Doggie's health update

It has been weeks since I last published an article. Last time was a couple of days after Christmas and this time it's 2 weeks after New Year or 15 days to be exact.

Well to start off, I want to greet each and everyone of you a blessed, blissful and bountiful 2023. Happy New Year everyone! Hope you were able to enjoy the coming of the year and was able to fulfill your last year's goals and/or resolutions. Oh goals! What is that again? LOL. Just kidding. I do have my goals in life or plans to be exact or it it dreams? Whatever it is, I know in my heart that someday I will be achieve something.

Let's not talk about me and talk about Doggie. By the way, thank you so much to everyone who liked, helped, commented and upvoted my previous article, Happy birthday, Doggie! I said in that article about Doggie's condition though it still was not 100% sure. Yes he may have been positive for blood parasitism or tick borne disease however his coughing did not stop even after they gave him some medicines for the cough and treated his ehrlichiosis.

During the length of Doggie's treatment, we also asked for a second opinion and advice from a different veterinary clinic. This another clinic is owned by my brother's high school friend as his wife is the veterinarian. They have a few branches but none of those were near. The nearest is about half an hour ride and it still depends on the traffic. I must say that their rates are lower compared to where we usually bring our dogs but our problem is transportation so we opted for a home service.

Last week, we requested for a home service so that they can physically check Doggie and also extract some bloods for a CBC and blood chem. The veterinarian who came was one of their doctors in the nearest clinic. I think the wife of my brother's friend rarely examines the pets as they already have some doctors. Anyway, based on the visit of the doctor, he presumed that Doggie may have an enlarged heart as per what he observed and what I told him about Doggie's condition. He still cannot say as ge is not really the attending doctor of Doggie and alsk he still has not seen the blood tests and also some other tests. He suggested an xray is a must so that we can really see the status of his heart and lungs and pinpoint the cause of his cough.

When he mentioned xray, I felt so bad and irresponsible because it was actually what Doggie's doctor suggested during the first time that we brought him to the clinic last December but due to lack of money, we were only able to have him a CBC as it was the cheapest out of all the tests. I am not sure if I mentioned this the last time but a CBC from where we usually bring Doggie costs Php800. An xray costs Php1,500 and a blood chem costs Php2,800. So if you are someone who is like me that is tight on a budget, will you also go for the cheapest option?

A week after we first brought Doggie was his follow up checkup. That time I was able to get some money and had decided to go for the xray however, the doctor said that we should also do the ehrlichia test which costs Php1,800 if I am not mistaken. Again, I was tight on a budget so it is either xray or the ehrlichia test and I chose the latter. There we found out that he was positive for blood parasitism and comparing his CBC results from hia first checkup and his follow up, it showed that his platelets and red blood cells really went down. So they assumed that his coughing was due to ehrlichiosis.

Even when Doggie was under medication for a week, 2 weeks and more, his coughing was still there. That is when we have decided to ask for a second opinion from a different clinic.

But I think we would not make it this long and far if I have only had him take an xray during our first visit to the clinic. So it is I to blame and not anyone else.

Because it is a new year, the price of the xray had increase. From Php1,500 became Php1,580. Doctor's fee also had an increase as well as their other services. I feel like I can relate to the people who said that the poor gets poorer and the rich gets richer. Ok, erase that! Let's not think negative.

So today, Doggie had his xray and the doctor again suggested that we do another test on him which was a heart test just to see the heart and heart muscles since we can only see the image of the heart and lungs in the xray but with the heart test we would know the exact value of it. I was hesitant at first to have him take the heart test but I do not want to have any regrets in the end and so I said yes. Did you know that at the back of my mind I was like thinking on where to get the money for the heart test? Yes, I was already computing of how much it would cost me again for a trip to a veterinary clinic but I had to turn a blind eye and use my card even if it is already almost at it's limit. Yeah, you heard that right. I'm back in having credit card debt. Never ending cycle. But I will break that cycle once I free up my cards.

Going back, it is confirmed that Doggie has an enlarged heart. It is bigger than the normal. His lungs also has white but have to observe and monitor again next month if it is mass or not. My mind went blank fpr a second when I heard her say mass as the word cancer immediately came into my mind. Other than heart and lungs, the doctor also noticed kidney stones, 1 that is a little big and a few that is small that the doctor said maybe kind of like sand. She said that those tiny sands of stones may team up with the one that is already big or if not the big one can still grow in size as it can feed from the bacteria in the bladder. These 3 are the ones that we need to monitor every now and then.

Maintenance medicines were prescribed to him all for the heart, lungs and kidney. Of course I only bought a few pieces that will last for a few days as I do not have enough money. With my bills and other expenses, I really do not know where else to get money. It is so challenging when someone in the family is sick.

I fail to mention that with the other doctor, he suspected an enlargement of the heart right? So he told us some don'ts with Doggie's condition like running, long walks, long trips, getting shocked, getting excited and some other things or activities that may trigger a heart attack just like in humans. When he mentioned that he'd cough more often when he does some of those things and I remembered that he does coughed a lot whenever he sees me especially when I am out of the house for a few hours or even days. Then Doggie's primary doctor said earlier that he would also cough when there is movement as there is only a few space between his heart and lungs. So that explains why he would cough past midnight and/or before dawn whenever he would move to a different position or spot. It really breaks my heart to see my dog/s (or even anyone) in pain.

In a week we will have another follow up checkup but again my issue is money. I guess we would go back on Doggie's second follow up checkup that is also written in his record which is next month. It is not easy to produce Php10,000 (about $200) in a week. Talking about making $200 in a week made me think of some people who have earned that amount here and on noise.cash before. If only we could turn back the time right?

Sorry for talking too much. I just wanted tk update you with regards to Doggie's current health status.

P.S. lead image is his xray today.

January 16, 2023