hi Tina

Just checking in to see how you, Jasper and Shelby are doing. How is his appetite doing now? Hope the week has been kind to you and your wrist is doing better. Sorry did not get a chance to ask Dad's ortho surgeon about it, was bit of a rushed appointment! Did you get the MRI approved? Hope so, then you can get the surgery booked and back to feeling like you can type!! Talk soon xx

Hi Trish,
We are all hanging in here, thanks for checking in on us! Jasper has been eating better over last week, he is back on his regular dry food, and I have phased out the tiny bit of canned food for now. Yay! We'll see how long that lasts. It seems to be normalizing finally. What I am watching now is his drinking. That seems to have increased significantly again. I measure his water every day and since the 11th he's been drinking about a cup to cup and a half more per day. He's back up to drinking about 6 cups a day now. :eek: No rhyme or reason that I can see for that. He has done this before briefly from time to time, and then it has gone back down again, so I am just monitoring. His drinking amount has never really gotten back down to normal for a dog his size, but it had stabilized on an amount that stayed pretty steady. So I'm a little bit concerned about this increase, especially since it has continued every single day since the 11th. His kidney function is always in the back of my mind. Always something to worry about I guess. His energy still seems pretty low and he sleeps quite a bit, but overall I guess he seems like he's feeling okay, which I am very thankful for.

My MRI was approved, which was a big relief, and I had it done on Thursday. Boy was that an unpleasant experience. I had no idea the position that my arm would have to be in. They had me laying flat on my stomach with my arm straight up over my head up against my ear and then my wrist and hand in a bracket to hold it straight. And then I had to hold completely still for 30 minutes, you know how long they take. Well, my arm went completely numb holding it in that position for that long, and I was worried I wouldn't even be able to complete the test. Thankfully I was able to hold everything still and get it done but it was extremely difficult. Now my shoulder and my neck on that side are pretty painful and are bothering me, hopefully that will resolve pretty quickly. I took my last dose of prednisone last night, so we will see what happens. I am quite concerned that my wrist will flare right back up once I'm off the prednisone, but I'm hoping for the best. The doctor should call with the MRI results early this week. I am feeling quite old and like I'm falling apart!

Yes, I completely understand about rushed orthopedic appointments. I feel like I am very rushed, even on phone calls from my doctors office. :rolleyes:

Maybe he is drinking more because he is eating more biscuits?? One good thing, it will be washing out his bladder and any lurking bugs?? Silver lining and all that :) Hope it is nothing serious, always a good sign with Jasper when he is eating well though!!

Oh you poor thing... that sounds an incredibly uncomfortable position, they must think you are an acrobat Tina! Wonder why they could not stretch it out in front of you?? Who knows, what goes on in those machines is a mystery to me! :) But your poor back/shoulder.. maybe NSAIDs?? Or stretches!! :D Hope the prednisone withdrawl goes OK, it will be better to be off it for the surgery, so healing is maximised! Have you lined up family to come stay when you go in?

Well I don't think his increased drinking is related to the food. The amount of dry food that he is eating has been about the same amount, it's just that I don't have to mix canned food in with it now to get him to eat it. So that really hasn't changed. I know, I thought about that right away too, but there's not really a difference there. Yes, I agree, it is always a good sign when he's eating well! So I will just keep watching the water. I just remember my vet said that increased drinking is a sign to watch for as far as deteriorating kidney function. I am putting that completely out of my mind.

I know, I was thinking I would just be laying on my back with my arm stretched out in the machine! But that isn't how it works. The machine is like a tube and they don't have a way for you to just stick your arm in there apparently. Believe me, I asked. My whole body had to be in there, and I have claustrophobia issues anyway. I just kept my eyes shut and just kept telling myself that I was going to be okay. But once my arm started feeling so bad and going numb, and my neck became so stiff, the claustrophobia issues became secondary!

I am taking Tylenol, no NSAIDs while on prednisone, and actually they told me they don't want me taking anymore between now and the surgery. Yes the plan is to stay off the prednisone for the surgery of course. I'm working on getting things set up with my family. As it turns out my brother will be in town for a high school reunion the middle of July so I am looking at that week. He said he would be willing to help me for a couple of days. Hopefully that will work out and I won't need any more than that. :rolleyes: ;)

I hope they gave you headphones with some nice music to listen to, but I guess in that much discomfort that would not have helped. Not allowed the NSAIDs even now you are off the Pred?? Maybe some Tramadol then?? You can share Flynny's supplies!

Yes, I watch Flynny's water consumption with the kidney issues too. We are repeating UPC tomorrow so hope it is still good. He barely drinks 1 1/2 cups a day.

Hey Tina, I was stopping by to say hi and had a thought too about the increased water drinking for Jasper- the wet food is mostly water, if he no longer has it could he be wanting more water to make up for it or was the amount of wet food verses increased drinking a huge difference?

Sorry to hear about continued issues with your wrist. I hate those dang MRI tests but they do give good diagnostics.:)

We have had the same extreme weather, our yard is so soggy I cant get any work done and the forecast continues to say rain. It feels like we are going to "rain" our way through summer.:(

take care