Rolling Dog Farm Blog

Alayne took this photo of Brynn and me right after we arrived back at the ranch this evening.  I didn’t have my camera with me this morning when Brynn was discharged from the veterinary teaching hospital at WSU, but we had both surgeons, the senior vet tech, and the 4th-year vet student on hand to send her off.  The surgeons are cautiously optimistic that this surgery will work and finally clear up her urinary leaking problem, but only time will tell.  (I did ask whether Brynn came with a 100,000 mile warranty for this operation.)

Part of the problem is that even in her vaginal vault, where the surgeons constructed the urethral extension, her body structures aren’t quite normal.  That presents challenges in building the urethral extension, which is made from her own body tissue. 

Her echocardiogram showed no further changes in her heart, which indicates she probably did not have a heart infection after all.  Instead, it means her heart valves are, like much of the rest of her, malformed, too.  But on the positive side, even though she had grown considerably since her last echocardiogram, those valves had not changed in shape or condition, so her heart is not actually getting worse.  (Hey, I’ll take good news wherever I can find it!)

Brynn turned one year-old last month, proving that this little filly continues to defy the odds. 

And, like me, she was glad to be home!

(Click on photo for larger image.)