On a Personal Non Doggy Note

14.26 in a, Dog, doggy, non, note, on, personal

Those of you that have known me for a while are probably aware that I have a "bad hip."  A real bummer for anyone, let alone a dog trainer.  I have been plauged with hip pain on my right side ever since Ethan was born four and a half years ago.  Since arriving in Oregon (and making use of the health benefits that come with my husband Kyles job at Oregon Health and Science University), I have been seeing an entire team of doctors, all working to get me in better shape.  The bad news is that I seem to be worse than ever right now, but the good news is that orthopedist Dr. Andrea Herzka, along with the others treating me, think that a (second) surgery has a decent (60-75%) chance of "fixing" me. 

Gulp - under the knife again!  I go in for the procedure on January 4th, followed by 3 to 6+ weeks of recovery, determined by what the surgeon discovers and fixes while Im under.  We are blessed to have my mother, Jane Babbitt, flying out from Maine for the entire month of January to help with cooking, cleaning and taking care of Ethan.  Hopefully this will be a successful surgery, an easy recovery and a full resolution.  I am already looking forward to the chance to once again go for hikes with my family, run agility courses with Pistol and Apple, and in general lead an active, pain-free life.  Your prayers and good thoughts are welcome!

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Timbers Non Results

12.49 in Dog, non, results, timbers

I suppose its time for an update on Timber.  He has been to the vet, at Aloha Dog and Cat Hospital, here in western Beaverton.  We have a very nice veterinarian caring for him, Dr. Heather Hershey, and she has been running a variety of tests trying to figure out what is going on with him.  So far we have come up with nothing - negative test after negative test.  Which, in reality, is something, because it eliminates some potential problems.

The first order of business was a physical exam (he passed), then a urinalysis (which Timber so kindly provided a sample of all over the floor of the waiting room - maybe he needed to prove that he has a problem with drinking and peeing too much).  We also ran a urine culture to ensure that we werent missing an infection, because of the dilute pee he offers.  Finally a full panel of blood work, exchanged for half our savings account (just kidding - it wasnt that bad!).

The results - negative, negative, negative.  On to the next test, dropping him off at Aloha Dog and Cat Hospital for the day to have a series of blood tests done, checking him for Cushings Disease.  Again, negative.

Next test, a urine concentration test.  This test was done by withholding water overnight (just long enough for the test, not so long that he would get sick from dehydration), then taking a urine sample first thing in the morning, before he had a drink of water.  The results from that - rather inconclusive.  He managed to concentrate his urine somewhat, not definitively telling us anything.

So, that means weve worked our way down to about 4 or 5 possible diseases, according to Dr. Hershey.  Our next test will be a two week trial of a medication that treats Diabetes Insipitus.  This form of diabetes is not the same as the sugar imbalance - it is a disease of either the brain or the kidney (depending on the type) which causes excess drinking and peeing.

See the picture below to get an idea of how bad the peeing has gotten.  Timber was left alone in the house for about 4 hours while I went to a doctors appointment and picked Ethan up from school.  He was wearing the belly band we purchased, and that was supplemented with two super-absorbent adult incontinence pads.  I came home to pee all over the living room - Timber had soaked through the two pads, through the belly band, and still had enough pee to leave puddles all over.  What do I do about that?

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