Phoenix and I had an AMAZING visit at Mistyglen Irish Wolfhound Kennels today!!! She met some of the cutest 5 week old puppies, older puppies, parents and even grandparent wolfies! Was spoiled and allowed to brush and ride around the horse pen on a beautiful horse, and mauled the other cats and dogs of the house! We had a wonderful visit with the amazing family/owners of mistyglen :) Phoenix has now had the FULL wolfie experience, meeting so many with so many different personalities! I was blown away with how gentle and respectful even in full hyper play mode they can be! Toren(spelling?) Was an absolutely amazing puppy...I would have stolen him in a heartbeat! haha Seeing him with Feeny was incredible, and seeing how Memphis was with her yesterday in such an incredibly calm and peaceful state....this breed of dog is unlike any other....I know it's always been said they are different etc...but SEEING it myself these last 2 days....that something special, unique... there's something MORE in them then most other dog breeds ♥ Thank you to Mistyglen kennels for opening their home to us so generously and for the wonderful visit and laughs! Today's experience was incredible, the last 2 weeks of stress and pain for feeny was completely forgotten! She was lost in the wonder of the all the animals! (she may be sore tomorrow tho! haha) Couldn't have asked for a better ending to our stay up here! The last 2 days have been incredible for Feeny, unforgettable memories to cherish for a lifetime :)
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Memphis the Irish wolfhound, meet Feeny the bravest little girl, and her stuffie (from the irish special olympics) wolfhound Charl :) This is what Irish wolfhound were meant for <3 Walking Memphis into Pet smart to let her pick out a toy :) Cuddles in Pet smart <3 First time meeting hugs :) Memphis the Irish Wolfhound, cuddling her new toy Feeny bought her <3 Who needs an armrest with a wolfhound available? ;p This is what legends and story's of old were made of....can you sense the history of her ancestors coming through? Memphis looks so Puppy-ish here <3 Feeny took this picture herself! Priceless <3 What are you doing under me tiny human?? Here have some kisses! LOL As the title describes.....today was GREAT!! Feeny was doing wonderful! Not much for pain other then typical tenderness etc. Her site is fine the doctors said. Just need to watch it carefully for a few days just in case an infection does occur. And we are free to go home Wednesday! There is a chance when we go back in April ( the 21 for 7-10days) and they do the procedure again, she may need another drain if they need to balloon the duct again. Which they will try to do multiple times in the hopes to avoid the other big surgery. So there is a high chance this will be a long process.... But we have at least avoided the bigger and riskier surgery this far :)
Afterwards an amazing women from up north drove 8 hours down to Edmonton with her Therapy dog Memphis-an Irish wolfhound! Feeny's dream dog! We met them at pet smart...I made it a surprise so she was getting out of the vehicle and was busy talking and not looking around paying attention till they were just in front of us, and she spotted Memphis! Instantly she knew she was an irish wolfhound! and Stacie handed her the leash! Feeny was so confused at first! lol She was ecstatic to finally meet her first wolfhound :) AND she is still dead set...even more so actually, that she wants a wolfhound!! Memphis was EVERYTHING she imagined a wolfie to be :) Stacie and Memphis came back to our friends place and hung out for a visit and lots of cuddles :D Phoenix was so happy! It truly made her day, her life!! I am so so thankful Stacie went so far out of her way to make this dream come true for Feeny! Memphis was amazing, a perfect ambassador for wolfhounds in showing her calm and sweet temperament and beauty :) Tomorrow I'll be taking her up to Mistyglen kennels to see all their wolfhounds, and puppies. Memphis also came from there, so Feeny's excited to see her family there! She's been on cloud nine since meeting Memphis! I'll post pics shortly! She accomplished part of her dreams, and I'm so happy to see she is just as in love with them as before! Memphis matched her dreams of what a wolfie would be, and she can't wait to have her own wolfie one day :) One day we will; it's a dream we will work towards and achieve when we have the financial means to buy, feed, care, and afford veterinarian bills for a 200lb dog as well as the ones we have ;p Today has been a day of amazing memories; that she will treasure forever :) Thank you so much to Stacie and Memphis for making such a long trip to see us and making Feeny so incredibly happy!! I'm so happy her first experience with a wolfhound was with one like Memphis a true wolfhound all around; body, heart and soul <3 She left a wonderful, lasting impression with Feeny, thank you so much! Phoenix is looking so much better!! Look at that straight back!!!! First time since this all started she could do that standing! :D Look back at previous pictures and see how bent over she was before!
Today has been a great day so far!! She slept the best she had in 2 weeks last night, with only waking up a couple times with minor pain, and settled easily right away! She spent most of the day relaxing, watching movies and eating TONS! Once our friends were back with their son, she started playing her usual hyperactive self with him! She's doing amazing today :)
The only concerning thing is still that site wound. I changed the bandaging again and it was still oozing the yellow stuff, and not the yellow bile stuff. There still isn't significant pain at the area, no spreading redness and no smell yet. I'm wondering if that is the way open wounds that aren't exposed to air to scab over heal....I'm hoping so anyhow. She see's the doctors in clinic tomorrow afternoon, and they can check it then. Fingers crossed! I'm so excited for Phoenix's surprise tomorrow! Once we are out of the hospital for clinic appointments, so after 3 sometime, we will be going to meet a lady that has driven 8 hrs down to us with her therapy wolfhound memphis! She will FINALLY be able to meet her first wolfhound! I also have it tentatively scheduled for tuesday to drive her north to Newbrook to a wolfhound kennel/breeder to meet her wolfhounds and their 4 week old puppies to play with! Hopefully if given the all clear tomorrow after seeing the doctors we can hopefully head home wednesday :) I am so excited to finally get home! I know it's technically MUCH earlier then originally expected...but it's also now much longer then expected when things did actually work with the first procedure! I'll have alot on my plate of things that need to be done the first few days home...that I'm not looking forward too! lol I suppose many people reading these updates and have not known feeny all her life may not know all her restrictions since she had her transplant, besides what was in her bio on here. I'll fill in some more info here, not all of it...that would take me days though, lol :) Please feel free to ask questions as well, I haven't yet figured out how to reply on the webpage, it doesn't seem to let me when I try...I am not the most tech savvy tho, this blog is a first for me! lol So bear with me as I may just answer in future posts randomly!
As it was said in her bio, the transplant is not a cure. Only a band-aid to help prolong her life. One that averages 10 years. Tranpslants have only been occuring successfully in the last 30 some years, and technology in the medical field is making leaps and bounds everyday. It is very likely she will face a need for another in the future...possibly a nearer future in her teen years or young adult. The medications she is on to prevent her new liver from rejecting also causes kidney failure and cancer. I had to sign a waiver before they would transplant her acknowledging this sad fact. If the liver doesn't fail first, she may need kidneys....or treatment for cancer. She is suppose to wear sunscreen year round, and in the summertime she is to not be outside during the peak hours of the day to avoid the sun and the damage and cancer it causes. Many pediatric transplant patients come back as teens with skin cancer, or cancer on their lips, the one area they forgot to use sunscreen on. Every time her skin colors from the sun, her risk increases so much more for skin cancer then a normal person. Her cells do not regenerate like a normal person. The meds prevent the cells from healing fast and recognizing foreign things so that it does not recognize the new liver as foreign and attack it causing rejection. This also puts her at a high risk of infections, a minor cold, flu, and virus can create an infection to occur because her body cannot protect itself, and cannot help heal itself as well from the infection. Her risk of death from those things and pneumonia and infection from a small cut is significantly higher then regular people from such minor, everyday illnesses. She must remain on meds for he rest of her life to help keep her body from rejecting her liver. as well as for supplements her body no longer seems to be able to produce properly on it's own. She cannot be later then an hour on her meds, otherwise she is at risk of rejection. Everytime her body deals with rejection, she must be treated in hospital on IV steroids to drop her immune system severely. Each time her liver sustains permanent damage that reduces the life span of that new organ. Each hospital visit opens her up to risk of a deadly virus, bacteria, infection etc...each IV insertion opens her up to risk of infection and blood poisoning , something not easily treated in healthy people, never-mind an immunnosuppressed child. If she chooses as a teenager to experiment with smoking, drugs, or alcohol, or even neglects to take her meds or take them on time...even a few times, and it causes or doesn't cause but she ends up with liver failure, they will refuse her to be re-listed for another transplant. She cannot be allowed to be a teenager and make mistakes and rebel and screw up like they all do...it could cost her her life, and she's already had her second chance, which she came close to not getting as well, so many others are waiting and dying everyday for that second chance at life. Because of many complications she endured before she finally received her second chance at life, her gift of life, she needs and has a chest brace to wear 23 hours a day to help push back in her rib cage that pushed out after transplant, due to her extremely soft bones and shorter leg from a recent (before transplant) break in it. That also has resulted in her needing special shoe inserts to help prop up the one side of her body to even out the leg length difference and help stop the possible curving of her spine and back pain from it. Another issue we face and deal with everyday is the brain and developmental delays she has. It was researched that pediatric transplant patients were showing brain development delays and issues with going so long with organs not functioning properly and delivering nutrients etc to the brain during it's prime developmental years. Feeny was tested at the age of 3 before transplant....and again at age 6 after transplant...at the age of 6 she was so far regressed she was less then she was at the age of 3. Because its still in research and not proven, thought the tests say alot, they cannot diagnose her with a title. Just a LONG list of whats wrong with her individually that required 6 days of extensive 3-5 hr long session per specialist in the Calgary top center for assessments. They give medications for ADHD to try to help her anxiety and her focus to help her brain process better in a chaotic school setting as well She tries hard everyday in school...but her socialization, view of the world, understanding, memory retention, processing etc hold her back hugely and cause her huge amounts of stress, self-doubt and fears and anxiety and frustration. She is always seen as a happy go lucky child though, never shy! She toughs through everything so bravely and positively! We are Free!!!! From the Hospital anyhow! We must remain as outpatients for a few more days to make sure she remains stable. She had a bit of a rough night...woke up several times with pain and elevating her more in bed seemed to help that though. She has been very active today and so much more limber and mobile then before! She showed relatively no pain around the area earlier in the day either. This afternoon when I changed the dressing, I noticed a hole, possibly from the previous drain, but it's been leaking yellow stuff....doesn't smell off, but I'm a bit concerned....It wasn't painful at the time thankfully. Her skin around the area was nearly purple colored...also not as painful then. This evening she has alot of tenderness of the skin around the whole area...I'm hoping maybe just this being the first bandage change that she has some tenderness from it and it's not something more. That would be our luck! I'm so paranoid anything and everything will stop us from finally getting home! lol I have to change the dressing every day as well as flush the drain 3x a day, so I can monitor it easily that way and go from there. She'll keep this drain in for 6 weeks, then we are back up in Edmonton to do this all over again. During those 6 weeks she will be restricted. She won't be able to participate in gym, recess, swimming etc. No running with risk of collisions that could catch the hanging drain under her shirt and rip it either out of the skin its stitched into, or pull it out of it's placement, causing the bile to leak and drain in to other parts of her body or cause a blockage etc... So it will be a boring next 6 weeks for her :( I also noticed after the first procedure, they never asked us to remove her earrings. I forgot until I saw them taped when she came out...and then I saw why they say to remove them....they somehow must of caught a tube or something on one and ripped it nearly from her ear....she has quite the long hole/slit now that's scabbing up alot and trying to heal. Oddly enough they still didn't ask to have them removed the second time around either. Will remember that for next time! lol Fortunately it's caused her no pain unless touched! lol I do have to be careful of infection though, she's high risk of infections becoming uncontrollable with being immunosuppressed.
I have been so busy, hauling things in from the car, unpacking, doing laundry, getting food, eating, organizing everything, organizing her huge amount of daily supplies to care for her bile drain, and finally showering myself and giving feeny a sponge bath and washing her hair....a long task in itself to be so careful around her whole one side to not get it the bandages and site wet. I have had no time to try to keep up with all the numerous messages we've been receiving! I'm so sorry! My days will only be getting busier as well....I'm ALMOST missing the isolation of the hospital....I was busy there too, but not this busy, and soon to be much busier!! So I apologize in advance if I'm taking a long time to reply, or replies are short! Or if I don't reply...I suspect despite my best efforts and literally hours upon hours on FB/email/webpage each day I seem to miss some! Feeny and I appreciate and love all the support and wonderful messages!! It makes such a difference to her to have messages sent to her that makes her laugh and coo over them! THANK YOU EVERYONE for doing so much for my little girl and making her so happy during such a hard time for her! Feeny was allowed to give this therapy dog some treats if she did some tricks for her :) She was thrilled with that! You can see her bile bag peeking out from her shirt as well in the top pick. She's quite happy to be rid of the awkward, hard to hide bag! lol
Today has been probably the best day in a looong time! Even before the procedure...she just hadn't bounced back from the previous infection and her body was showing it in her tests that things weren't doing well and causing issues after so long with a partial blockage in her bile duct. It was great to see some of her energy returning, her goofiness in full force, and appetite undiminished! lol We had a busy day too! They wanted her up and around as much as possible, and she wanted to be up and around as much as possible! lol
She went to the Beach ( an activity center area) and she painted a picture and played with the toys there and even saw the little therapy dog again there! She was allowed to even feed her treats if she did a trick! She was ecstatic over that, and has many plans for poor frog and summer (her dogs) once home! haha She wandered around a bit downstairs, got some extra lunch (bottomless pit she is) and went with me to pay for a parking pass. Lots of walking! But she did it fine all day, no Tylenol till bed time! She even went and visited a previous hospital roommate who was moved into another room, and brought him a painting she did to make him smile and his parent some of her chocolates :) She had her night nurse laughing nonstop with her goofiness as well! She also spent quite a bit of time on the computer with me while I read her off the emails and Facebook messages people have sent her through me. She tried to reply to as many as possible but there were ALOT! She had fun reading them and going through all the pictures and telling me what to write! haha Thankfully with being in hospital we had hours to spend at replying, but once outpatients and home with things to do and responsibilities we won't be able to reply as much or as fast :( I'm so thankful for all the wonderful messages she's received though! To see her laugh, and light up at certain things, pictures or words, or to tell me what to write back all excited, it made a huge difference in both of us :) They did clamp her drain at noon today. She has had some chest pain around the drain that's stopped her in her tracks here and there since they clamped it. We will monitor her overnight and if all is well come morning we will be free as outpatients! I've been shown what I need to do to deal with the drain, given a bag JUST IN CASE, (thank god), prescriptions are filled and the first week of supplies bought for caring for her drain with flushing it 3x a day and changing the dressing around it and the caps each day. I think we are ready to escape!! It's going to be a sleepless night tonight for me I think though...I'm going to be so paranoid something will go wrong in the middle of the night after they clamped the drain like last time.... |
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