Christmas Eve 2020

Thursday, December 24, 2020

Christmas Eve

Before dinner Dale and I caught an old Disney short titled Rescue Dog from 1947. 

I got a kick out of the sign that Pluto displays early in the cartoon. It makes me think it would be nice to have such a sign at the entrance to our house as a testament to our residence being graced by Athena, our own lovingly dutiful dog who watches over Dale and me.

Walking Athena

Saturday, June 20, 2020

Her walks aren't as long as she used to be but Athena still likes being out and about to do her work of sniffing everything. 

Athena has a birthday coming up in early August. She'll turn 13. 

Porch Life

Friday, June 19, 2020

Athena joined me on the porch to listen to my pride mix. She’s having a really good day. 

Another Good Day

Thursday, June 18, 2020

Another good day. Athena’s breathing has mostly sounded normal. I saw the  lilies pictured below on one of my walks with her. 

Feeling Good

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Another good day. Athena loves sitting outside in the back yard in the shade. We love her.

A Little Trouble

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

We were dismayed to find Athena having a hard time this morning. We slipped in to panic and worry. By about 11:00 a.m. she was doing much better and she continued to do quite well the rest of the day. We’re resigned that this will have to be day-by-day for the duration of her time left with us and that we’ll work on cherishing having her with us in each moment. 

She's Home!

Saturday, June 13, 2020

I took the call from the vet this morning. They drained another 8/10ths liters of air out yesterday afternoon and about another 2/10ths liters this morning. The doctor was encouraged the the amount is lessening but I was dismayed that it is still occurring at all as I don’t see how we can continue to keep doing this to her if this continues over time. The vet said we could pick her up at 11:00 a.m. I’m at least relieved that we’ll be able to see her again. The top two photos are of her outside of the U of M and the others are of her back home. 

When we got the the U of M we were caught off guard by how lively she appeared. Seriously, she had an energy level we haven’t seen in about a year. We’re realizing with information from the doctor that it’s possible this has been a slow leak over the past year and that it turned life threatening only a day or so before we brought her in. We’re also understanding with the doctors help that this may be manageable over time an possibly be an affordable treatment. I can hardly find the words to express the joy and relief we felt. 

We’ve had plans for the last week to get together with Warren and Gary tonight. I’m glad we decided to keep them. We’ve been in such a state of grief and loss the last couple days that we knew even if things went south with our dog we’d want to be with friends for comfort. What a nice surprise we were able to make it a celebration. 

She seems so much back to her usual self. She was actually rather frisky which is an energy level we haven't seen much of over the past year. 

Here she is waiting for us to make dinner. She loves sitting right where you see her in the above photo while we cook. Over the past few weeks this was the only position she seemed to get comfortable. However....

Just before bed she hopped up on the couch and was able to lay more on her side which is a very good sign. 

The Emergency Service of the University of MinnesotaVeterinary Medical Center Part 2

Friday, June 12, 2020

The vet called around 11:00 am this morning and told us they drained about 4.2 liters of air from her chest cavity yesterday. This was of course quite a bit and confirms the discomfort we perceived she was feeling based on the sounds she was making and her inability to stay lying down in any given position for long was real. They want to keep her another night to monitor and do another chest tap to see if any more air is escaping from her lungs. That said, we continue to be on pins and needles. 


It’s grueling for us because we are in great fear of losing her. She’s 13 years old and the idea of more work will not only be expensive but, of much more concern to us, highly invasive. We’re confronting making a difficult decision regarding a friend we absolutely adore and love. We know we must do what’s best for her and it very much hurts like Hell. 

The Emergency Service of the University of MinnesotaVeterinary Medical Center Part 1

Thursday, June 11, 2020

Brought Athena to the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical Center. Due to Covid-19 we needed to wait in the car while they evaluated her. Following are some of the things from the write-up they gave us.

"Athena is a 13-year-old, female spayed, Labrador retriever who presented to the VMC Emergency  Service on 6/11/2020 for a pneumothorax."

"The owners first noted that she was coughing with a terminal retch starting about 2 weeks ago. About 2 days later she stared groaning when she turned and was grumbling. Since then, she has been restless and doesn't seem to be comfortable unless she is lying on her side. Her breathing has gotten significantly more labored in the past few days which prompted her presentation. Athena is lethargic at home but had a good appetite until 2 days prior to presentation when she was less enthusiastic about eating. Athena hasn't had any vomiting or diarrhea."


"She was evaluated but the Minnehaha Animal Hospital where chest x-rays were performed and she was diagnosed with a pneumothorax. She was then referred to the VMC for continued care."


"There is a neighbor who gives Athena... rawhide treat[s] and Athena choked on [a] treat about 2 weeks ago. She was eventually able to swallow the treat forcefully. This happened just before the coughing started. There isn't any history of trauma."


"Athena has been having progressive weakness of her back legs due to arthritis but was otherwise healthy prior to the onset of this signs. She has a history of urinary incontinence. She takes carprofen, gabapentin, and proin."

Photos taken Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Athena's condition of pneumothorax basically means that somehow air is escaping from her lungs into her chest cavity causing discomfort. When we dropped her off at the U we believed they would finish tapping her chest and removing the air released into it and that we'd be able to bring her home. The vet eventually called us as we waited in the car to tell us they wanted to keep her overnight to monitor her. We agreed and as we drove home we began to assume the worst and it began to dawn on us that if euthanasia was to be the eventual outcome we might not see her again due to not being able to be present for the that due to Covid. 

Changes

Wednesday, June 10, 2020

We've noticed huge changes over the course of the last year in Athena. Gradual at first she seems to have aged quite rapidly over the last couple of weeks. Having us home constantly for the last few month because of the quarantine for COVID-19 has been a big change in what she's used to and I'm sure if she's not feeling some stress herself she's at least picking up on some of ours. Even more because of the last couple of weeks with the stress around events in Minneapolis after George Floyd's death the social unrest it's brought. However, by this afternoon it's the physical manifestation that's a result of all that's happening has a become so much more pronounced. 

She hasn't slept well the last few nights and we don't think she slept much at all last night. She's eating most but not quite all of her food and actually looks quite confused when we give it to her. She also doesn't want to go on walks and looks confused when we try to get her to walk with us. She's experiencing heaving breathing and sometimes she resorts to a kind of rocking making it look like she's pushing to get air out. Dale called our vet about it and they said it sounded like it might be best to get her in for an x-ray. However they said they didn't have an appointment time available for that for another two weeks. They recommended trying Blue Pearl (the 24 hour pet emergency hospital which also takes appointments for things like x-rays, ultra-sounds, and the like) but said they'd call us if something opened up much sooner.  Dale called Blue Pearl and they too were booked for appointments. Dale and I talked to see if we wanted to bring her in as an emergency but before we could reach a decision our vet called us back and said they had a cancellation for today so we could bring her in. They determined she had bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax which basically means she had air leaking from her lungs into her chest cavity and that we should bring her to either Blue Pearl or the University of Minnesota  Veterinary Medical Center. So, we did. 

Athena Enjoys the Sun

Photo taken January 20.