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Dear Friends of Jungle Friends,
Brandy seemed to be doing better Thursday morning; I think the steroid injection really helped her breathing. She did have a couple of bad spells, but it seemed to happen when there were people in the house with us or some of the other dogs being too boisterous. When all was quiet and calm, Brandy seemed to do fine. I was feeling pretty good about her improvement, but I was worried that she was having a reaction to the drugs because she vomited just after I gave her the medications for the yeast infection and her antibiotic. It will take about 4 – 6 weeks to clear up the yeast infection, if that is what it is. Since both of the medications can be hard on the stomach, I tried giving them at different times, but that didn’t seem to help either, Brandy vomited again Friday morning just after giving her the yeast infection medication. I called Dr. Schirmer and told him what had been going on and he wanted me to get her in for more blood tests and since she had barely eaten and had become more and more lethargic, he thought getting her on fluids to get some of her strength back would be a good idea, I agreed.
 After more blood tests, Dr. Schirmer found that Brandy was in renal failure! My poor Brandy sure did not need this on top of her other issues, but I knew she was in good hands. She was hospitalized for the day getting more fluids, more blood tests and more radiographs. When I picked her up that evening, I was really worried, Brandy looked so old and so tired, she had been mildly sedated, so that was part of it. I was up checking on her through the night and she refused food all night long, only drank a few sips of water from my fingertips. I was already warned that if she did not eat, we would need to put her back on fluids. So Larry, one of our supporters, went to the clinic and picked up a couple of bags of fluids and more medications for the renal failure. Dr. Schirmer told me that we would need to test her blood again in a few days to see if she was getting any better, and if she wasn’t we needed to start thinking about hospice care.
The good news is - Brandy got better! By the time Larry arrived that morning, she was eating and drinking! So, things are looking up, whew! Dr. Schirmer told me that he did another radiograph on the mass in Brandy’s throat and had another vet look  at the x-rays, and both vets feel that the mass is most likely cancer. However, we will not let that damper our spirits - right now Brandy is eating and drinking, going out for walks, enjoying the sunshine and grass and her eyes are brighter, so we will take it a day at a time, today is a very good day!
I would sure appreciate any donation you could send our way for Brandy’s veterinary bills, I know this is a bad time to ask for donations, however, any amount you can spare will certainly help! Just click on the donate button in the side bar, please!
Lots of monkey AND dog love,
Kari and Brandy
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