Thinking of you and Tipper and hoping that you will hear something good soon.
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Thinking of you and Tipper and hoping that you will hear something good soon.
Hi Everyone:
Waiting, waiting, and waiting. The Dr. said she would call by today, I am cleaning things that don't even need cleaned in order to stay busy as I am a nervous wreck. I have been wondering if this could be related to Tipper's heart murmur??? I could be mistaken, but I think the only time that would cause this breathing difficulty is if she had congestive heart failure. Is anyone familiar with this? She only has a minor leak in her mitral valve, the cardiologist said she should have no problems for 3-5 years, so I don't know what to think. I looked up the ear drops my Vet sold me on Wednesday, sure enough I could have gotten them online for 12.95 and he charged me 40.00. He is despicable!! I know he has to make money, but over three times what they cost online, and those people are making money on the 12.95!! Hope to get an answer on Tipper's problem, and praying it is fixable. Blessings
Patti
Patti,
It's hard not to imagine the worst, particularly when worried. Try not to get ahead of yourself. You don't know anything yet. :p if you need something to clean, my house needs some attention! :DLOL
Hugs to you and a belly rub for Tipper,
Kathy
Hi Everyone:
Drum roll please, the Dr. did not call me but, opted to send me an email. Is it so I would not ask questions and use up her precious time? To say I am disappointed would be an understatement. Well here goes; All of these Dr.'s think that Tipper has a variant in her breathing pattern. Since it does not occur during excitement. or activity an underlying pathology problem in unlikely. The short people version is she just breathes like that sometimes and it is not caused by any underlying disease. Well I already knew that and have long been suspect of her trachea partially closing and restricting her air. My own vet even told me before I took her to the hospital he could see tracheal problems on the xray, and he is a dufuss. She said I could have a lung biopsy which could be dangerous, she would have to be hospitalized, and it would cost 3500.00. Oh yeah, I just have that in my spare change jar! She said that very likely it would show nothing. Even on the xray at my vets Tipper had little to no calcifications in her lungs that other older dogs usually get, and cause breathing problems. She has always exercised so I am therefore also ruling out a lung disease. It would show up while she is doing other things, and doesn't. I don't know why these Dr.'s are so resistant to this tracheal possibility, but I am sending her an email- well actually a fax as you are not allowed to email them there is no address and it just comes back to you. I am going to go over these issues one by one, and want her to answer them. She gave me no answers of the questions I asked her. I know this dog like the back of my hand and there is no one going to try to tell me this breathing is normal by any means. She never ever did this before Cushings. If for instance it was a variance in breathing patterns, why would she be wheezing, and me being able to hear her airway restricted? That does not even make sense to me. I am going to take the other disc I burned to a young Dr. at my vets practice and ask him to view it and see what he thinks. I will not let go of this, as I am smart enough to know there is a problem here. I will forge on until someone figures this out. My vet tried to get me an appointment with a Dr. in Akron one time, she has 40 years experience with Cushings, I may see if he can forward the disc to her and see what she says. She was not taking any more patients.This is very frustrating to say the least and we are wasting precious time my Tipper doesn't have to spare. Where my dog is concerned- I know her best, and I will not stop until this is solved, and she gets some relief from this. This reminds me of my Lupus diagnosis. I kept telling Dr. after Dr. that something was wrong. One even suggested that maybe it was mental!! Finally they sent me to the Cleveland Clinic where a very smart female Dr. actually listened to me, tested me, and found out it was Lupus. The key factor was she listened and actually heard what I was saying, and went off of those findings. These Dr.'s are not listening to what I am telling them. Probably because I have no DACVM after my name. I am so upset that this continues on. She had an ok nite last nite breathing. Some good, some struggling. This tracheal flap moves, when eating and breathing and I know sure as God made green apples this is the problem. That is why it is not present all the time, and she does not do it when standing, as it doesn't get stuck so to speak until laying on her side the flap then does not go back into place. This dog is smart and I think the wide opening of her mouth, and the sticking out of her tongue are her way of trying to clear her throat when this membrane partially sticks shut. I could just scream right about now, but I am going to take that energy and type her a letter. Hope all of your babies have a good weekend. Blessings
Patti
Is there another IMS that you could change to? This is ridiculous that she keeps putting you off like this.
Oh Patti,how frustrating, praying for you and sending hugs too... You are a great Mom to Tipper, hang in there hon we are here for you!
Well those docs are being on much help are they?:( I'm not as concerned about the facts as she sees them. What concerns me the most is her emailing instead of calling. She didn't give you the opportunity to ask questions and get clarification. Questions that you have been waiting for answers to. This is all so frustrating! I am so sorry.:o Go ahead and scream! Beat up on some pillows if that will help too! Maybe go kick those mean neighbors next-door!;):o I'd feel better after that!:D
Sending you tons go love and hugs,
Kathy
Hi everyone:
I am just exhausted mentally from all of this. I did not sleep well last night thinking about all of the things that the Dr. said. I don't understand her reasoning. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it must be a duck. Tipper just has too many signs of tracheal problems to ignore, which I did list for her. I do not understand their reluctance to look into this. The one doctor had told me a while back that some dogs with tracheal problems they put on muscle relaxants, and it helps that flap to open and close right. In the letter that I faxed the doctor I asked her why she cannot try Tipper on the muscle relaxants. If they would not do any harm or be dangerous, I think trying them would at least let us know if that is the problem. If I know her she will probably get very angry because I wrote back to her and told her that I am absolutely positive there is something wrong with Tippers trachea. This will probably set her off because she thinks that she knows everything. She can tend to get very angry if you question anything she says. I just simply don't care anymore and I know there's something wrong and I have to do something about it. I'm going to have a heart-to-heart talk with my Vet and see if he will give me some time and listen to what I say. He knows from dealing with me that I won't let something go until I get it solved, especially when it concerns my dog. After all I kept telling him there was something wrong with my dog last year, and I felt she had Cushing's disease, and he would not listen to me then. Finally when I convinced him to test her she did have Cushing's disease and I think he was taken back that he didn't listen to me. So maybe I can get somewhere with him and maybe if he thinks it's safe we could try the muscle relaxants. The only problem being I would only want her to take them at night because I wouldn't want her to be on them all the time as they do make you tired. So that would sort of put me in a jackpot situation since there are no Vets in at night and Tipper can become allergic to anything you give her in minutes. I guess for the first dosage I would just have to try her out in the daytime while the Vet still had hours in case anything happened. I just resent the fact that I've spent so much money and time trying to help Tipper and it's just an uphill battle with these doctors. After all it's not like she has all the time in the world to spare until we get this solved. It's one thing to have a Vet that works along with you, and then another thing to have a Vet that just won't listen to anything you say or anything you try to do,it is just the battle. It's bad enough that you have to fight this disease but when you don't get cooperation from your Vet that really makes it difficult. In the letter that I faxed the doctor I told her that this is just like a mother with a child no one knows their child better than the mother and I know Tipper like the back of my hand. I wonder if my vet would let Tipper have the muscle relaxant, and it worked what the doctor would have to say about that? Well we are supposed to have a really rainy and stormy day today, so I'm going to get off here and do some things with Tipper before she decides she wants to go in the closet. I'm using my new Dragon program to dictate this, so you do no typing you just speak all the words into the headset. If there are any mistakes please understand why as it is still getting used to my voice recognition, and how I pronounce words. Hope everyone has a good Sunday with their babies. Blessings
Patti
Patti,
Do me a favor today. Leave all of this medical stuff for an hour or so and take a walk or a hot bath or do something totally different. We'll still be here when you return.;) I get the frustration and the stress thing. I have moments when I am obsessed and cannot think of anything else. When this happens, my brain goes into overload and it does not work effectively. It's hard to pull yourself away, but really try for a little while. It does help! :)
Love and hugs to you both,
Kathy
Hi Everyone:
Tipper had a fairly good nite with the breathing. In my journal I am keeping track of anything that happens on the good and bad breathing days, like rain etc. I need to narrow down any environmental factors also, that could play into this. It is a bright sunny day, and Tipper already walked as the humidity is up high. A few more days and we may be finished with the hair trim. Not bad for the almost 2 weeks that it took. Yesterday Tipper stayed out on the front porch with me for quite a while. The neighbor was even mowing the grass, and she didn't get scared from the noise this time. Maybe her Cortisol is a tad higher than usual. I can't wait to see the scathing reply I get back from the Dr. for questioning her findings, or should I say non-findings. I seriously wish Tipper wanted to sleep a little longer in the morning. This getting up at 5:30 is brutal after a while. I guess it is good in one way, as she can get her walking done before the heat and sun get going. Hope everyone has a good day. God Bless
Patti