Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Luna came through her breathing surgery with flying colors. The vet called and gave us an update at 5pm and told us that Luna was out of surgery and awake and looking around. She was alert and seemed to be in good spirits. Her only issue is that she had a noisy neighbor 
During her breathing surgery they shortened her soft palate, widened her nostrils and removed her saccules.
We also received the results of her CAT Scan. The test revealed that Luna has a prolapsed disc in her neck and two prolapsed discs in back. Surgery is not recommended at this time and we meet with the neurologist tomorrow afternoon when we pickup Luna to go over a treatment plan. I'm not sure what the plan is going to be, but I sure do not want it to be 6 weeks of keeping Luna still. To me, that doesn't seem like a feasible option.
I will let you know more after we pickup Luna. I sure can't wait to have the little girl back home with us!
Monday, May 23, 2011
As you open today’s OBP news, you may be asking, "Why is Luna in the Solsey pouch?!" Well, it is a long story, so readers, brace yourselves.
This photo was taken on the same day that Benny was in the Solsey Mobile. Last Monday night Benjamin dislocated his shoulder and we went to the emergency vet that night. Well, Tuesday was a pre-planned visit for Luna to go to AVS (Affiliated Veterinary Specialists) in Maitland about 50 miles from our home.
Luna has been in need of what they affectionately call the “nose package” which is the same surgery that Benjamin had done about a year or so ago. It is when they remove some soft tissue from the back of the throat, widen the nasal passages, and remove the air satchels all in the efforts to assist with breathing and respiratory challenges.
Additionally, over the last year, we have been noticing some other small but recently increasing concerns with Luna’s gait. During breaks on walks (like while waiting for her brothers to go potty) she stands still but her rear leg or legs will tremble. She is no longer confident jumping up on the sofa or bed and she has simply just fallen over for no apparent reason twice.
When her legs first started to twitch or shake we didn’t really think much of it. In the beginning, as it would usually happen towards the end of long walks we figured she was just tired (like a marathon runner whose legs are like cooked spaghetti noodles at the end of a race). Since she has to take about 3-4 steps for every human step and a step or 2 for each of her brothers then her pace was always quicker in relation to her body size.
Well, when we realized that Luna was hesitant to eat we knew there was a major issue. We sort of put the whole thing together when offering her food closer to her face she would gobble it down as usual. Luna was apparently hurting so badly when bending her neck to get to her food dish that she would just rather not eat than to have to put herself in that position to eat.
So, we took her to our usual vet and he put her on an anti-inflammatory medication in order to see if that would help by reduce any back/neck swelling. It is also a pain reducer (its like doggy Tylenol). This was a 2 week dose. And while it helped some, it did not work considerably well.
Over time, we worked on managing the problem in other ways, too. We created a raised food dish for her so that she doesn’t have to bend over so far to eat. That has seemed to help tremendously in the area of eating. We shortened her walks so that the condition wouldn’t continue to be exacerbated. And when all of these things were not correcting the problem sufficiently, we took her back to our vet who recommended x-rays and warned that while that was a good start, a CT scan and/or MRI would likely be necessary to see what the problem was truly.
So, you can fast forward (or rewind-depending on how you look at it) to Tuesday. Tuesday was the day that she had the appointment with the specialist to decide how to move forward with the nose package and the neck/back issues. The appointment was for 10 AM. This means leaving the house around 8:30 AM (and Luna had to fast for this appointment since at the specialist’s office they never know if they will have to sedate the patients to do testing). So, out we went.
We got to the specialist’s office and the internal medicine doctor consulted with the neurologist. X-rays were performed on a mildly sedated Luna. They showed a "lesion" on her vertebrae in her neck. We were reassured that it was not a tumor or cancer but more like an area of swelling or a slipped disc.
In discussing the options for treating Luna, between us, the specialists and our own vet, we are all on the same page with the upcoming events. That is: today, Luna will go under the knife to get her nose package done. While under, they will perform the CT scan. If the CT scan shows something that needs to be surgically repaired, then they will do that surgery tomorrow. The specialists shared that two short episodes of anesthesia is better than one long episode. And hopefully, she will not need the second go ‘round. Hopefully, whatever the CT scan shows will be able to be treated some other way.
So, getting back to why is Luna in the Solsey pouch? Well, the specialists tell us to keep her "on bed rest" for 6 weeks (regardless of surgery or not but if neurosurgery could be even longer). This is no small feat! She is a wiggly, feisty, willful little alpha female pug that won’t be stopped! So, we are doing our darnedest to keep her still. This is why last night we took Benny out in the Solsey Mobile and Luna out in the Solsey pouch. Henry actually had to walk. Benny is on rest until the end of the week and Luna for 6 weeks.
We are definitely not sure how exactly we will accomplish all of this but we will make it work. Somehow we always do. And somehow the pugs always get with the program, too.
So, we will keep you posted with the details of today's surgery and what the C/T scan reveals about Luna's back.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
The little gray lady keeping an eye on her brothers. The funny thing is the boys try and one up each other and be the last to pee on something around the yard. But, Luna always wins that game. She patiently waits for the boys and then struts over and pees on whatever had caught the boys' interest last. She always wins. The boys have pretty much given up and know they will never win against the little alpha female
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
While at the beach, this is pretty much where you can always find Luna. Just a few inches short of where the waves wash on shore.
Occasionally a wave will catch her or she will take a quick run into the water to cool off a bit, but for the most part she avoids the water. She reminds of a sanderling. Those little birds that always run along the shoreline poking at the water for little bits to eat. They go in and out with the waves at full speed and they always manage to avoid getting wet. That is pretty much how Luna plays at the beach.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Rut-roh! Luna has Benny's puffy. Looking forward to your captions in the comments.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
As you may remember, Luna was at the vet for surgery to remove some cancer spots on her arm and ear. Well, the ear flap had growths both on the inside and outside. Once the growths were removed, Luna was left with quite a sizable scab. As the scab began to fall off, we noticed that we could begin to see light through her ear. We became suspicious that when the whole scab fell off that she would have a "pierced" ear.
Well, one morning, Luna woke up and did her morning stretch which included a head shake and wouldn’t you know, that ear scab flew across the room! We’re all lucky everyone else was on the other side of the room from the crusty projectile because if struck by that thing it could have put an eye out!
When the dust settled, we noticed that indeed, Luna had a pierced ear. It is only about the size of shoelace hole. It’s not huge but definitely noticeable (especially when you can see daylight coming right through it). Luna is no worse for the wear. She is probably more used to having scars than we are, actually. I guess that is why we are taking it a little harder than she is. We have tried to keep her as "perfect" as she could be which would include not contributing to the many scars all over her body.
The "perfect" though is that she is cancer free. And the reality is that it doesn’t take away any of her spunk, feistiness, beauty, spirit or sweet nature. She is perfect just the way she is.
As we just prefer to tell our friends & family, we are simply liberal minded parents and opted to allow her to get her ear pierced before turning sweet 16! Some people allow their baby girls to get their ears pierced at a younger age these days, right? We are amongst the "in crowd". She won’t be wearing any dangling earrings though. She is still too young for that.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Little Looney, stuck in between her bros. Sometimes, Benny & Henry don't leave Luna much room, but I think she would rather squeeze herself in rather than find somewhere else to sleep.
