Never get too comfortable....

On Tuesday, April 24th, Razzle had his follow-up appointment from his surgery he had on Tuesday, April 10th. He was doing great -- running, eating...his stitches were pretty much all healed up. He looked fantastic and seemingly felt so too. He got a glowing health report and we finally were able to breathe a sigh of relief that Razzle's health issues were under control....

Then last night, Tuesday May 1st, we had to rush him to the hospital where he spent the night. Tuesdays seems to be bad days.

Seems ever since that wonderful follow-up appointment, Razzle starting acting different. We noticed his activity level started dropping off. Also, it seemed like he wasn't eating as much. Over the past couple days in particular, I noticed his food intake had been very minimum and he hadn't run on his wheel in over 4 days. He looked smaller to me - like he's lost some weight...but I wasn't sure if that was because he had a large tumor removed. After noticing he wasn't eating his crunchies, I gave him some of his favorite snacks, and still - he wasn't eating much. Then last night it looked like he was having trouble swallowing. I went into the kitchen to get him some soft food and Steve told me that he had attempted to eat a crunchie and made some sounds like he was choking on it. He also was acting weird where he would just sit still near his wheel...where normally he would run for his igloo. He was slow moving and then started to bite his toy jingle balls and even the metal wheel stand. ? We took him immediately to the emergency vet where we waited until 2am. They wanted to monitor him overnight and keep him in oxygen. This morning they said he was doing ok, though he did not eat. Today he is going to be looked at by his primary care and most likely have some X-rays done to look at his heart. We have a feeling that his heart is causing these problems. It's just shocking because he was doing SO WELL and it seemed like the heart meds were really helping things. I don't know why the sudden turn-around.

In any event, I just hope my little guy is ok and can come home today. I don't like the fact that he's beginning to be a regular at the vet's office. I wish I had my healthy Razzle back....

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UPDATE
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Just spoke with the doctor. Razzle has lost a drastic amount of weight - 50gr. in a week. Because of that, they are going to keep him overnight for at least another night. They are going to do X-rays to look at his heart and also really check out his teeth/throat area as well as the site of his surgery to make sure there isn't some underlying infection.

I am really nervous about this drastic weight loss. The doctor did speculate that it might be hard for him to eat/swallow because he is also having trouble breathing due to the enlarged heart. It may be a matter of just upping his heart med dosage.

I'm just so scared that this is the "beginning of the end"...as much as I hate to even think that....but his heart condition is not going to get any better. We might be able to slow it down a bit, but it's not going to go away. I want to do everything I can for him, and up until this point we have been able to stablize the situation, but I feel like I'm quickly approaching "nothing more that can be done". I hope we're not to that point yet....but I also want him to have a good quality of life. I don't want him to have to go to the ER every 2 weeks....or be forcing tons of meds on him every day. I guess at this point, I just need to wait to hear what the X-rays reveal...

SIGH....oh Razzle....

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SECOND UPDATE - wednesday may 2nd
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Well they were NOT able to do Razzle's X-ray today. His breathing is very congested due to his enlarged heart pushing fluid into his lungs. The vet did not feel comfortable putting Razzle under anesthesia with his compromised breathing. Instead, they increased his heart meds (which includes a diuretic) and they have him in an oxygen tank that is easing his breathing. The vet said he was stable at the moment, but he does need to stay overnight for monitoring. Hopefully by tomorrow, his heart situation will be stablized so he can safely undergo an X-ray.

We'll be going up to visit our little trooper tonight...

WE LOVE YOU RAZZLE!

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THIRD UPDATE - thursday may 3rd
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We went up to visit Razzle last night and he looked ok - more congested than usual and very huffy. He unrolled a bit once I picked him up...he knew it was me. He gave me a little nuzzle on the nose. But he's huffy/scared/mad that he's there and I really want to just take him home so he can relax in his warm igloo. They told us that he had not eaten, and it was nearly impossible for them to syringe feed him since 1) he's huffy and can choke when that upset; and 2) he won't unroll for anyone. So I brought with me his favorite soft food treat and some worms. He did eat a good amount of worms! We only stayed about an hour since we wanted him to relax and maybe eat a little more on his own. This morning the doctor said his congestion was a bit better. He did some wee in the night (great!). He had also done a nice poo the night before.

He DID end up having his X-rays today, and now I am just waiting to get the results back from the doctor. Waiting is the worst. I hope he's well enough to come home tonight. I hope it's just a matter of increasing his meds. I hope his heart hasn't gotten worse. I hope there aren't any more tumors. Come on little Razzle...you've come this far! We're not giving up now!