Xena struggling ~ R.I.P. My Special Love

[vickson420]

Hello
I just read this and wanted to send you and Xena all my best. I am so sorry she has had to go through this but hopefully she will recover quickly.The vet is correct about how long it can take for her to fully come around hopefully by morning she will be up and about.I will keep her in my prayers.

Vicky

 

[diamc]

Hi Dawn, I just read about Xena's surgery too. :shock: Poor thing, no wonder she was so uncomfortable. You and your family must be sitting right there waiting for vet updates. We are all here for you and praying as hard as we can. Xena is a strong beardie and has lots of love waiting for her at home, she knows that. Hopefully she'll be bright eyed and doing better tomorrow. Will be checking in for updates.

 

[Drache613]

Hello Dawn,

Wow, what a huge shocker that must have been for the vet though when he opened her up! :shock: That could not have been a pretty sight at all, & very extensive damage, too. That shows right there they are not designed to ingest rodents. Their GI tracts are not like snakes' so I can see how it inflicts damage.
The vet is right is bringing her out of anesthesia slowly like that. It might even take her up to 36 hours to "feel" normal again. Poor thing. I hope that she is feeling much better. She will be sore though, for awhile.
The fatty liver, how bad is it? That can be treated, with success but it will have to be treated immediately.

I will be thinking about Xena & you & your family. Keep us posted.

Tracie

 

[blondie098]

My head was about to split last night, but all I could do was talk to my Beanie (my pet nickname that she always smiles at) -- "Beanie, we love you" and "Beanie, you're strong, you can do this" and "Bean, hang in there hon, we want you to get better so you can come home for snuggles with papa"... BTW my headache isn't much improved today.

I bolted upright when my cell rang, and Dr. Rigg's first words were "Well, SHE'S A FIGHTER!!!" I just about balled my eyes out.

She is very groggy, but is trying to move around. He has upped the dosage on her antibiotics, and we'll have to probably give her an injection tomorrow (we'll get more instrux later) -- but we'll be going to get her in a few hours. I am going to implode... getting her viv all ready right now.

Tracie, what is normal treatment for the liver? He said it was very yellow, and he shared that he was very concerned about it; called it a "fatty liver". That's all the info I have right now? But I also know that if liver or kidneys shut down, so does beardie. Any info is appreciated!

She has always been good about eating her veggies -- the previous family told us "she doesn't eat salad" -- if you recall my first few posts about her, she ate 4 bowls of salad in the first 24 hours after we took her in. She had never seen greens or veggies before, and loved them. Horns & Supers are the live foods we give her, she hasn't had crix since being with us for nearly 2 years. (She liked the dubia at first, but lost desire for them after about 6 months)

Is a fatty liver a hereditary thing? Or environmental? Or both? How do we fix that? Meds? Diet?

 

[blondie098]

BTW, please, please keep up the prayers and positive mojo -- we're going to have a long road ahead of us to get her completely better :love5: I know we're not the only ones that love her!

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

I am so happy to hear that Xena came out of her surgery okay. I prayed hard for her yesterday.
I know emotionally you are probably a wreck right now, but you and Xena are both strong willed girls and I have no doubt that you will both pull through this. I hope that the fatty liver can be treated and controlled like Tracie said. Xena deserves to be with you for many, mant more years. She could not have a better family, who could love her anymore than yours.
I will keep you, Xena and your family in my prayers.
(((HUGS)))

P.S. Dawn.. if you need anything at all or just need to talk, I am here for you! :wink:

 

[madmax1]

I know you have a long road ahead ,and I am wishing and praying for the best! So the worst part is over she survived, what a trooper. Now the healing and recovery begins and I am sure she will do fine , she has the best care taker possible. So let the healing begin, and hope to see some pictures of her soon! I sent an e mail to order a blanket set ,when u find the time and there is no rush, u can pm me if u received the email! if not I will send another.

 

[blondie098]

She's home... and poor baby looks like she's been thru the wringer. She just laid there for about the first hour, but we were sooo happy when she started venting. Yay!

She is wiped. We're getting ready to offer her a little food. She looks sooo skinny... he estimates that she lost about 100 grams... and this is why (picture not for the weak of stomach!)

Here is a closer look at one of the masses, he believes it is very old eggs that her body was trying to encapsulate ... it almost looks alien:

She is not real happy at the moment, but she did respond right away to our voices, and lifted her head on the trip home to try and see me (I was driving).

Here's her tummy:

We still aren't out of the woods, especially because of her liver. She is on Metacam (anti-inflammatory) for at least 2 weeks, and we talk to doc again on Monday to assess how long to give her anti=biotics. She had a shot of Fortaz just before we picked her up.

You can see in her tummy picture that her bum is still swollen, doc said that could take 3-4 days for that to unswell. Metacam should help with that. And without all that crud in her, she shouldn't feel the need to push until she has to poo. He wants to get her digestive tract working properly but slowly.

 

[wingnuts]

Oh Xena!!! So happy that you have all of that yucky stuff out of your belly! And how awesome that you are home where Mom can obsess about you up close and personal!!! :wink: Seriously--get well soon pretty girl. And Mom...keep taking great care of her and keep us posted on how she is doing. (((hugs)))

Tracy & Stella

 

[Khammy87]

Dawn,

I would ask your doctor about continuing the Metacam. NSAIDs can have negative effects on both the kidneys and the liver. While on the Metacam, be sure that Xena is keeping well hydrated, as if she isn't, it's more stress on the kidneys. Most of these NSAIDs are broken down by the liver, though. I would definately advise you to speak with your doctor about this! There may be other options like an opiod-like drug.. Tramadol maybe? Though I don't know the efficacy of Tramadol in beardies!

 

[LilStinkpot]

Oh, the poor, poor girl!

Xena, you get better, hun!

This must be Terribly stressful for both of you.

 

[OrlyBloomerzBaby]

I just read it too.. Good luck to you and Xena. I hope she recovers quickly. =( Poor girl.

Caitlynn & Spyke

 

[blondie098]

We are staying on top of the hydration, because she cannot be bathed for awhile. Poor li'l love, she adores her baths and loves to swim. She is giving us fits with eating, but we're getting little bits of Pedialyte into her. She likes it.

Doc mentioned that some of these eggs were "free-floating" and not even in her oviducts. Has anyone ever heard of such a thing with beardies? I have endometriosis, assume its about the same thing, but I cannot image an egg getting loose. And he said many of them in the jar were just floating around inside of her belly cavity.

Any opinions on CHE for the next few nights? We have turned on our furnace (its very cool here in Ohio now) but at night, the house gets to about 60-65... I would think we need to keep her a little warmer while she's healing, but forgot to ask when we picked her up today?

 

[Goonie]

Thanks goodness she's home. I'm sure you were very worried until receiving the phone call from the vet.
Glad to hear that she looked up at you when you spoke to her in the car. I'm sure she missed you a whole lot.

:shock: Wow, those are some scary looking egg tumors! Guess they'd been in her system for a really long time. No wonder she was straining so hard.

I'll still pray for Xena for a speedy recovery, and that the fatty liver will be reversed soon.

 

[Khammy87]

I would imagine it would be possible, especially if things were as bad is the doctor described in there.. There is a small gap between the oviduct and the ovaries... If she was pumping eggs out, they could possibly get out of control I would imagine.. It's just a guess, though! Again, I work with mammals usually, still learning about herps! If anyone has any other suggestions, I'd be interested to know!