Day 2835

The news isn't good. Dash has two blood clots in his heart. I asked the vet how large and he told me that one of the clots was about the size of a quarter. How is that even possible? The vet said that the whistling sound Dash's heart murmur makes and all the seemingly unrelated symptoms we described to him made sense once he saw the clots on the echocardiogram. Dash's heart isn't pumping enough blood. This leaves him fatigued and probably uncomfortable at certain times of the day. He said the heart problem could also explain the loss of appetite.

We expected to find something wrong when we took Dash to the cancer center for an extensive series of tests today. We just didn't expect this. I thought Dash's cancer might have returned. Maybe the loss of appetite was a long term side effect of his vestibular disease. I never expected to find two giant blood clots inside his heart. I asked the vet how he planned to remove the clots and he just gave me a sad look.

"If you try to break up the clot, the smaller pieces could travel to the brain or lungs," he told me. "What about surgery," I asked. "There are no blood banks for dog blood," the vet said. "Without an adequate supply of blood, you can't hook the dog up to a heart lung machine during surgery like you would with a human patient." He said there have only been a small handful of successful open heart surgeries on dogs in the entire world.

This was not encouraging news. The vet wants Dash to start taking Plavix, to prevent additional clots from forming. He said that at least 50% of the time, the body will eventually reabsorb the existing clots and the dog will be fine. I filled the prescription and we starting giving Dash Plavix tonight. I don't think we have any other alternative. The downside to Plavix, and most other blood thinners, is that the blood no longer clots. If Dash cuts himself, he could bleed to death. When I think of all the times Dash has gotten cut, including his dewclaw injury just a few weeks ago, keeping him from getting cut seems like an impossible task.

It rained a lot this morning. I got up on the roof and removed the standing water before Janet and I took Dash to the cancer center. Since the leaves are starting to drop from all our trees, the roof was a mess. The leaves turn the water on the roof into little duck ponds that never drain. It's very discouraging. I did get a writing job today. Ordinarily, this would be good news. Dash's vet bill this afternoon was ten times what I'll make from the writing job. It kind of makes me wonder why I even bother.

It was not a great day, but you can't give up. I got some little rubber boots for Dash so he won't cut his paws on walks. He's done that several times before. I'll do my pitiful writing job and hope to get more of the same. I'll call the roofer again and hope that he keeps his promise to make things right.

At least it's Friday tomorrow. I'm not even sure if I'll go out for breakfast. I'm not very hungry. I'm just tired and discouraged.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day