misnomer jones

I did not receive a return call from the vet yesterday. I’m not entirely surprised as it was yet another vet in the mix, even though we know each other, he hasn’t seen Dottie since she was a puppy. My expectation is the information I relayed was shared. I will call back today.

I need to make an appointment to get an updated evaluation. My head is clouded with worry so I’m not trusting what I’m seeing. I don’t see improvement since she started the medicines. I think she is declining, but it’s hard to say. She may have leveled off.

I want to say that I am enormously grateful for the donations that have been received. I have tried to email a thank you to each one and I hope I have not missed anyone. I know that especially the ones that have come with an apology that they weren’t larger were hard earned. Never apologize for helping in any way.. even those that have sent love and prayers. I’ve been moved to tears over the outpouring of love and generosity of spirit.

I woke this morning to one of my koi stuck to the filter intake. I have a tank that was down to 2 koi that were about 3 inches long. While it doesn’t equate to Dottie, it’s just been one more thing to manage with my kids, especially as they see the fish as ‘theirs’. They already want more fish, but I’m about full right now emotionally managing everything.

I got through to the vet this morning and learned that there is still some blood work that isn’t back yet. I’m not sure how I missed that, but I did. I am hopeful what is still out (the receptionist didn’t know *what* was incomplete, just that something wasn’t back) will show something. They were going to make a call to get an ETA and let me know.

Dottie’s demeanor continues to be good. She does her best to play with Shaman (the cat) and still barks at me whenever I’m on the phone (I swear she learned this from the kids).

I learned from a friend a better way to pill her. Peanut butter! I put a small dab on my finger, add the pill on top and place it as far back on her tongue as we both can stand. It works better than the cheese that she was able to seperate the pill from, and better than just the pill as I learned she was cheeking them and spitting them out when I wasn’t looking (I found a couple on the floor shortly after). She’s a brat, which I see as a good sign.

I don’t have more news yet, but I did take another video of her progression. Warning: these are getting harder to watch. I was taking a dozen videos a day and finding ones that showed symptoms but weren’t of her falling or other hard things to watch. These are really more for the vet than for everyone, but I know that some people want to see how she is doing. In the videos I sometimes call her name or tap my leg to get her to look another way to shift her weight and avoid falling.
Warning if you are sensitive. She doesn’t fall or get hurt, but shes more unstable than she has been, and it’s just hard.

I’m waiting for the vet to contact me so I can give current status and find out about the outstanding blood work I learned about this morning. Also on my mind is when we should be seeing any improvements from the meds so we can determine if they are helping. So far they have been returning calls in the evening.

I’m feeling anxious for information. Still. Last update for this evening. It is 9pm and I didn’t get a call. I’m trying to remain objective. There must not have been news about the blood work. I’ll call again tomorrow.

Meanwhile, and good news is that the gal who comes and lets Dottie out when I have to work long days in the City came by tonight. I thought it was a good idea ‘just in case’. I’d hate to be attached to a person or animal and miss a chance to see them if they were not doing well.

Dottie responded very well. Jumping like a bad girl (the jumping is less a problem than what happens at landing) and playing as much as she could . It was really good for everyone I think. Dottie seemed happy. Her being happy makes me happy, and ‘AM’ (I’ll call her) was also pretty pleased to see and play with Dottie. I think we all needed that.

This morning Dottie’s head tilt was much more apparent. I helped her down the stairs to do her morning business, managed some work meetings, then headed out to take her to the neurologist. The drive was longer than I expected.. the Dr is one that is in multiple locations and of course she just happened to be in the furthest one away today. The offices were nice. Scary nice, like restaurants with menus that lack prices. The staff were all great, as was the Dr. By the end, the bill was less than I was concerned it might be ($235.00).

I took this video while we waited. While she is doing normal dog stuff checking the place out, her head is tilted and she is carrying her head much lower than usual. It was suggested to me that behavior is common in dogs who have difficulty seeing.

Dr. V and an assistant examined her, repeating much of what I had seen the vet the day before do. Bending of paws to see reaction times, looking in her eyes and ears. Usual stuff like heartbeat and temperature. Lots of questions. Some other stuff that looked like wrestling that I’m sure served some purpose I don’t understand. Dottie was great throughout.. giving kisses and flopping in laps. She really is such a great dog, even when she is so clearly not feeling ‘normal’. I noticed a marked progression of whatever is happening with her. She is less steady that even yesterday, and is now carrying her head lower than before and cocked to one side. Her demeanor is unchanged.

After the exam, the Dr indicated she feels whatever is happening with Dottie is definitely vestibular however there just isn’t enough data yet to narrow down the origin. Being a Boxer it could be a tumor in her ear or brain. It could also be a host of other things. Ideally the MRI is what is needed and it was going to be $2000.

I balked at the cost and indicated that my vet suggested it was $1500. She agreed that the cost of doing it was that, but reading it and follow up pushed the costs up. She also indicated if it were one specific thing in the ear the treatment could be another $1000. more than that. It was then that I burst into tears. Honestly, I do not know how Veterinarians do it. Between sick animals and emotionally unstable humans, they have to be a wreck by the end of the day.

We discussed the situation at length and mutually decided on meds for this moment. Dottie will be taking 2 antibiotics and 1 steroid daily for the time being. Apparently of the 2 possibilities that these would treat are ultimately at odds with one another, as steroids suppress the immune system, so this is not a long term solution, but rather a plan of action to get Dottie some relief. The report is 2 pages here.

I received a call late tonight with the results from the blood work from yesterday. Unfortunately, the blood work was normal, so it has not progressed the knowledge base of whats wrong as I had hoped. Dr. B and I spoke at length, I shared what happened at the appointment today, and how Dottie was progressing and where we were at with treatment, info on the meds etc. She agreed this was a typical empirical treatment of an unknown neurological disorder. She further suggested that the MRI may tell us nothing, or tell us something that may no even be treatable. Really, there was no way of knowing. She may get better with the treatment she is now on, and it is equally as possible she may change negatively to the point that the MRI feels necessary. I have been instructed to call the office tomorrow and share an update. The 3 Drs on staff have discussed Dottie and are all aware of where we are at.

I love my Vet. This entire situation sucks, but I feel like they are on the ball and in my Dottie’s corner.