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Monday, August 29, 2011

Talked To The Vet...

We're calling this thing a draining tract just because we don't know what else it could be. It ruptured sometime last night/this morning and is oozing, just like the really big mass did before the surgery.


Doc is still pretty confident this is all from a foreign body getting into Reyna and he was concerned this could happen, but he really doesn't know the best route to fix things. He had three suggestions when we talked a few minutes ago.

1 - Wait it out and see what happens with it. Try some different antibiotics in case some bacteria has worked its way in (after all, its essentially an open sore at this point).

2 - Do a second surgery with a board certified surgeon who is skilled at working around the femoral artery and the inguinal blood vessels. Surgeon would also do a culture, histopath, pathology, etc. Major down side to this is that the surgery would be 2 to 3 times the cost of the first surgery. Did I mention I'm still paying for the first surgery?

3 - Take an x-ray of the fistula tract. Inject dye into the system and see where it goes. Doc said its possible to have a foreign body enter in one place and drain somewhere totally unrelated. Problem is that the fatty tissue in the area of her draining tract doesn't react perfectly to the dye and can make it hard to get an accurate reading with the x-ray. This option also involves specialists and would be very expensive.

We're going with the wait and see with new antibiotics route, since thats the only option I can afford. The antibiotic Doc wants to use has been reported to cause problems with black and tans (GSDs, rotties, dobies, etc) so I have to take Reyna in this afternoon for a couple of tests to she if she's predisposed to the problem. If not, we give the meds a try and hope the problems don't occur. If she is, the next choice is a hideously expensive antibiotic.

Gotta stop and buy goats milk on the way home, since I'm sure the antibiotics will make her sick.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let's hope the antibiotics work and this thing clears up and ya'll can get back to a "normal" life. Well, at least, what's normal for ya'll!!!
Hope Reyna is able to take the less expensive meds and that they don't cause problems.
:)Love, Mom

Brenda said...

Just found your site. Enjoyed reading some of your old posts, as I love German Shepherds! Wow, this problem you're dealing with is perplexing. Hope the antibiotics take care of it. It's so stressful when something is wrong with one of the "kids!" Glad it's not cancer though. I'm sure that was a big "whew!!"