Welcome 2017 & Jamison Update

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Hello, friends. The last time I spoke with any of you it was 2016. Now it’s 2017. Happy New Year!

I hope you all made it through the stupid fireworks, gunshots, and the like.

So many of you have left kind words for us about Jamison and I thank you from the way down deep depths of my jackapoo schnoodle heart. I know you all want an update so I’m turning things over to Mom because I don’t know all the vet-anese speak to be able to tell you what’s going on.

Mom:

Good morning, everyone. I apologize for leaving you hanging. Things have been chaotic waaaay beyond our normal chaos. Not only did this happen to Jamison but we have had a houseful through it all. As crazy as that was, I am so thankful for my family being here not just because we were able to spend time together but because they helped with keeping me distracted.

The last update (12/29) I told you that Jamison was sent home with a bunch of new medications on Thursday. He was still in a lot of pain on Friday morning (12/30) so we went back to the vet. They did blood work and found out that he was jaundice and his liver was not functioning due to not eating. The vet came up with a new plan for force feeding every 2 hours, (2) oral antibiotics, new pain medication, and an appetite stimulant.

Force feeding him was not easy. He was still showing signs of being very nauseated and the new pain medication didn’t seem to be working.

The next day (12/31) we went back to the vet, as scheduled, and he stayed for a few hours on IV fluids. When we went to pick him up, we were given Buprenex (morphine) to give him every 8 hours. The doctor also suggested that we pick up Milk Thistle extract as it is known to help with liver function and can stimulate appetite.

The new routine:

Force feeding – every hour

Milk Thistle – 1 drop am and pm

Buprenex – every 8 hours

Cyproheptadine (appetite stimulant) – 1 pill pm

Orbax (antibiotic) – 1.7 ml pm

Amoxi/Clava (antibiotic) – 1.2 ml am and pm

As of yesterday (1/1), he still hadn’t been able to regulate his temperature and I noticed his breathing was more labored. We’ve been keeping him in the bathroom with a heater and that keeps his temperature around 100.3°F. I was able to get more food in him than all of the days previous, combined. By the evening, he was rasping as he was breathing and he had some nasal discharge. We decided to just keep him as warm as possible and to take him to the vet first thing in the morning.

Today (1/2): We took Jamison to the vet and finally got to see Dr. Hamilton. Although we’ve been going to our regular vet since Thursday, Dr. JD has been the only doctor in the office. On Friday, I was able to speak to Dr. H via telephone and he and Dr. JD conferred on treatment. So, it was nice to finally have him see Jamison.

He was a bit concerned about his lungs and will be doing an x-ray to check things out. He was also concerned about a dark spot on Jamison’s abdomen. He’s afraid it may be necrotic tissue. For now, he inserted an antibiotic/antifungal/numbing ointment into one of the drain “holes” and covered his abdomen with it. The plan is to remove all of the drains this afternoon and use those “holes” to see what’s going on in the inside and then to pack the “holes” with more of the ointment.

It’s important to keep him covered in ointment right now as he’s urinating while laying down and we have to be able to prevent urine scalding.

While he’s at the vet, they will be force feeding him every hour and will be giving him more IV fluids.

He’s not out of the woods and still has a very long road ahead of him but we’re seeing minor improvements. For instance, a clear meow this morning, pulling himself around (his muscles in his legs are becoming atrophied from being in a crate), tucking his front paw underneath him in that adorable way that cats do, and he’s more alert than he has been in the past week.

Your prayers are working. Please don’t stop praying for him.

Now that most of our visiting family has left, I hope to be able to update you all later when we hear from the vet.

Happy New Year, to the most wonderful community of people I know.