Soli: An Update

I have realised how horrendously behind I am in my updates!

Three weeks ago Soli was booked in quickly at the Liverpool hospital.  I rang them on the Wednesday to tell them that she'd started to breath a little heavier in the evenings; Jo called me back to tell me they wanted to see her on Thursday!

Luckily it was doable so we were very soon back with our friends over there.  They are always happy to see Soli, even if she doesn't feel the same... but we are always welcomed, and Jo knows me well enough now to know she can tell me every detail of the procedures and results, complete with medical jargon.  Which is just how I like it, no matter the emotional implications of it.

Anyhoo, Soli is not - as yet - in heart failure as Jo had feared.  Her heart is only marginally worse than last time; she is having more premature beats (like a sutter or hiccup in the heartbeat; on the ECG it looks like a double-beat or a beat-and-a-bit.  Well, a bit-and-a-beat, technically).  Based on that Jo wasn't worried.

However, she called me again on the following Monday to tell me that although Soli's other blood results were fine (in all she had an ECG; echo (ultrasound); blood tests; and full chest x-ray, side and above, which was clear), one - a hormone which indicates damage to the heart muscle cells - was exceptionally high.  I cannot recall what the hormone is, or the units (it did shock me a bit), but I can tell you that where a normal, undamaged heart would have a value of around 900, Soli's was at the time 2900.

To translate: heart failure is now imminent.  And given that, unlike other breeds with the same disease, dobes are affected much worse by DCM, that means that when she does go into heart failure, my time left with her will be limited: other breeds can have 6 months, even up to 2 years, in heart failure; dobes have, on average, 6 weeks.


On top of that, her right elbow has swollen in the last few days; I noticed this after she started favouring that leg.  Now, Soli does have raging osteoarthritis in most of her limb joints, and the worst in her right elbow; but the swelling starts at the bottom of the joint and goes down the long bones 3-4".  This is, potentially, a sign of osteosarcoma, an absolutely vicious bone cancer which dobes are very prone to.

With luck it's just the arthritis - hers is always spreading, and quickly - if not, this could be the 4th OS scare I've had with this dog.  Sigh.