This is going to be a hard topic for me to write about in that it is a story that has developed over 1 1/2 years. It started When we noticed that my ,then, 8 yr. old Hummel was making what we'll call gurgling sounds and had snots coming out of her nose. We took her to the vets. Who put her on antibiotics. It cleared up but returned. After a couple of rounds of this. We took xrays which showed nothing unusual. Our vet referred us to Dr. Alan Hammer in Madison Oh. for a Rhinoscopy. Which showed nothing abnormal. So back to antibiotics periodically. But with the mucousy discharge getting thicker and more profuse. We've tried all sorts of treatments, smz, Baytril,Prednisone, PPN, tetracycline. Nothing worked for very long if at all. Then one day her face just blew up to what seemed like twice its original size. Thinking it was an allergic reaction (spider bite?) she was given a antihistamine shot which brought the swelling down right away. Three weeks later, same thing, her face blew up. another shot,but, this time it didn't help. all the while she still has this discharge. Our vet then started thinking that it was perhaps a bad tooth. So she went into surgery. She did find a bad tooth and pulled it out. but there was actually very little pus involved with that. and her face was still very swollen. so our vet shaved her just under her left eye and made an incision. From the way it was described to me the pus or mucous just burst out. yuk. So now my puppy has snots coming from her nose and her new incision. Back to more drugs. My vet was literally at her wits end. When I asked her what was next her reply was "I don't know"So she consulted with Dr. Hammer again. in the mean time her snots were coming at an alarming rate and not just out of the incision but also out of her left eye. Five minutes after you wiped her off it was running down her face again. And I'm getting concerned about her because the ridges on top of her head are becoming more prominent and she is spending more time way in back by the boat. This is what our "Bo" was doing just before we lost him last July.(Thank you for all your kind support during our time of loss) Then it was suggested by Dr. Hammer that we should check for a fungus infection. Okay so now we have something to chase a glimmer of hope that we might bring an end to this long standing problem. So I helped secure a sample of mucous for a fungal culture.In the mean time we also scheduled an appt. with Dr. Hammer. The day that we were to go to Ohio. We got the results from the culture. negative. Well, we went to Ohio with heavy hearts because we figured that if it wasn't fungus it had to be cancer. We met with Dr. Hammer who looked Hummel over and decided that we were going to have to get aggressive in our search for an answwer so he kept Hummel. The next day, He did exploratory surgery by drilling a hole thru her skull into her nasal cavity.
He called us that evening to report that he had to use a whole liter of saline solution to flush her out. That he did find some grey tissues that he was concerned about. He took samples and sent them to Denver Colorado to be analyzed. then he put a vent tube in her head. He didn't want to say for certain what the problem is until he got the results back from pathology but when I asked him "What in his experience did he think it would be? He stated that he thought it would be malignant cancer,although there was still a possibility that it was fungas." That was this past Fri.. Sat. we went to pick her up. She looks so wiped out but happy to see us and we were happy to see her. The house was so empty these past 2 nites without her. We expect the results from pathology this coming Fri. This is probably going to be the longest week of our lives.Of course the mucous is still coming. now its favorite exit seems to be around the vent tube and her eye. Hummel will be 10 on May 18th. We are in dire need of all your prayers. Thanx in advance for all you send.
He called us that evening to report that he had to use a whole liter of saline solution to flush her out. That he did find some grey tissues that he was concerned about. He took samples and sent them to Denver Colorado to be analyzed. then he put a vent tube in her head. He didn't want to say for certain what the problem is until he got the results back from pathology but when I asked him "What in his experience did he think it would be? He stated that he thought it would be malignant cancer,although there was still a possibility that it was fungas." That was this past Fri.. Sat. we went to pick her up. She looks so wiped out but happy to see us and we were happy to see her. The house was so empty these past 2 nites without her. We expect the results from pathology this coming Fri. This is probably going to be the longest week of our lives.Of course the mucous is still coming. now its favorite exit seems to be around the vent tube and her eye. Hummel will be 10 on May 18th. We are in dire need of all your prayers. Thanx in advance for all you send.
