I originally designed this website to help raise funds for Willie's medical care. Willie deteriorated rapidly after his brother, Poe, died. I spent about $4,000 from February - May 2005 trying to save Willie and Poe's lives. I had to divert funds from necessities such as insurance, food and house payment. These boys were so special, I'd do it again, just to keep them with me one more day.
I have a full-time job and take full responsibility for living with my canine companions, but I needed help.
Significant Events:
Monday, 2/21/05
Willie has an enlarged heart and a substantial heart murmur. We are controlling the symptoms of congestive heart failure fairly well with medication. On a very sad note, one of Willie's brothers died unexpectedly a few days ago. Napoleon (see the photo gallery) collapsed Wednesday evening. I was preparing to give him CPR when he began breathing on his own. I rushed him to the vet. His belly was distended, he blood pressure was dropping and he was having difficulty breathing. There was a mass in his abdomen. The vet performed emergency surgery. He had liver cancer which was also attached to the outside lining of his stomach. The vet successfully removed all of the cancer and about 1/2 of the liver. Napoleon began breathing easier, it appeared the surgery was successful. As the doctor's were closing him up, he arrested and they were unable to revive him. I am overcome with grief. Porter and Willie are grieving too. They are quiet and introspective and have lost their appetites. Please keep us in your kind thoughts and prayers.
Wednesday, 4/27/05
Willie is now in congestive heart failure -- he is deteriorating rapidly. I am taking him to see a canine cardiologist this week at the University of Missouri. Good news is I have a full time job now -- which helps me pay the vet bills -- but they've been steep. Please keep us in your prayers. I'm hoping for a miracle with Willie -- he is too young to die. He should have at least another 5 - 7 years, but at the rate he's deteriorating, we may have only months.
Tuesday, 5/10/05
Willie almost passed away the last weekend of April. We traveled from Arkansas to Missouri to take him to a canine cardiologist. When we reached the hospital, he was in heart failure. They treated him with a lasix drip, did a full work-up, adjusted his medications. We had to stay for a few days to get him stable to drive home. The new meds seem to be helping his symptoms -- hopefully he will be out of heart failure by the end of the week -- but his heart disease will continue to progress -- we can keep him comfortable and enhance the quality of his life with meds. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Thursday, 5/12/05
Official Diagnosis from Cardiologist on Willie's heart condition: His echocardiogram shows he has severe mitral valve regurgitation and mild tricuspid valve regurgitation. This is secondary to chronic, degnerative valve disease called endocariosis -- a condition is which the edges of the valve leaflets thicken, become knobby, and do not close completely. This results in blood leaking backwards from the ventricle into the atrium every time the heart contracts. In Willie, these changes are quite sever and have resulted in enlargement of his left atrium secondary to chronic regurgitation. Unfortunately, there is no medication that will reverse or stop the progression of degenerative valve disease, and therapy is aimed at alleviating the clinical signs of heart failure. Prognosis is quite variable with this condition. Under normal health, Willie should have another 4 - 5 years. As a result of the heart disease, with careful monitoring, diet and medication, we are hoping for 1 year.
Monday, 5/16/05
Willie is still not doing well. We are in the process of constructing an oxygen incubator for him to sleep in at night. My vet is helping me build it -- but I will have to rent the oxygen generator - - which will cost $400 per month. Hopefully, we'll have the project completed in a week or two -- this is cutting edge treatment that Willie's veterinarian and cardiologist have advocated. This treatment will at minimum make him feel better -- and at best, prolong his life. We may be pioneers of a new treatment for animals with Willie's heart condition! We are now desperately in need of financial help to pull this new treatment off. Any donation -- no matter how small will help and is appreciated more than you can imagine. Peace to all ...
Monday, 5/23/05
Willie is still having difficulty breathing. His resting respiratory rate is about 45 breaths per minute -- it should be 20-30 breaths per minute. The cardiologist has adjusted his medication. Willie is taking 40 mgs of Lasix twice a day plus 3.75 mg of Enacard twice a day. We are hoping this will help with his respiratory rate. Working in conjunction with Willie's cardiologist, local veterinarian and a local home medical supplies company, we have rigged up an oxygen cage for Willie to sleep in at night. We are still working out the kinks -- to get the oxygen saturation to 40% (normal room saturation is about 20%), the cage has to be sealed. The sealed cage gets hot and becomes counter-productive. We're considering options for keeping the cage cool. In the meantime, Willie has been letting me give him oxygen treatments a couple of times a day by putting the oxygen hose near his nose while he lays down and I pat him. He only tolerates this for about 15 minutes at a time. He needs oxygen treatment at least 5 hours a day to see measurable results -- so we're working on building his tolerance and desparately trying to get the cage to work. The oxygen concentrator (generator) we are using costs $400 per month. I took the cage to the medical supply company and a nice man helped me seal an test the oxygen cage. When it came time to pay for the first month, he said they were going to charge me only $200 per month!!! What a generous gesture! The man said he was honored to help someone as compassionate as me in helping a dog!!
Wednesday, 5/25/05
Willie is doing really poorly this week. His respiratory rate should be 20-30 breaths per minute -- tonight he's at 70 breaths per minute -- he is in acute heart failure. I spoke to his cardiologist (who's 8 hours away from where I live) -- she said he needs to get in for a follow- up immediately. He's on such a high dose of lasix - - he should not be in heart failure. So, Friday morning, I'm driving to Columbia, Missouri -- they are going to try to figure out why the medicine isn't working and make more adjustments.
Saturday, 5/28/05
Willie,died this morning. We had just traveled to Missouri for an emergency visit to the cardiologist (we're in Arkansas). We drove all night Thursday night and took Willie to the hospital in Columbia Friday morning. We arrived back home late Friday night. Saturday morning (May 28), at 6:15, I woke up to find Willie in a seizure (later found out to be a stroke.) I took him to the emergency vet hospital. The hospital gave him an injection of Lasix and inserted an I.V. shunt should we need to administer emergency meds over the weekend. The emergency hospital closed at 7:30 and discharged us. We immediately took him to our regular vet, who opened at 8:00. Willie experienced cardiac distress almost as soon as we reached the vet. We administered more Lasix and put him on oxygen. He struggled for 3 more hours as we administered 3 more doses of Lasix, to help control the rapid accumulation of fluid in his lungs. The doctor had prepared Lasix injections and I.V. flushes for me to take home and prepared an oxygen mask for me to borrow over the weekend, so I could give him I.C.U. care over the weekend at home. We began research to see if we could administer Cortisone to help heal his stroke symptoms -- we needed to see how the Cortisone would react in his body with the high dosage of Lasix he had received. By 11:00, both of Willie's lungs were filled with fluid and his ability to breath enough oxygen to sustain himself became impossible. Willie was staying alive for me and was waiting for me to tell him it was okay to leave me. I kept the oxygen mask on him as I told him how much I loved him, reminisced about some of our fun times, thanked him for being such a good worker as a pet therapist, told him of the people that loved him and were proud of him. I told him what a good job he had done while he was here on earth, helping other people through emotional distress. I told him he was remarkable and we were so blessed to have him in our lives. I told him I knew he loved me and I was so grateful for his love. He wagged his tail in recognition of my words. I told him it was okay for him to go on. He immediately pushed his oxygen mask off. I picked him up, he immediately started gasping desperately for air -- his lungs were so full of fluid. We gave him some Valium to relax his panic as his lungs were suffocating him. I was standing, holding him against my chest, my head resting on his, caressing him and kissing him. I explained to him how he was going to die. That his heart could no longer sustain his body. That his lungs were too full of fluid to provide him enough oxygen for his body. He was relaxed from the Valium and his breathing rate was slowing. I told him that in a few minutes, he would stop breathing, but his soul would stay in his body while his heart continued to beat for a short time. Then his heart would stop and his soul would leave his body. That leaving his body would feel wonderful -- he would float above us and look down. He would see Mommy crying and holding him -- but that was okay -- Mommy was just sad because she was going to miss him. I told him to let his soul go on and find his brother Poe (who died 3 months ago). That he would have so much fun playing with Poe and taking care of Poe. I asked him to come back to me in spirit -- come play in my house -- let me hear his collar jingle -- flicker the light bulbs -- play with Porter -- and visit me in my dreams -- to bring Poe with him to visit. I told him time would pass real quickly for him and in a blink of an eye I would be with him on the other side -- but for me, it would be a long time -- so his visits would help. At 11:20 he stopped breathing and very shortly thereafter his heart stopped. I looked up to talk to his soul. I said have a wonderful time, Baby, -- go on and find Poe - - play and have a wonderful time.
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