Post by groovydreamyfab on May 19, 2006 5:59:47 GMT 1
I'm heartbroken to tell you that I've lost my precious Reiman. When she stopped eating on Monday, I thought perhaps she had an upset stomach. She seemed very lethargic. I took her to my vet on Tuesday for bloodwork, urinalysis, x-rays, and he had me take her to the local ER for observation overnight. The next day, they ran more tests and when she did not improve, she spent another night at the ER getting fluids and they made attempts to get her fever down. I took her to LSU today and they diagnosed her with, not sure how to spell it, paratanitis. It is infection of the abdominal cavity. The fluid in her abdomen had bacteria and white blood cells in it, and her CBC had changed from earlier in the week, and now showed signs of her being septic.
They did emergency surgery on her to remove or fix what was causing the infection. Her surgery began approx. 9:30pm. They found a grapefruit sized mass that involved 80 to 90% of her intestines. It was wrapped around the root of the mesentary. The contents of her G.I. tract was leaking. They described it as a systemic bacterial infection. They told me that they would have to remove so much of her intestines that there would not be enough blood supply for her to survive. They then recommended that she not wake up from the surgery, and said that if they closed her up and did nothing, that the chances were great that she would die on her own and suffer a great deal in the process. They could not tell me what exactly the mass was, but they will do an autopsy and that should tell us more.
She crossed the Bridge approx. 11:30pm tonight, May 18th. I am still very confused over everything, but when I go over her surgery report and autopsy, and have a better handle on things, I will post it on a memorial page for her and share it with you. I will also share some of the last pictures that I've taken of her. She was such a peaceful, sweet, elderly lady, and one of the best friends that I could have ever asked for. She liked to sleep right beside me on the bed, as close as possible. Our one year anniversary was fast approaching, on June 5, the day I adopted her last year.
I will post more about her later.
Cassandra
They did emergency surgery on her to remove or fix what was causing the infection. Her surgery began approx. 9:30pm. They found a grapefruit sized mass that involved 80 to 90% of her intestines. It was wrapped around the root of the mesentary. The contents of her G.I. tract was leaking. They described it as a systemic bacterial infection. They told me that they would have to remove so much of her intestines that there would not be enough blood supply for her to survive. They then recommended that she not wake up from the surgery, and said that if they closed her up and did nothing, that the chances were great that she would die on her own and suffer a great deal in the process. They could not tell me what exactly the mass was, but they will do an autopsy and that should tell us more.
She crossed the Bridge approx. 11:30pm tonight, May 18th. I am still very confused over everything, but when I go over her surgery report and autopsy, and have a better handle on things, I will post it on a memorial page for her and share it with you. I will also share some of the last pictures that I've taken of her. She was such a peaceful, sweet, elderly lady, and one of the best friends that I could have ever asked for. She liked to sleep right beside me on the bed, as close as possible. Our one year anniversary was fast approaching, on June 5, the day I adopted her last year.
I will post more about her later.
Cassandra
