LOVE IS BLIND

Things have been a little quiet in the blogosphere lately.  Mostly because the patron of this blog wasn’t doing so well.  A few weeks ago we had to take Miles to the ER at about 9pm because he was throwing up and acting in much the same manner as when he had bloat about 9 months ago.

On the way to the ER he became non-responsive and he didn’t seem to be breathing.  Needless to say this  was a pretty scary car ride. Luckily we got to the hospital within minutes of that and H2 in the mean time was able to get him to respond. 

Once they examined Miles they told us he had a heart murmur and they did an x-ray which showed his heart was slightly enlarged.  The initial diagnosis was heart disease and that we should get him to a normal vet for an EKG and further diagnosis.

Over the last few weeks here is what he’s had done:

• EKG  which showed unusual arrhythmias in addition to the murmur.  
• EchoCardiogram to identify the type of heart disease and how far progressed it was. Slight valvular degeneration was the diagnosis.
• Full Abdominal MRI to make sure there wasn’t any cancer in the abdomen causing the arrhythmias.
• Blood titer test for tic borne diseases that might trigger the arrhythmias
• Another EKG
• Liver and Kidney blood test

Needless to say the culmination of these tests would cover the cost of a cruise for two.  But what we found out is that his insides look fantastic and everything is functioning fine.  The arrhythmias were gone for the second EKG which was a good sign.

The disheartening result was the Blood Titer which came back positive for Rocky Mountain Spotted fever.  They can’t tell when the exposure happened just that he has been.  Three weeks of antibiotics and they essentially call it good. 

Lesson here is make sure and check for ticks.  So now he seems to be doing well, he’ll be on heart meds for the rest of his life for the valve problem but he’s back to the same old Milesie.