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not how I planned to spend the afternoon
That's when I noticed that his pink nose wasn't pink -- it was the same color as the rest of him. Jaundice, anyone? So off to the animal hospital we raced.
There was a lot of waiting around while they did tests, and in the end they admitted him. They are giving him IV fluids and injectable antibiotics and trying to get him to eat. I asked about appetite stimulants or IV nutrients and they said not yet (ask again tomorrow). They also said that while he (and his blood) looked a little jaundiced, the bilirubin level was normal. Weird. (His nose was also pinker by the end of the exam than it had been, though not normal.)
Coincidentally, he had an ultrasound earlier this week (looking for the cause of elevated WBC count, and it had been 15 months since the last one). My vet hasn't seen the report yet, but based on what was read to her over the phone, there were some issues there but nothing really urgent. The folks at the hospital probably would have wanted an ultrasound, so we'll just send them that one.
Interesting numbers from today's blood test:
ALT 1076 (1150 in May, 1200 in January or February)
AST 248
ALKP 419
GGT 13
WBC 20,800 (17,000 in May)
I don't know what some of those mean. (Never heard of GGT before, but normal is 1, not 13.) The first four are liver-related; the last is the white-blood-cell count (the high reading that prompted the ultrasound).
Also: pulse 228 (high), temperature 101.7 (normalish), weight 3.2kg (= 7 pounds).
I left a message for my vet when I got home, and she called me back. (Hey, I didn't know that was her home number. I've always gotten a machine, so assumed it was office voicemail.) She will talk with the vet at the hospital tomorrow (or tonight if they want). She also had new information about the ultrasound: the message she had gotten from a staff member said two small "stones" but didn't say where (kidney stones? bladder stones? ?); she said she would have to see the report/images. But yesterday she happened to be talking with the doctor who did the ultrasound, and he said gallstones. Gall, liver... sounds related to me! So I called the hospital to relay that information.
I don't have a favorite hospital (among those available night/weekends). I first called my vet hoping for an emergency number; their message listed names and phone numbers of three emergency clinics. One is the place where Erik had his surgery in 2005, but I serendipitiously learned this week that the doctors who were there at the time are no longer there, so there's no reason to choose them. So it boiled down to: one is known to be hard to drive to if there's traffic (anticipating a trip in evening rush hour tomorrow); one is in a town I've heard of but not been to; one I know how to find and there was a positive article about them in the paper six months ago. So on the strength of that alone, I went to AVETS in Monroeville. If my vet thinks that was a mistake, we can fix it tomorrow.
Now, I guess we wait. Poor Erik! If the problem turns out to be a gallstone lodged in an unfortunate place, I wonder what the least-invasive way to treat it is.
Edited to add: relevant article from VIN.
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We had Duke at AVets when he had his problems, and thought they did a superb job. They are the hospital recommended by our vet, so I believe he is in good hands...though not as good as being at home, I know.
Thinking of you.
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