Some Updates

Update 1 - I can't remember what day of the pre-op diet I am on.  I am still a big, fat cheater.  I got a call from my surgeon's office the same day I was dealing with Kazak's ordeal regarding my surgery.  It was a message and of course, they were closed before I could call back.  I figured they hadn't got the results of my sleep study yet and so they were postponing surgery again and after the day I had had, there was no way I was going to keep starving myself, so we ate out at a local Mexican place that night.
     The next morning, I just didn't eat anything...just in case.  I had like 3 calls into the office before they returned my call.  It was basically a bunch of questions and as of now, surgery is still on.   By the time I received the call, it was time to meet Hubster for some errands.  Still had not  ate or drank anything other than a couple glasses of water.  We finally get home around 5 and Hubster decides he's grilling steak...so yeah, that's what I ate, too.  No it wasn't fat free meat, and I probably ate about 6oz....but it is protein, right?
     Today, I haven't even gotten in my minimums.  I've had my 3oz of fat free turkey at lunch and went to nap before work and forgot about the 6oz of light yogurt.  I thought I was working a 12 hour shift tonight, so I took my 3oz of fat free turkey, my light yogurt, sugar free jello, two diet green teas, and some sugar snap peas.  Well, I didn't get a chance to eat as I was fighting with a stupid enteral feeding pump all night at work amongst other duties.  Luckily, it turns out they didn't need me for 3rd shift, so at 10:30 I finally had my 3oz of fat free turkey and light yogurt with a diet green tea.
     I'm back on the horse and plan on staying there til next Friday.  Much admiration to all of you who made it without cheating! *bows down to your awesomeness*

Update 2 - The night we took Kazak in, they gave him some fluids and an injection to help with the vomiting.  The vet felt he was stable to send home and keep our appt with our regular vet for the x-rays.  Hubster dropped Kaz off to the vet his way to work.  I hadn't heard anything by noon, so I called.  They had taken chest and abdominal x-rays and were in the middle of a barium swallow study.  They called me back about a half hour later with what they had found.  The original x-rays showed suspicious soft tissue near his heart, which is why they did the barium testing.  The barium testing showed that he has a condition called megaesophagus.
    Basically when he swallows, the muscles that allow peristalsis to occur and move his food from his mouth to his stomach have become flaccid and therefore the food is pooling there.  This causes him to cough or regurgitate it...not true vomiting.  This regurgitation puts him a substantially increased risk for aspiration pneumonia.  The treatment is too feed him "gruel" consistency food, in small portions more frequently,  in as much of an upright position as possible and to keep him in that position for 20 minutes after eating so that gravity can assist in getting the food to his tummy.  Obviously time consuming.  This has seemed to help the last two days as he's not regurgitating as frequently.  However, he had a 3 pound weight loss since the beginning of the month at a time when he is still growing and should be steadily gaining.  We have to weigh him weekly.  Luckily our vet is right up the road and the scale is in the waiting room. 
     I was able to review the x-rays with our vet and talk in depth with her.  We believe he has a case of persistent right aortic arch, in which a part of the fetal heart that was supposed to disappear didn't and as he's grown has caused increasing restriction on his esophagus.  That restriction made it harder for the food to pass and led to the esophagus stretching out.  Usually this is caught very early in pups, often when they are weaning to solid food.  It appears Kaz's case was really mild and just got worse as he got bigger.  When it is detected in the very young pups, it can be surgically corrected.  We could opt to do the surgery at Kansas State's School of Vet. Med but at his age and with the damage that is done, his condition would not likely improve.  To make matters worse, where the dilation of his esophagus is, when the food sits there it not only puts the pressure on his heart, but his lungs too.  He tires easier and often pants after eating due to it.
     We know it's only a matter of time before we have to say good-bye, but we are making the most of the time we have with him.  We've decided to continue treating for the megaesophagus and delay euthanasia until his quality of life begins to suffer.

Lastly, today was the neighborhood wide yard sale.  It rained and was very cold...it took me hours to warm up after coming in from the garage!  It wasn't a huge hit as the weather sucked, but we made a little pocket change...help offset the cost of Kaz's medical bills!  LOL

Thank you all for the good thoughts you sent our way in regards to Kaz.  It was a very emotional day and my heart is still heavy, but for the sake of the kids, trying to enjoy our time with him.  Here's a pic I took when we came home from the vet on Thursday.