A Visit to the Dog Cardiologist

Look at that happy face!

Tuesday morning, I had an appointment with Mia's new cardiologist. I had both been dreading and anxiously awaiting seeing them since the ER vet had first mentioned it Saturday morning. That doctor was convinced that Mia was suffering from Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM), which gave Mia a death sentence spanning anywhere from two months to two years. 

So naturally, I was a bit over emotional. Jay couldn't come with me because no matter what kind of nightmare is happening in our world, the real world keeps on going and he had to work. I was all alone, unsure if my dog was living or dying, and I just wanted the whole thing to be over with so I could finally know.

I started crying as soon as the vet tech put a stethoscope to Mia's heart. I sat there for the whole hour long appointment with my kleenex as Mia was poked and prodded by various machines checking her heart. 

Good news: she doesn't have Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM). Yet. Her heart is a normal size, blood is flowing in and out the way it should, ventricles are doing their jobs, BUT her heart isn't pumping with as much force as it should be. We've been down graded from DCM, to myocardial failure. Which, as horrible as that name sounds, is okay for right now. As long as the pills she's on keep working, she'll be fine. 

It's when they stop, I'll have to worry. 

So after $2400 in vet bills, a new $100 monthly bill for her pills, we finally know what's wrong and we're dealing with it. 

All our money for Christmas is gone and half our rent went to the vet, but I have my Mia. The rest will work out. 

I had to share this picture of my other four-legged child. She was not amused, but I laughed endlessly. 

Finally Home

Mia  (background) is home now, finally. The first thing we did upon her arrival was take a long snuggle nap. I haven't slept much since she's been gone, and I feel like I need to soak up as much love as possible. While I'm finally eating again, she has not. We're working on that. 

After doing the run around after we picked her up from puppy ER, I finally got the referral I needed to see the cardiologist. She goes in tomorrow which means another couple classes missed for me, but there was no way I was waiting until the 28th to have her seen. 

She seems better though. She hasn't done much except sleep, but she's finally walking on her back leg normally, so healing there.

Now we're just praying that this heart issue is just a complication from surgery and not heart disease like the ER doctor suspects. She's too young and been through too much to go out like that, so I'm hoping and praying every ten seconds that this is treatable. 

Now back to snuggles. Happy Monday! Keep Mia in your thoughts.