Sherman #369 He is gone.

[Freedom]

Oh Pat, I really was hoping for a better update, and I am sure you were as well.

I've already told you in a PM, at this point I do think you need a second opinion, and a specialist. It's time already.

Let me know if there is ANYTHING I can do to help; meet you at a vet, what ever. If you need someone to sit with Star while you and Jojoe are talking with the vet, whatever. I'll do whatever I can.

Prayers still for Sherman. Come on, boy, we are ALL routing for you!

[cyber-sibes]

Friday, 10 pm...
We've just returned from admitting Sherman to the emergency vet hospital (Ocean State, here in RI). He is resting in an oxygen cage and will remain there for a day or two till they figure out whats going on. He'll have full ultrasounds of his chest & abdomen tomorrow, have his lungs biopsied.
His vet here sent all his test results, xrays, & aspirated lung fluid with us. The emergency vet reviewed everything & went over the xrays with an internist. She said she saw tons of cases of fungal infections where she trained & worked in Virginia (Ohio River Valley basin) & feels very strongly that that is probably what's going on, even though the initial tests came back negative. We are hoping she's right, because she said the next most probable possibility is that he has cancer masses in his lungs & abdomen. whatever it is, she said he's a mystery/conundrum at the moment, with a very odd set of symptoms.
We've always known Sherman was a unique individual. (Trying hard for a little levity here, it's kind of tough right now.)
Their primary concern is to get a good diagnosis asap. What to do about it won't even be discussed till then. She did say that she thinks the oxygen will help him feel better quickly. Poor guy was sucking air for all he was worth, so winded he could barley function.

Thank you all for your support & prayers, it looks like it's going to be difficult for a while yet.

[joycenalex]

oh pat, i'm so sorry. i'll keep praying for sherman...hugs

[Catty1]

Prayers for Sherman - and you! I guess they won't even try antifungals until they do the biopsy.

I hope Sherman is comfy and that you have TREATABLE answers soon!

"Healing and transforming God, your love knows no boundaries, and in your sight every life is precious; look with compassion on Sherman, and make all of us your agents of healing in a broken world. Amen."

{{{{{hugs}}}}}

[Cinder & Smoke]

Hi God ~

THANKS fur gettin our Buddy Sherman into da 'Mergency Room so quick!
Sounds like You found him a Great Gurl Doc, too - he'll like dat.

'Preciate Your hoppin onna Red-Eye Silver Klowd inna mornin and bein there,
wiffa Good Book, ta Help wiffa diagnosis. Tubby & Peanutter got da Klowd all gassed to go.

All us Pet Talker Kids, anna Hoomins, are gonna be Krossin Pawz & Klawz till Shermie feels better ...
Ya mite wanna add a Sherman Line onna switchboard.
Prayers are gonna be arriving all day an nite.

Make sure Ya tell Sherm he didn't get "dumped" ... he's just gotta stay inna Get Well Klinik
till he feels a lil better. Dad sez *suckin* on O2 makes ya feel better inna hurry. ENJOY!

And God, You should give Momma Pat an Daddy JoJoe sum {{{God'sHugs}}} too ...
let 'em know You're workin on Sherman's Case.

Call us iffin You wanna hear summore Prayers, God - we can dig up a few more.
THANKS, God!
<Niters> Shermie ... hope you sleep better tanite.

/s/ the Prayer Pups

[crow_noir]

Oh noes!!! Poor Sherman! You were supposed to be getting BETTER! Not worrying your human and the rest of us to death.

So very glad that you're in the hospital. Hopefully they'll figure it out soon.

----

Yeah, as much as we love our fuzzies to be unique in their personalities it's no fun when they're the oddballs when it comes to health.

Two things come to mind when i think of King and being an oddball in health. When we put him on the EVA he had bloating like there was no tomorrow and stomach upset. I did hours and hours and hours of digging. I found no occurrences of dogs getting it in the dog trials. In human trials it was said to be very rare and almost always in those rare cases it was in women. (We just had to adjust the dosing for the first month and then we had no problems after that.)

When he had a testicle removed it was about a week later that his sack started to swell. Thinking it was infected stitching the vet told us just to use the antibiotic creme. Well it kept swelling until it popped. (Disgusting and SCARY! I was home alone with him when it happened.) They thought for sure i meant the stitching ripped. When i called the emergency clinic they thought the same thing. (It was determined that it wasn't an emergency since he wasn't bleeding profusely.) When we did get King in the next day the vet was shocked. Low and behold i DO know what I'm talking about. He said in all the years he's been vetting he's never even heard of that let alone seen it. All he could suggest is fill it with more creme and rub that around. That if it was indeed infection that stitching it up would do more harm than good. (Oh yeah... that was SO fun. *sarcasm*)

Why oh why?! I loved King being unique, but did he really have to be unique in just about every conceivable way? :-/p

Here's hoping that Sherman isn't unique, at least not right now *HUGS* This would be a very bad time for him to be. When he's better, then he can go back to being unique.

[shais_mom]

long distance hugs and prayers across the way!

[LuckyNumber7]

When he had a testicle removed it was about a week later that his sack started to swell. Thinking it was infected stitching the vet told us just to use the antibiotic creme. Well it kept swelling until it popped. (Disgusting and SCARY! I was home alone with him when it happened.) They thought for sure i meant the stitching ripped. When i called the emergency clinic they thought the same thing. (It was determined that it wasn't an emergency since he wasn't bleeding profusely.) When we did get King in the next day the vet was shocked. Low and behold i DO know what I'm talking about. He said in all the years he's been vetting he's never even heard of that let alone seen it. All he could suggest is fill it with more creme and rub that around. That if it was indeed infection that stitching it up would do more harm than good. (Oh yeah... that was SO fun. *sarcasm*)

Holy Sh*t!!! I have never in my life heard of that happening - your poor guy!!

I feel so awful for what's happening with Sherm right now, partly because I went through something similar when I adopted my puppy Molly from a high kill shelter down south. Prior to being issued a health certificate and taking the 2 days voyage up to us in Massachusetts, she was given a FULL physical, and showed no signs of anything being wrong. Apparently right after she got on the transport, she started showing symptoms, because by the time she got to us, she was in pretty rough shape. We got her on a Saturday night, and had a vet appointment for Monday morning, and just kept a close eye on her until then to make sure she was eating, drinking, etc - which she was. She was just very lethargic (especially for a 4 month old puppy!) and her nose was all runny and she clearly had kennel cough. So the vet sees her on Monday and says that she thinks that some antibiotics should do the trick, as long as someone is home to monitor her all day, and make sure she stays hydrated, which I was doing. We started her right away on Clavamox, and at first it seemed to be helping. The next day I get a call from the vet saying that some test results had come back - Molly was extremely anemic, indicating that she probably had some sort of parasites, and her white count was very, very low. We brought in a stool sample, and it came back positive for giardia and roundworms, even though she had been dewormed twice. The vet prescribed her panacur for the worms, and sent us home. Thursday morning when we woke up, Molly wouldn't move. I urged her to eat and drink, she would barely lift her head. I immediately drove her to Angell Memorial and they admitted her into their critical care unit, and put her in a little incubator with an oxygen supply - it was just heartbreaking, seeing her like that. Every time I would go visit her, she would whimper every time I walked away - I think she thought we were going to leave her there. The expense involved with her hospital stay was ridiculously high - but I can't complain, as she made it through, even though they said she probably wouldn't. I'm sure the same will happen for Sherm, as soon as they figure out what's up. Positive thoughts!!!

[Tollers-n-Dobes]

I am so, so sorry.

Sending good thoughts to you and Sherman! ((hugs))

[Karen]

When Paul was little, and he was sick and in the hospital, he says being in his oxygen tent always made him feel better. Hopefully Sherman, my sweetheart, feels the same about his "oxygen cage" and feel better as well.

[kallisto4529]

Oh no, tons of prayers headed for Sherman!!! I so hope things improve and he gets better and they can find out what is going on with him. Bless his heart and yours. I can't imagine what you must be going through. Please give him lots of love from all of us when you are able to.

[LuckyNumber7]

Friday, 10 pm...
We've just returned from admitting Sherman to the emergency vet hospital (Ocean State, here in RI). He is resting in an oxygen cage and will remain there for a day or two till they figure out whats going on. He'll have full ultrasounds of his chest & abdomen tomorrow, have his lungs biopsied.
His vet here sent all his test results, xrays, & aspirated lung fluid with us. The emergency vet reviewed everything & went over the xrays with an internist. She said she saw tons of cases of fungal infections where she trained & worked in Virginia (Ohio River Valley basin) & feels very strongly that that is probably what's going on, even though the initial tests came back negative. We are hoping she's right, because she said the next most probable possibility is that he has cancer masses in his lungs & abdomen. whatever it is, she said he's a mystery/conundrum at the moment, with a very odd set of symptoms.
We've always known Sherman was a unique individual. (Trying hard for a little levity here, it's kind of tough right now.)
Their primary concern is to get a good diagnosis asap. What to do about it won't even be discussed till then. She did say that she thinks the oxygen will help him feel better quickly. Poor guy was sucking air for all he was worth, so winded he could barley function.

Thank you all for your support & prayers, it looks like it's going to be difficult for a while yet.

You definitely did the right thing admitting him - this way he can receive round the clock supportive care, and will have professionals figuring out exactly what is wrong with him, and what will make him better the fastest.

I'm so sorry that you're going through this. I know how it feels, and I wish I could give you a big hug and tell you that Sherm will be home again soon - I guess I'll just type it instead He's lucky to have you as his Mommy, and lucky to have a family who takes such great care of him. The oxygen will help a lot, and I'm sure they'll have him on sub-q fluids to perk him up a bit and help him fight the infection.

Do you know what antibiotics they have him on right now? Was the trachea wash successful and they were able to get a good sample from his lungs? That's the best thing they can do right now, is culture what was in there, see what grows on it, and prescribe the exact medicine to combat whatever specific bacteria it is.

I hope they figure out why your precious boy isn't feeling well soon and that he can be home with you quickly, back where he belongs. ((hugs))

Me and my animals are all praying for you.