As many of you have heard already, this has been a very long week for the Olsen household. Over the weekend, Amber wasn't feeling herself, lethargic and loss of appetite. We thought that it just attributed to the fact that her food had been changed a few times and she was being a picky eater... However, on Monday, Kathrine brought her into the vet to make sure that everything was ok. The vet checked her out, everything sounded good, looked good and they were going to run just annual bloodwork just to make sure that all was ok.
The next day, Kathrine got a call from the vet saying that many of her levels from her blood panel were off and that we needed to bring her in for xrays to rule out any masses that could be causing the counts. Well, about an hour and a half later, we got a call back from the doctor saying that she had a plueral effusion (fluid in and/or surrounding the lungs). Oh, crap! This is becoming serious quickly we all thought, including the vet. Surprisingly enough, her demeanor had changed since the weekend, and was basically back to her normal self. Long story short, we were immediately referred to a specialist in Irvine for immediate care and ultrasounds/draining of fluid to investigate further.
We got a call later that night (about 3 hours later) from the doctor saying that she had pyothorax (infection) and that they had to do surgery. On Wednesday, they did the surgery and told us that this was a serious case and that it is very uncommon. (As in, one, maybe two cases a year.) The infection was widely spread throughout her chest cavity, on tissue surrounding her heart and diaphram but, luckily not her lungs.) And, that she should have a normal recovery, and be back to her old self in a few months. (Of course, the healing process will be what keeps her down as they had to open her sternum to get all of the infection.) She will also be on antibiotics for several weeks to ensure the infection is gone!
Attached are two pictures of our poor girl post-op. While we were visiting, four vets and vet techs came up to us just gushing over how much they love her. Her bright and happy attitude, even under a tremendous amount of pain meds, never stops. They said that she has been such a pleasure to work with and they just love her already! Even as we were there visiting, she wagged her tail sluggishly as we pet and talked to her. She is just so cute and we cannot wait for her to come home. Ralphie even misses her, he has been walking around looking for her and crying off and on.
Also, Kathrine got a pink slip (RIF notice) and a ticket on Tuesday...what a great day!
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