Emergency Room Vet Visit - MSU 10/17/19

Around 5:30p tonight we noticed Max had severe swelling in his left leg. We already know he has fluid buildup in his abdomen (most likely from GI upset from Vinblastine chemo drug) but his leg swelling is totally new. He had a huge golf ball sized sack that was filled with fluid protruding from his knee on his left lef and his right leg was slightly swollen. We immediately left for MSU to the emergency room. 

His entire oncology team (the entire dept) is currently in Texas for a conference so we were told there were no oncologists to speak with so I was desperately trying to get a hold of his team via email. We waited in the ER for 2.5 hours to be seen and we finally saw a clinician that looked at his legs.  

We were told that because he’s on bed rest and he’s inactive right now due to his back, the fluid in his body isn’t moving around well. On a healthy dog, the lymphatic system would adjust due to the inactivity and work harder to move the fluid around but bc his lymph nodes are compromised due to the cancer, they can’t keep up with the demand to move the fluid. Since he’s on bed rest, the fluid is building up in his back legs. His one leg looked like he had a snake bite bc it was soooooooo swollen like a protruding golf ball and his feet and legs were huge.

He’s still on bed rest for 2-4 weeks so to help with this we were told he will need warm compresses throughout the day and massages on his legs and thighs 4-5 times a day.

His heart sounded great so no worry of congestive heart failure which is what we were worried about and his temp was perfect.

By the time we left the golf ball was gone on his leg and the swelling in legs were reduced by half bc he was moving around so much so we felt pretty confident in the diagnosis until we could research further and eventually talk with his oncology team. 

It was a scary experience and we got home super late but we were thankful it wasn't because of his heart. His care and needs right now are 24/7. He is still having diarrhea really bad and having issues every time he stretches, sneezes, stands up, sits down, and barks (and by issues I mean it shoots out of his butt like a rocket). 😲 We are handling it. 

I adjusted his medications and took him off the 1 pill that I think is exacerbating the issue so we will see what his doctor says if and when they get back with me. We are managing the diarrhea with depends diapers (I bought the largest size of kid pull-ups they had but they were too small for him). The depends are working well and we are letting him drink as much water as he wants to keep him hydrated. 

Another issue we are having is Max's booty-licious butt is getting super raw from all the diarrhea. We have to wipe him down bc it gets everywhere and his butt is starting to get raw. I started using neosporin on his backside to help but we switched over the diaper rash ointment so protect and help heal his butt. (update: the diaper rash ointment healed his butt almost completely in 4 days. It worked amazing).

Hoping to hear back from his team soon so we can figure out this diarrhea and see if it's from the chemo or something else. 

Until then, my husband and I are tag teaming everything and we have a great system worked out with taking care of him. We are sleeping when we can, trying to make sure he eats, although is appetite has been bad, and keeping him hydrated. Thank God for an understanding husband and one that is helping through this bc it is really a 24/7 job right now taking care of him. 

Thank you for reading and for all of your prayers for our sweet boy. Hoping we can figure this out and get him better.

Cost of ER Visit:
$150

xoxoxo,

Brenda