Pyometra Scare
That is when things got ugly - or more precisely when the ugly was identified. The vet was quite thorough in her examination and discussing her condition with me to identify her recent health history. She quite quickly and in the end accurately, began to suspect that Dawn had a pyometra, undoubtedly related to her last season. The diagnosis tool required to confirm this was abdominal x-rays so I immediately consented to x-rays right then and there so they took dawn into the back for x-rays. 15 minutes later I was called back into the examination room and was shown the x-rays. X-rays are really neat things. The first x-ray was a side view through her abdomen and I was surprised how much I could immediately identify, intestinal folds, colon etc.. Nevertheless the doctor guided me to a "shadowy" layer that was not so immediately apparent and indicated that that was Dawn's uterus. "Oh that can't be right, it's really distended" was my immediate reaction. Dr. Bickerton confirmed that layman's diagnosis and then called up the next x-ray showing Dawn's abdomen from below at which point all the details of her uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries were clearly visible and equally clearly distended. This gave a 99.9% confirmation that Dawn had developed a "pyometra" and her uterus was severely distended and filled with puss. As shocking and serious as this was it was also, fortuneatly, eminently treatable through a surgery which for women is commonly known as a hysterectomy. There were of course "standard" surgical risks which were exacerbated by the presence of so much toxic puss but the overall prognosis was good and if all went well she would be home Friday evening. There was no question that Dawn was going to get the treatment she needed and in spite of an invitation to "visit" a while longer I said no, take her to the treatment room and start re-hydrating her so she can have her surgery and start feeling better as soon as possible. Depending on how well re-hydration went she would have her surgery later Thursday afternoon or early Friday morning. (Dawn had been drinking more than usual but apparently most of that water was either going straight through her or going to filling her uterus.) I was promised that I would be called as soon as possible after Dawn's surgery but when that would happen was unknown due to the re-hydration requirement. At about 23:30 Thursday evening I received a call from the surgeon, Dr. Galway, who told me Dawn had gotten through surgery well, was alert and even standing up - she had re-hydrated well so she had operated that evening. There had been no significant surgical complications and what had been experienced was readily treated. All infected tissue and offended puss had been removed and our little girl appeared to be on the way to a strong recovery. I could finally breathe a bit easier but I wasn't going to be "relaxed" until she was home. Friday morning at 06:30 I received the promised morning update from the attending overnight vet technician advising me that Dawn had a good night and was again awake and up. I would be receiving a call from that day's attending vet later in the day, probably early in the afternoon, to give me a "medical" update and advise me when I could come to bring her home. That is when things got to be more stressful. 13:00 came as did 14:00,15:00 and 16:00 with no call. I finally got a call about 16:30, this time from vet number 3 - Dr Waller, and was told there were some "issues" with Dawn's blood work and that she needed another night of observation and treatment. Dawn was experiencing a substantial drop in her PCV (Packed Cell Volume). Even though her PCV at 37% was above the baseline 35% it had dropped from an immediately post-operative 45% and the drop was concerning. Was she bleeding internally, was she not producing enough blood cells or was it a result of her IV drip? She had made it through surgery but was having a bit of trouble stabilizing to their satisfaction. I wasn't happy of course but I was confident that the treatment she was receiving was thorough and they weren't casually dismissing things others might have just to clear a treatment bed. I did manage to get an after hours appointment to visit Dawn - this is a 24hr emergency practise so there is always a minimum of 1 vet, 1 vet tech and 1 receptionist on site. Upon my arrival at 20:00 they were a bit behind schedule - a lot of emergency cases were waiting - so I waited about 10 minutes before being called into an examination room to see Dawn. When they brought her in my heart virtually crumbled. It took two techs to bring her in - one led her in on her leash and the second wheeled in her IV stand. Well they might have though she was alert by she was clearly still affected by the pain medication she had been given that morning. She settled down along side me and snuggled up for comfort. (It is really humbling when a furchild snuggles in close like that because they see you as a source of love and security. Virgil often comes over to me when he doesn't feel well because he knows I will be there to help him.) Anyway she did eat a few of her favourite MarrowBone treats and then just settled down for a cuddle and rest. The room however started warming up and after about 25 minutes I knocked for their assistance and let them now she was getting too hot and needed to go back to the better ventilated treatment area. At least I had seen her and she was definitely better than when I left her there 30 hours before. Saturday I again received an early morning update and then had to await the vet's call to confirm that she could come home. Well I was now far too impatient to wait very long so shortly after noon, not having received a call, I called them to check on her status and if I could get her home. The receptionist checked and made and appointment for 16:30. I received a pretty thorough debriefing from the vet-tech and then she was brought into the exam room. Certainly not yet our usually Bouncy Buggly Gurul but definitely Dawnie-on-the-mend. Well our little girl is still resting a lot and recovering and I expect she will continue to be very quiet and resting for a good week or more. In fact I think she will not completely be herself for several months. This was a huge surgery for her. I'm glad she is predominately a strong girl and is still relatively young at just under 6 years of age. She should be able to recover fully but it will take time. Now fingers, toes and everything else is crossed hoping nobody else gets ill as this was not an inexpensive treatment. To everyone with middle aged intact girls, please keep a very close eye on their post season behaviour and diet. If anything is even slightly astray have them checked immediately. Dawn received no injury nor did she experience any out-of-the ordinary situations that would have lead me to suspect any potential for illness. This pyometra could not have been prevented given her being intact but an earlier diagnosis might have made the overall treatment a little less difficult and would have reduced the risk of a general peritoneal infection. Fortunately that did not happen to any significant extent but had her uterus, or more likely a falopian tube, ruptured the infected puss could have killed her though a general toxic shock infection. A hard earned word of caution to others. Thanks and Cheers Carl |
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Oh Carl, I am so glad your girl Dawn (great name, btw  ) is doing better.I had a pyometra scare as well many years ago - my chocolate lab Macy developed it and nearly died. She too had surgery and did in fact recover. I can't remember exactly how old she was at the time - but just a bit older than Dawn. She recovered well, survived a cancerous tumor removal at age 12, and lived to be 15.5 wonderful years old. I am sending best wishes for a smooth recovery. It sounds like your girl is getting real good care. This is my sweet Macy at 14 years old...she's been gone 2 years now, and I still miss her a lot.   |
| Poor Dawn! Poor Carl and everyone else! I'm so glad things seem to be getting better! Please keep us posted; my thoughts and prayers are with you. |
| Sending our sheepies prayers for your baby and for you! Hope she continues to imporve. |
| I hope poor Dawnie feels better soon. |
| Dawn is so lucky to have such a wonderful Daddy.... Excellent information.... thank you for sharing it. Good luck for a quick recovery. |
Cuddles for your sweetie carl and a huge hug to you too, you being so in tune with dawnie and knowing something was not quite right certainly saved her life.  Pyometra is scary and if a closed one even scarier. Went through that with Kelsey at age 6, just picking up on something was not quite right and yep low grade pyometra. Anyone with intact bitches should read and be informed on the symptoms etc of pyometra. Especially as the bitch gets older. Here is a link on it, it's pretty graphic so those that are squirmish dont open the link as it shows all the info on pyometra as well as x-rays and after surgery the uterus photos. http://www.acvs.org/AnimalOwners/Health ... nDogsCats/ Dawnie had a rough time of it, a strong girl and she will bounce back fast, well done on getting her to the vets so fast and dawnie heal up fast so you can be back to your bouncy self soon.  |
| Good for you for being so in tune with your dog and getting her to the Vet. Now she just needs some time to be back to her old self. |
| Very scary. I am glad you were able to get Dawn treated in time and that she made it through the surgery. Thanks for sharing her story. How is she doing now? |
| Poor baby! Hope she is feeling better! |
| Thank goodness you caught it in time. Wishing Dawn a speedy recovery.  |
| Poor Dawn! Thank goodness you are so observant Carl! Wishing her a speedy and uneventful recovery! |
| Thank God she's alright! |
| So glad to hear you caught it in time. I hope she recovers well. |
| Carl how is dawn doing? Been thinking of you all and hoping now she is back home with family thriving and on the mend big time. |
lisaoes wrote: Carl how is dawn doing? Been thinking of you all and hoping now she is back home with family thriving and on the mend big time. I had intended to post a 1 week post-operative report today even before Lisa prompted me. First off though thank you to everyone who expressed their concerns and best wishes for our little girl. It has helped Michele and I get through a really tough time - nothing is as upsetting as one of my kids being sick and me not being able to do anything about it. And of course we have had to go through it alone as Michele continues to be away protecting our other kids from this city's draconian dictators. Anyway, as I noted in my first post of this thread, Dawn came home last Saturday afternoon once her blood work had stabilized. She was still a bit under the influence of the pain medication they gave her Saturday morning so she was very quiet Saturday evening but even so I could sense that she was happy to be home. Her Daddy-V and Afghan brothers gave her a single sniff-down to investigate where she had been and that was all. That was good because Dawn is no "shrinking violet" and would have told them in no uncertain terms to leave her alone, reinforced with a good swat from her hands – Dawn is a very very “handy” girl!! Sunday and Monday were still quiet days for her as she was undoubtedly uncomfortable from the surgery but she was up in a flash when I called her for potty walks or for treats. Breakfast and dinner did not hold such a sway on her though and she pretty much ignored her regular food. I also started to groom her out on Monday evening to both inspect the incision site and start cleaning her up. She did have some dried blood in her coat and of course the incision was weeping slightly which caused some of her hair to become captured in the dried discharge/blood. She was as always an excellent little girl on the table and seemed relieved when I gently soaked her hair out of the incision site. It wasn't much but it must have been tugging on her. Otherwise the incision was clean and healing up well. The sutures will be removed sometime during the middle of next week (nominally 10 days post-operative). Tuesday marked the first day that she showed signs of really being herself again. Food became more of an interest and she was up to about half of her usual portions, especially her dinner. I was really relieved about that. And she was much brighter eyed than the previous few days and showed much more energy trotting about the house a bit and even briefly prodding Virgil to play at one point. Wednesday marked another big turning point as she began to bounce a few times. Now one of the unique features Vigil imparted to his little girl was “springs in her things”! Anyone who sees her playing would swear she has coil springs in her wrists and knees as she loves to bounce straight up and down. She can get her front feet 3 feet into the air and her back feet easily lift clear off the ground by a foot. She wasn’t up to full height bounces but she was bouncing a few times. Our little girl was coming along just fine and if I didn’t know it by then that confirmed that she was on the way to a complete and full recovery. She isn’t quite able to jump up onto the bed yet but that is just a matter of time for her to completely heal and allow her to stretch fully – she did get “high sided” Tuesday morning and hasn’t tried it again since. Last night was really good as she ate almost a full dinner and spent a few moments actually playing with Virgil, tugging on their long rope bone. Dawn still tires easily and is spending a lot of time on her own laying down in the basement on “Martin's floor” – another story for another time - to avoid being caught up in the boys’ activities. She comes up when she wants something or when I call her for her medicine, walks, treats or just for her company so she is doing well. The simple fact is this little girl had a huge surgery and it is going to take a couple of months for her to fully recover. For the most part she is pretty good about taking her medicine -post operative antibiotics to make sure that first off she doesn’t get an infection at the site of her incision and secondly to make sure that any remaining internal infection is defeated. But I have to be really sure to get her pills onto the very back of her tongue and then make her swallow them or back out they come a few moments later. It is amazing how they can spit out what for all the world seemed to be well and surely swallowed. I even tried wrapping the pills in cheese – that worked exactly once!! Cheese is not supposed to have a crunchy middle part, Dawnie knows that Dad so don’t try fibbing to her!! Yes Lisa this was a closed pyometra so I had no clue as to it’s early development and once it was apparent that she was unwell her infection was very advanced. Her initial exam showed an elevated temperature that was in part explained by a general infection. As of quitting time today I am on leave for two weeks  so I will be home  (although doing a lot of work in the yard) and able to spend more time with the kids, plus they won’t have to be in their beds all day long.   By the time I get back to work I expect that Dawn Eline will be 95% back to her own ways.  Again thanks to all for your concerns and support.Thanks and Cheers Carl |
| Ahhh wonderfull news And if you get a way of administering medication let me know!!! I have one like that too and it's a nightmare to get a tablet down, tried every trick in the book and she even locks her jaw if we get to the stage I have to shove it down her throat after multiple spit ups of the tablet.  Tried cheese, yep cheese is gone tablet spat onto the floor Tried in amongst an entire dinner, what's that left in the bowl one teenie weenie tablet Tried coating it in peanut butter, same as cheese spat out clean onto the floor, peanut butter gone  etc etc etc every trick tried to get a tablet down  In the end we resort to me trying to prise the jaw open to get it down her throat and having to rub the throat to MAKE sure she swallows it. She knows all the tricks when it comes to if she has to have medication So I dread it when she does have to have a tablet.   |
| glad dawn is well again. now you always have to check with the dr.as far as time release or general safety ,but since i've had both skin and furkidz that wouldn't swallow pills, i've crushed the pills with the new lil crushers available and removed the gelatin capsules and put either/or in their favorite treat or topping with great success. |
| How is Miss Dawn doing? Is she back to her old self? I didn't have internet connection while at Sheepiepalooza, but people kept me updated. I hope to hear that she is doing well. |
| Carl, that is a terrific update from May 27. I hope Dawn has continued to heal and return to her old self. I cannot imagine how scary this was for you (and her)! |
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