March 06, 2013
Happy 10th Birthday Daisy!
It takes us both some time in the morning
to get the old bones moving like they used to,
but sweetheart you still look like a puppy to me.
I'm not so wordless today, because I'm celebrating the precious life of my dog Daisy. You see she turns 10 today which is 53 according to this calculator and we weren't sure she was going to make it past 3.
When she was just one year's old she was diagnosed with aspergillosis. In dogs the fungus eats away at the lining of their sinuses with a potential lethal effect on their brains if it breaks through. It affects short nose dogs more often. It's a common fungus that exists I think everywhere in the world. Even people can get it if their immune systems are compromised.There was nearly a 100% chance she was not going to make it at the time we took her to UC Davis, the premier veterinary school on the west coast. They were working on an experimental treatment that killed the fungus, but since the sinus is filled with hiding places one little spore could start the whole thing up again. We thought the treatment was successful, but a year later she was reverse sneezing with blood coming out of her nose. My heart sank and hurt. She'd barely begun her short life! We took her back to UC Davis and they did another treatment as well as kept the tubes in so that I could continue to flush her sinuses as long as she and I could stand it up to a couple weeks.
I was only able to do it for 3 days. It broke my heart to see her look up at me with love and trust, and yet get scared and confused when she felt it enter her head. The vet said don't keep doing it if that happens, as you don't want to lose your loving relationship with your dog. I knew I was risking it coming back, but I decided after the last time I took her to UC Davis that the stress on her being there and the fear I saw in her eyes... I couldn't put her through it any more.
Fortunately for her and us she is healthy and happy at 10 people years old. She never got back to her easy ways at the vet, because she is always afraid I'm going to leave her there. For the first few years my heart would squeeze when she'd start sneezing. Her sinuses aren't normal, but she has no disease.
UC Davis saved her life. Their Veterinarians and students are impressive not only in their dedication to medicine, but also to their loving care for the animals they treat. They spent as much time with my husband and me as we needed. We are grateful to them for their tenacity in finding a cure and putting the whole well being of our dog first. Daisy served as a positive test case for them which they've been also grateful.