Ema Becomes Even More Complicated
Update: Ema now has a Facebook Group. Become a Friend of Ema, and get additional news and photo updates.
Today, Ema was supposed to be undergoing the procedure that we hoped would save her life. Instead, she is sitting here on my feet, as I write this. Ema, it turns out, is even more complicated than we’d thought, and it all has to do with doors.
Allow me to explain, as briefly as I can, and bearing in mind that I am a layperson, and not a veterinarian. This explanation comes to you courtesy of the very excellent University of Guelph Veterinary Cardiologists, Dr. Schuckman and Dr. O’Grady.
Picture your heart as two separate rooms, divided by a wall.
Each room has door leading into it. Ideally, this “door” should open fully, allowing blood to pass through it easily.
Ema’s “door”, however, does not open fully.
Luckily, our “rooms” don’t really need their doors – it’s perfectly fine for the doors to remain wide open all the time, or to be non existent. In the balloon procedure, a catheter would be inserted into Ema’s neck, and fed into her heart. There, the balloon would be inflated, essentially tearing her door off of its hinges, leaving her ‘room’ wide open, and allowing her blood flow to move normally through her heart.
However, consider another option with doors.
What if, in addition to the door being stuck, it’s also in a frame that’s too small – much, much too small? In this case, even removing the door isn’t enough, because the frame just isn’t large enough to allow sufficient flow of blood into Ema’s room.
This is, in essence, Ema’s issue. Removing her door ( doing the balloon procedure to correct the pulmonary stenosis) wouldn’t be enough to improve her heart’s functioning to any serious degree. However, there’s another procedure that should be able to help her – a surgical correction.
The surgeon will, more or less, tear out Ema’s door frame, building her a wider one shored up with surgical mesh. Ema will then have a wider opening, and no stuck door.
Unfortunately, Drs. Schuckman and O’Grady don’t perform this procedure – they’re the “Balloon Team”, as they informed me. A Cardiac surgeon is needed to perform this, and Guelph only has one at the moment, and she happens to be on holiday until November 8th. Even then, she apparently hasn’t done many of these procedures (do I even need to mention that it’s a rare and complicated surgery, done only by a handful of people in North America? That should go without saying, since this is Ema we’re talking about). So, there’s a chance that Dr. Bisson, Guelph’s Veterinary Cardiac Surgeon, might be more comfortable referring us to a Veterinarian who has more experience in performing this surgery. This will mean sending Ema to perhaps Purdue, Cornell or Ohio State.
So, we sit and we wait. We wait for the Cardiac Surgeon to get back from holidays, then we wait for her to look at Ema’s file and decide if she can perform the surgery. Then, we either wait for a referral to another vet, at another University. Then we wait for a surgery date.
In the meantime, Dr. O’Grady said quite succinctly that “Ema is on a crash course with death”. He was frankly surprised that she’s doing as well as she is, and has survived for as long as she has. He asked, tentatively, if we could possibly tape one of Ema’s seizures – he’s never actually seen one himself, and it would be a great teaching tool for students at the university. Ema had another one this morning, and while I’m all for increasing the pool of knowledge among Veterinarians, grabbing a video camera is not the first thing that comes to mind when your puppy falls to the floor, goes rigid and then screams in terror.
Financially, we should be OK. This new procedure shouldn’t cost much more the balloon procedure does, but it carries with it both better success, and greater risk. If Ema survives the surgery, her recovery success rate is as great as 95%. There is, however, a 50% chance that she won’t be able to survive the surgery. I’ll take those odds, because without the surgery there is a 100% certainty that Ema will die, and that it will be a slow, painful and terrifying death.
I’m not thinking about that right now, however. I’m just watching the clock and waiting, and so is Ema.
If you would like to read the actual veterinary report written by Dr. Schuckman, please click here to download the PDF.
Mending Broken Hearts
This new design for the French Bulldog Village’s Cafe Press store lets you show the world that Rescue is “Mending Broken Hearts, One French Bulldog at a Time”.
Featuring the lovely Miss Itty Bitty (aka Ema), this design is available for light and dark clothing and accessories. Bumper sticker and button friendly designs are coming soon.
See all of the designs at the FBV Store, or check out the sample t shirt below. 100% of all profits benefit French Bulldogs like Ema.
A Thank You From CJ’s Mom
Karen, CJ’s Foster Mom, asked me to post the following message which she had sent to the French Bulldog Village mailing list:
Well after crying for the last 24 hours, my eyes swollen like baseballs. I’ve eaten a 20 piece chicken mcnuggets, large fries from Mcdonald’s and a skor blizzard from Dairy Queen. I’ve been able to pull myself together enough to come see all the emails of condolence I received from truly caring and compassionate people.
I’d first and foremost like to thank Carol G. for her absolute AMAZING, FANTASTIC, OUTSTANDING, FANTABULOUS work. Within 15 minutes of me posting C.J. needed help Carol was ON IT. Reaching out to the dog lover community. Being able to raise such a large amount in 24 hours totally reassures me that the human race isn’t going to hell in a handbag.
As I stood in the Vets exam room looking at x-rays showing the BB pellets in C.J’s chest and leg. First it was complete sadness with the realization of what he had really been through. When you get a stray there is no knowing what each animal has been through in his or her previous years. And I got a brief glimpse of what C.J. had been through and I wouldn’t have wished that life on a worst enemy. Not even on the one who shot him. I got my people hater hat on and was angry beyond words at how some people could be so cowardly to lash out at those that have no voice to beg them to stop. But I was able to take my angry hat off again as I sat at my computer reading the literally hundreds of emails that I’ve received from people I don’t even know. I must say I have never had such an outpouring of well wishes. It fills my heart to know that the good people in the human race still out weigh the bad 2 to 1.
I would like to THANK absolutely EVERYONE who sent their wishes, condolences, and money to help a dog they had never even met. You have all truly restored my trust in humanity. Carol said it best on her blog (which made me bawl, thank you very much Carol) “sometimes, we really do need to light a candle and stand together against the dark. That’s CJ’s miracle, when you think about it.” And I believe that was C.J’s message. For the one who has hate in their heart, we have shown there are a hundred to band against them.
To Kim, I want to thank you for EVERYTHING you did for C.J and myself. I don’t think words can tell you how comforting it was as a foster home, knowing that you were ALWAYS there. Any time of day or night I called you would answer and be able to help me with any question or problem I had. I actually cried when I heard you were standing down as foster co-ordinator. You and I are a lot alike and want to save everyone. But we have the stronger more sensible people like Charlotte to remind us that there are some that we just have to say good-bye to. I would beg you to reconsider resigning as co-ordinator, because when I get my next foster I want you as my coach and cheerleader.
To Charlotte, Thank you for being the voice of reason. I thank you for being my broad shoulders and letting me know it’s ok to say good-bye.
Carol, if you could please post this on your blog as well. Since I received so, so, so many emails from your followers. I have truly come into a family that have each others back and each others hands. The family of French Bulldogs.
You’re welcome, Karen – and more than that, welcome to the family.