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Thread: New to this - Jake has passed

  1. #31
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    16,150

    Default Re: New to this

    So when the gall bladder is removed sometimes toxic bile can build up and ursodiol basically replaces the toxic with good bile, from what I read when I looked it up. So I'm guessing that this might be why he is still on it. Your vet can tell you for sure.
    It mentions that it also helps the liver, so I am guessing this is with the bile issue.
    Sharlene and the late great diva - Molly muffin (always missed and never forgotten)

  2. #32

    Default Re: New to this

    Hello everyone, today we received news of our worst fear. Our beautiful little boy has a very large pituitary tumor. This is the reason that he hasn't eaten in 3 months. Our hearts are broken. We decided against radiation because we feel that he has been through enough. We are beside ourselves with this so I will write more when I can. This site has been such a big help and we thank you for this.

  3. #33
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Location
    Maryland but currently staying in Indiana
    Posts
    296

    Default Re: New to this

    Hello and I just read through your thread quickly; I can well imagine all that you are feeling and thinking and you may well be right. While the issues that my Skippy has confronted are not similar to yours, except that he too has a macro tumor, I urge you to think carefully and learn more before your make the final decision. Of all the treatments, that I said I would never subject him to, i.e., radiation, it is the singular one that has helped him the most in the past year. He received three treatments over five days last July; he tolerated the anesthesia easily and I have seen improvement in his neurological symptoms on a continuous basis for the past five months. While he has had serious and life threatening problems with his pancreas and kidneys for the past month, no one thinks it was caused by the radiation. Radiation doesn't work for every dog, but so many dogs with macros have gone on to live a great quality of life. I hear your pain and am so sorry that you all are going through this; it is heartbreaking.

    Carole
    Skippy's Mom

  4. #34
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    rural central ARK
    Posts
    14,549

    Default Re: New to this

    Such hard news to hear and a hard decision to make...but I believe any decisions we make out of love are never wrong. Be with your baby boy as much as you can, listen to him and he will help guide you. Make memories to cherish, spoil him rotten, tell him all you want him to know....and believe in your Soul he hears you and understands because he does. We are with you all the way; anytime you need to talk we are here to listen and share our experience, hope, and strength.

    Hugs,
    Leslie
    "May you know that absence is full of tender presence and that nothing is ever lost or forgotten." John O'Donahue, "Eternal Echoes"

    Death is not a changing of worlds as most imagine, as much as the walls of this world infinitely expanding.

  5. #35
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    York, PA.
    Posts
    11,036

    Default Re: New to this

    Sending hugs.

  6. #36

    Default Re: New to this

    Hi Carole and thank you for your words. We have thought long and hard about our decision and it didn't come easy. We talked with the neurologist about everything but he has been through 2 operations in 3 months. His weight has decreased from 29kg to 14.4kg. We are still syringe feeding him. He has no interest in food or water. They believe that the tumor is putting pressure on the appetite sensory. To do radiation here is 5 days a week for 3 weeks and he stays at the hospital. We feel we could at least spend the next days,weeks,months, who knows how long , having him with us and not gone for yet another vets visit. He's stressed, he's always been with us wherever we go and if we can't take him we always limited our time away. I guess I really wanted you to know that the decision was made out of love.

    Can I ask if you know anything about Keppra? They started Jake on it and I think maybe because the tumor is so large (15.6mm) . He doesn't seem himself. Just wants to sleep and not be near us. Not his way at all. Also we started prednisone to see if it might help with appetite. I think they gave it to him just to make me happy. I told them I had read about it on here. Should we just stop the vetoryl. His dose is 30mg twice daily. Will it make him eat if we do stop it? I just want his memories of us not to be shoving a syringe in his mouth to keep him alive . So many questions . I'm sorry, but please help.

    Robin
    Last edited by Jakester; 11-26-2017 at 06:41 PM.

  7. #37
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Georgia
    Posts
    15,292

    Default Re: New to this

    Dear Robin,

    My heart breaks for you upon reading your news. There are so many similarities to the situation in which my husband and I found ourselves with our own dear Cushpup. We never actually got the imaging done, but all his symptoms were consistent with an enlarging pituitary tumor. He also stopped eating and drinking, and became very lethargic. The only radiation option near us was twelve treatments over a month, and he would have had to stay at the hospital the whole time. By that time, he was so fearful of being taken to the vet for even a blood draw. We could not bear thinking of leaving him for all that time and for so many anesthetics. After he stopped eating and drinking entirely, we were able to keep him going for awhile with sub-Q fluids. We did try stopping his Vetoryl altogether, but unfortunately that didn’t help his appetite and he started back up with his uncontrollable panting and Cushing’s restlessness. So we began again with a low dose when he would take it. I honestly don’t remember now how we got it in him since he didn’t want to eat. Anyway, if your vet agrees, I do think it would be worth a try to stop the Vetoryl, though. Maybe, hopefully, Jake will regain some of his appetite that way.

    It is such a hard place to be. I was so desperate trying to get my Barkis to eat. Really, I was frantic. That is one of my greatest regrets from those final days. I was so upset, myself, that I could not settle down enough to just be quiet and calm and peaceful with Barkis. If there was some way I could have those final days back, I would trade all the grocery store trips and online searching (and tears!) for time spent just sitting beside him and hugging him and loving him. That was the one gift I truly could have given, but I was too panicked to settle down and do so.

    Robin, no matter how things go during these next days, please know that we’ll be right here by your side. We’ll do our very best to calm you and comfort you. And we’ll be sending all our healing thoughts to Jake.

    Big hugs to you all.
    Marianne

  8. #38
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    16,150

    Default Re: New to this

    Hi Robin, I just wanted to check in and say hello. Did the Keppra make any difference for Jake?

    Sharlene
    Sharlene and the late great diva - Molly muffin (always missed and never forgotten)

  9. #39

    Default Re: New to this

    Quote Originally Posted by molly muffin View Post
    Hi Robin, I just wanted to check in and say hello. Did the Keppra make any difference for Jake?

    Sharlene
    Hi Sharlene,

    Jake is still going strong. We feed him twice a day with a cake decorator. So much easier than a syringe! We have now started to give him water as he doesn't want to drink. We use a rectal syringe for that! I know the above products seem a little odd to use but it has made it so much easier for all of us, including Jake. The Keppra has helped a little but I think alot may be anxiousness. When it's time to eat he starts to shake and hides, but we feed him and he's fine after that.
    He's had a few bouts of diarrhea so we have him on metronidazole to keep that at bay. If you have any more questions please ask. I want to be able to help people who's pets have this with as much info as possible. I wish we had done an MRI as soon as he got diagnosed. I think that may have helped us alot.

    For now , we go day by day and love him with everything we have. I can't imagine my life without my bubba.

    Robin

  10. #40

    Default Re: New to this

    Hello I am Robin's partner Barb. I hope it's ok just to recap our Jake's journey because we really need help. Jake was diagnosed with cushings in October 2016. Was on vetoryl etc.,etc. Diagnosed with a brain tumor in November 2017. He stopped eating so we had been force feeding him for 7 months with a syringe. Oh how anxious he got when it was time to eat. Shaking,shaking. But he still seemed happy on his walks and still slept with us and oh we wanted him to stay He was on keppra but this past Sunday we stopped it because he seemed spaced out. We got to look in his eyes and see the real Jake. Our dog sitter said all he did was sit in a dog bed for the whole day and shake - no pees and no getting up. Robin said there was something wrong in the evening so thought it best to start back on the keppra, so we did. The next day our dog sitter came to our work to fell us he was not good. We took him to the vet and to me he seemed the same in the car. He looked out the window when we got there and walked in with us to the "quiet" room. He just laid on the floor shaking. We talked with the vet and she said it was time. She took and put a catheter in and brought him back and into my arms. He was so peaceful and not shaking and then he lifted his head and looked at me and came really close to my face, I thought he was going to give me a kiss but he didn't. Well Jake is gone and we both are second guessing ourselves (mainly me).

    Jake was our rock, our world. He was like our child - he was our child. We couldn't have loved him more than we did. Life will never be the same without him.

    BUT - did we make a mistake euthanizing him yesterday?

    - did we wait too long to do it?

    - did we do it too soon

    - what was the "thing" he did coming close to my face? Was he saying don't do it or thank you for doing it?


    I know that no-one has all the answers but did any of you experience anything like this?

    Just need some help, haven't stopped crying since yesterday. Oh what I wouldn't give to see his face and touch him one more time.

    Sorry this so long
    Barb

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