Rest In Peace Oscar

[ShannyBeard]

he looks sleepy again now but I'm still going to take this day as a step in the right direction

This is so good to hear. I hope you are finding something fun to do at home this weekend since you missed your mini-vacation playing beardie nurse. We are getting to the point with having so many beardies that we can't go away for more than a day or two. :shock:

 

[szubelak]

Yea Shanny - I have a former student that comes and takes care of Bert and Ernie once a day for me previously when I'd go away for a weekend - this time I was going to have him come again but I was already planning to take Oscar with me because he needs more care than just 1x a day ya know - but with him being worse I didn't want to stress him out.

He's getting less and less flexible in his front joints - I'm not seeing him pushing himself up against the glass with his chin up high and his front arms kind of suspended/hanging - Makes me think he's relieving the pressure on them

I'm thinking I should make a harness and just suspend him (how weird am I - I know)

 

[SpikesAgirl]

You're lucky you have students to babysit for you, Lesley! My whole nightmare with Dino started because I boarded her for the week over Christmas and she got mites which gave her the pneumonia. Antibiotics made her so sick, then she got the fungul infection which I'm still trying to get rid of! NEVER AGAIN. When we travel to our winter place for snowmobiling, she comes with us now! I brought her up there this winter because she needed injections over the weekend. She was fine with the 3 hour drive. Hand warmers wrapped in towels under her belly kept her warm for the ride! :wink: And hindsight is a beautiful thing too...our first beardie, Spike, used to get boarded there too. Never even thought about them being responsible for her illness and death until Dino got the mites! She was dead within a month of being boarded there. NEVER EVER AGAIN will I board a reptile ANYWHERE. I am so hoping the vet has some good news for you with the culture results!

 

[szubelak]

(key word is FORMER in the student - never a current one!!! yikes!!!)

OH yikes Sue - oddly enough an older lady that my mom helps out takes her dog to my reptile vet (I take my dog somewhere less expensive) - anyway she took her dog there to get groomed (they have grooming and doggie day care attached to the vet's office) and it came back with fleas!!

But that's horrible about Dino - I've been reading your threads about him here and there lately and looked at your album of him and was going to ask what happened because I hadn't gotten that far back yet - but how horrible - but I wanted to tell you that he looks a million times better - the most recent picture that you had in your photobucket album of him was awesome compared to how bad it had been so you're doing something/everything right!!! I would just pick at the fungus which is probably bad!

We have a cottage up north that we go to also - snowmobile and ATV (I like to ATV in the snow!!) What state are you in? I'm in Michigan. (snowmobiling and ATV is huge in Michigan) (that's where we were supposed to go this weekend - and next actually)

and you know what else really works well for keeping them warm - I use this for trips to the vet in the winter - but you know the old fashioned type hot water bottles (red) - fill that up with hot water and put it under a layer of towel, then beardie, then towel again - they sleep and stay warm - beardie/towel sandwich! I'm thinking you're talking about the disposable hand warmer things which can add up - we use those for snowmobiling of course! - fingers and toes!!!

No culture results yet - she only took the sample last Tuesday at like 5:30 pm- so the sample probably didn't get to the lab until Wednesday or maybe even Thursday... waiting game *cue Jeopardy theme song

Oscar had a much better day today - he was much much MUCH calmer - I didn't open up my bedroom window for him to see outside (not sure if that is what made him calmer - he LOVED being outside the one day it was warm enough that I took him and the boys out) and I also started the day with a bath for him - there was no getting the arm stuck under the body and stumbling

 

[SpikesAgirl]

FORMER student! Right! :lol: Glad to hear Oscar seems to be in a better place than he was a few days ago! That med you took him off musta been kickin his butt! Poor thing. Another song I thought of: Carly Simon: Anticipation...is keeping me waiting. :| We hum Jeopardy tune around here all the time, especially at restaurants when my husband is figuring out the bill/tip! :lol:

The boarding thing...ya just never know I guess. I was at another place that boards and I was lookin around and saw BIG crickets in with a skink that was being boarded. Didn't like that. Skink = Midnight snack. No thanks, I'm all set... They weren't conveniently located for a drop off anyway.

Dino is looking so much better these days. Definitely hard to avoid picking at her. If she's shedding and it's bubbling up in her shower/bath, off it comes when she gets out, other than that I have to leave it alone. That nasty scab under her eye is driving me bonkers! It will loosen up to where I think it can come off but NOPE still stuck there at the end. Looks raw underneath too. Frustrating. That's not even from the fungus...dumb vet did that! How about: Let's take a Q-tip and rub vigorously around the eye area to remove some of this crust!! Ahhh, NO. And she went to school for how long? Clearly, not a reptile vet. She would've known better. She picked when she shouldn't have and picked too much!! I haven't been back there since Dino was almost dead from meds. Her last instructions were to stop the intraconazole and keep going with the nebulizer treatments. I stopped both and started using Reptaid. Seems to be clearing her up so I'm gonna keep going with it til she's all healed. I have the name of another vet, who is a board certified REPTILE vet. I will bring Dino in for a check up and a stool check probably over the summer sometime just to get her established there and get her history on file IN CASE we have any more problems...Dear God, I hope not!

"Up North" for us is Rangeley, Maine!!! I live in Massachusetts. That's the western part of Maine, not too far from Canada. My hubby & his buddies have snowmobiled into Canada before for some Pomme Frites...so they say! About 2 hours up to Canada by sled. He & my son go up in the summer to ATV ride too. Me, not so much. I like the cold, harsh winter waaaay better, NO BUGS. I hate bugs. The fact that I have to handle bugs for Dino just blows everyones mind around here! :laughhard: Gimme snow and 10 below any day over heat & flying insects! Yup, hand warmes are the kind you're thinking of and I have used water bottles, just regular ones though, for trips to the vet in the winter. One on each side of her, wrapped in towels! :wink: Vet tech gave me the hand warmers idea. He was at least helpful. I think he knew more than she did about reptiles! Hopefully Oscar will be feeling better soon and you can get some enjoyment in for yourself...sick beardie = full time job #2, I know! :roll: Been there, done that...still doing it part time now!

 

[szubelak]

Oscar's culture results are in - they did NOT get any bacterial growth but are still waiting on the fungal growth test (which Dr. P thinks is unlikely to be the cause). I think the results would have been better if IT WAS bacterial - because at least we could just keep trying different antibiotics.

The next step that she recommends is to amputate his arm. This is affecting both of his arms and we're only talking about amputating the worse one. So who's to say the other won't have to be done. I'm waiting to hear an estimate on how much 1 surgery will cost me.

I'm really having to think hard about his quality of life. Like I mentioned earlier that med I think it was made him agitated for those couple days - but now he has no interest in his superworms like he did before - he would gobble them down as soon as I dropped them in front of him. Who's to say this surgery would improve his quality of life - especially since the other one is still affected. and who's to say that even if we did eventually amputate both arms there isn't really something else that's causing his discomfort as evident by his constant black beard. and who's to say that WHATEVER is causing this - because we still don't even know the cause - won't hit another joint - who's to say his knee isn't next etc.....

Am I prolonging the inevitable? I hate having to think about this. I think I already know what is going to have to be done.

I'm waiting for them to call me back with an estimate on the one surgery and then I also asked for Dr. P to call me so I could talk to her directly.

Stupid hornworms - it's all your fault - if I hadn't gone into the shop looking for a new feeder for B & E I would have never been here

Sorry I didn't proof read this... I hope there's no major mistakes

 

[SpikesAgirl]

Did the vet get anything from that group of vets she was consulting with??? Is she sending his culture results out to them also? Maybe one of them knows something? Pretty much grasping at straws at this point, I know, but anythings possible... I'm sorry you have to think "that thought". Not easy I know, but his quality of life is definitely at issue here if amputations are going to start happening. I don't think it's something to rush into either, especially if you do ONE and then later find out he would have to have ANOTHER one done. That's a lot of surgery, a lot of pain and a lot of recovery for poor little Oscar who's already so weakened and has been through so much thus far. Let us know how the conversation with the Dr. goes... Love & Hugs <3

 

[szubelak]

Did the vet get anything from that group of vets she was consulting with??? Is she sending his culture results out to them also? Maybe one of them knows something?

I know she was going to post his x-ray that showed the "deposits" in his elbows - I'm assuming she shared his medical history with them - and nothing was said about that so I doubt anyone had any input but thanks for reminding me - I'll ask her when she calls me back

 

[dragonlover3]

Hi,
I probably missed it in the reading but what deposits are seen in his elbow joints on x-ray?
I'm keeping you and Oscar in my thoughts and prayers.
Amanda

 

[szubelak]

The deposits in his elbow x-rays look like little bones kind of - hard to explain - you can see that something has "gathered" there.

The fungal results came back negative

As far as her diagnosis (what's she's seen in the past and what her fellow network of vets have seen) it's like a pseudo - gout - but instead of uric acid buildup it's calcium.

It being systemic is what is most worrisome - at this point he would need both front arms amputated and who's to say that it won't spread to other joints.

She called me personally (my vet, DR. P) and we talked for over 10 minutes and talked a lot about the possibilities in every scenario and quality of life. She told me to think about it for a couple days but I think I know that I need to end his suffering.

She has tomorrow off and then is working on Thursday - so I'm going to call tomorrow and hopefully get an appointment for Thursday evening.

Is there a "smiley" for sobbing uncontrollably?

 

[dragonlover3]

Hi
I'm crying with you. You know what is best for Oscar because you are seeing
him everyday. Sometimes the kindest, most loving thing we can do the hardest.
As I'm crying with you I support your decision to do what's best for him so he
doesn't continue to hurt. You did everything you could for him and gave him
the best care and love he's ever had in his life! He knows you love him and
want what is best for him! I can only imagine how devastated you are!
TEARS and HUGS
Amanda

 

[Zeusmybeardie]

Sorry to hear about what u gotta go through and I know it will be hard to let him go he will always be in your heart and never forget that its the most important thing he will always look afterusing remember u

 

[SpikesAgirl]

My heart is broken right along side yours Lesley... Give him a gentle pat on his head and a soft hug from me... I'm sad too but I think we all need to let Oscar go to a better place... It's so hard to make the choice to let go of someone that you love so much. Amanda said it best:

Sometimes the kindest, most loving thing we can do is the hardest.

I know there's nothing I can say or do to take away your heart ache right now but please know that I support your decision. (Huge, aching lump in my throat right now.) Oscar has left his little beardie footprint on my heart! Sending you and Oscar comfort and peace, love and hugs tonight and always...

 

[ShannyBeard]

I'm so sorry.

I would do as you have decided. I don't believe that I could put him through the amputations. They aren't supposed to live like that.

 

[athenacp]

Ah geez, I am very sorry Will be keeping you in my thoughts and prayers.