More on Beau

I think the "kreeping krud" is finally loosening it's grip on me. It better after spending nearly a week in bed and a heavy dose of antibiotics. The cough is beginning to loosen and I can finally breathe through my nose. Breathing is always a good thing, don't you think?

So between feeling lousy and worrying about Beau, I haven't been keeping up on my diary reading or commenting. Sorry. And of course that puts me way behind on everything else around here.

The Christmas tree is coming down today - I can't wait to get it out of here. And then we get to start piling everything in my living room/dining room into one end of the room. The guy that's going to fix our ceilings was out on Friday to give us an estimate and is ready to start. Don't know if I ever told you, but we had roof damage from a hail storm last September that caused water damage on the ceilings in three of our rooms. I just dread the mess that fixing all this is going to make, and all the extra cleanup work because you know that sheetrock dust and taping and texturing doesn't stay in one room even if you block off the room you're working in. It sifts throughout the house - yeck. Oh well, I guess when it's all over I'll do a REALLY good spring house cleaning.

So I've got that ugly situation to look forward to.

And then there's Beau. We got all the lab results back late Thursday afternoon. Not good. The vet gave me the name of the bacteria that he's infected with. It's about a yard long so I can't remember it let alone spell it. But it doesn't matter anyway. The most ideal situation would be to take him down to the University of Minnesota, have a CT scan done and then exploratory surgery to see if they can find the source of the infection. Price tag for all that starts at $5,000 and goes up from there with appropriate follow-up treatment. Needless to say there have been a lot of tears around our households since that dollar amount came forth. At this point we're going with he other option - he's on heavy doses of penicillin three times a day right now. Next Tuesday he goes in for another x-ray to determine whether the fluid level in his chest has changed (improved or increased) since the last x-ray and fluid withdrawal. They will try to withdraw more fluid - as much as possible. From there we'll keep him on the penicillin and just watch him. He may have to have several more x-rays and fluid withdrawals, but I guess we'll just take it a step at a time. That's all we can do at this point.

Lovely Daughter and Ole had a consultation with the vet on Friday morning. She told them that this method of treatment has a low success rate, but there have been cases where it has worked. She said it's fortunate that we caught this in its early stages so he has a better chance of recovery.

Well, guys, that's about it from this end. Sorry for all the gloom and doom. Keep your fingers crossed for Beau. Losing him would leave a huge hole in our lives.

The latest on Beau

I've received several emails wondering what the latest news on Beau is. Thank you all for your concern, and I'm sorry I haven't updated sooner, but I've come down with a nasty case of the "kreeping krud" which has left me with little or no energy to do anything other than sleep. Wonderful way to start the New Year, huh?

Anyway - Beau spent Monday at one of the vet's offices in town - the only vet who does ultrasound on animals in a 200 mile radius. Dr. Dill determined that Beau has approximately 1.5 liters of fluid built up on the outside of his lungs. He was able to drain off about a half a liter so that gave Beau some relief as far as his breathing goes. He said the fluid seems to be compartmentalized, so another attempt will have to be made to drain more unless the antibiotics are able to clear it up. Beau is on two very powerful antibiotics three times a day. Dr. Dill didn't like the look of the fluid that was drained so he sent it to the lab and we should have the results by Thursday or Friday. He has ALMOST ruled out cancer, but is still suspicious of some shadows that he saw so will pursue that through lab work also. He has a tendency to go with the inhaled plant material theory. He said it also could have come from something that pierced his chest, i.e. a pine needle, that migrated and this is the result of his body trying to get rid of the object, whatever it may be. Also, if he had inhaled the material, because the lung tissue is so fragile and thin, it would/could have pierced the lung tissue and again, migrated to the body cavity outside the lungs. If they can find it, it will have to be removed, or it may not even be there anymore. He's still kind of at a loss for anything definite. Beau had a BIG shot in the butt on Monday before he left, along with all the antibiotics, and goes back for another BIG shot in the butt today.

He seems to be much perkier and is having less trouble breathing, so apparently the antibiotics and penicillin shots are doing something beneficial. But he still sleeps a lot and doesn't' have his usual stamina so we have a ways to go yet. I won't even go into how "hot" Ole's checkbook has gotten; he says it doesn't matter - Beau is more than worth every penny. The vet and all the techs that have worked with him tell us that he has such a wonderful temperament and is so well mannered. Guess that goes to show what lots of love and appropriate discipline does.

Last Friday night we decided to have a group of friends in to play cards, games, etc. There were six couples here, but we ended up just sitting around and yakking. Everyone brought leftover Christmas goodies (good way to get rid of some of it) so we all did our share of munching too. I think everyone was kind of in a Christmas let-down mode, so it was a quiet and early evening.

The next morning I woke up with a full-blown head cold that has since migrated to my chest and doesn't seem to be letting up. I feel like I'm about ready to lose a lung every time I cough, and my sinuses are so blocked I can hardly breathe. I really hate swallowing any kind of pill, but I finally gave in and dug around in my medicine cabinet to see if I had any "good drugs" available, and sure enough, I had a z-pac available. I managed to swallow that huge honker down so we'll see what the next 24 hours brings. At least today I don't feel like I have to sleep all day, I can be somewhat conscious.

So this kind of put a cramp in our New Year's Eve plans - not that we're big partiers on New Year's Eve anyway. Lovely Daughter and Lars had to work their full shift that day so it was late when they got off work. We decided to meet them at 7 o'clock at a great Mongolian Stir Fry place we have in town. So we stuffed ourselves and then stopped at Dick & Jane's annual bash. Ole and I left about 10:30, just as it was starting to get pretty rowdy. We thought that was a good time to go home. Lovely Daughter and Lars stayed later - Dick had purchased a new Wii, so that was the hot item of the night.

I spent most of New Year's Day doing nothing except trying to make some headway into recovery - from the cold, you silly guys - NOT from a hangover. I didn't have one single drink on New Year's Eve - I didn't think it would mix well with all the cold medicine I had been taking. So there!! Finally good judgement in my old age (snicker). Anyway, Lovely Daughter and Lars came over and Lars cooked us a wonderful chicken supper. Then it was downstairs to watch the No. 4 Harry Potter movie - The Goblet of Fire. I've watched them all a couple of times before and every time I watch them I get something more out of them.

I hope you guys all had a great New Years - with all kinds of good things to look forward to in the coming months. Again, I'm sorry I haven't been on the ball much around here. I've been reading blogs a bit, but not commenting too much, just trying to use my energy where it's most useful.

Thanks again for everyone's concern about Beau. I'll leave you with this parting thought - something Ole saw on a sign in the vet's office:

"Try to be the person that your dog thinks you are." Isn't that great?