Well, just a few hours after posting the blog yesterday about Teddy settling in, I was rushing him over to our vet clinic in Helena last night.
During his first stay in the hospital a few weeks ago, Teddy had begun breathing heavily, but our vets could find no explanation for it — the lab work and imaging showed no medical problems that could account for it, other than as a potential complication of his diabetes. So when we brought him back to the ranch following his surgery, we kept an eye on his breathing. It continued to be labored but not in a distressed way, and there was never any coughing, gasping or other related respiratory problems.
Then yesterday afternoon we noticed he was sitting with his head pointed up, breathing very heavily, but this went away after a short while and he laid back down on the bed. But yesterday evening he started doing it again, this time with some open-mouth breathing while his head was up, and he couldn't seem to get comfortable. He'd try to lie down, but then would immediately sit up again, with his head pointed to the ceiling. His little sides were working hard, going in and out at an unbelievable rate.
It was just at this point we were scheduled to take his latest glucose test for the curve we were running on him all day, and when the glucometer screen flashed "610," we thought … uh oh, we're in trouble.
I called the emergency number for our clinic, and our vet Jennifer Rockwell was on the line in a few moments. Ten minutes later I had Teddy in the truck and I was headed to Helena. Jennifer and her husband Rick, a vet tech at the clinic, met me there around 9:30 p.m.
Jennifer started Teddy on oxygen, then took X-rays and ultrasounded his abdomen. Nothing jumped out from the images, so Jennifer decided on supportive care last night to get his respiratory rate and glucose levels down. She increased his insulin dose to 4 units.
This afternoon Jennifer reported Teddy was resting comfortably, and his respiratory rate had dropped dramatically, from 100 breaths per minute to 50. His glucose level also decreased a lot, down into the mid-100s. Jennifer said it was difficult to attribute that kind of a drop in blood sugar so quickly from a single unit increase in insulin last night, but hey — it's a big improvement and we'll take it!
The radiologist reviewed the X-rays today and did not see evidence of significant fluid in the lungs or abdomen, nor an enlarged heart. (We already knew he had a minor heart murmur.) The radiologist did see some potential indication of an enlarged lymph node near his heart, and recommended a follow-up ultrasound. Our internal medicine specialist at the clinic will do the new ultrasound in the next day or two while they continue to monitor his overall condition.
So at this point, we don't have any real answers … but the good news is he's in much better shape today than he was last night. We'll take that, too.
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