ON MEDICAL HOL D

10/31/24

Hi all! Sunny checking in. I had another recheck at the UW vet and good news, my pneumonia is 80-90% cleared up! The doctor wants me to stay on an anti-fungal medicine for one more month to make sure the yeast they found in my lungs is really gone for good. If I get the all-clear from the Internal Medicine doctor the plan is to have my spay surgery completed in early December. 

After that I’ll finally be ready to go to my forever family! I’ve been having a blast with my foster family, but I think a family of my very own would be a perfect Christmas present to me!
​

09/17/2024

Sunny checking in. I’m recovered from my big surgery and feeling great! I had a little complication when my feeding tube fell out and I got an infection but that is all cleared up. Despite having surgery, my esophagus is still a little wider than it should be so it looks like I’ll be an upright eater for life, but that’s no big deal. I hop right into my Bailey chair at meal time and love eating my slurry food! And now that the big pouch is gone from my esophagus I have hardly been regurgitating my food. 

Before surgery, my x-rays showed that I still had some aspiration pneumonia lingering in my lungs even though I’d been on antibiotics for quite a while. The docs did some more testing and discovered I had a type of yeast in my lungs, too. Now that they’ve got me on the right meds I’m feeling a million times better and am coughing a lot less. I had a recheck x-ray today and things are looking much better. I have to stay on the meds for three more weeks and then I’ll go in for one more recheck. If that appointment goes well then I’ll be scheduled for my spay surgery, and then I can hopefully start meeting potential adopters!

08/28/24
We finally have some answers as to why Sunny regurgitates her food. She was diagnosed with a congenital condition called a vascular ring anomaly. This is a band of tissue related to a blood vessel coming off of her heart that is constricting her esophagus. The constriction has caused a diverticulum (pouch) to form in her esophagus just above where the band is pinching her esophagus. Food gets trapped there and has caused the esophagus to stretch out over  time. (See diagram.)
She is going in for surgery this week at the UW vet school to remove the band of tissue and to have the diverticulum closed. The prognosis is good post-surgery, but there is a possibility that Sunny’s esophagus may never return to completely normal function. She should have significantly fewer episodes of regurgitation and hopefully fewer bouts of aspiration pneumonia, but she may still have to eat soft food in her Bailey chair or from an elevated bowl.
Sunny is in for a long recovery, as the surgery may require the vets to open her chest. She will have to be hospitalized for a minimum of 2 nights. She will have a gastrotomy tube (tube for feeding that goes directly into her stomach from the outside of her body) and will not be able to have any food or water by mouth for several weeks. She will also be on strict exercise restrictions.
Send all your good thoughts, vibes, and prayers to Sunny for a successful surgery. And send your strength to foster mom & dad as they care for a lab that can’t eat normally or play for several weeks!! They are the best!

08/08/24
Sunny checking in. I’m recovered from aspiration pneumonia and feeling great! I’ve been with my foster family for 6 weeks now and my personality is really shining through. Foster mom says I’m a perfect angel with the happiest disposition. She’s even started calling me Bunny, instead of Sunny, because I hop around when I’m happy/excited about something.

I have my appointment with the veterinary specialist coming up in a couple more weeks to determine if my megaesophagus has an underlying cause. Even if megaesophagus is something I have to live with my whole life, foster mom has my routine really dialed in to the point where I hardly regurgitate. It seems to mostly happen now if I eat something I’m not supposed to or if I get really worked up about something.

Going for walks is my favorite thing, followed closely by meal times and playing with my toys. We go for a 1 mile walk every day and that’s been enough to keep me exercised. I self-entertain with toys when foster mom is working. I’ve also learned how much fun it is to play with my canine foster sisters. We play keep-away with our toys and wrestle a little bit. I’m not much of a ball chaser, but I like to lay in the yard and chew on a ball while my foster sisters do the chasing. I think I’d like to have a doggy sibling of my own when I go to my forever family.

I’m eager to meet people when we go out for walks, but this week I had my first “stranger danger” experience when a scary man (contractor) came into the house. I barked at him, but he ignored me and let me approach him when I felt ready. He turned out to be really nice and gave me lots of pets. Foster mom says she will have to throw a party so I can practice meeting new humans. :)

I’ve earned free-roam privileges in the house when my foster parents are gone and overnight. I don't look for trouble or try to get into things I shouldn't, but I am an opportunist, so if I find a napkin or tissue on the floor I think it's fair game for me to shred!

Thanks for reading my story. Keep your fingers crossed for me and I’ll update you all again after my appointment!

//
Hi Friends! Sunny here… I’m a black lab and I just arrived at L.E.A.R.N. I am settling into my foster home very nicely. I had a family that really loved me but they decided it was best to surrender me because they weren’t able to give me the special care that I need. You see I have a condition called megaesophagus. It means the opening between my esophagus and stomach doesn’t open like it should to allow food through. This can cause me to regurgitate my food and puts me at risk of aspirating it into my lungs. 

Unfortunately, I’m dealing with a bout of aspiration pneumonia right now, but a round of antibiotics should have me feeling better soon. My foster mom is teaching me to sit in a Bailey chair for my meals which allows gravity to help move the food down into my stomach and helps prevent me from regurgitating. It looks a little silly, but I’m starting to get used to it.

Foster mom says I am the sweetest girl. I made friends with the resident dogs right away, and have been really gentle with the cats. I have lovely manners and I listen very well. 

Once I recover from my pneumonia, L.E.A.R.N. is also taking me to a special vet to see if there is an underlying cause of my megaesophagus and any possible treatments. So it will be a while before I’m ready to go to my forever home, but I wanted to let you all know that I’m here and looking for my forever family.