A Wonderful Early Christmas Gift

With all the sickness we've been thru lately and all the unhappy vet visits we've had to make, I was quite apprehensive about taking Morgan in for her six month checkup. Morgan is thirteen years old and has understandably slowed down a lot over the last couple years. We also know that she has liver disease and arthritis in her hips and legs, so when time came around last month for her to visit Dr B, I let it slide. But Tuesday Sebastian was due to have his stitches out, so we planned to take Morgan along and get her checked out.

First Sebastian stretched out on the floor, so Dr B and nurse Sara got down on the floor to remove the stitches. Dr B was very happy about the incision. He said the area feels nice and soft and he's sure he got all the cyst plus some of the scar tissue. He also said the scar tissue was confined to the muscle and tissue and didn't get into the joints so we won't have to worry about arthritic changes as he ages. That is excellent news. Sebastian had to wear his cone for one more night, but I removed it the next morning at breakfast and he's very pleased to be able to curl into a ball to snooze.

Then it was Morgan's turn. To say that I was anxious is a real understatement. Dr B put Morgan on the exam table and talked to her for a couple minutes. Then he listened to her heart and told me that her heart sounds like a young puppy, nice and slow and steady with no murmur or other sounds. Her lungs sounded clear and her eyes had not gotten any worse since last spring. He said her weight was perfect which came as a real surprise because she had been gaining during the early summer and I've been trying to get her back in shape. I had taken a urine sample in and it was also perfect. Then he drew blood to be sent out to the lab. We discussed what to expect. We knew her liver values would be high but we hoped they at least would hold steady and not continue to climb. We left feeling encouraged and waited for the phone call the next day.

The phone call came and we were all thrilled. Morgan's liver enzymes were all normal except for one. Normal range for alk phosphatase is 10-150. Last spring Morgan's was out of sight at 3202, but now it's down to 1874. It's still high, but it's come way down and is continuing to drop and all the others are normal. Dr B says Morgan must be part cat with nine lives. Back when she was three years old, she almost died of liver failure and she's had problems ever since, but she's in great shape for a grumpy old lady dog. And we're all happy to have her around for awhile.