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Success Stories....
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ROSIE
In August of 2006, Rosie, our 9 yr. old Bichon Frise was not herself. She couldn`t jump on the furniture or get up on our bed. Rosie was not eating and when she did, she threw up. So, off to our Vet. He seemed to think that Rosie had a back injury, but had no idea why she was throwing up so much. He thought maybe she had some kind of virus. He treated her for a back injury and stomach virus.
We came home from my grandson`s birthday party in late August, 2006, and she was lying by the door and could barely get up. So, called the Vet and he was puzzled, but said to continue the treatment. She became increasingly worse. She had droopy eyes, drooled, and the weakness in her back seemed to be getting worse by the day. She also had a funny bark, kind of a honking sound.
On a Sunday afternoon, she was in the back yard with our other dogs and when I looked out, she was coughing and drooling and could hardly breathe. I freaked and called my Vet at each of his numbers. He was not available. So, we rushed her to the emergency clinic. I held her as my son drove like a race car driver. When we arrived she could hardly breathe. I was sobbing and could hardly talk, but told the Vet all that I knew at this time.
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They rushed her to the back and after an eternity the Vet returned and told me that Rosie was in the oxygen crate that they had and she was breathing a bit easier. She had a fever and was a very sick girl. They took some x rays and it was determined that she had Aspiration Pneumonia and most likely Megaesophagus. The wonderful young female Vet went right to her computer and looked up Megaesophagus and printed out the information for us. She told us that it was treatable and there were other diseases that could be associated with this. She gave us the option of putting Rosie to sleep. This option was unthinkable and I flatly told her no. So, they put Rosie on antibiotics and IV fluids.
We had to pick Rosie up by 7:30 am the next morning and take her to our Vet. He did more X-rays and said she needed to stay for the day. They called later in the day and told us to come and say good bye. Rosie had taken a turn for the worse and she did not look like she was going to make it. The entire family rushed up and I was hysterical. When we arrived, she had rallied and seemed better. My Vet took her home with him for the night. He called me three times to tell me that she was okay. | ||
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The next morning we picked her up and took her to the same Veterinary Hospital that our rescue boy had gone to the day before. We took Rosie to the internal medicine section and our rescue boy was in the surgical section.
They admitted Rosie to conduct more tests. The Internal Medicine specialist was sure that Rosie had Myasthenia Gravis on top of the Aspiration Pneumonia. She did not want to wait for the tests to return, so she started her on a small dose of Mestinon. The improvement was remarkable. It was thought to give her the Tensilon Test, but after conferring with the Neurologist, it was no....Rosie was too weak and fragile for this test. |
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Rosie spent 9 days in hospital before we were able to bring her home. I was petrified and thought that we could not handle this. A friend of mine sent me to the support group for Megaesophagus on line. I joined and started asking questions. The first thing we did was send for the DVD for the Bailey Chair. My husband built Rosie`s chair on an umbrella stroller, so that we could walk her for the 25 minutes that she needed to be upright after meals and water.
I experimented with all types of food and finally found that the soupy kind of mixture worked best for her. We incorporated her daily need of water into her food. Rosie never goes to the water bowl now. It`s amazing, that she doesn't`t do this. At first we picked up the water when she was with the group and put it down when she was in her chair. This was not working, as we have other dogs and almost always have a rescue dog in our home. The test results for Myasthenia Gravis came back positive. So, the Internist adjusted her dose of mestinon. it was also discovered that Rosie had a heart murmur. Now, Rosie had gone for her annual check up in April of 2006 and had no sign of this, not sure if it was brought on by the stress of this disease or not. She was then put on Enelapril, 2.5 mg twice a day. She had continual bouts of regurgitation and it was horrible. We finally learned to watch everything that went into her mouth. After several months of trial and error, Rosie became more stable. | ||
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She has had two bouts of Aspiration Pneumonia since August of 2006. She has had three titer tests for the Myasthenia Gravis and the last test showed that she is in remission. We gradually weaned her from the Mesitinon and as of December 1, 2007, she has not had any Mestinon nor shown any signs of Myasthenia Gravis. My girl eats the same diet day in and day out - she is doing fine and has very little regurgitation. Some nights there is a small amount, but not enough to worry about. She lost over 8 pounds in the beginning, but has held the same weight of 21 pounds for over a year. | |
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She has gained all her strength back and runs and jumps and is totally normal in all ways, except for the Megaesophagus. We also give her a 10mg. Pepcid at night before bed with a small dish of baby oatmeal and this seems to satisfy her. If she has had a rough time with regurgitation and we feel that her esophagus is irritated, we also give her carafate for a few days. My Vet makes sure that we have a good supply of antibiotics and needed meds on hand.
Rosie still loves to hunt lizards, and little toads, but we make sure that she does not catch any of these guys. We call Rosie our junk yard dog, she will eat anything that she can find.......so, we make sure there are no little tidbits around, and have trained our family to never feed Rosie anything. Our grandchildren announce to our guests......don`t feed Rosie. They even take their snacks to the dining table and make sure that nothing hits the floor. This past fall, Rosie attended a Bichon Bash in TN and was such a hit in her chair. She enjoyed all the games and activities and if we had not told people about her disease, no one would have guessed. Rosie was the first case of Megaesophagus and Myasthenia Gravis that our Vet had ever treated. He has since had two more cases. Both dogs have passed away, but Rosie is still going and we hope and plan for Rosie to live as long as possible and enjoy life the way our other dogs do. She is my inspiration and she makes me laugh every day. She celebrated along with her litter mate Bijou their 11th birthday in January of 2008. Bijou shows no signs of either disease. Rosie sees our Vet about every other month and our Vet confers with the Internal Medicine Specialist about her treatment. We have never been sorry for one moment that we didn`t give up on Rosie and never will we give up on Rosie. Marilyn Lentini Marilyn4Rescue@aol.com | ||