Thyroid Shmymoid - Who's Afraid of a Thyroid

Dr. Woodburn called to tell AP that my Thryorid levels are not what they should be.
He talked to an Internist and my Cardiologist and they have decided that I need to try a low dose of medicine to try and straighten it out.  I will be off the Prednisone soon and am feeling more like my old self. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired....

T-shirts and Coffee Mugs - Oh My!

I love the beach! AP says its like I know that there are no fences or trees to get in my way and I can run around like crazy and not have to worry about hitting something. I also love to dig in the sand - it is so easy to dig a big hole, really quick and then there is the water which is fun to leap in and out of. A special rescue for blind dogs http://www.blinddogrescue.com/  asked to use a picture of me at the beach to show that blind dogs can have normal lives. AP sent them pictures of me playing in the water and if you go to this website you can see what they came up with.
http://www.cafepress.com/blinddogrescuealliance/8103328

Its me- blippity blopping in the surf and I get to be on t-shirts and coffee mugs and AP even ordered "me" on a sweatshirt.  A percentage of the money goes to help blind dogs get medical attention and find homes. How cool is that?

So Tired

AP and CM took me to Annapolis this past weekend and I really wasn't interested in anything which is so not like me.

City Dock Annapolis

I did show interest in the pancakes CM made for breakfast.

I'm just waiting for my pancake...

So AP took me to the see Dr. Woodburn today since I have not been myself and I have a cyst on my back that is not healing. He listened to my heart and looked me over and then talked to AP about the fact that I am not myself lately. I have been on this steroid drug that has changed the way I act and think and AP wants me off of it. They also did some blood work to test for something called a thyroid. We will get the results back next week.
I have all these cool events coming up so I have to get better quick!

Diggy Diggy!

AP here:
I spent the morning trimming trees and putting down top soil and the afternoon digging out dirt and adding on to the sand garden I created last year. Tonka perked up enough to come out and give me a hand for a few minutes.

He does love to dig!

Tonka Loves a Good Picnic

I got an invitation to a picnic coming up in October. The great people at Chesapeake Veterinary Cardiology Associates sponsor a picnic with the Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children every year. It's the pediatric heart surgery CELEBRATION. There will be my favoritist things in the whole world there "KIDS". They will have had heart surgery just like me and we get to hang out and have a picnic. AP says there will even be hot dogs - whats better than KIDS and HOT DOGS. I can't wait.

Time to wean off the drugs...

AP spoke to Dr. Gonzales today and we can start cutting back on the medicine I am on. That is a good thing because I have not been myself on this stuff. I just want to sleep and eat. I am really, really hungry and AP won't let me eat a whole lot because the medicine has upset my stomach. If I start getting bad nosebleeds again we might switch to an inhaler. I don't know what that is but I don't think I will like it much. I have really bad doggie manners right now when it comes to food and even tried to break in to AP's little backpack to get some Bill Jacs and I tried to take a pan that had chicken in it off the kitchen counter. I keep getting in trouble but I can't help it I am so HUNGRY......

Tonka Goes to Home Depot

AP here:
Since Tonka is not allowed to do long walks we went to Home Depot for a little visit. The ladies in the garden center gave him a warm welcome with lots of pats and scratches. Then we went in and checked out the different departments. We met some really nice employees that fussed all over him and told him he was a handsome boy...

Picking out carpet



Mom Rent me a Ditch Witch Please!




Lets build a new deck...



Roid Rage (well more like roid naps)

AP here:
Four days of the prednisone and benadryl combo and Tonka is a slug. He has no interest in going for a walk, he does not care that I am in the kitchen making English Muffin pizzas (which usually brings him running for CHEESE), he just does not care about anything.

The results are in!

AP here:
Dr.Gonzalez called this morning to give me the results of Tonkas biopsies from the rhinoscopy.
Diagnostic findings and information:

Nasal biopsies: Mild lymphoplasmacytic rhinitis, left and right
The results were suggestive of mild lymphoplasmacytic rhinitis in both nasal passages. This type of inflammation can be seen with allergies or an autoimmune rhinitis. However, the changes were mild, so it is difficult to say if this could be the cause for the rhinitis. However, rhinitis can results in epistaxis in some cases. No obvious infection or cancerous changes were noted on biopsy.

The recommendation would be to start a course of corticosteroids (prednisone) to treat the inflammation noted to see if this helps with the intermittent epistaxis. If the epistaxis persists and no improvement is noted with the steroid, we discussed that the next step in trying to manage the epistaxis would be to consider ligation of the carotid artery or referral to U. Penn to discuss embolization therapy for epistaxis.

The plan at this time is to continue the antihistamine and to start a course of prednisone.

Assessment:

1) Intermittent epistaxis

2) Mild lymphoplasmacytic rhinitis

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Sylvia Comes to Visit

My friend and fellow rescue Sylvia went swimming today at the canine fitness center. AP and CM took me there once but I didn't like it much see http://tinyurl.com/4ys38mh
Sylvia is still working on getting her hip back in shape after her FHO surgery http://tinyurl.com/3vfu3zf
and swimming is good therapy. Since the fitness center is pretty close to my house her and her human Trish stopped by to say hi. I have been sort of groggy after my anesthesia on Tuesday but I perked up for my guests and strolled the yard with Sylvie. AP said Sylvia is looking really good and the hair has almost grown completely back on her hip and leg.
I really like Sylvia she is so sweet.

Trish will be updating everyone soon with a new blog post and AP wanted to put up some pictures so everyone can see how well she is doing. Isn't she a cutie?