The results of Annie's PM finally came back last week - took ages this time, but it was pretty thorough. She died of heart failure -she had myocardial oedema, which is water in the actual muscle tissue.... And because heart failure cells were found in the lungs, it is reckoned that she had been in heart failure for 2 to 3 weeks. Her other organs were also shutting down. The tennis ball tumour attached to her sternum was found to be (I quote) "A very large, reactive but otherwise normal lymph node, with normal cortex and medullary structure, lymphoid follicles & interstitial tissue." In other words, not the cancer I feared... But, the heart failure is a mystery... In the 4 weeks before she died, 4 different vets examined her thoroughly and none could find a problem with her heart. In fact, a week before she died, the vet examining her prior to her first acupuncture session, said "That's what we like to hear, a good, strong heart!" She must have been extraordinarily strong to last as long as she did... Beth(vet) and I have talked this over - she is beating herself over the fact she was concentrating on her growing hind leg weakness, and not listening enough to her thoracic region - and we think that the emergency at the beginning of September may be implicated in this. I rushed Annie down to the surgery late one evening as she had been getting more and more restless and hyper-ventilating more and more rapidly. The vet found she had a very high temperature which was treated with ice packs and IV antibiotics. In humans, a high fever and intense infection can spark heart failure and apparently this is so in dogs too. It is also entirely possible that she had a thrombosis that lodged in her leg or spinal area, producing the symptoms of DM that she was showing. We will never know for sure, but at least my strong willed, alpha puppy of nearly 12 years was not a victim of cancer (a miracle as far as I'm concerned!), but went out fighting, the way she would have wanted. And the Annie sized hole in our lives is vast... They broke the mold when she was born. Liz Bradbury in Scotland, with Roxie (nearly 2) the bouncing Berner; Newfs Toby 6 and Maggie 12 months; & the 6 Feline Fiends.
