Rosie (Day 24 � The Ultrasound)

It is NOT cancer.

But it is still serious.

The morning started with an “episode”. Rosie had somehow managed to get out of the house.  We don’t know how she did it, but the most possible explanation is that she gave my husband the slip when he was wearing his shoes and had left the front door open.

But thankfully, Rosie did not go far. She just sat the in the porch watching the rest of the world go by. My husband caught her and brought her back.

I almost died when I found out Rosie had gone out.

Rosie had not come downstairs on her own for many days now. But this morning, perhaps she left better, so she ventured downstairs.

She still doesn’t want to eat on her own, but is able to take in a lot more food since yesterday. She is also willing to chew and she is eating home-cooked with Primal. There is a variety of food for Rosie.

At 10am, we headed for the vet’s in PJ – for the ultrasound.

I was all prepared for the worst. If it were cancer, at least we can still rely on TCM – perhaps not as a cure, but to strengthen the organs to cope.  Western medicine would not be able to do this.

The senior vet took a look at Rosie’s blood test results and read the history that I can written down (three pages long). By just looking at the results, he mentioned “bile duct blockages” in the liver. But of course, he did not rule out anything.

Thankfully, it was just a short wait until it was our turn for the ultrasound.

The vet who did the ultrasound showed me the images. Rosie’s spleen was all okay (homogeneous) but her liver – there were all these black patches in her entire liver. The vet said it not the typical presentation for cancer, but it could be. It definitely looked abnormal and she said it would be better to wait for the senior vet’s interpretation. From the looks of it, though, the next step in Western medicine, would be to do a biopsy to find out what the problem is. But a biopsy would require sedation and Rosie might not wake up from it because her liver is already severely compromised and won’t be able to eliminate the anaesthesia. So, a biopsy is out of the question.

So, we waited.

It was an incredibly long wait. Luckily I had packed food for Rosie (but forgot to pack for myself!) so I fed Rosie while waiting.

A big dog lunged at Rosie’s carrier and Rosie hissed back. Hmm…the girl has spunk.

After three hours, the senior vet called us in.

“You’re in trouble”, he said.

Oh dear….

The senior vet explained that there are bile duct blockages in Rosie’s entire liver. He drew me a diagram and explained it clearly. The duct to the gall bladder is fine and the gall bladder is also fine. There could be a blockage in the main duct from the liver to the intestines and there are definitely many, many blockage in her liver (that would be the black patches we saw in the images).

It has probably taken a long time (many months) for it to get to this stage. We couldn’t have known. It happened gradually. The cause is unknown, but it could be an infection or Rosie could have ingested something toxic. Furthermore, Rosie is FIV+.

Rosie’s condition is called Intrahepatic Cholestasis.

Could it also be cancer, I asked.

The senior vet doesn’t think so.

I guess this IS a relief.

And what is the cure? Is there anyway we can help Rosie?

“Medication”, the vet said.

Ok.

And the senior vet said our three vets had already covered everything excellently (I had written down all the medicines and supplements and the dates when each was started and why).

Now, all medicines and supplements will be continued except that the Prednisolone will be reduced to 1/2 tablet twice a day instead of 1 tablet twice a day. Ursofalk (which Rosie is already taking) is THE medicine that can help with this condition (the blocked ducts in the liver).

Chinese meds and acupuncture can be continued (I definitely intend to).

Subcut is to be done every day, but only 150ml and on one side only. The subcut fluids is to flush out as much of the bilirubin (the yellow) as possible. It is important to flush out the bilirubin because it consists of crystals and goes everywhere in the body, including the brain.

I asked the vet to show me how to do the subcut, so he opened a new set and explained all the steps. The most important thing is that we must not touch the needle (contamination). The most worrying thing for us (untrained people) is contamination which will lead to infection, so we have to do it properly.

We did a subcut at the clinic and the vet says he prefers to use the largest needle. This is because the procedure can be done in just 2-3 minutes and you won’t have to subject the animal to so much stress. True enough, Rosie didn’t struggle at all and in “a wink of an eye”, it was all over.

Brave girl, Rosie!

I asked if there was anything else we could add to help Rosie, what about Transfer Factors? The vet said that could help too and we might want to consider stemcells (Cellfood) as well.

If anyone here has any information on where I could get Cellfood locally, please do let me know. Thank you so much.

https://www.cellfooddirect.com/

We came back, relieved it isn’t cancer. But there’s still a long way to go, of course.

I updated all three vets at the clinic itself.

Then, after we got back, I checked Rosie’s medication and realised I needed a top-up, so I drove to the our local vet to get a top-up but they didn’t have anymore Ursofalk. I then went to several pharmacies and it’s either out of stock or you had to purchase a whole box of 100 capsules which will last Rosie 400 days!  And it’s pricey, of course.

Some vets don’t even carry the product at all.

So, we ended up driving all the way to the PJ vet (the ultrasound place) to get the Ursofalk especially when Rosie finished her dosage this afternoon.

That is why I’m only home now and writing all this down.

Thank you once again, for all your prayers and kind wishes.

We are not out of the woods yet and there’s still a long way to go.

Rosie, back home.

Spunky gal!

Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2017/03/14/rosie-day-24-the-ultraso..

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