Soli's Heart

Greetings from the Wirral!

Following the unexpected (and very unwelcome) news that Soli is suffering from occult DCM, we are once again in Merseyside for her Holter test.

Pictures will follow - in all my infinite wisdom, I remembered to check my camera for the SD card, and then fetch it from my card reader when I wasn't there. What I did not do was pick up the card reader itself so although I have been documenting the fitting process and will take more photos tomorrow, I cannot remove them from said camera. Sigh.

The girl herself is sound asleep next to me. She's knackered, bless her; she's had more exercise today than in the last week! It's been bittersweet - I've been wanting a little trip away from everyone with her for a while, whilst she still can; but I can see that she is getting older now, and her joints are getting worse by the day.

She's now on trocoxil - a very potent painkiller (to the tune of one tablet once a month) and one of the best - and tramadol on top of that. Okay, the tramadol is mainly to cover whatever is wrong with one foot (she seems to be reacting to something, it is VERY sore), but even with all that in the arsenal, she was still getting stiff after an hour's exploration.

This from the dog who would easily walk 3 or 4 hours plus just last year. As I said in my last post - it doesn't matter what we do to combat her heart disease, or whether she gets the drug or the placebo and so on... those joints will be the death of her.