Scared

Wednesday night T and I woke up to Nemo having a seizure. To say I was scared would be an understatement. We immediately rushed him to the emergency vet, and although his seizure was over by the time we got him there, they took his vitals and ran some blood work.

The blood work revealed that Nemo had incredibly low blood sugar. So low that there was no doubt that it was what caused the seizure. He stayed at the emergency vet center for the following day so that they could get his blood sugar back up, monitor him, and run more tests.

Even though the tests didn't show anything definitive, it's likely that Nemo has pancreatic insulinoma - or small insulin producing tumors on his pancreas. Even though right now Nemo feels fine (he charmed everyone at the vet's office while he was there), the long-term prognosis is not good because there is so little that we can do.

At some point surgery may be an option, but right now the tumors (assuming they are there) are so small that they are undetectable by ultrasound. The small size of the tumors, coupled with the fact that the pancreas really doesn't like to be messed with and the high likelihood that the tumors would come back quickly, means surgery to remove them isn't an option right now. Unfortunately, even minuscule tumors can produce enough insulin to wreck havoc with Nemo's blood sugar. The vet made it clear that Nemo can probably only live with this for another two years.

"Scared" doesn't even begin to adequately describe how I feel.

Moving forward our options are limited. Mostly we will have to focus on feeding him lots of small meals throughout the day as frequently as possible and reducing his exercise to the point that he can never exert himself so much that he's winded. He no longer has those internal reserves to draw from when he's tired. Nemo will probably get pretty fat as a result. Medication will also probably happen soon too, but that won't be a cure-all as it would only buy him more time. We also bought a glucose monitor so we can track his blood sugar throughout the day. Anyone out there ever deal with something like this with your dog? I would love any tips anyone out there may have. We're doing everything our vet suggested and we're going to look into some holistic things too if we can find them.

I'm having a really hard time with this. Of course anyone would I think, but I can't help having flashbacks to how Molly got sick and passed away so quickly just a couple months ago. Nemo is my baby and of all of our dogs he's the one that I have an incredibly close bond with. He's the one I snuggle with every night like he's my teddy bear. I can feel my heart crumbling to pieces at the idea that he might not live to see true elderbulldom. The thought of his life being cut short is heart breaking.

All that scary stuff said, T and I are committed to treating his condition to the best of our abilities and making sure that the rest of his life - however long or short it may be - will be as cuddle filled, stress-free, and happy as possible. The upside is that Nemo is acting like Nemo. He has no idea anything is wrong. He loved everyone at the vet's office and as soon as we brought him home he went searching for his ball like he always does. He's still happy and loving life, and we're going to keep it that way for as long as possible.