PDA 3 month Post Surgery Follow up

Today I got to go to see Dr. Rosenthal http://www.cvcavets.com/doc%20bios%20-%20steven%20rosenthal.html for an Echo-cardi-arf-agram. It was my 3 month checkup from my heart surgery to make sure the ductal occluder is doing it's job. AP put me in the truck and my support team came and climbed into the Tonka Truck to wish me good luck.



My Peeps


Once we got to CVCA http://www.cvcavets.com/  in Annapolis Jamie http://www.cvcavets.com/staff%20bios.html took my blood pressure using my paw and then Dr. Rosenthal came in and listened to my heart and talked to AP for a little while. He said he was really happy with what he heard and then we went in another room for the Echo-cardi-arf-agram. Dr. Hickey http://www.cvcavets.com/doc%20bios%20-%20michael%20hickey.html was also there, he was another Dr. that assisted in my surgery. They lifted me up and put me on a special table for the test. The table has a hole cut out so that the Dr. can take a special wand and run it over my chest to get pictures of my heart and see what it is doing. I had to lay on my side and Jamie and AP leaned over me to keep me still. AP sang me the Tonka Truck song real soft in my ear to make me feel at ease. Dr. Rosenthal put the cold goopy stuff on my chest and moved the wand all around on my chest while flipping buttons and switches to get some good shots of my insides. The first time I had one Dr. Peckens did it and I tried to help. See http://blinddogsrule.blogspot.com/2011/03/be-still-my-beating-heart.html  I tried to help Dr. Rosenthal as well but Jamie and AP caught on too quickly and grabbed my paw.

These are pictures from my first one and all the yellow in the bottom left and right shots meant my heart had a hole and was leaking.



March 2011



These are pictures from right after my surgery and the bottom right shows no more yellow which meant the ductal ocluder was in place and doing it's job.



April 2011



These are pictures from today and the top right shows everything in place and doing well.



July 2011


Dr. Rosenthal told AP that she can cut back on the meds and eventually stop them and to just monitor my heart rate.

Since I was such a good boy I got to go for a long walk with Nala.
After dinner I curled up with a peanut butter kong

ummmm Peanut Butter!

and then fell fast asleep.

Upcoming surgery

AP here: Tonka is scheduled for surgery this month to repair the PDA with the ductal occluder. If all goes well it will be great to take advantage of that since it is minimally invasive surgery with a shorter recovery time. If they get in there and the hole is too big we will have to cancel that option and go back at a later date to have the duct tied off. The fact that he is is now three and this was never caught until now is not in our favor - his heart is enlarged from the years of constant over circualtion. To compound matters his limp is back and so even slow quiet walks are having to be cancelled which makes him very depressed and angry. Pyr's are a very stoic breed and will ignore pain to do what they want. Tonka thinks he should be able to walk and run and play. Unlike a sighted dog he is not able to lay at the front door and watch the world and be entertained that way so it is very hard to keep him occupied or quiet. I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of support, prayers and well wishes and will try to keep you posted as we go.

Be Still My Beating Heart

I went for a long ride today with AP and her Dad. We went all the way to Leesburg VA to the LifeCenter and Chesapeake Veterinary Cardiology Associates to see Dr. Peckens.
https://www.cvcavets.com/doctor_directory/neal-peckens/

His assistant Heather met with AP to take my history and she was nice enough to keep me from hitting my head on the exam table. Dr. Peckens came in and listened to my heart, and listened to my heart, and listened to my heart and when he was done he asked AP if I had ever been diagnosed with a heart murmur. AP told him that the very first Doctor I ever had diagnosed that but everyone since had said no so it was thought that I had outgrown it (we dogs do that). He said he definitely heard one and told her he thought I had a PDA but we would know for sure with an echo cardiogram. He asked if I would be OK up on a table and AP told him that I am not a fan of heights and about the time I got up on the couch by accident and was scared to come down. They all agreed to try me up on the table but if I got stressed we could do the test with me standing.

We went into the other room and Heather and Dr. Peckens lifted me up and put me on a table that had a panel in the middle. The panel comes out leaving a hole for the Doctor to put a device called a transducer through to move around on my chest. They put electrodes on me and then used ultrasound and the transducer to put images of the inside of my heart on the screen of the echo cardiogram machine. I was a really good boy and stayed real still - except for the few times I tried to push some buttons on the machine.

Dr. Peckens and Heather

What does this button do?

Let me roll the ball.

He showed AP and Dad the images in color to display the problem with my heart. It is called a PDA or Patent Ductus Arterious and is congenital which means I was born with it. Most PDA's are caught early in puppies and taken care of. If it not caught 50% of puppies with it never make it past 1year -so I have beaten the odds so far. Basically I have a hole that was supposed to close when I was born and it didn't so now I have an over circulation that has made my heart get large. The other day my heart went wonky and into Atrial Fibrillation and my heart was beating really, really fast which is dangerous. Thanks to the medicine I am taking my heart rate is back to normal and has gone back into a normal rhythm so I am at low risk of heart failure until they can fix me. The Doctors at CVCA all meet at a big thing called rounds and discuss all the cases they have seen and put their heads together for the best fix. Tomorrow at the round thing they will talk about me and the best option to help me. I am hoping that option is the amplatz ductal occluder because that surgery will allow me to be up and around quickly and they won’t have to open up my chest. It's a plug that they can use to stop up the hole and my heart can get back t normal size. There is a handout on CVCA's website that explains the problem and the solution if you want to read it https://www.cvcavets.com/diseases-conditions/patent-ductus-arteriosus/

Right now I am a very happy boy because I can now go for a walk as long as I don't get carried away. AP is happy because my heart is not all wonky right now and we know what the problem is.