Sunday, July 6, 2008

So Far So Good


No bed wetting last night. I still got up at 2 AM to let him out. Doing that has me so tired. I don't know how people trained by their dogs to do this every night can make it through the day without a nap. Maybe you get used to it.


Travis has gained a little weight. He was 63.5 lbs this morning.




I have been reviewing everything over and over again in my head and came to a couple of conclusions. Normal bilirubin should be well below 1. Travis initially tested 1.2 along with other elevated liver enzymes. Less than a week later, vet #2 says it has increased to 5.6 which prompts her to examine him again and declare that he is jaundice. To be honest, I couldn't see the yellow myself, but then I don't always have a good eye or feel for the medical issues, so I took what she said at face value. He then received fluids for the rest of the day and again the next morning before seeing vet #4. Vet #4 and her vet tech didn't see any jaundice. "Good", I'm thinking the fluids are working. The next day vet #5 looks at him and repeats blood work that indicates a normal bilirubin and says that clinically he looks fine. He mentioned that sometimes during the lab process, blood cells are broken open causing a false, excessively high bilirubin level. Vet #5 thought that may have occurred with vet #2's blood work. So I am starting to think that maybe he was not exactly knocking on death's door like I was lead to believe by vet #2. I am not denying that he is sick or that we are out of the woods yet. We could still be dealing with something serious like cancer. But maybe his blood work isn't really that bad. Still holding out hope that I'm being put through the ringer for no reason.



This morning I took everyone to a friend's house who has a nice, flat fenced in front yard. Travis got to play for a minute or 2.